Turkey day is almost here!

The turkey is thawing on the table in the back garden. It is v. cold, so this should be safe and a nice slow thaw.

Cornbread pan is ready for the first batches (for the Southern dressing. Katharine is taking care of the Yankee dressing, Auntie Karen) this evening!


We (the royal we. Or the schitzophrenic we.) have discovered that people here do not know what graham crackers are. The confusing thing about this is that Golden Grahams are familiar and available here... hmmmm. (and I insist that this word -- graham -- does have two syllables, not one! and it may even have three...) Since graham cracker crust is not an option, I am going to attempt to make crust with crushed tea biscuits for one pie and crushed shortbread for the other. Other things we have found: Carnation makes condensed milk (and it is sweet even though it doesn't say so); corn starch is the same thing as corn flour; 14 oz. equals 405 g; it is annoying that recipes call for portions of 'sticks of butter' when butter is inconveniently not sold in stick form; am not positive that will be able to locate yellow summer squash -- various people keep suggesting butternut squash, but this does not sound right to me; I may have to make some sort of attempt at pumpkin pie filling myself. Alternatively, I will not make tiny pumpkin chiffon pies at all. I don't think we are going to be short on food for the next three weeks.


In preparation for the beginning of the Feasting Season, E created (as usual) impressive dinner

last night of free-range chicken breasts, stuffed with garlic and butter and wrapped in streaky bacon (v. much like American bacon), pan cooked eggplant (aubergine, yeah whatever) with a mixture of worcester sauce, mushroom ketchup (amazing stuff!) chilis, olive oil and some other stuff that I missed, beans, potatoes AND a starter of giant mushrooms stuffed and baked with Brussels pate. I washed dishes in preparation for the beginning of the three-day cooking endeavour.


This evening (which begins at 4.23, since it is nearly dark at that time), I may make excursion to purchase Pyrex baking dishes and some pie plates...