Sunday, November 26, 2006
GOBBLE GOBBLE - part III
As my Mother always used to say when she had done something wonderful - "I don't want to break my elbow patting myself on the back, but...."
And Thanksgiving was wonderful - fun and delicious and lots of work and if I never see my kitchen again for the rest of my life that's OK too - and I'm already planning next Thanksgiving!! Actually - I'm already planning my annual dinner for Marallyn's brother David who is coming in December - but that's another story.
So what was the menu you may well ask. Well - there was turkey "kamuvan" (of course), and chestnut stuffing (but as it wasn't stuffed inside the turkey I guess you'd call it dressing), and mashed white potatoes, and sweet potatoes and glazed carrots and pumpkin all whipped together, and gravy, and corn pudding, and sweet baby peas with shallots, and brussels sprouts sauteed with frizzled smoked turkey bits, and cranberry sauce and cranberry relish, and apple pie and pecan pie and wine and tea. All made by my little hands with the enormous help of Myra's little hands - she peeled almost two kilo of carrots and cleaned the turkeys of all the pin-feathers - no,
children - turkeys do not come cleaned here the way they do in the States - Israelis just look upon the pin-feathers as extra protein.
From the minute people walked into the house there was that special buzz that signals a special evening - everyone liked everyone else - the conversation sang all evening - I had a fabulous "ozeret" (helper) who is worth her weight in gold - people finally left at about 1:00 AM - and I finally got to bed at about 2:30.
And then on Friday there were five more people who came for leftovers - and tomorrow night there will be three more here for the rest of the leftovers of the leftovers. And that's it - from now on it's turkey salad, and turkey hash and turkey-vegetable soup.
And what happened to the lemon meringe pie? Funny you should ask. There were a few "fashlot" (mix-ups, mini-disasters) along the way. First of all - while the crusts for the pecan pie and apple pie were wonderful the crust for the lemon meringue pie fell apart. Just crumbled up and died. So, scratch the lemon meringue pie. I cut my left forefinger with a very sharp knife while slicing the turkey - not too bad. I burned the top of my left ring finger while putting something into the oven - not to worry - a ring will hide the scar. And a piece of hot potato jumped onto my wrist while I was putting the potatoes through the ricer - and so I now have a lovely burn. All not too bad, all things considered.
But the worst thing - or the funniest thing - happened on Friday evening. You have to remember - after cooking for two straight days I had guests on Thursday and got to bed at 2:30. I was up at 6:00 on Friday - ran to the hairdresser - met Myra for coffee in town - came back and ironed the tablecloth (I always iron my cloths before setting the table - I don't like cupboard-folds on the cloths) and set the table - got dinner ready - and then had guests again. We had another scintillating evening - and about midnight - I actually fell asleep at the table. Just for a second or two - but I fell asleep - can you imagine that? Luckily these people have been my friends for more than thirty years - so we all laughed about it - but was I ever embarrassed.
Actually the worst "fashla" (singular of fashlot) was that my dishwasher stopped working again - and it was filled with dirty dishes! So there I was again at 1:00 AM washing dishes.
And yesterday - yesterday I slept all day. And I do mean all day. I surfaced once or twice - and then back to sleep until this morning. And now I'm ready to go once again. But I'm not going anywhere - I'm waiting for the dishwasher repair man to show up. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Stay Safe.
Rena
And Thanksgiving was wonderful - fun and delicious and lots of work and if I never see my kitchen again for the rest of my life that's OK too - and I'm already planning next Thanksgiving!! Actually - I'm already planning my annual dinner for Marallyn's brother David who is coming in December - but that's another story.
So what was the menu you may well ask. Well - there was turkey "kamuvan" (of course), and chestnut stuffing (but as it wasn't stuffed inside the turkey I guess you'd call it dressing), and mashed white potatoes, and sweet potatoes and glazed carrots and pumpkin all whipped together, and gravy, and corn pudding, and sweet baby peas with shallots, and brussels sprouts sauteed with frizzled smoked turkey bits, and cranberry sauce and cranberry relish, and apple pie and pecan pie and wine and tea. All made by my little hands with the enormous help of Myra's little hands - she peeled almost two kilo of carrots and cleaned the turkeys of all the pin-feathers - no,
children - turkeys do not come cleaned here the way they do in the States - Israelis just look upon the pin-feathers as extra protein.
From the minute people walked into the house there was that special buzz that signals a special evening - everyone liked everyone else - the conversation sang all evening - I had a fabulous "ozeret" (helper) who is worth her weight in gold - people finally left at about 1:00 AM - and I finally got to bed at about 2:30.
And then on Friday there were five more people who came for leftovers - and tomorrow night there will be three more here for the rest of the leftovers of the leftovers. And that's it - from now on it's turkey salad, and turkey hash and turkey-vegetable soup.
And what happened to the lemon meringe pie? Funny you should ask. There were a few "fashlot" (mix-ups, mini-disasters) along the way. First of all - while the crusts for the pecan pie and apple pie were wonderful the crust for the lemon meringue pie fell apart. Just crumbled up and died. So, scratch the lemon meringue pie. I cut my left forefinger with a very sharp knife while slicing the turkey - not too bad. I burned the top of my left ring finger while putting something into the oven - not to worry - a ring will hide the scar. And a piece of hot potato jumped onto my wrist while I was putting the potatoes through the ricer - and so I now have a lovely burn. All not too bad, all things considered.
But the worst thing - or the funniest thing - happened on Friday evening. You have to remember - after cooking for two straight days I had guests on Thursday and got to bed at 2:30. I was up at 6:00 on Friday - ran to the hairdresser - met Myra for coffee in town - came back and ironed the tablecloth (I always iron my cloths before setting the table - I don't like cupboard-folds on the cloths) and set the table - got dinner ready - and then had guests again. We had another scintillating evening - and about midnight - I actually fell asleep at the table. Just for a second or two - but I fell asleep - can you imagine that? Luckily these people have been my friends for more than thirty years - so we all laughed about it - but was I ever embarrassed.
Actually the worst "fashla" (singular of fashlot) was that my dishwasher stopped working again - and it was filled with dirty dishes! So there I was again at 1:00 AM washing dishes.
And yesterday - yesterday I slept all day. And I do mean all day. I surfaced once or twice - and then back to sleep until this morning. And now I'm ready to go once again. But I'm not going anywhere - I'm waiting for the dishwasher repair man to show up. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.
Stay Safe.
Rena
