Thanksgiving Week...

Nastia wanted Sean to try Kotleta. Orginally it was going to be Wednesday night. With everyone working and all it was decided that Kotleta would be Sunday night.

I thought about preparing things for Nastia to cook them when I remembered my job was having a bring a dish to celebrate Thanksgiving on Wednesday. So I decided to start making a black bottom pie. It's a bit of a job to make and like pin wheel cookies it is made once a year and usually around Thanksgiving or Christmas. Last year I bought it to The Crystal Spoon for Christmas. I got into the kitchen early, turned on so 80's music that just sounded right and began to make the pie for Wednesday. Nastia came home from work and a little while later Sean arrives. I asked Nastia to start helping to make the kotleta right away. She complaines that she just got home from work and needs some time. I ask her what do you think I do during the week when I get home? That didn't make much of an impression on her because her and Sean went upstairs and didn't come down for a while. I did go upstairs to find out when they were coming down. I was noisey, but I guess they didn't hear me. What I saw when I knocked on her door was PG, but they need to be a little more aware of who's coming up the stairs.

Eventually they do come down. I'm mostly done with what I was going to do with my pie and a little while later I open the vodka and pour it and some lemonade over ice. I'm drinking and I'm talking and you know loose lips and all. I'm joking about stuff. Nastia has a small glass of vodka and lemonade and I notice the only person cooking is Sean. Well, I guess he did want to learn how to make them. I dump some pierogies in boiling water others I fry. My big mistake is using the oil I used to fry the kotleta in, making the pierogies look burned and a little dirty.I must remember to not be cheap with the oil and never do that again. To make it as Russian as possible we even have beats. I will also warm up a little broccoli in case someone wants it. Nastia and Sean do most of the cooking. Dinner is very good. Everyone is stuffed afterwards. I don't think there was a dessert.

That was Sunday. Wednesday was the celebration of Thanksgiving at work. I make the black bottom pie to show off. I admit it. I'm vain and I love it when someone comes by, asks if I made something then they say they love it. There's not much better then that. I spend an hour and a half making the vanilla rum cream topping on Monday to be sure it is done for Wednesday. I bring it in to work and everyone is impressed. Though I do bring three quarters of it home that night. It is a very rich dish and you can only eat small slices. Several people did complement me. And I gave myself an other gold star for making one of just a few home made dishes for the celebration. Let's see what can I make for Christmas? There is a large amount of Italian's working there maybe Manicotti?? I'd need a crock pot to keep it warm. I'm thinking about it, really hard...

Thanksgiving. I spoke to my mom earlier in the week. She'd been invited to Billy's for Thanksgiving. It is a large group of people she barely knows and I told her if she didn't want to go she could come over mine and Teri's house. I always invite her late and she is always going over to Lynn and Eric's. It's all my fault. I admit it. Wednesday night I find out Eric and Lynn have Covid. There are ok, but Thanksgiving has been cancelled. I asked my mom if she wants to come over since it is cancelled. She said she and Bruce will have some turkey together. She'd cook it up and bring some over to Eric and Lynn. Dennis is home from school and he could come and get it I tell her. She said Eric was going to maybe drive his truck over and she might put the turkey in the back of it. Whatever happened she promised to stay far away from Lynn and Eric. Our dinner is scheduled for 2PM, with it possibly being a Muller 2PM time. Now in the past I have discussed Muller time and I have still not patented it. So it is still out there for you to aquire it, rename it and call it your own. Teri made a spot Saturday for the turkey to defrost in the refrigerator for four days. She put it in on Saturday afternoon and on Thursday morning she takes it out and it is still frozen in spots (Muller time it is) She runs copious (abundant in supply) amounts of water over it trying to free the neck and the gizzard still frozen in place like mastodons in the tundra. In past years I've detailed how my mom would use these parts and make a simple broth out of them to baste the turkey. And like every year (about 20) Teri has cooked these items have been thrown away in favor of chicken broth. Many years ago I gave up any thought of fighting for what my mom did and let her do what hee mom did. I have to admit her mother makes a mean stuffing. And now she does.

I know some of you must know this, but I didn't. Stuffin is inside the bird, dress is outside of the bird. I prefer stuffing 10-1. Teri goes through the process her mother used to do. It starts with toasting the bread, soaking it in milk and onion soup mix. Mixing it with browned breakfast sausage. The real large roll, not the puny one and not the precooked one. This is the large raw, uncased ones. Mix it together add some spices, which I've forgotten because I haven't made it in many years and then stuff the bird. Always stuff the bird. It best when it's stuffed. Because the turkey was still a little frozen, it was Muller dinner time (3:30) I decided to watch 'My Fair Lady' while the turkey cooked. Every so often I'd ask if she wanted help, she mostly didn't until I sat back down and continued the show, you know how it is. Dessert is the left over black bottom pie and an apple pie that work gave out. Nice touch work. Another nice touch is work is closed on Friday as well as Thanksgiving. I think I like my job. Sean came over after dinner. He went for a walk with Elena, Nastia and Jessica (both of their friend, not the one with the son) after that they all went upstairs and I'm writing this at 11:53 Thanksgiving night. I'm sitting in the chair instead of working from the dinning roon table and boy does my back regret it. Day one of my fist four day weekend in several years is just about at an end. I forgot Sean is sleeping over again. Teri keeps saying, she thinks he's the one. I don't think about it, I'm not ready to lose Nastia just yet even though she has started ignoring me for him, so I guess I'm being eased into it. Can it really be just 31 days until Christmas??? I sware it was just September yesterday. /