Thanksgiving Evening

We had a wonderful day with family, food and friends.  Lunch at my sister's house for our "Turkey Cookoff."  I bake one, her husband fried one in the oilless fryer and everyone ate.

His turkey won, but mine had to be cooked with travel time calculated in, so it had time to get cold.  Not that it mattered: it was one delish turkey!  Take a look at how pretty it was still hot from the oven.  In fact, we transported it in the pot since this roaster is sturdy.  I can count on it to drip just a tad bit of gravy on the truck seat every time.  

We returned home (late) to find the house filled with smoke.....

I'd left the second turkey on to high and it was on the brink of blackness.  However, I managed to save the day.  Removed it from the electric oven, tossed the worst of the burnt parts, carved and placed on platter and refrigerated till almost time to eat.  Since my platters can be warmed in the oven, I didn't have to handle it again to warm it, so though it was falling apart, it still looked like turkey.

Cooked up the sides that I'd planned on Monday and posted here on Tuesday.  Added pies that another sister provided and dinner was on the table at 6 p.m.  Not bad considering all the obstacles and the number of grandchildren who seem to have no place to stand around except in the middle of my kitchen.  

And yes, I am very grateful that they were there!  Who better to get underfoot on one of the busiest cooking days of the year?  Darling, sweet little grandchildren.

So...on to other fun stuff.  I ran across this video last night and fell in love with the idea, the girl, the info.  I am not a fashion guru by any means, but I do like my scarves.  I just seem to wear them all the same way.  Well, no more!

Check out Wendy's Lookbook on www.youtube.com.  

Click here for 25 ways to wear a scarf

Isn't it just fun?  Did you take the time to see the videos with the narration?  She explains how to tie up the scarves as she slowly demonstrates each technique. Which is your favorite?

Thanksgiving Dinner

The boys and their families are all coming to our house on Thanksgiving for dinner.  This afternoon Richard and I sat down to "plan" the menu.  We're having our traditional turkey and all the trimmings.  Here's the menu:

photo from fotosearch.com/

Roast Turkey

Pork Roast with Gravy

Rice

Cornbread Dressing

Green Bean Casserole

Sweet Potato Bake

Buttered Corn

Rolls

Pecan Pie 

We're cooking everything from scratch, so after dinner and movie with Will's family tonight, we finished up the grocery shopping.  

The only thing left is to straighten up the house and make room for the extra table.  

Because everyone in our family likes our pecan pies, I thought I'd share the recipe with you.  A couple of notes: I use ready-made rolled pie crusts, and I toss everything into the food processor to blend, chop and mix all at once.  Easy peasy!

Photo from aarp.com/recipes/pecan-pie

Easy Pecan Pie

3 cups sugar

3 cups pecans

1 1/2 sticks butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 cup evaporated milk

3 eggs

2 rolled pie crusts

Chop pecans, mix all ingredients and pour into prepared pie crusts.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Makes two pies.

Louisiana Nursery Festival

We enjoyed a couple of hours at the Nursery Festival in Forest Hill.  Well, mostly we enjoyed visiting a few nurseries since the traffic was so backed-up on the highway that we finally gave up trying to get to the festival proper.  A couple of stops yielded a couple of fig trees, some blueberry bushes and some bedding plants for the flower beds.

Today we took some time to go to Moreauville to get a load of soil to amend the beds, and Richard planted the trees and blueberry plants.  The blueberry bushes have blooms and berries on them already, so we're pretty sure that we'll have a least a few berries this summer.

2011 poster from the La. Nursery Festival website

While outside, I checked the peach tree and saw that there are quite a few peaches on the branches.  Since peaches are my favorite fruit, I am very happy to see that my little tree is loaded down.  So, spring is shaping up and promises to become a fabulous summer.  Here's hoping that your garden and yard are doing so well.

Of course, giving up on going to the festival means we also didn't get to the arts and crafts booths.  I wanted to check it out, although we've been before.

Here's the link to the Louisiana Nursery Festival in case you're interested in seeing a few photos from past festivals.  I've also dropped in a photo of the 2011 festival poster.  The festival is a large one for our state and attracts visitors from all over the U.S. and even a few visitors from other countries.  It definitely is worth the trip to our beautiful state.

Richard and I decided to have lunch at Lea's Lunchroom as we were driving through Lecompte.  We had the delicious ham with rice and gravy, white beans, coleslaw and cornbread.  A filling lunch, that's certain, but we managed to share a slice of peach pie.  My favorite!  Click here to visit their website: Lea's Lunchroom.  If you're ever in central Louisiana around noon, make the quick drive to Lecompte for lunch, but save room for pie!