Hello Katie Girl: The Countdown

It's almost Thanksgiving and I have been making a list and checking it twice in preparation for making a Thanksgiving feast for the whole family. Not that I mind. I find cooking to be a very creative endeavor that in many ways is quite therapeutic. Plus, my husband's family often botches the cooking in some way, so this ensures the possibility of having something edible for dinner. The one thing I do hate is some of the last minute shopping (and normally I love shopping) and the horror that results from finding that a store is out of that one ingredient that you think you can't live with out. For me this ingredient was candied ginger which I needed for my Turkey Brine. I went to four stores yesterday and still came up empty handed.

While tonight I am going to start making some dishes in advance, such as the cranberry sauce and some gravy, today was spent getting a head start on some pre-Black Friday deals. We had a nice lunch out and then I ended up finding two very nice leather jackets at Nordstrom, which were on my wish list. Black Friday it seems has turned into a Hobbesian nightmare of people trampling one another, so I am happy to skip the hassle even if I am going to pay a few bucks extra. The J. Crew factory still has the corduroy "toothpick" pants I am wearing today discounted 50% along with some other good deals, although for the most part they looked pretty picked over already.

So what is in store for your Turkey Day? Will you be braving the crowds for Black Friday or recovering from a food coma?