Happy Thanksgiving Day

 NOT just another day, this one.  It was time for that amazing turkey meal!  As I mentioned, I was invited over to Kathy and Nick's house ... an awesome couple who donate even more time than me to the Elks Lodge.  They ran a catering business for many years, besides twelve other jobs at the same time.

Nick is also in charge of our local Honor Guard, providing services at the National Cemetery most every weekend.  Kathy is a whiz in the kitchen and she's a BIG help to me.  

We started the day socked in with fog.  You don't really think about it, but fog is just small droplets of water.  COLD water that soaks everything to the bone.  Shine a light on it and it looks like this.  The tiniest drops of water floating through the air.

Blow on it and it moves like syrup.  I hated fog on the ranch.  Every time we went out to check the cattle, we came back soaking wet and freezing cold.  Even the horses stayed in the barn.  Cooper and I did the same thing, and I even turned the heat up!

When the fog lifted, it finally showed the first signs of fall.  At long last the trees are turning colors.  Of course along with that comes the gazillion leaves on the ground, now soggy and wet.  I'm leaving that to the gardener.

At long last it was time to head on over to the House of Food.  There sits Kathy's famous raspberry pie.  I just can't believe how fabulous her pie crust is.  I finally asked for her recipe.  She pulled the Marie Callenders pie box out of the garbage.  Now that's MY kind of girl!!!

That turkey?  It's gorgeous!!  There was a slight problem however ... something akin to MY cooking.  She looked up the FDA website to see how long to cook it.  It said 3-1/2 hours.  She put it in at 9:30.  When I got there, we were discussing when it was going to be ready to come out of the oven.

When her sister and I asked how BIG it was, she proudly stated 20 pounds.  Ummm Kathy ... that's going to take 5-1/2 hours to cook, not 3-1/2.  That's a "Nancy" if I ever saw one!!  She got out some chips and dip while we chatted on the patio for the next two hours.  

No problemo ... I had all day ... and when it came out of the oven, it was worth the wait.

Here we go ... mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole that I love, gorgeous turkey and some amazing stuffing.  I of course asked for THAT recipe too.  That was met with a HUGE laugh.

Okay .. what's your secret!  She had cooked some sausage the night before and crumbled it into the Stove Top Stuffing mix.  That and a tiny bit of turkey juice along with the required amount of water and VOILA!!  A mighty tasty stuffing.  How easy is THAT?

I cleaned this plate so well you could eat off it again.  I really think food tastes better if you are NOT the cook.  It was delicious!  We spent the next two hours cleaning up the kitchen before heading back out to the patio for a glass of Brandy.  I passed on that one.

It being much later than expected, I knew Cooper would have his legs crossed, so I headed on home.  I have to admit, it was one of the best Thanksgivings I've had.  It's so much nicer with company!!!

So TODAY, I'll be cooking up MY Thanksgiving dinner.  Since my oven never heats up to the correct temperature, I think it will take a while ... hopefully not 5-1/2 hours.  I'm using the temperature probe this time so I don't get it wrong.

WISH ME LUCK!!  I hope it turns out HALF as good as yesterday's dinner!  Oh ... and that pie?  I have the Dutch Apple special made by Marie hanging out in my oven as I type!!