seriously BIG plans, and pies, pies, pies....

 The big plans involve pies, too.  We are:  having Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  Camille and I were swimming around in the sunshine in Arizona, and I was prattling on about how we could possible make it work, to just invite the family over...we have barbecues and gatherings here all year long, but a sit down feast, it's tight.  But I thought about it, then that very same day, actually within the hour, I talked to Evelyn on the phone about something, and she said I also wanted to talk to you about Thanksgiving...she had the same idea!  To just make it work.

We will have between 18 and 22 adults, 8 children, and four babies.  It'll take planning and strategy, and there will be some chaos.  We're thinking to plan the meal and have the guests come just an hour or so before we plan to eat, as actually cooking with that many people here may be challenging.  

Last year the small families had dinner together, Ben and Ashley went to some close friends' place, and we had dinner at Emily's with just the singles, and Molly and Josh and family.  It was nice, but we thought we'd try this.  If it's too crazy, we can do something different next year.

Yesterday, Miss Camille and I set out towards Target to get the chicken for the pot pies.  Of course that meant dawdling and meandering, and some browsing.  She found jean shorts and a cute little summer top, this is when to buy them!  We looked at the toys, there was one 25% coupon off a toy, I chose a Little Woodeez family for my collection.  (for the grandkids, of course, ha).  We looked at the Hearth and Hand stuff, Magnolia stuff, that we admire but don't buy.  I did buy three mugs on clearance though, shh.  We got our chicken stock, and chicken breast, and some lunch meat and a bag of ice, and home we went.  

Jonathan went to the stand down the road for apples, I made one big nice apple pie.  My pies aren't much to look at, but oh my it was good. 

Camille made up the pumpkin filling, she also made four double batches of crust in the food processor, I tossed them with ice water and made the crusts to put in the refrigerator to chill.  I cubed up about seven pounds of chicken breast, browned it up, added onion powder, salt and pepper, and some Everything But The Bagel seasoning with jalapeños, then two things of chicken stock, two bags of frozen mixed veggies, and three peeled cubed potatoes.  I thickened it up with cornstarch, and it was more than enough.  

Again, I don't make an attractive pie, but with rosemary, flaked salt, and coarse ground pepper on top, oh my it was good...there were three of these chicken pot pies. (the leftover filling was bagged up and frozen, one of these days I can simply make the crusts and have enough for a nice big pot pie)

My excuse for this pumpkin pie, which was absolutely delicious, is that I wasn't careful when testing it for doneness...we were in a hurry, had to put those pot pies in so we could eat!  These autumn days, getting darker earlier, it seemed so late, although it really wasn't.  

The boys who were here last night.  Wouter, Jon, Oskar, and Linus.  (There was one more who took the pic, and went on the trip with them, but he went home to Norway for a conference, Victor).  

One of the boys, Oskar, brought us some chocolate bars!  Norwegian chocolate is the best!

Now this fine morning, I have things to do and places to go.  It's a big weekend for the kids, it's Fall Camp, a few hundred young people getting together for encouragement and fun and activities, and good food.  Emily is heading up the kitchen, I have a few things to go shop for this morning for her, and I'll be helping out for a few hours Friday evening.  Her theme is Warm and Cozy:). 

The days do fill up, and I am thankful for that.  

Orange Guy is all settled in next to my computer, he likes to help me blog.  Cats are very smart, they know how to keep warm.  

Have a really nice day!!!