Blogging Thanksgiving Part 1

My mother is out of town this Thanksgiving, visiting distant relatives in northern California, leaving my sibs and I to fend for ourselves. I've cooked Thanksgiving turkey before, so I volunteered to do a repeat performance. The Remys are trekking up from the campus compound, Ghene and Romina are trekking down from Pasadena, Cassidy and Charlie trekking from the new digs in Goat Hill.

My food list:

Turkey
Gravy
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Pumpkin Pie
Dinner Rolls

Doing everything from scratch according to Cooks Illustrated recipes. I've clearly bit off more than I can chew, and am compounding it by doing other things, like dancing, instead of working on the menu. The pumpkin pie is the first victim if I'm truly overloaded. Cassidy is bringing pumpkin cheesecake.

Cranberry sauce was easy. Boil water, sugar, salt, and orange zest. Add cranberries and return to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, take off heat when sauce is thickened and 2/3 of cranberries are popped. Add triple sec as sauce cools. Refrigerate. Finished.