No, Not Posterior

Mostly this post is for posterity. It's nice to be able to come back later and go over something. If I wrote this down in a diary or something I'd lose the place of it when (if) I needed it. So here it is for all the internet to see, the passes and fails of my cooking this year.

The inaugural apple pie wasn't bad. Teddy's Girl brought one, too, which was nice because I could compare a veteran's work with mine and see the differences. Mine was OK. My crust was a little thin but nice. I had forgotten to dot the filling with butter before I closed the pie and I can see why that would have made it nicer.

Pecan pie was good. Interestingly I had store bought pecan pie yesterday and it was mostly nuts and very little sugar goup. Mine is very few pecans, lots of goup. I prefer with the goup but honestly could have gone with a few more pecans in mine for a better balance.

I totally spaced the chocolate pie filling this morning. It's supposed to be 3 cups of milk not 4. It does make a difference, I'd like to not screw that up next time.

Sweet potato pie was awesome and possibly made even better by the catch as catch can bottom crust only situation I created.

Mashed potatoes were fine. Could have used some sour cream or some full fat milk. Definitely could have used a better stirring post peppering. I keep getting clumps of pepper and being surprised.

Gravy was a bit too thick, a little glue-esque. It's still gravy, I mean it's still the reason for freaking Thanksgiving, but it wasn't my best work. It's hard to get enough base material for the amount of gravy I like if I only cook a turkey breast.

Speaking of which, I hope the turkey was good but I don't know, I didn't have even a bite of it. That's OK with me, turkey isn't a must-have for me and I had a little last night.

The squash was the biggest fail. I don't think the oil instead of butter was a bad thing. I actually think it was a shopping fail. It didn't cook down enough and it was stringy.

Plain carrots could have been roasted a bit longer. They were still crunchy and nice and made a good gravy vehicle.

I did the broccoli with onions, garlic and some leftover carrots. It was delish but I've been making some version of that practically once a week for two years now so I feel like I've got that shit down.

Sugared cranberries a la Belfer were a ginormous hit. Pretty, yummy, simple, fun. I'm trying to figure out how best to store them to see if making ahead for Christmas gifts is a possibility.

I bought a nice stinky cheese and a nice mild one and I didn't wind up with even a bite of those either. Fortunately I'd tasted liberally during the decision-making process at the farm stand so I'd had the pleasure.

Mimosas were splendid. I had 2 bottles of champagne on hand, at least one person brought another bottle. I had to send out for more. They came back with 3 bottles and I still have some leftover, not sure if it's one bottle or two.

I made way WAY too much bread. It came out darned well, though, so I'll keep eating away.

Can you screw up green bean casserole? I don't think so. Which is good because I love it. There's a tiny bit left and I've got enough for another batch.

My pumpkin chocolate chip squares are slightly under done and way dense. I can't get the pan proportions right on it. They always wind up a little denser than I expect. The guys at the guard station never complain, though.

The guest list was impeccable if I do say so myself. Just fewer than 20 people came by over the course of the afternoon and they were all lovely. I got a chance to speak a little with everyone and I don't think anyone went hungry or thirsty. Kath did most of the dishes, bless her pea pickin' heart, so I'm pretty well ahead of the game. I'm running a load of dishes now and do have to pack up the food but it's still early and I think it'll be easy enough.

I should probably ask someone else to make a playlist for next year. My taste in music and the way I put it together is just weird.

Can't wait to do it again!