Monthly Archives: November 2004

Turkey Aftermath

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Dinner is over, left-overs put away, some of the dishes washed, some not. :)

It was a hard afternoon. I didn’t get the turkey in the oven until later than I wanted. It took until after 5pm for it to be done. Then it had to sit, of course, while the stuffing was taken out and put in a covered bowl, and the turkey had to sit to retain juices … and that’s also when the other stuff had to go into the oven since I had very little space for anything earlier.

So I really don’t know when we started to have dinner. It must have been after 6pm. I’m bushed though. And we still need to have Birthday Girls birthday tonight. :)

We have pumpkin pies in the fridge, but won’t have it tonight, tonight it’s cheesecake for B-day. I’m not ready for it, I want to enjoy the cake! I’m too full from Thanksgiving Dinner still. At any rate, we’ll have the pumpkin pie for breakfast tomorrow.

I’ve got the bones of the birdy in a stock pot with water, and by tomorrow some time we’ll have some extra turkey broth.

The cats got the neck and such earlier. I simmered them for the broth to go with the gravy, then picked the meat off for the cats. Earier I gave them the raw liver, but Scarlet took that away for herself. Piggy that she was.

Dog got plate left-overs and boy did he enjoy them. Piggy himself.

We have lots of turkey left. It was a 19 pound young turk. Bell and Evans, the best we could do with this year. We had some of one breast and part of one leg. That leaves most of the bird for:

Turkey Scramble
and what-not-else.

Turkey Scramble will be tomorrow. That’s another post. :laugh:

New of the Holiday, and part was bad but better now

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I have bad thing new too, though. Last night somehow Strider, my favorite cat, got missing. [Update: 4:30pm He's found!]

Around 4am I heard someone downstairs and the garage door in the kitchen then shut loud. Frank went down and was Russell that did it. Well, I couldn’t get back to sleep so I went down, and didn’t see Strider, so big deal as he offen is sleeping in the family room. I was in the kitchen. So then Dixie went over to the door and was scratching the bottom of the corner of the door, after that a bit I started to think about it, and then went looking for Strider, and didn’t find him. Not in our out of the house. He could be in the garage, we have so much stuff piled up on one side there is no way to know if he is there.

He got out one other time during the night … it’s on this blog somewhere I would guess. Anyway, he was gone for days, and I was about to give up on him, we did go to the shelters and vets around here and put up notices and report him missing. So then the day we got him back, Frank was leaving early in the morning when it was dark still, and came back inside after starting to pull out of the driveway. He got me out of bed and told me that he saw an animal on the driveway as he was leaving and it ran into the garage …. so he then put the door down and came and got me.

It was Strider, way down under stuff where I could not see him without lights shining there to reflect his eyes. He ignored me, and I could not reach him. I finally lured him out far enough, with food, so that I could grab him.

Sigh. It’s just so horrid to have him missing again. Why him again? He doesn’t “Try” to get out ever any other time. So then, fresh memories of the other time leaves me feeling really bad since I had no idea where he was for days, and he never showed his face or meowed when “lost”. We looked like crazy for him, called him, called him very, very often. In the end it was just good timing that we found him. He wasn’t coming out.

So it’s fustrating. He is my cat. My dear one. My sweetheart. He is so nice, so loving, so much of a great cat, and more. He loves me so much, loves belly rubs, loves, to sit on my shoulder, just be with me so much. Why did he disappear that time and not come looking to get in the house? Will he do the same thing this time? Is he around, just hiding?

He could have done it this time since we have new kittens. He “seemed” to be doing well with them, not hissing anymore and eating with them, and sniffing them without hissing. The other cats are still wary and hissing at them mostly. So why the morely well ajusted cat gone? He might have been planning it, and took the first opportunity. Maybe he’s not gone, just in the house where we can’t find him, sick. Maybe, but probably not. It is sure that the door had been opened. Russell did that, but now says he doesn’t remember doing it. So what happened is not clear. But the cat could have gotten out if the door was opened and Russell was sleep walking, or not, just there going out to find something when he shouldn’t have, and a cat would just be able to walk out the door into the garage and hide instantly. :(

So I’m missing my dear friend. I am praying he’ll come back on his own, safe, and sooner than later, but sometime at the least if it must be later. Please pray that he’s safe and finds his way back inside or that we find him and he is alright. He was fine last night. I paid lots of attention to him last evening.

So that’s that.

The turkey is in the oven. I didn’t get to do it yesterday, as we had to go out. I have a few more hours of it before it’s done. I need the oven to bake other things too, and I have no room with the turkey in there. Blah. It’s not fun with a small oven. It’s not “small” just not “large”.

I have to bake the rolls, and also the green bean casserole, and the sweet potato casserole.

Pumpkin pies are done, cooling. I make mine from Norishing Traditions, that’s with spices as fairly normal, but with lemon peel, and sour cream, instead of the other “normal” dairy put in most folks pumpkin pies. I also put in JD Whiskey. Recipie calls for optional Brandy. So I sub my favorite!

