Amelia and Denis's overly ambitious Thanksgiving

[abka]

This is our first time Denis and I are attempting to cook Thanksgiving dinner and we are going all out. Denis just returned from turkey hunting and cranberry (and pastry blender) gathering, and I ordered extra sets of wedding china and am going to use the nice tablecloth my mother-in-law gave us for our wedding. The current menu is:

-brined turkey with gravy
-sausage stuffing
-mlinci (a croatian side-dish traditionally served with turkey. They're dough squares you bake in advance then fry in the drippings. A pain to make, but so good.)
-fresh cranberry relish
-steamed asparagus with lemon
-apple pie
-pumpkin pie

I think I have most of the equipment I need, but I don't have a rolling pin. Does anyone (local) have one I can borrow, or has any good substitutions to suggest? We like creative alternatives.

This is going to be a fun cooking challenge because there are lots of things we've never made before (everything but the asparagus) and I really want to make things (including gravy and pie crusts) from scratch. (Excluding the pumpkin pie filling.) Since we're not having guests this seems to be the year to do it.

We eliminated a few things (green salad, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes), but we're still going to have way too much food. It's only going to be the two of us and the smallest turkey Denis could find that didn't look "mishapen" was 9 pounds. Leftovers are good. Would anyone like to join us for a post-Thanksgiving meal that Friday, Saturday, or Sunday? Help me justify spending money on wedding china, an electric knife, and a 9lb turkey.*

*note if everything turns out badly we reserve the right to cancel, remember this is our trial Thanksgiving.

Comments

reminds me!

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sorry I've been so delinquent in following up, but Ethan and I are still planning to be in the DC area for Thanksgiving! We arrive Wednesday and fly out Sunday at 4:30 pm. Sunday will probably be an insane travel day with so many people flying home, but maybe we could try to get together Saturday? The only sticky thing is that I'm not really sure what the fam has planned for when yet... and in particular since this is the first big family holiday that I'm bringing Ethan too, I want to be attentive to family obligations. Is it okay if we play things by ear? Also, could you email me your phone number(s) and address?

Re: reminds me!

[darhoratio.livejournal.com]

doh, I keep doing this when I post from work. you'd guessed i'm sure, but that was me posting : ).