Thanksgiving Eve Prep

Brutha and I have been prepping tonight. Sure wish you could push an extra button and smell the wonderful aromas going on here in our kitchen. It's luscious. My brother is simply amazing with what he can do with the simplest of ingredients. As I said before, he brings his own supplies--spices, cookbooks, lists and even his personal cutlery; so he's ready to go to town Thanksgiving eve. Which is exactly what we did.


We've finished making the first part of the sweet potato souffle, turkey stock, cranberry sauce and sorbet, and even sangria (which I tested to make sure it was ok--it was.) The brutha then moved to working on the stuffing.

Poor ol' Willie bird never did make it to "Nashvul." We looked and looked for Willie to arrive yesterday; and by about 8 p.m., brutha decided to call Williams Sonoma and find out just what happened to Willie. When he started to call, he had a message on his cell phone from the lady watching their dog, ZuZu. "It's now 6:20," she said, "and I just arrived at your house and there is a turkey on your front porch . . . it's not the one you sent me because mine arrived on my front porch today also." Lord. Poor Willie 'done bypassed Nashville and kept on flying East to Maryland! Daig! My sister-in-law called her sister who lives nearby their house and asked if they had bought their turkey yet. They hadn't. So, at this point, everyone had a bird but us. I told them our butcher had some nice ones earlier in the day. Bet your bottom dollar we were up early and the first ones in the shop to purchase another bird. They had ONE left. It was a beauty too. Phew! A 22 pounder, free-range organic, of course. Since this feller was raised in NC, he has been named Bodie (one of my brother's many nic-names as a child--as in Jim Bodie, go figure?) So California Willie bird has been replaced NC Bodie bird. There he is on the right getting tucked away for the night in his brine solution. I'm praying that bag doesn't pop open in the middle of the night in the fridge!

There was only one casualty this evening. Bubba Jim cut his finger on one of those fancy schmancy knives of his. Just a flesh wound, I was assured. (Picture the Saturday Night Live skit with Dan Akroid dressed as Julia Child--remember the one?) Kidding. It really wasn't bad, but I had to capture the moment for prosperity. Sorry. (Scroll below if you're squeamish!)


Alright, bedtime. We are so far ahead of ourselves, we are going to attempt to make our mom's famous yeast rolls--a feat that has never been duplicated -- yet. I'm so happy we were able to get so much done this evening which leaves nothing for mom to do tomorrow but relax. She's getting too old for this sous-chef stuff! I think I just got hired! Phew. I'm tired! G'nite.