At some point we have to make this Victoria’s birthday, and I’m not sure when that’ll be. I’m pooped out already, being up since about 4am. :laugh:

[Update] I went out the front door just a bit ago for “yet another” perusal of the yard, to call for Strider, etc. Immediately upon going out and calling “Here Kitty, kitty, kitty” I saw Foster bounding across the street straight at me through the yard … and as he got mid-yard something to my left caught my eye … it was Strider by the back wheel of the Montana. He was wary of me and I knew I couldn’t get him, so I fastly opened the house door and yelled for Frank to come help me with Strider.

Frank came out and then opened the garage door, which was shut, for the “in case Strider is hiding out in there” in actuallity. He wasn’t though. I went out “just at the right time” seems. So then Frank came out in the front yard and Strider meanwhile went under the other car (Honda that just sits there) and up into the engine. So Frank had to go inside and get the keys to the Honda to open the hood … and did that and there was Strider right there on top. So I plucked him up and into the house we went. He is doing fine now, but at first was semi-wanting to hide here and there and a bit skittish, but I loved him up instead of telling him how bad he had been … and that seems to have worked.

Same thing of nurturing children … love them instead of yelling … the hard thing to do at times :( So object lesson with the cat today hits hard … nurturing with love in response to bad stuff really does work. It works when the big person keeps with it, regardless of how the other acts. The other comes ’round eventually. That’s the tough spot for parents and children, when parent loses the cool they had tried to keep with the frustration of the non-compliant one. It’s that one needs to push through and keep at it, and love them, love them, love them. :)

Something I know, something I’m hard pressed to be good at mostly. So I guess I know the upper reason for Strider leaving today: teaching me to do what I know, do it, it works, but do it inspite of that, do it all along, even if it doesn’t seem it IS working. :)

Thanksgiving Eve

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Today is, as Russell desires me to call it “Thanksgiving Eve” since there is a “Christmas Eve” :laugh:

I’m currently making Victoria’s Birthday Cake for tomorrow, a New York Cheesecake. It’s in the oven with less than 40 minutes to go.

I’m seriously thinking about making the Turkey and Stuffing today, but I’m not sure I can. We have some more running to do for Birthday Girl, unfortunately.

In any case, if I can’t do that today, I’ll do it early tomorrow. I’ll be chopping up the celery and onions and nuts and such for the stuffing ahead of time, and the bread too. It’s my signature stuffing: that and apples and raisins and butter, eggs, stock/water. Into the bird it will go. It’s devine!

I have pumpkin pies to make too, and then the other things will be: mashed potatoes, gravy, cauliflower with cheddar cheese sauce, green been casserole, chill the cranberry sauce (I just used the jellied canned variety, I like the smoothness of it: Ocean Spray; a nice accompaniment to the other Turkey Delights) and hmmm. I have to get out my Palm and check out the menu again. Ah, yes, the rolls I’m working on.

I made a French Bread dough yesterday, and saved part of it in the fridge. I’m taking it out on occasion and punching it down, and rolling it out and folding butter into it. By tomorrow hopefully I can affect some sort of croissant-ish rolls.

For the dough it started out as a sponge of “unbleached flour: 4 cups; water to make it a sponge; and 1 Tablespoon of Active Dry Yeast”. Mix that up and cover, allow to sponge for several hours to overnight, or longer. Stir down as desired throughout that time. (Make sure you are using a large bowl!)

When ready to make the dough, just stir 1 Tablespoon of salt, and then also more flour until the dough is formed, using a machine of some type, or by hand, and then knead it in the machine or by hand until elastic, adding in more flour as needed.

Form a round and put it in an olive-oil-oiled bowl to rise, covered

OR

Take the dough and form it into the shapes you want, and let double then bake.

If you let it proof in the bowl you can punch it down as long as you like until ready to make the shapes and baking.

Put it in the fridge and take it out again to slow mature it. The more it sits around rising and being punched down the more French it is and good tasting cultured artisan-y.

Bake it at 400 or 450 (F.) until golden brown. Put a pan of hot water in the oven with it, so that the oven is moist, the way to get crusty artisan breads that is easiest. To do it, put the hot water in a pan, put in oven that is turned on pre-heating. When over hot, put bread in quickly and let it bake for 25 minutes, then start watching it for doneness, as any bread you might. It’ll get a nice crusty thick crust the longer it’s left in. I love it very brown.

So that’s what I’m doing now, messing around with dough for crusty melty rolls with dinner tomorrow, and baking the cheesecake, and wringing through thoughts of what else to cook today or not. :smile:

We have tons of rain, lots the last few days and lots more today. It’s been dreary, but the holiday is keeping me perked up. Usually this kind of weather really punches me down (no sun at all for days and days, just dark and dismal)

Today we had Flash Flood Watch and Tornado Watch, yesterday just Flash Flood Watch. With the stuff today we have Severe Weather of heavy rain expected and gusts up to 60 miles per hour possible, and penny size hail possible too.

