Suzanne and Steve were both eager for us to host the annual event since Cindi, the traditional host who LOVES cooking for large groups, is out of town. Steve assured me that I would have to do nothing. He and Suzanne would do everything!
As loyal readers are aware, these past two weeks have been anything but relaxing. After the recital on Sunday I was exhausted. I heard from Steve that he would be bringing over the turkey and cooking it here and would be putting it in the oven at 10am. Suzanne committed to making stuffing and pumpkin pie. The cynic in me knew that this was not an entire meal... that I was indeed going to have to participate and going to have to change my attitude about the whole "cooking and cleaning" thing. But how?
I was sitting at Weight Watchers, following the lecture on how to survive the holiday without overeating and I had an epiphany: I would cook all of Vince's favorite foods to thank him for being such a great husband. As Nancy was going over ways to make a green bean casserole have less points I decided to make a pecan pie. As Nancy talked about loading the plate with vegetables and turkey and going lightly on the side dishes, I decided to make Vince a flourless chocolate torte. As a member of the group talked about how she was going to not eat pie, I decided to make Willie his favorite cheese ball. I would then make the side dishes from Cooking Light magazine, but that it could actually be fun to surprise everyone with their favorite foods!
Wednesday I spent the day cleaning and cooking. It needed to be done. I buckled down and did the cleaning. With the place being way cleaner than anyone else who actually lives here would ever notice I began making the Torte. This is not nearly as difficult of an operation than I anticipated. The number of ingredients is minimal and the preparation, although it is an advanced technique, was not terribly overwhelming.
After sliding it into the oven I continued on by preparing my vegetables, rolling out my pie crusts and organizing my appetizer trays. Marina put together Willie's favorite cheese ball. She also made a jello salad using pomegranate seeds and other fresh fruits. She refused to read the directions. I didn't care. It's jell-o salad for heaven sake!
By eight that evening Vince was home and marveling at the desserts I had created. I was starting to get excited.
Once the dough was set out to raise, and Steve was putting the turkey in the oven, Suzanne picked me up to take me to Sharon's for Mimosas. Thanksgiving is Sharon's favorite holiday and she had about 8 plans laid out for her day. I was so glad she worked us in. Upon entering her home we found the orange press and fresh juice squeezed, ready for us. Sharon was baking a pumpkin and then stuffing it with the stuffing she was taking to the dinner she was attending. What an amazing concoction! What a beautiful presentation! She was so casual and refined, as always, blowing my mind with her cleverness.
After the tutorial she gave us on her pumpkin, Suzanne told her about the pumpkin pie she had made. "Oh, Alana that milk I got from your house was supposed to be evaporated not sweetened condensed, but I used it anyway." Sharon got a quizzical look. "Is that bad?" Suzanne said. In her standard logical well paced way, she informed us of the drawbacks of using any evaporated milk at all. She is an organic heavy cream girl herself. She then laid out the possible drawbacks of this method over the standard evaporated milk.
Suzanne and I looked at each other. Suzanne then looked out the window and took a deep drink.
I asked Sharon about the delicacies of making a flourless chocolate torte. What a fantastic teacher Sharon is! "Yes, that is right, very simple ingredients and not that many components. I usually use semi-sweet chips. Sounds great. Then you put it in the water bath in your oven, right?"
Suzanne and I looked at each other. Water bath? What the hell is a water bath? I then looked out the window and took a deep drink of my coffee.
Sharon assured us that both dishes would turn out great and not to worry. We headed home better for the morning with Sharon.
At home we continued with the cooking and preparing. The rolls were perfect. The turkey came out of the oven. The vegetables went into the oven. My dad called. Chaos ensued. Pitt the dog broke a platter. We continued cooking.
I told Suzanne to remember to take the sweet potatoes out from under the broiler. We both got distracted. Sweet potatoes caught fire.
 |
| Notice Flames Leaping from Oven |
With that, we sat and laughed and enjoyed one of the best Thanksgiving meals we had had in a long time. It is not that meals at Cindi's are not great or fun...they just work out perfectly every time... There is no dramatic build up to make them exceptional.
After eating we cut into the pumpkin pie. Exceptional, even with sweetened condensed milk.
We cut into the Flourless Chocolate Torte. Exceptional, even without having been cooked in a water bath.
 |
| Sweet Potato Foster |
For my friends at the WW...just so you know, if you make a flourless chocolate torte and cut it into 8 slices each slice comes to 21 points. If you bake a pecan pie each slice comes to 17 points. Thanks for the inspiration
No comments:
Post a Comment