Thanx

O.K., I'll do this before I start the day's work. I looked up your recipes in FC 81, Suze, and I'm impressed with your ambition and the results. Good show. Glad the galette turned out well for you. Did the pictures help?

Our festival was here (should have told you, sorry!). Here's the menu, from the "brains" I put together in advance:

Hors d'oeuvres:

shrimp dip - Mom
clam dip - Julia
shrimp/avocado toasts - SS, FC 61
cantaloupe, prosciutto, pepper - Charlie, Jacques Pepin
chips, crudités

Main course:

turkey & gravy
party potatoes - 1 Potato, 2 Potato
garden peas
rolls (from Kowalski's)
stuffing casserole
cranberry sauce & relish (made by SS last week)

Dessert:

key lime pie - Marty
sweet potato/pecan pie - Marty

Here's my schedule:

10:00 - turkey out of brine, rinse, air dry
1:00 - in oven breast down
2:00 - turn over
3:30 - done? (it was)
rest turkey
put potatoes in oven
put dressing in oven
make gravy
heat peas
warm rolls
carve

and my list of preparatory stuff to do (not necessarily in order):

1) cook shrimp
2) prepare dressing
3) cut up vegetables
4) make guacamole for shrimp toasts
5) thaw peas
6) make potatoes (1 p.m.)
7) make toasts
8) mise en place clam dip (for Julia to make)
9) clean bathroom (me) vacuum (Charlie)
10) set table

Most of this is self explanatory. I brined the turkey overnight in an Alice Waters recipe for brine, which calls for 2 1/2 gallons water, 2 c salt (I use Diamond Crystal, which is way less salty than most, making it possible to make gravy from the drippings), 1 c sugar, 1 head garlic, peeled, a bunch of thyme (I had to use dried, since my plant died a couple of weeks ago - surprisingly, I was able to find a new plant at the local grocery store, but it was already too late for this time's thyme), 2 bay leaves (from my plant), 4 juniper berries and 5 allspice berries, both crushed. The turkey was a fresh free-range one (ordered from Kowalski's, for which Mom generously popped), fourteen pounds, and this was just enough brine. Normally I can put it outside or in the garage, but the weather's so warm we toted it down to the downstairs fridge, ooof.

The potatoes were made in advance, and while I advocate this as a method (they're simply baked in a flat pan while the turkey rests and while gravy's being made), I won't use the recipe I used again. It calls for lots of butter, cream cheese and some sour cream, and I thought it was too rich and gluey. It worked to hold gravy, though, its main function.

Marty's pies were wonderful, even though (how like me!) she fretted about the crusts. I couldn't decide which I liked better. The key lime was divine, but god, the sweet potato pecan was, too. I'll need the recipe for both. Having the pies made really took a lot of pressure off. Julia, bless her, has become the family clam dip expert. She does a great job with it, and it's one less thing for me to do. And the perennial Florencian shrimp dip was excellent, as usual, and decorated with the very last geranium of summer.

It all went well. I was a bit nervous about the turkey, as I cooked it with pure convection for the first time, but it was fine. I finally bought a real turkey roasting pan (Calphalon, recommended by Cook's Illustrated, $100 including rack), and that was nice to have. I've been meaning to get one for years. Nice to be able to make the gravy right in the pan. Of course I always want oceans of gravy, and as usual, being a little rushed, I settled for less (but very intense and good). There's hardly any left, alas.

Ben was in fine form and behaved quite well. After dinner the two of us ran outside for a quick flashlight explore, this time to pick out a Christmas tree for Charlie and me to cut. We then measured Ben and Julia on the measuring stick. When we left the house in RF we had to copy Julia's measurements from a door onto a stick, and we've since added Ben (and everyone else) to it. Julia is now 5'4", and Florence is down to just a little over five feet. I'm shrinking, too, but not much yet. Julia and I are almost exactly the same height.

Unbelievably, almost no football was watched, except a little by Charlie and Nate while Marty and I dealt with leftover distribution and food rescue (the most difficult part of the meal, by far).I couldn't agree with you more about the sappy human-interest stuff they've added to football. What a drag when someone's mother dies. I think they do this to appeal to women (the Olympics were destroyed for me a few years ago by the same crap), but it doesn't appeal to me at all. What bullshit.

And cleanup? How I envy your perseverance in cleaning up on the very same day. When I've done elaborate cooking I just can't face it. We did put all of the silverware and other dishwasherables in, though I didn't finish filling the dishwasher and running it until this morning. We used the good china (we don't have enough everyday dishes for seven people, so it's a nice excuse to use it), so that has to be hand washed, and I never put glasses in the dishwasher. The big pans & stuff will go in the next DW load, but I'll have to spend an hour (pretty soon now) washing dishes and glasses. When Charlie goes outside to work on the siding, I'll get going.

I keep forgetting to tell you, Suze, what a hit the copper birdbath is. We have a heater for it (I had to buy a new heater this year, $$$!), and the finches flock to it. Last summer an oriole took a nice bath, but mostly the finches and chickadees drink from it. It's a real treat, for them and for us. Thank you again. I still have no photos of birds at it, but I'll keep trying.

Make buttermilk pancakes. Also, check and see if you still have Everyday Food #19. There's a little section on buttermilk (Have You Tried . . . ) that has a great salad (BLT) which I know you'd like, and an easy, very good chocolate cupcake recipe, both using buttermilk. If you don't have this issue (or can't find it ;-]), let me know and I'll send you the two recipes. Buttermilk keeps a lot longer than the use by date.

Charlie was very amused by the hazelnut tale of woe, and asked me this morning if the rest of your meal prep went better, saying he hoped so. Glad it did!