Thanksgiving (Pandemic) Meal 2021

So here is a picture of my plate of food for Thanksgiving.

   

Big emphasis on plate of food. Since the pandemic has started, I have spent my holidays alone. So what is the use of cooking a big spread for Thanksgiving? I have gotten to the point that I will go get some food off the hot bar at Whole Foods now around the holiday. I refuse to cook a pot of greens, a pan of macaroni and cheese. Let's just say I am not doing anything that will keep me in the kitchen for too long. So I had some air-fried chicken, smoked sweet potato, green beans, collard greens, mac-n-cheese, and squash (looks like corn above). It was SOOO good. 

Now... I did make a pan of cornbread dressing. 

And that was made with a couple of pieces of cornbread from a local barbeque joint. So it was small, made in an 8 inch pan, and about 1/2 inch in height. Good enough. It was good, but I haven't made it in awhile. It was a light version, I suppose. I used chicken broth instead of cream of chicken/mushroom soup, so it didn't have that "umph" to it. Sigh. But it was my "cheat" for the holidays.

My sister was talking about coming over, because I understand that for whatever reason, she needs to make her rounds. People want to see the baby (Justin), so you know how that goes. She was really wailing hard about just wanting to stay home and have a day to herself, but she ended up going over to her father's house and staying for a hour or two. (This is what is called "showing your face").

I had to tell her that it was okay to want some time to yourself. Don't be afraid to have a low-key day to yourself. School has been stressing her out and she just wanted to sit and just be. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But I just about panicked when she said she may come my way still. This meant that I would have to share my lone plate of food. No ma'am. 

She didn't come over. 

So I ate my food and watched Soul Train on YouTube all day. And I think I did some writing, well, editing, really. This has become my pandemic holiday ritual, and for some reason it makes me very happy. 

Hopefully we will get back to "normal". Normal for my holidays is hanging all day with my sister and Justin. We cook nontraditional Thanksgiving food. I think we fried fish one year. And when she was away teaching, I spent some holidays alone. I find it best to plan my days to the hilt, and I have to admit that those have been some memorable holidays for me. I am very thankful for that. 

I worry about things going back to "normal". My workgroup is having a holiday party inside, but I freeze up at having to spend time with folks inside a closed space during this time. That seems like I will have to work on that post pandemic, and just not be afraid that I won't catch the virus. 

Ugh. 

I can't wait to get back to those days.  Someday in the future, we will talk about all this. Hopefully it will be a memory long gone. 

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving 2016

My First Taste of Thanksgiving 2016

So... 

I got to work early  (2 hours earlier than usual). And I have a slight attitude. I am like a young child who has been awaken a bit too early in the morning. I am a little listless. I should be okay by noon. We will see.

I am awaiting my assistant to finish weighing some samples so I can get started for the day.  This will take her awhile, and I know I can be a bit mean about things getting done quickly, so I have decided to just go sit somewhere and be quiet.

So before that, I went downstairs to another department to pay for some raffle tickets, as there is a mighty fine spa basket up for grabs from our yearly fundraiser. Me being a tomboy... I am only interested in the spa socks. But my best friend LadyTee (pictured here on my front porch)  is a girly-girl, and would really love this basket. It would make a fine Christmas gift (after I pick out what I want from it, of course).

Anyway, I arrived downstairs, and Sister J, who preached a mighty fine sermon the other day in her office (I posted about that last week), offered up some homemade  sweet potato pie.

Now she'd mentioned this before out in the parking lot. I was a bit perturbed because she'd blown her horn at me. Apparently I'd been stopped too long at a stop sign (I was trying to take pictures of the new construction/high rise. And there was NO ONE behind me at the time).

I felt better once I found out it was her... and once I found out about this pie.

And oh... how lovely was this pie.

First of all, I am a bit upset that the folks downstairs get to have nice refrigerators in their offices, while we up in the lab have to share big janky fridges that don't get cleaned as often as they should. We also have to deal with our lunches and condiments getting stolen. That's a whole 'nother story.

But that's neither here nor there.

That pie, though...

How lovely.

And look... there is stapler next to the pie.

I like the idea of the stapler being on top of the fridge. That way, one can get work done and get their lunch together all at the same time. This is good use of work  space and time.

Back to the pie, though.

She cut a huge piece, even though I wanted just a sliver. I didn't complain, though.

  I took it though. It was free. And free is always a blessing.

*church jogs in the corner*

Anyway, Sister J was proud of her pie.

