Thanksgiving 2010

So we actually cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in years at our place. It was kind of fun, especially since Joe did most of the cooking. We had some good friends over. We didn't actually eat the Thanksgiving dinner until 7 that night, which is by the far the latest we have ever eaten on Thanksgiving. Pro- the actual cooking isn't stressful since you have all day to make it. We just snacked on crackers, veggie tray, and this amazing spinach/artichoke dip all day. (Afton ate all the ranch dip herself unfortunately.) Con- You can't each as much pie since your stomach doesn't have as much time to settle, which is really sad since we had some amazing pies. I have to say 8 pies for 5 adults and 3 kids is a pretty dang good ratio!

Afton had a blast playing with Toby. All the food tasted amazing and came out well minus the sweet potato pie soup. Still not sure what happened there, but the turkey was the best I've ever had although it is my philosophy that you really can't screw up turkey. If its overcooked and dry, you just add more gravy and you're good to go. :0) Anyways, the turkey only took an hour and a half to cook (it was only a 10 lb-er,) but it was really juicy and tender, even the white meat. And Joe made this awesome stuffing with sausage. I don't even like stuffing, but this stuff was fantastic. The sweet potato pie tasted good as well, just soupy. We even made frog eye salad but completely forgot about it and left it in the fridge. Oops.

Overall it was a good thanksgiving. A little hard without Logan, but then I think most of the holidays will be. Anyways, I am thankful for all of my family and friends-they're great.

Thangiving Pie Plan 2010

Last year, I explained my 1PPP plan. This year, Thanksgiving is just going to be us and our friends the Cramers. It looks like we're going to exceed my ratio.

We're making an apple pie, pineapple pie, tollhouse pie, and a pumpkin cheesecake. The Cramers are making the pumpkin pie and a banana cream pie.

That's 6 pies (cheese cake is a custard pie, for 4 adults and Afton and her 'boyfriend' Toby. I am happy.

The rest of the menu consists of turkey that I'm making, stuffing (I'm making.. it's experimental.), gravy, frog eye salad, Mrs. Wood's sweet potato casserole, green beans, rolls, and mashed potatoes.

Thanksgiving Pie Plan:

For the uninitiated, I believe there is a perfect ratio of people to pies for Thanksgiving. It's the point where there's enough pie for Thanksgiving, seconds that night, and leftovers Friday after, but no more. This is the "Perfect Pie Ratio", or PPR, for short.

That ratio is 1 person per pie.

Some (including my wife) believe this is excessive, and wildly out of touch, but she's not familiar with the Scoresby habit of eating pie whenever possible through the next days. It's important to get enough, because if you run out on Thursday, it's terrible. You'll have to make more sweets just the day after Thanksgiving, and really, who's going to cook the day after? If you have too much, though, it lasts until after everyone has gone home, and the pies just go bad because you can't finish them in time, and that's just a waste. Thus, a PPR of 1:1.

I have calculated the PPR for this Thanksgiving for my parents house and the number of attendees, so we will need 13 pies. Yes, 13. Yes, I know, there will be 14 people there, but I don't think Lauren is going to be having any pie, unless we can manage to make Milk (or formula) Pie. If we do, I don't want any.

I have also thoughtfully provided a possible distribution of pies for the event:

3 apple pies
3 pumpkin pies
2 pineapple pies
1 cherry pie
2 pecan pies
1 chocolate creme pie
1 banana creme pie

I know Tracy has volunteered to make the pineapple pie, since she has a special recipe for it.
I would also be willing to make the pumpkin pies, and possibly a coconut creme pie to replace the cherry pie.

Blah. Who likes cherry pies, anyway?