thankful

I am not going to write about how we all have so much to be thankful for.  But I am going to write about how great my Thanksgiving dinner was!  Two stuffings, a really delicious turkey with moist and flavorful white meat which I usually never eat.  Excellent cranberry sauce, silky mashed potatoes, brussels with bacon and delicious pumpkin pie, everyone was happy.  Gabe and Annie, Steve and Martha and me.  Small group, great food, relaxed, got to talk to each other without tons of people around, had good wine, no one drank too much and we all got leftovers.  Very nice.

Working at the inn in Healdsburg this weekend, there's a little family staying with us, a Mom and Dad and two sons and a daughter-in-law.  Possibly Russian, definitely at least Eastern European, and quite odd.  (No worries, I am sure they will never read this blog.  But then, there is that Eastern European Mafia thing.......)  Mom drinks only decaf with skim milk but after brewing an entire pot she only had about an inch of coffee in her cup and filled the rest of her cup with hot water.  Dad drinks green tea, uses the same tea bag for three cups, thrifty!  Son one has his own tea leaves, uses the hot water, eats an avocado for breakfast and the fritatta I cooked.  Son two eats without restraint, drinks nothing.  Daughter-in-law eats the fritatta and one piece of toast (none of the three bread eaters want butter) but spurns my fruit in favor of her own tangerine.  I was informed, politely, that daughter-in-law and son will leave early tomorrow morning to avoid french toast.  Son one might eat it as well as the Dad. Mother will only have scrambled egg whites. No toast. Fruit, perhaps.  Gosh.   At least there will be two other couples tomorrow morning who will be happy to have bacon and french toast and fresh fruit and coffee. 

Ah well..... who cares, really.  Come to a bed and breakfast inn and you get what they cook.  It was requested that I make poached eggs and whole grain pancakes.  Sorry, not on my watch.

This is the time of year that we all need to figure out what we spent on a turkey and wine and all the accouterments and then send that amount, or some amount, to a favorite charity.  Even me, with a depleted bank account, is sending some money to St. Anthony's Dining Room.  So come on, pony up, and give.  Just a little. Even ten bucks makes a difference.

OK, time to mind my turkey soup, which I wasn't going to make but I figured, "hey, free food!"  And the broth is friggin tasty. I think the key is browning the leftover bones and then deglazing the pan with white wine and letting it simmer very slowly for a couple of hours.  I will add sauteed garlic, fresh ginger, some hot peppers tomorrow, along with red pepper, snap peas, mushrooms and perhaps some rice and have dinner for several days.

Gorgeous weather.  Go for a walk.



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