Enjablog

So, this was another eventful Thanksgiving.

First Thanksgiving was at my parents’ house. It was raining, so there was no fried turkey this year. No worries, though. My mom tried out a brining technique and baked a turkey that even I had a second piece of. My sis made stuffing, as usual. Lenny and Steph brought their frozen fruit mold and some cheesecake. Both quite tasty, and the fruit was really good with ginger ale. Also on the spread: cornbread, green bean casserole, spare ribs, potatoes and mixed vegetables, lo mein, sticky rice, cranberry sauce, and a half-eaten loaf of wheat bread that my father offered up. On the dessert table: pumpkin cake, apple pie, pumpkin custard pie, pumpkin cranberry bread, and ice cream. I think I’m going to try making a sweet potato pie next year. I’ve been hearing lots of good things.

Other highlights: we had several copies of Thursday’s circulars, so everyone could decide where they wanted to go shopping on Black Friday. Wii!!!! Man, that was crazy fun. I also heard a rumor about Animal Crossing for Wii, where you actually fish and have to use the numchuck to reel the fish in. I’m very excited about this.

Second Thanksgiving at Ian’s parents’ place. Relatively quiet this year, compared to the past couple holidays where it was at his aunt’s place. Got a taste of some of the things I missed on my family’s usual menu: mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. Mm! There was also turkey, of course, green bean casserole, stuffing, cranberry sauce, rolls, and olives (I’m making progress on learning to like these! I think I’ll like them next time I try them. That was #6, I believe.). And for dessert the options were home-made pecan pie and pumpkin pie, with hand-whipped cream on top. I’m disappointed because I was so stuffed by that point, I was only able to try one type of pie.

On the way back, I stood in line in front of CompUSA for about an hour and got inside to find no trace of the sale items I was interested in. Not even a sign and an empty shelf. I suspect they didn’t have what I was looking for. Cheaters.

Friday, I hung out at Costco for about three hours waiting to get 2 new tires. I wandered Costco for an hour, hung out at Borders for an hour, then read my new book (Are Men Necessary? by Maureen Dowd) in front of the tire center until I saw my car come out. I even talked to some strangers. Conversation spurred by the book.

Saturday night, met up with DW and one of Ian’s coworkers at Lost Dog. Fun time. Haven’t been there in a while. Got plenty of gossip too!

Sunday, I worked on the new blanket I started. Not sure what/who this will be for, but I had a pound of dark green yarn and I couldn’t think of anything to use it for. I don’t even know why I have it, since I’m not particularly fond of the color. Otherwise, spent a lot of the weekend watching tv and reading. Finally getting around to “studying” for the GREs. Yeah, it’s half-hearted, but at least I’m making an effort. That’s more than I did for the SATs and that actually had an impact on my future. Well, technically, it did.

Anyway, my only new recipe this year:

Pumpkin Cake
INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup vegetable oil
* 3 eggs
* 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 cup chopped nuts

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 10 inch bundt or tube pan.
2. Cream oil, beaten eggs, pumpkin and vanilla together.
3. Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground cinnamon, ground cloves and salt together. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix until just combined. If desired, stir in some chopped nuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a plate and sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar.

Notes: Replaced half the oil with apple sauce and made without nuts. It had a very dense, moist texture. Baked in a cake pan instead of bundt pan. The middle kind of sank, so I probably didn’t bake it long enough. The edges were cooked through though, so it probably needs something that would distribute the heat more evenly. If a bundt/tube pan is unavailable, these would probably do well as loaves.

Served with vanilla ice cream instead of the suggested cream cheese frosting. Might try making cupcakes next time for more variety… nuts, chocolate chips, frosting, etc.

QOTD: “you should start preemptively farting at the boys”