I took a bite.

SOOOO good.

Even though it was too daggone early in the morning to eat sweets. I needed the pick me up, though.

"I made it with Stevia," she said.

"Really?" I replied.

I could hardly tell. And the pie was just right. I don't like my sweet potato pies all sweet and dripping with oil and butter. This was just right.

"It's my Grandma Mattie's recipe," Sister J added.

"I bet she didn't use no stevia in it."

"No she didn't. She said 'Pass me that domino sugar."

LOL.  Yes Grandma probably did say that!  

I promptly bought my raffle tickets for the spa basket. I went and  harassed spoke to Lady K in an adjacent office (she thinks she will win the spa basket. I THINK NOT)....

And I came on upstairs and ate my pie.

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I pinched off of it until it was all gone.

I tried my BEST to save it. Tried. It would've gone nicely with my salad for lunch. But it did not work out.

Sigh.

Good eating, though. Real good eating.

And I best get to learning how to use stevia in my desserts.

This is what I am thankful for today. The little things.

A good piece of pie and a good laugh.

Wait... that is much to be thankful for. 

The Monday After...

I went back to work after 4 days off.

I am feeling a bit... off. I think that's why I don't take too much time off. Sigh.

Alas, it is December! I hope you all got your eat on, got your shop on and all that. And oh yeah, I hope we all remembered to reflect and be thankful.

Like I said last week, I went to my sister's house for thanksgiving.

I am still full.

And that gal, she know she was cooking it up.

And here are a few pics.

First of all, she made my day by having liter bottles of my favorite Italian water available.

I can't pronounce that! But my sister knows I like water in glass. And she had to hear me go on and on about it.

"Water in glass," I said. "Nothing like it. Tastes great, absolutely no aftertaste. Water in glass!"

I said that with every sip. You would've thought that I was singing a song.

Heck, I didn't even have to eat anything. But I did.

So, I saw this sitting in the middle of the table:

I got excited. "Oh, we're having soup?"

"No," my sister said. "That's the pot roast. I was trying to keep it moist."

Oh yea, the pot roast. Keeping it moist. Under an inch of water. Ah yes.

And it worked. I had a little piece. It was good. And moist.

I made some cabbage. 

I bought it already shredded, and I added some sliced onions. I sauteed it, and it went super quick. Gonna try it again.

She wanted some of my favorite dish... the butternut squash, pear and cranberry bake. That was really good. (Is that a glass of brown liquor next to the beans?)

 The color was retained this time! Oh joy!

And her string beans were awesome. I took a container of that home and I've been eating them all weekend.

Dinner rolls!

Rice!

Beverages!

No brown liquor here... only tea and soda. The water in glass was for me... hence, it is NOT on the table.

A million dollar pie!

Go look up the recipe. The ingredients are something kin to condensed milk, whip cream and pineapples on a graham cracker crust. Sweet, but VERY good.

Double chocolate cake!

I've made that before.  My friend Dawn calls it the "Better than Sex Cake".

Humph. I am puzzled every time I hear my friend say that. It doesn't quite register. I guess she just REALLY likes chocolate cake. Really.

My sister said she wanted to make that cake. I asked if she needed a copy a recipe. It turns out she copied it from my Southern cook book a few years ago. 

That's it for our Thanksgiving dinner. She fried some chicken also. And she wanted some ham, but she didn't want to go buy a whole ham.  There was some sliced ham at the Whole Foods hot bar, so I got her a few pieces.

It's easier to buy a few slices than to buy a whole one. That was enough for her.

I also made some dressing.

I don't care to chop veggies for dressing for some reason... But here they are:

I do well when I lay everything out like that.  I think I chopped it up while watching the news.

Here is the dressing before baking:

 Here's the finished dressing.

That was super easy because I had two slices of cornbread in the fridge. I bought one leg quarter and boiled the hell out of it. I sauteed up some mushrooms, onions, peppers and celery and that was that. Super easy. It could have used a can of chicken broth, but it was very good.

I roasted some Brussel sprouts. 

Those didn't make it over to my sister's house, as I was eating those all morning long. Maybe next time!

All in all it was a good meal. My sister cooked a ton of food. I think she just wanted to cook. Nothing wrong with that. She had friends coming through, and she has her leftovers for the week. Good for her.

And good for me. I got all my veggies. And my water in glass.

And my sister got her "Cook on".

Most important of all... we spent time together.

And that's truly what matters to me.