Thanksgiving Post mortem - Part 1

6:20 am - I get out of bed tem minutes before the alarm goes off. This always happens much to the delight of J who will never have th hear the alarm go off. For some reason the prospect of getting startled awake is too much for my body and I always wake up before the alarm. What's done? The pear-cranberry tart, the pecan bars, the pumpkin pies, and the corn pudding. What's left to do? The gorgonzola-pear griddle cakes, the green beans, the turkey and stuffing and the salad. J has decided to make baklava since there's time this morning.

7:00 am - J drops me off at the metro so I can go to the Thanksgiving Trot for So Others Might Eat. I've been training fairly indifferently so I don't expect great results.

7:30 - I get to the Smithsonian metro and see two people who are clearly going to the trot exit and decide to follow them. I figure the walk over to the race will be a good warm up. I was wrong because it's a 20 minute walk and I barely have time to register, throw my stuff into Auntie Em's and Uncle Tim's car (actually Uncle Tim ran over to the car and dropped my stuff off for me.) and stretch.

8:30 - AAAAAND we're off. I feel bad because a friend of the Timily's is starting next to me and is talking but all I want to do is listen to my carefully chosen race playlist. I run the first half like a mofo, passing people to the left and right. I get to the halfway part and grab a cup of water and then slow down a lot. For some reason I just can't spped up. But at least I'm still running. I see Emily and her friend Helen walking on the other side and I scream like a banshee and give them high fives.

9:00:40 - Woo hoo! I finish the race in 30:40, below than the 10 minute mile pace I wanted to finish. Much hugs all around. It was so much fun to running with other people and I want to conveince the Timily's to run another race.

10:06 - J pick me up from the metro and the fun begins. I make three versions of the same stuffing: one vegetarian for the leftover party the next day where there will be vegetarians, one with homemade chicken broth to be baked alongside the bird and another with chicken broth to be baked inside the bird.

10:30 - I finish the stuffing. I take the corn pudding and pumpkin pies out of the freezer to thaw. J prepares the two kinds of baklava (he can tell that story).

11:30 - J puts the baklava in the oven and I mix gorgonzola and cream cheese together for the appetizer and then add slices of pear. I get REALLLY hungry and decide to make a lovely breakfast of ciabatta toasts with melted gorgonzola cheese and honey. A delightful flavor combo. This begins the morning of sniffs. J and I start shoving food we make in each other's faces. First, smelling the almond in the pear-cranberry tart and then the baklava and then the earthy smell of the stuffing.

12:30pm - The best part comes when J makes a cardamom syrup for one of his baklava. It smells like an Indian dessert and J spoons some over a perfectly ripe pear. We take turns eating the syrup-drenched pear. That and the toast were the best breakfast i could ask for.

1:00 - I take a well-deserved nap.

2:00 - I take Patricia Reichardt the turkey out of the fridge, rinse the turkey and pat it dry with paper towels. I stuff Peppermint Patty with the stuffing and rub a mixture of rosemary, sage, butter, salt, pepper, honey and olive oil under the skin. One thing i did not do which I should have known better was to truss Peppermint Patty. This dried out the leg meat a bit.

2:30 pm - I stick Peppermint Patty in the oven. That feels so good to write that. Too bad she didn't apologize to Charlie Brown for being an ass.