The Laundry Pit

Pausing with my coffee here, as the kitchen work for today has begun.
Bushi is already cruising around, begging for things to be dropped and bestowed upon him, as he has come to find out that when I am in the kitchen, I'm usually working on something he'd like to get a bite of.

With only 3 of us this year, we are going for simplicity. We got a modestly sized turkey breast only, that thankfully most of the work has been done for me; no legs/wings, innards, neck, head, etc. A simple 8-or-so pound turkey that will require little interference from me once it's in the oven. I stuffed it with chopped apples- Granny Smith, Rome and Gala, sprinkled some ginger, thyme, rosemary and sage...and then drizzled some olive oil over the carcass and into the pan. Double-foil covered it, and it's now sitting in a 350 degree oven.

I'm trying something new; baking the yams in the skin- as that's how we have them the rest of the year, however on the pan with them are an acorn squash, halved, and a butternut squash, cut into manageable sizes. Some olive oil on the pan to keep the cut sides from sticking, and they'll go in for about an hour or so. I figure once they are all baked and tender, I'll scoop the flesh from both potatoes and squash, and then mash them together with some seasonings and some almonds, and that will be an interesting change from plain yams or candied yams. We'll have to see how that goes.

Logan prefers yellow sweet corn for her veggie, so we have some of that to steam, I picked up a round of Hawaiian sweet bread, and then I'm making up some simple stuffing with herbs. I have some of my Moscato from last night- though Tom finished his Chamay- and I haven't even thought about dessert, or if I want dessert.

Outside, though I had expected to wake to snow from all the forecasts, we instead woke to sporadic and scattered rainshowers, and it's cold and bleak and gray out, so we will be inside for most of today. I have proofed this morning's paper, and thankfully my banner was placed appropriately (whole other story there) at the top of the homepage for the paper....so my part of 'work' today is done, and we are going to move on to home improvement and organization strategies.

The living room will need to be re-arranged to allow for an out-of-the-way locaation for our tree, which we are going to a cutting party with our friends, the Rowlands, on the 7th. I'm hopeful to find something similar to what we've had the past 2 years; a white pine...but I know that may or may not happen-- where DO you find a white pine? I love the graceful drape of their needles and the willow-like spreading of the branches- seems to have a relaxed and graceful look about it that I prefer. We'll have to see what cutting comes when we go, I will be sure to take photos and blog about it when we return.

I've been absent from blogging of late, I will have to take time in the next week or so to elaborate more, however....let me just state that I'm thoroughly unsatisfied with my employer, the company, and my position, and my focus has been more on re-evaluating where I am in the scheme of things and where I need to be--- and thus, what I need to do to take care of how negatively I view my current work/job status. SO, with that focus has come other things; I'm not blogging, emailing or writing much due to feeling very disappointed and almost disgusted with the state of the paper and the online services division thereto.

Tom should be back from a quick errand momentarily, and I think I should probably head to a shower and find something besides my pajamas to have on for the remainder of today. I'm sure we will be doing phone calls and emails of Happy Thanksgiving as the day goes forward.