Thanksgiving week

Well, looking at my track record this week, I can't say I've accomplished quite as much as I'd planned, but it's been a good week.

In order of completion:

1. Fruitcake! My father's one Christmas request every year. I bake it around Thanksgiving, and it ages for several weeks until completely "drunken" before it's ready for eating.
   
   
   Step 1 of fruitcake baking: soak all fruit thoroughly in secret ingredient at least overnight, if not longer.This much fruit makes a 2 batches - this year I did a dark, with coffee and blackberry jam, and a light with orange juice, mace and orange zest.
2. Worming horses: a solid dosing of Strongid to get rid of any nasty little parasites they might be harboring. Since T and I both had the afternoon completely free, it took only half an hour to weight tape and worm the lot of them. And had we been silly enough to allow only half an hour, it would have taken three!
3. Pies... This year we didn't travel for Thanksgiving - H had classes through Wednesday, and neither of us wanted to risk iffy weather and 25+ hours of driving for a four day trip - so we had friends over instead. This year's flavors? Traditional pumpkin, and H's favorite, lemon. I had to call my mom for both recipes, as she's usually the pie maker. Her pumpkin pie recipe is super easy to follow and turned out perfectly. The lemon (meringue-less and double the lemon, please!) was also a hit.
4. Crescent rolls - I love making bread, but probably shouldn't have added the whole wheat to this usually light & fluffy recipe. They're hearty, but substantial enough to have matched better with a thick potato or ham & bean soup. More notes in the cookbook for for next time.
5. Thursday was devoted to last minute cleaning, turkeys and various side dishes. We ate around 2 PM, and everyone rolled out around 9 PM, replete with turkey, pie and lots of good conversation. It was the first Thanksgiving we haven't traveled.
6. Black Friday - I've never done the mad shopping dash, and after Thursday's hosting, I was peopled out. T & H headed for Sioux Falls for basketball shoes and Christmas shopping. I curled up on the couch with a cat and a book.
7. The rest of the weekend? Laundry and all of the usual chores in preparation for Monday.