Thanksgiving Eve, aka Food Prep Wednesday

Today, the day before Thanksgiving, was spent getting all the food preparation done. Some families live for Black Friday shopping. We delight in Food Prep Wednesday. It's become a bit of a familial challenge to see just how much we can get prepared on Wednesday without sacrificing flavor. This year has been pretty successful, if I do say so myself. Tomorrow's menu looks something like this:

• Honeybaked ham
• Smoked turkey breast
• Bacon-wrapped green bean bundles
• Roasted Brussels sprouts
• Cornbread dressing
• Crock pot mashed potatoes
• Marshmallow topped sweet potatoes (brought by guests)
• Cranberry sauce (brought by guests)
• Yeast rolls
• Individual pumpkin cheesecake pies
• Nutella fudge

Between me and my sister in the past 18 hours, we have steamed the green beans, mashed and seasoned the potatoes, made extra cranberry sauce because our guests are notoriously stingy when it comes to cranberry sauce, made a test batch of yeast rolls and then made another batch plus more dough to be baked tomorrow, and completely prepared the pies and fudge. For those keeping track, that means all that's left to make from start to finish is the dressing and the Brussels sprouts. Those two dishes are Mom's to make.

Reward for such miraculous completion? Relaxation tomorrow morning. I will sit back with a mimosa or cranberry cocktail or whatever else I decide to drink and enjoy every second of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Broadway musical performances that are featured before the parade makes its way to Macy's. Spoiler: the musicals are my favorite part. My family teases me endlessly because I actually turn into an excited child.

How about a few pictures from today?!

Test batch of the yeast rolls rising

RIP Test Batch. You were delicious.

They were particularly delicious with Nutella.

Bubbling dough for tomorrow during its first rise

Cranberry sauce simmering away, and Sis's adorable individual pies in the back

Happy Thanksgiving to the Americans!

Crescent Roll FAIL

I had incredibly high hopes for my Artisan Bread in 5 to make delicious and beautiful crescent rolls. After all, the authors made lovely ones, so why couldn't I?!

Yeah... let's just say it was pretty clear the crescent roll deities were against me on this one.

Rolled out and sliced. This is about the point I started noticing the dough was really sticky and that each sliver would sort of rise when I sliced it.

Of course, rather than be discouraged, I pressed onward, brushing each of the slices with olive oil and sprinkling them with Italian seasoning.

And that's as far as I got with crescent rolls. I stretched and rolled three slivers and they were perhaps the ugliest approximations of crescent rolls I have EVER seen. With my sticky doughy hands, I wasn't able to take any pictures of the little roll-monsters and to be honest, it's probably a good thing. It might have scared people off of bread.

Instead, the three roll-monsters and the remaining slivers got balled up and stretched into a standard bread in 5 boule:

It sat to rise, baked for the required 30 minutes, and came out of the oven smelling absolutely delicious and Italian seasoning-y. 

Just look at that crumb! No lie, I've been staring at the full-sized version of that picture for a good two minutes drooling. Sis and I claimed this loaf as our own and destroyed it over the course of the day. It was wonderful with butter.

Tomorrow I might try dinner rolls to see if that has better results. I think part of my issues stem from the ridiculous weather we've been having. We've had rain, rain, and more rain, and though my boules have turned out better than any I've made before, the dough is super sticky. I did thoroughly enjoy the Italian seasoning though. Next time I think I'll toss in some garlic too. Mmm garlic.

Thankful Post #2

Yesterday I was thankful for my family. Today I'm thankful for my alone time because sometimes the family can be a little too overwhelming.

We went to brunch this morning and after that, I kept to myself for much of the afternoon working on a few of the projects that I have going. The Roses cross stitch kit has been washed and dried. Tomorrow it'll be ironed. Today is its future owner's birthday, so she got a lovely picture of it and is insanely enthusiastic about it, which is always a good feeling.

I mixed up a batch of the master recipe and made a loaf of bread from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipe book this afternoon too. If you haven't tried it and have an interest in making bread, try this book. I've tried everything from sourdough to sweet breads to yeast breads and nothing was ever as satisfactory as I wanted it to be. The AB5M technique is so incredibly easy and makes delicious breads. And my favorite part is that you're not limited to the recipes in the book. The writers run a blog where they post new variations on the recipes from their books. I've made breakfast bread cups with egg and cheese and several different styles of loaves to great success. Tomorrow I'll be testing a crescent roll recipe from the blog in preparation for Thanksgiving.

When I wasn't working on projects or making bread, I was enjoying my own company. I'm a rather solitary, independent person. I like being around people and am quite social when I want to be, but I love being alone. I like to let myself get lost in thought. I like to plot out new adventures or projects to try. Being alone lets me take stock of how I'm feeling physically, mentally, and emotionally. I woke up this morning and knew I was going to need alone time today, so I made sure to set aside the time I needed to recharge.

I'm thankful that I have the means to give myself enough "me time" to stay sane and that I surround myself with people who respect my boundaries and my need for alone time.