If you do this, pictures are a must!

Although we normally host Thanksgiving, this year my brother is instead. They're deep frying a turkey, so I'm interested to try that. I brine mine... I'm not a big turkey person but brining takes out a lot of the dryness and adds some good flavor.

My favorite dessert to do: pumpkin creme brulee. Yum. My husband doesn't like creme brulee and my friend doesn't like pumpkin, but both loved it. Delicious.

I also usually make a colorful salad- watercress & butter lettuce with feta, pomegranate arils, sliced pears, and candied walnuts with a pomegranate vinaigrette. I may try to bring that this year too.

Mmmm my uncle deep fried one at a family get together once and it was amazing! I wish someone would do that again

Tomorrow: Thanksgiving dinner chinese-style (wtf?) at fiance's dads.
Thursday: My parents' at 2 (this is the real deal as my mom is an amazing cook), his mom's at 5.
Saturday:Thanksgiving/early Christmas with fiance's step-grandparents.

I should have stopped eating yesterday to prepare.

When I opened my butterball turkey, I was pleasantly surprised to find a gravy packet inside along with the usual stuff. One less thing I have to shop for.

I'm picking up 2 fruit trays: 1 for my fam and 1 for his fam.

I want fruit as an alternative for those of us who want something sweet but don't want to eat the desserts.

I wanted Edible Arrangements because I'm in love and damn near obsessed with Edible Arrangements. I wanted some chocolate covered pineapples and so forth. However, I'm not spending that darn much when I can just buy a fruit tray. Maybe I can get some dark chocolate in there.

Did any of you hear Coolio's take on it? He added some...different things to the relish. Funny!

I'm doing potluck at a friend's new place (her first time hosting Thanksgiving), so I'm bringing spinach gratin and string beans w/ shallots (I LOVE Ina Garten!). I called her this morning to see what she needed--she's making a ton of desserts and meat, so I am in charge of veggies. Munchkin's throwing down tonight!

So we had a Thanksgiving-style dinner at one of my sister's on Sunday - also a birthday celebration because she's going to be out of state on my bday (which is Friday). I actually had an appetite on Sunday and the food was scrumptious!

I'm now counting down til tomorrow's actual Thanksgiving at my other sister's house tomorrow. Hoping for another good appetite day because it would be such a waste otherwise!!! After the year of medical hell I have had, I am so thankful for everything in my life, and living another year past the statistical "median life expectancy" that the scientists have thrown out there.:p

Me too! She is the originator of my annual contribution to Thanksgiving - mashed turnips with crispy fried shallots!

First turkey dinner tonight! I'm bringing green bean casserole (and Jack n Coke). Also gonna wear a pink cocktail dress. YAY!

I'm baking zucchini bread and pumpkin pie as we speak :) Smells soooooooo good.

She loves using shallots! I think I bought Whole Foods out of shallots this afternoon because of her recipes!

A few weeks ago, I made her shrimp bisque, and added some secret ingredients for a more Cajun flavor.

Yummmmm! Edible Arrangements are welcome in my house any time. :) Meanwhile, there is no traditional Thanksgiving food that I like anymore. Fortunately, I will be avoiding a Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. Unfortunately, I won't be seeing my family. :(

My Table:

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(Yes, I know - coffee cups don't go on until dessert. Sue me.)

The Dinner:

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Duck Burgundy, Stuffing in a Pumpkin (it's actually a Golden Nugget squash - it was very tasty!), Green Bean Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, and Cranberry Sauce (brought by our guests). I also served cornbread muffins. I wish I had gotten a better picture. It's hard to see how cute the squash is.

The Dessert:

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Pumpkin Pie Crepes

We had a nice dinner. It was interesting because while my husband was the only native Spanish speaker, the rest of us were fluent as well, so our conversation changed back and forth from Spanish to English.

Also, fun memory of the day: Somehow when I had my oven loaded with the stuffed squash, duck and sweet potato casserole, I managed to set my oven on fire (something dripped onto the heating element. My husband goes running at the fire with the canister of salt and I start yelling "OMG THE FOOD!" and he turns around and looks at me and says "Do you want to save the food, or your house?". Turns out, we were able to save both. :D

Muy bonita!

And good work, saving the house! Somebody on the next street lost their deck to a turkey fryer.

We will be having tonight:

Deep Fried Turkey (for everyone but me)
Roasted Ham (for everyone but me)
Green Bean Caserole
Corn Pudding
Sweet Potato Caserole
Rolls
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
my special cranberry relish
my special stuffing
cherry pie
pumpkin pie
and some kind of apple salad dessert thing my mother in law is making

Thus, if one is hungry after all of the above, it is their own damn fault! :)