Hi people I’m back.  Sorry I haven’t written in a while.  I just got a break from school.  This Thanksgiving my family hosted a party so that many of our friends could get together.  A lot of work went into the meal.

Before we could even think about having a party we had to butcher some turkeys, two to be exact.  WeThree lucky turkeys left raised 13 turkeys from chicks and are really proud of our birds.  Cathy (who works for us) used a really big knife and unlike Mom who just chops off their heads Cathy slits their necks and lets the blood drain out, a more humane way to deal with them.  Cathy also plucks their feathers in the kitchen sink after scalding them in hot water.  It’s Mom that does the cooking. Mom cooked the turkeys two different ways—she roasted one in the oven and she smoked one on the grill.

For the party Mom and I baked a lot too.  The day before Thanksgiving Mom and I made pies.  One of the pies was an apple pie with a top crust.  The other was pumpkin.  I got to decorate the pumpkin pie.  I used really little cookie cutters to cut leaf and acorn shapes out of dough, and arranged them on the pie crust. I also baked some of the cutouts separately so I could place them on the pie when it was done otherwise the cutouts would sink into the pie!  All my hard work sort of went to waste  – we gave one pie to Silvia (our terrific housekeeper and friend – this wasn’t the waste part) -  it was Max, our seventy-six pound poodle, he saw pie and went to town.  He ate the center out of it when no one was looking!

Mom and I also baked a cake. We made a sour cream pumpkin cake with streusel in it.  That cake was Bad Maxone of the best cakes I could ever hope to try.  Mom and I whipped butter cream icing to go on the cake. I also put some candied ginger on it too. Then, I made one of my favorite things - whipped cream! – to add to everything!

At the party Patrizia, Dad’s Italian teacher, and her daughter Sofia brought Dad his favorite candy—red candy (or at least that’s what I call it) – from Italy.  Damien, Patrizia’s friend who is French, made French potato salad (Damien claims to be an expert in all things potato). I personally didn’t like the potato salad but the other people seemed to like it a lot. 

Mrs. Marshall, my godmother, brought in two of Mom’s corn puddings (we didn’t have enough room in our oven to cook everything so Mrs. Marshall cooked it for us). Corn pudding is one of our family’s favorite dishes.  Every summer we buy several bushels of corn at the height of the season and shuck it and scrape the kernels off the cob.  Then we pre-portion and freeze the corn for special meals.  We save the corn for holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas to remind us of summer.  And Mrs. Marshall made a pumpkin pie to replace the one Max ate. 

Vincent, Mrs. Marshall’s friend, made some yummy Brussels sprouts that were cooked in chicken broth with butter and garlic.  Vincent said that you couldn’t use too much garlic that’s why I can smell it in my room upstairs. 

And last, but never least – our good friend -  Kate!  Kate brought her famous onion gratin.  One unlucky, yet delicious birdUnfortunately, she had to leave her husband, our carver of roasts and birds, home because he was sick.

The party was so much fun—most of my friends were there and all of my family was there.  And isn’t that what Thanksgiving is about—spending time with your friends and family and being thankful that they are with you.
  
Peace to ya, Farm Girl