partly

This evening I went out to my mom's to help with prep for the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. We made the lettuce salad, the coleslaw and the stuffing. The potatoes, carrots and squash are peeled. The turkey is thawed, seasoned and sitting in the Nesco waiting to be cooked. The same with the ham. Everything is in the fridge (or in the cold porch) waiting to be cooked and devoured tomorrow. While my immediate family is small, out extended family gets a bit larger.

The best thing we made tonight was Kuchen. Kuchen, if memory serves, is German for bread. For us it is a potato based sweet yeast bread from a recipe that is found in the Women's Alliance Cookbook published in 1924. It is beyond awesome. First of all, any recipe for the 1920's is always fun to use. You almost have to be psychic to figure out the recipe and then there's the fact that the recipe has built in flexibility for possible lack of ingredients. I'll get an exact copy of it and post it sometime. Second of all, it's something that we've made for as long as I can remember -- first with my grandmother and now with my mother. Third, it's the the most delicious bread you will ever get to eat -- flavorful, light and as close to ambrosia as you will ever get this side of Mt. Olympus.

To make the evening complete, we listened to Christmas music the entire time. This sunday is the start of Advent, so Christmas will be here sooner than later. Besides I completely adore Christmas music and we have so much of it that if we don't start listening to it now, we'll never get through it all.