I am embracing room temperature.
Think of me as calling Room T. Empature on the phone and going, "Hi. It's been so long. Too long. Come over. Your friend Hot TotheTable has overstayed. He's become tiresome and has led me toward unnecessary crankiness and general gloom/despair."
I've just decided to make friends with foods that don't have to scald the tongues of all 12 dinner guests. And I've decided to embrace my actual personality and not the persona of the Cooking Witch who tends to show up here about 73 minutes before all dinner-eating friends arrive.
So I woke up this morning to cook for our (2nd-ever) annual Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner and finished cooking all I had to cook about 2 hours before anybody even showed up on time.
This was a super excellent idea, so I'm sharing. Now, this year our friends made the turkey--but I'm telling you that I've already decided to serve Ham That Is Cold On Purpose for Christmas.
So I was vegetable & potato & dessert girl this year. Here's what I made:
Mashed Potatoes (a la my grandma and, apparently, The Pioneer Woman)
The 9 yr old potato peeler in action: I highly recommend getting one of these.
Roasted Sweet Potatoes (These taste like--get ready for it: sweet potatoes. They are marshmallow-free and just lovely and sweet.)
Green Beans with Carmelized Shallots (I just Blanched them like our good friend Julia showed me in her "Vegetable Show" and then mixed them up with some shallots cooked on low until your youngest child turns 5 or they become light brown, whichever comes first.)
Broccoli Salad (you know--the one with the bacon and raisins and the sunflowers. My husband loves this stuff. And it can wait almost-mixed-up in the fridge, so it's a keeper.)
Pear Custard Pie (from this cookbook, which if you don't already have I recommend because it's easy and organized by season.)
Pumpkin Bars (a la Paula Dean. Love her. Just love her. I know everybody loves Tyler, but I think in my heart, I really AM Paula Dean, so I lean on her at the holidays.)
All I'm saying is check your inner Cooking Witch and tell her to leave. Just say this to her, "Halloween's over, Babe. It's Thanksgivingtime."