We had some big gusts, but not that big. We had no hail. We had tons of rain. We had a river running down the side yard, under the gate to the backyard and forming a small lake that had an outlet beyond it’s vast expanse … water, water, everywhere, no where to go but UP. We are saturated. It’s a good thing though. :roll:

Movies for December

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In the previous post today I refered to our “Newest Tradition” of going to the movies as a family on Christmas Day. This year I wasn’t sure what was coming out, so I went to rottentomatoes.com and checked out UPCOMING releases.

I found these:

Blade: Trinity comes out on Dec 8

Lemony Snicket comes out on Dec 17

Spanglish comes out on Dec 17

Phantom of the Opera comes out on Dec 22

Of the above, those are the ones we are interested in that are coming out, a small percentage of the stuff coming out ;)

But of the above, only 1 is probable as a family movie … Lemony Snicket. Now, I know there are folks that don’t like those books but I’m not sure as to why. I haven’t read them all, just half of the first one, but I found it interesting, a Barnes and Noble evening it was, and I just haven’t thought to pick it up again since then. I first did that earlier this year before I knew it was coming out as a movie.

Another on the list, Spanglish, I have there since I saw the trailer for it and it looked interesting. If you saw 50 First Dates, as we did on DVD, I took note of the trailer since it looked to be in the vein of that, to a small degree, as in “serious” not “slappy silly”. 50 First Dates had some stuff in it that I’d have done without fine, but Adam Sandler was a nice guy in it, and we really liked the storyline and how it worked out as a greatly positive movie in human character and morals. So I have NO IDEA what I am saying about the movie in question, Spanglish, just that I have a hint of feeling that it’s interesting, but not that it’s a good movie. Must look into it further. In any case, it’s not a children’s movie.

The one children’s movie I’m looking forward to is “Because of Winn Dixie” which finally comes out on February 18th. That’s another Barnes and Noble evening book. I picked it up sometime in the past year or so and read it in full, thorougly enjoying it. I’d seen it many times over, passing it up before. That night I just for some reason was compelled to pick it up and was drawn deeply into the story immediately. I really was predjudice of the book because of the title. I felt at odds with it. Something in me challenged that for some reason, and I read it that night. I was delighted to find out it was to be movie later, and have been waiting for it.

The Phantom of the Opera I am looking forward to greatly. Frank and I have been fans of the show via Audio-CD for many years. We’ve never seen the show, so the next best thing, and maybe a really great thing overall, is a movie version of it, done in the 21st century … the epic beautiful visuals possible in movie making today are wonderful.

Blade: Trinity that’s for me. I’m the Sci-Fi nut. I haven’t seen a Blade in the theatre yet, so I’m looking forward to making Frank go to see it with me ;)

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So then there are some movies out now that are possibilities … The Incredibles is one. So that’s that for now.

Holiday and Traditions

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This week is a holiday week in our home, as it is for so many in the US. But for us, it’s a double-holiday on the same day, Victoria turns Six on the 25th. This is part and parcel of life for us since her birth, with her being born the evening before Thanksgiving Day, her birthday is right smack on Thanksgiving every few years, and right before or right after depending on the placement of the last Thursday of November. Not only that then, exactly one month to the day later, it’s Christmas Day. So Victoria’s birthday is a count-down-beginning time of sorts in our household.

I’ve felt bad for birthday people born around Christmas … it’s tough. I know of people born much closer of course, and Victoria, on “schedule” would have been born the first week of December. Oh, the feel bad and tough part is only how the whole year is empty for them, and then Christmas and birthday crammed upon one little segment of the year.

Why do I feel like that? Two things remind me of it:

1. My birthday is in July and it was perfect placement, IMO all my young life. I never had to go to school on my birthday, and it was practially mid-point of the year between Christmases.

2. I know that when we have week after week of nothing fun to do outside of the house, suddenly invites and times to do something somewhere else all pop up for the same weekend or the same day, and some thing has to be turned down… if only these things would iron themselves out to not clog up one time space, but spread out a few weeks to allow liberal time to be spent at home and out doing in leisure, instead of feeling cramped and missing out on things, and whirlwinding it every so often, and total downtime the rest of the month or two until the next whirlwind time.

These two items have given me empathy for the last part of the year birthed ones. Silly, yes. Silly? No not really though. For I see how tough it is in our home to distinguish between birthday and Christmas gifts for our daughter, like she gets two stages of Christmas, a month apart. I don’t mean for it to be that way, but it’s the way it ends of feeling, for to get her something nice for her birthday and then something nice for her for Christmas is hard on the other children, I see how they see it. They can’t parse it out as adults and see that in other parts of the year THEY get that special birthday stuff. I do see it though that it’s a blank year with a birthday and Christmas just a month apart.

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