Thanksgiving... Plans, Recipes and a Memory

We're getting ready for our trip to western Massachusetts to share Thanksgiving with 25 friends and family members. It should be a wild time. Our hosts are taking care of the turkey, stuffing and gravy, and everyone else is bringing something. We are bringing our two specialties: Garlicky Cranberry Chutney and Green Beans with Roasted Onions. I'll share them with you. I wish I could have photographed them, but onions won't be beaned until the day and the flash made the chutney look like red jello.

Garlicky Cranberry Chutney

This recipe was featured on Vermont Public Radio several years ago. It is zippy and fantastic on turkey sandwiches. Can be made a few days ahead.

1 inch cube fresh ginger, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled, finely chopped
1/2 C apple cider vinegar
4 T sugar
1/8 t cayenne pepper (start with half this amount and gradually add to taste; we only use about half but we have very potent spices)
1 pound can jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 t salt
freshly ground black pepper

Cut ginger into paper thin slices, stack slices together and cut into very thin slivers. Combine ginger slivers, garlic, vinegar, sugar and cayenne in a small pot. Bring to simmer. Simmer on low to med flame about 15 minutes or until 4 T of liquid remains, excluding solids. Add cranberry sauce, salt and pepper. Mix and bring to simmer, simmer 10 minutes (will be lumpy). Cool. Put in jar and refrigerate overnight, at least. Lasts several days. Makes two cups.

Green Beans with Roasted Onions

This is elegant, so tasty, and much healthier than grandma's green bean casserole. The green beans are enhanced with buttery, slow-roasted onions that have been stirred into a sweetened vinegar sauce. We make the onions a couple of days ahead and refrigerate until needed.

Nonstick vegetables oil spray
6 medium onions (about 2 1/2 pounds), peeled, each cut vertically through root end into 12 to 14 wedges
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
2 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
3 pounds slender green beans, ends trimmed

Preheat oven to 450°F. Spray 2 heavy large baking sheets with vegetable oil spray. Arrange onions in single layer on prepared sheets.
Dot onions with 4 tablespoons butter, dividing equally. Season with salt and pepper. Bake until onions are dark brown on bottom, about 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil broth in heavy large skillet over high heat until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 6 minutes. Add sugar and vinegar and whisk until sugar dissolves and mixture comes to boil.
Add onions to sauce; reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until liquid is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over low heat before continuing.)
Cook green beans in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain well. Return beans to same pot. Add remaining 2 tablespoons butter and toss to coat. Mound beans in large shallow bowl. Top with onion mixture and serve.
Serves 12.

I was nearly despondent at the prospect of no turkey leftovers (I usually host Thanksgiving), so Saturday I'm cooking a dinner here for the three of us and my mom. It just won't seem like Thanksgiving if I don't eat leftovers for a minimum of three days and make a soup. Since I've been brining my turkey though, everyone has been going back for seconds on turkey and leftovers have been scarce.

Finally, a Thanksgiving memory...

During my first marriage in the early 90s, I was setting the table for Thanksgiving and dinner was nearly ready. I leaned over the table not realizing I was so close to a lit candle. I noticed I had caught the back of my sweater sleeve on fire. I thought, "If I pat it, it will go out," but what I succeeded in doing was fanning the fire across my back and to the other sleeve. Now, our house was a small log home with an open concept living, dining and kitchen area. I barely had room to drop to say nothing of rolling, but I was calmly working out a strategy. By now, my mother, who was sitting in the living room noticed something amiss and asked nonchalantly, "Are you on fire?" She's a native Vermonter... a true Yankee, and they don't get excited about much, including inflamed kinfolk. I grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around me, smothering the flames. Surprisingly, the sweater wasn't damaged. It only burned the fuzz and pills off, however, I don't recommend this rather foolhardy approach to pill removal. I also don't recommend lighting your candles until the table is ready.

Have a happy and safe Thanksgiving, everyone! I'll be back starting Monday (unless I get inspired before then) with lots of Christmas preparations, recipes and frugality. Nothing says festive like Christmas in Vermont.

Thankful for the little things.

I don't have much time to write, since I've dealing with Pipsqueak's stomach virus since 10 o'clock last night. In this week of being thankful, I thought I would at least mention that today I'm very thankful for my washer and dryer, a good spray carpet cleaner and ginger ale. Sometimes it's the little things that get us through the day.

