The (belated) Thanksgiving menu:

- Duck, with an orange sauce from the Good Housekeeping
- Sweet potatoes with marshmallows, from the Better Homes book
- Japanese-style Sesame Green Beans
- Pillsbury dinner rolls
- cranberry sauce (the whole-berry kind, which I added orange peel and some spices to)
- a very fruity semi-sweet white wine
- pumpkin pie (pre-made crust) for dessert


The duck? Was DELICIOUS, though inevitably messy. Tom's raving over it juuust about made up for the giblet issues.

I was planning to make Heidi's vibrant tasty green beans, buuut... Tom and I bought anise instead of leeks. Thank you Tops for not labeling your produce. (Fortunately, I have a favorite Heidi recipe involving anise, that I'd previously had to sub aniseed in. And it shouldn't be difficult to find a use for the fresh dill I picked up.)

It's VERY, very rare that I use something partially pre-made like Pillsbury, but, I had enough things to worry about (i.e., duck), that I didn't feel like messing with yeast dough, and I wanted something puffy rather than biscuity. And pie crust... is a lot of work. For something that you try to eat as little of as possible, especially with pumpkin pie. Tom and I agree pre-made was the way to go on that one.

Note to self: completely mash (possibly even puree) the sweet potatoes next time 'round. Also note that Tom haaates cloves, and can taste even 1/4 tsp. of them in cranberry sauce. xp

Also: need to find a different pumpkin pie recipe. Like fifteen minutes after it was supposed to be finished baking, the center was still a little wobbly. When we went to eat it...it was pretty soppy. Tasted yummy, but.. BHG's "Best Pumpkin Pie" recipe called for milk, while Good Housekeeping used evaporated - think the latter may be the way to go. (That, and I'm beginning to suspect my oven doesn't heat like it should.)

Despite the minor issues, everything was deliiiiiicious. Tom didn't eat the beans, but I didn't expect he would. He would have enjoyed the cranberries, if I'd remembered about cloves.

After serving the duck, and we'd both had some, he did kind of casually make the pan his plate, and pick everything he possibly could off the thing. A little caveman, yes, but also very cute and gratifying.

Labels: apartment, cooking, life in general