Gobble Gobble

We had a pleasant Thanksgiving weekend with no major disagreements, other than a marginally heated discussion on Thanksgiving night with my Dad and Charley about undocumented immigrants, where Diane and I had rather different feelings about the issue from the two of them.

We met my Mom's four new kittens...Kanga and Roo, who were adopted in mid-September, and Huckle and Baker, who are a few weeks younger and adopted at the end of September. They're adorable, as kittens are, and it's really nice to see the four of them getting along so well, even though they're from totally different litters, and three are girls, while Huckle is a boy. The four kittens seemed to think that the bed where Cayne and I were sleeping was the best place to spend the night while we were there....being a new, exciting and unfamiliar space, and with two new humans.

We met with our photographer too, choosing the photos for our wedding album, which we'll get six or so months after we finally put the order in (which will be some time in January, after Cayne's Mom and Dad choose their album photos.)

I'm inheriting all of Mom's chocolate making supplies, which will be fun. She and I spent some time molding chocolates over the weekend, and going through the methods. I made a pair of chocolate feet, and some naked lady lollipops, with purple breasts and butts.

Thanksgiving menu included green bean casserole, a yummy jello mold with cranberry sauce, apples and walnuts, stuffing (with mushrooms, apples, onions and celery, though I wish I'd put more apples in it,) turkey with gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, fresh bread, cranberry sauce, broccoli, cauliflower, and for dessert, chocolate cake, apple pie, brownies, cookies, and an apple tart. It was a nice meal, family plus my brother's girlfriend (who should probably be counted among family) and Diane (one of Mom's grad students) and Charley (her boyfriend.) The evening ended with games-we played a few hands of "Bullshit" and some Rummy-O.

Friday we headed into the city to see "Fiddler on the Roof"-a gift from my Dad. Both Harvey Firestein and Rosie O'Donnell were disappointing, but especially Harvey, because he's so fantastic in so many other things. We took the oldest of my nieces and nephews along...Thomas is thirteen and was very excited to go.

Saturday we did our whirlwind tour of New Jersey, with stops in New Brunswick for lunch with aquariumgirl and her family, and visits to Montclair to see various friends and then down to Clifwood Beach to see "the mythical Chips" though our visit was sadly incomplete because there were soooo many people we didn't get to see.

Sunday we relaxed at home, watched some football, worked on chocolate and then headed back to Florida. Our flights both there and back were rather empty, which was kind of nice-we took a whole row and stretched out a bit more than usual. The whole weekend was filled with good Mom-cooking, stuff that while I know how to make, I just don't make here. A nice and pleasant visit with my family, though I'm still not looking forward to flying to Canada next month.

Still, it's good to be home.

As if I don't have enough communities already...

I was thinking about starting a new community.

I like to cook. I know a lot of my friends like to cook. But, like almost everyone, I sometimes have an ingredient around that I need or want to use (right now it's four potatoes that I had planned to use last week but didn't) and no inspiration or ideas. I could google away for potato recipes, but sometimes when I'm not looking with something in mind, it's rather futile to do that.

So, what I was thinking is that I'd like a community where I can go and post my primary ingredient, the kind of meal I'm planning on using it for (if I know), a few of my kitchen basics/staples, and my skill level, and then let people post recipe suggestions or favorite recipes of their own...rather than saying "Oh, just google it" or "that's what allrecipes is for."

Thoughts? Comments? Feel free to link to this discussion or crosspost it.

In the meantime, I'm going to figure out what to do with those potatoes.