I hope to be back tomorrow with a fantastic Thanksgiving recipe, but I'm feeling slightly queasy myself. I hoping it's psychosomatic due to the power of suggestion and sensory overload.

Of course, I'm weird...

... isn't everyone? I guess we all have our eccentricities, but not everyone embraces them like I do. I've always enjoyed being different (even in high school when it just wasn't cool to be different) and strive to be. Being a little weird gets you noticed, and as long as you're not too weird, it can draw people to you.

And now for a tag: Selena tagged me, and while I usually don't post tags, memes and awards, this one attracted me because it is about being weird. (I don't normally post them, because I fear that it will repel people rather than attract them.)

Rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. (C'mon, embrace your weirdness.)
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

7 weird facts about me that you might not know:

1. I obsessively apply hand lotion, maybe ten or more times a day. Every time my hands get wet, I use lotion.

2. When I left my first husband, I moved out while he was at work and left him a note. It may seem cowardly, but it was what worked for me at the time. I didn't take much, so it wasn't like he came home to an empty house. The knowledge of this fact may keep my current husband on his toes, not that he has anything to worry about.

3. I self-correct my grammar when I speak. I will sometimes say the same thing over the correct way when I make a mistake. I loved grammar in school. I can still remember a little bit about diagramming a sentence. This doesn't mean that I want you to leave me comments pointing out all my grammatical mistakes.

4. I have watched The Young and The Restless since it started in 1973 (I was 8 years old). When I was in school, I only watched during vacations but my mom watched and told me what happened. When I was working, I took my lunch hour during the show and went to my mom's house to watch it.

5. I love to alphabetize things. My CDs and LPs are in alphabetical order by artist, my DVDs by title, even my spices are in alphabetical order. My books used to be, but now I have too many so they're organized by genre and/or author.

6. I hope to observe an autopsy someday. If I was 18 again, I would definitely go into that line of work. I'd never want to be a doctor of live people though. I couldn't stand all the complaining, and I would find all that bedside manner stuff to be tiresome. I also wouldn't have to worry about my patients suing me for malpractice if I did autopsies.

7. I love the smell of cow manure. I don't think it smells bad at all... just sort of fresh and grassy.

I am tagging Kitt, Ellen, Molly, Allison, Laurie, Amy and Becky. If you don't want to do this, you will not receive bad luck, and I will keep reading your blogs and making comments. And if I didn't follow every rule, may the meme gods not strike me down.

Once in a Lifetime Opportunity

Have you always wanted to own your very own firetruck? Perhaps Junior has asked for a firetruck for Christmas? Here's your chance. And it's a ladder truck!! Could come in handy for cleaning those second story windows or getting that pesky cat out of the tree for the umpteenth time. You'd have no trouble getting through rush hour traffic. The handy uses for this purchase are endless. I'll bet you could get a great discount on homeowners' insurance if you owned your own firetruck. I vaguely remember growing up that someone in our neighbor drove a used hearse, but this would have that beat.

Long Time, No Thrift?

It's been a long time since I done a thrifting post, but I'm out there regularly looking for good deals.

One day, I came upon lots of craft supplies. Either someone had given up crafting or had died, because there was a lot of stuff. Mostly, I grabbed jewelry making supplies which were a steal at 50 or 75 cents each. I also picked up some colored pipe cleaners, glitter glue and glow-in-the-dark fabric paint.

The same day I found this great fabric. It's really soft, but sturdy. The swirls are silver. I think there are a couple of yards. I was thinking of making a bag or a pillow from it, but there might be enough for both.

I've been looking at glassware a lot on my thrifting expeditions. I'm trying my hand at glass painting. I can't feel too badly about designs that don't come out well when I'm only spend 25 or 50 per glass. (I'll write more on this another time.) But while looking at glass, I found this antique utility pole insulator. I've been wanting one for a long time, but have only found chipped ones or boring clear glass. This one was in mint condition and in a color I adore. It was only $2, which was cheaper than I usually see the damaged ones.

