I am posting this a little early, as we will be having Thanksgiving with quite a bit of family...we are excited to all be together. It has been many years since we've all gathered for this ~ my favorite holiday, mostly because it's about eating together and games played. Dominoes and cards and yahtzee and scrabble. The football game will be going on for those that don't like games, and Demitri will be in heaven with all the scents and treats.
Of course, lots to do in preparation. Luckily I only need to do bread, and the rest have divided up the bird and the sides.
This is the time of year I really miss my Mom, she loved Thanksgiving...although she would have probably enjoyed more help in the kitchen, haha.
Our Priest's wife came over this morning for a lesson in sourdough baking. She is a really wonderful person. A wee bit frazzled over having to manage 5 kids in the morning though ~ and no wonder. The youngest are twin girls, and I think that's where most of the drama comes from :-) We went through all the steps of making the dough, and since I had dough in the fridge ready to bake, she took home a loaf of still very warm sourdough. Luckily, we had great oven spring and esthetics (which I was quick to point out is not the end all and be all, since in the end will be eaten anyway, haha). It was fun.
We've had lovely weather, in the 60s and sunny. Although I would like something more around the low 70s, it's still nice outside. I wish I still had my garden going, but my herbs are still going ok except for the basil. Basil just doesn't like cooler weather.
I have been experimenting with water bath canning which I find pleasurable. So far I've made the basil jelly, spiced jelly (with strawberries and cranberries), the prickly pear jelly and the newest was roasted pear-garlic preserves. It can be an addicting hobby. But I'm no end of the world prepper. If the world comes apart (which it seems to be on it's way) I'll just quietly die with most everyone else. People are mean. If they know you have a huge stash of something, I have no doubt they would happily kill to have it. I know The Walking Dead was just a tv series, but I think humans would act very much like they did on that show.
Roasted pear-garlic preserves...
Spiced Christmas jelly.......
Basil jelly, which is what started it all. I had a huge amount of basil and I didn't want to make a lot of pesto, so I made the jelly too.
It's time to do some laundry, I still have a lot to do! I hope you find plenty of things to feel thankful for this Thanksgiving.
Love, 365
I just love love love preserving to ensure our own production and food that we have gathered in the wild does not get wasted. It is a very cathartic activity I find. HOWEVER these days I have to avoid preserves that use sugar (Mr B and diabetes), so most of our stuff goes into the freezer and I don't get to do wonderful things like jelly from the unripe thinnings off the grapevine - or your basil jelly - which looks absolutely fabulous by the way...
ReplyDeleteI love the Snoopy and Woodstock strip.
ReplyDeleteGlad your sourdough loaf turned out well. You're the sourdough wizard now đŸ˜€. Hope your family Thanksgiving goes smoothly with lots of smiles and laughter.