Most of my thrifting time is spent looking at clothes, but my recent results have been spotty. I did find this Barbour wool hat, that looks brand new. It didn't photograph well. The flash made it look shiny, but it was too dark for natural light. It's a beautiful olive green. At $8, it was a little pricey by thrift standards, but when I looked it up on line and found out they retail for about $125, I had no buyer's remorse.

My best find recently didn't come from a thrift store, but from one of those discount surplus or overstock stores. Pipsqueak saw this coat and got all excited about it. It's a Rothschild and 100% wool. The price tag was $32, which I really didn't want to pay. I noticed a small spot on the shoulder, so I thought they might discount it a bit. Then I noticed the signs up in the clothing department. All clothing was 50% off the ticket price. At $16, I tossed it my cart, spot by damned. At the checkout, the clerk and I had the following dialogue:

Clerk: This has a spot.

Me: I know, but it's 50% off, right?

Clerk: Yes, but it has a spot.

At this point, she called the manager over who offered the "damaged" coat at $9. Of course, I said yes. It was hard not to do a happy dance right there in the store. The spot came out with a Tide-to-Go pen, and on-line research revealed that Rothschild coats retail for $125 and up.

Tomorrow, Pipsqueak has a dentist appointment right around the corner from my favorite thrift store. The prospect of a hunt will fill my dreams tonight.

Updates

It occurred to me that I had a few things on which to update you. Not that you're sitting there on tenterhooks wondering what's going on with me, but you may say, "Oh yeah, I remember that."

My pickles came out a little on the salty side, but otherwise had good flavor. I would like them more crispy, too, so next year I'll do the ice water soak and cut down on the salt.

My garden was an overall success with few failures. The green peppers and the beets didn't do well. Next year, I need to use more fertilizer. The yellow thing did become a pumpkin, but it was much darker orange than the other pumpkins.

I finished my other sock. They are so comfy and cozy. Now I'm rushing to finish a pair for Sweetie and a pair for Pipsqueak for Christmas. I'm just turning the heel on the first one for Sweetie and closing the toe on the first one for Pipsqueak. The race is on!

I have reduced my use of bags, but I sometimes forget my reusables at home. My plan is to just leave some in the car, but when I use them, I have to remember to put them back in the car again.

I made the Chocolate Tart, which was delicious, but a little runny. I'm sure I can do better if I try it again. Chocolate recipes, especially, need a lot of research to get them just right. Don't you agree?

My sister-in-law is getting her second chemo treatment today. She's having chemo prior to surgery so they can monitor its effect on the the tumor. Great news! With only one treatment, her tumor has already significantly shrunk. She cut her long blond hair in a punk style and dyed it orange. She says she looks like the Heat Miser. I think she looks very hip. Since it's now coming out in clumps, she's going to take it all off soon.

I haven't had any heel pain in a couple of weeks. I'm still wearing my padding innersoles, but I think my heel has healed.

Consider yourself up-to-date. I'm sure you'll be able to sleep better tonight knowing how all these things turned out. Seriously, thank you all for reading and commenting. I love reading your blogs; you all inspire me. I hope we'll all have long and beautiful blog-lives together.

Just Can't Get No Satisfaction

When I make things, I'm usually never completely satisfied. It sometimes prevents me from finishing things. When I knit, I might make a stitch that looser than the rest or maybe one got twisted. Instead of looking at the whole project, I just look at that stitch that isn't right and it ruins the whole thing for me. When I paint, maybe a color isn't quite the shade I was hoping for or a part of the picture is a little too big or small. It just didn't turn out the way I pictured it in my head. When I bead, maybe a wire twist isn't smooth enough or a loop not tight enough. Even when I cook, I critique myself on taste, texture and presentation. I wish I could step back and say to myself, "Self, you did a really good job," but I can't. Sometimes I feel like I got it right, but it's rare.

I think this is hard wired in the brain and not learned. I see Pipsqueak doing this already... criticizing her artwork. I've been very careful not to voice my dissatisfaction with myself in her presence, I accept compliments of my work graciously, and I've always been complimentary of her work. Like me, she doesn't hate the whole thing, only a part of it. For example, she drew this picture the other day, which I thought was amazing for a 6 year old, and I told her that. She told me she didn't like the flamingo's wing fluffed up the way it is.

Are we different or is everyone like this? What about the masters? Was Beethoven happy with his symphonies? Was Michelangelo satisfied with the Sistine Chapel?