Hey, Y’all.
Checking in, 'cuz VunderWife and I are in Indiana. Responses will be spottier than usual this week…
Hey! I’ve been there! Saw a real-life road runner, and the mountain goats on the hilltop were way cool…
Well, since Thanksgiving is this week I guess it’s time for my holiday tradition to start - it’s time for me to officially become Scroogey!
Bah humbug and stuff!
Hey, that only happened once, because there was too much oil, and we didn’t ruin Thanksgiving because we were doing a test run with a chicken anyways.
swampy’s giving out Cajun rubs? ::gets in line 2nd, behind Anaamika::
Aaaaalso, guess who woke up early this morning to do his calculus project which he’s had the entire semester to do, but didn’t start until very early Sunday morning, but still wasn’t able to get very far due to the lack of a CAS (computer algebra system) so had to wake up early this morning to go to a computer lab and use everyone’s favorite program (maple) to do all of this horrible stuff, but then finished an hour ahead of schedule?
(Hint: chaoticbear)
:
: I went to go see HP on Friday. Show is at 7. Our group gets to theater at about 3:30. Tickets don’t go on sale until 6:30. Fair enough. We go eat, mess around for a while, come back at 6. People are lined up EVERYWHERE. We take one look at the line and realize that there shall be no HP for us, and go home with our tails between our legs.
Eek. Almost time for work. Curse all you non-working-today Americans. Oh, happy Thanksgiving, too.
If someone could pass back some of the cleaning virus, I’d be obliged. I think I’m spending today tidying and alphabetizing the shelves at work. Including the children’s section. Aargh.
Helpful note : do not drive staples into your thumbs. It hurts.
It shall be a three day workweek for me. I need to take Friday off to “company clean”.
Good job on the MMP Puggy!
I noticed that picunurse checked in on last week’s MMP and that hubby is finally home. Here’s hoping that both of you start improving very quickly now!
My daughter went and saw HP on Saturday. A friend “whispered” her on WoW Saturday afternoon and asked if she wanted to go. This friend and his Dad went down that afternoon and purchased tickets for the 8:45 showing. She enjoyed the movie, mostly. She was disappointed that they didn’t follow the book more.
We did the deep fried turkey thing once. It was okay, but just a major pain. I’ve had smoked turkey too. That was pretty good.
I need to finish a report. I’ll check in later.
I’ll try to snag the recipe for my mom’s filling. I’ll probably have to transcribe it from conversation, since she’s been making this stuff twice a year for over 35 years and could probably do it in her sleep. I doubt she has the recipe written down anywhere at this point.
Thanksgiving at Chez Cherry has begun perking along. Shopping is complete. The turkey verdit is thus: one 18-pound whole bird, one 6-pound breast. Husband is lobbying for a pork tenderloin as well. I have made two cassaroles thus far, which are ensconced presently in my mother’s refrigerator (she lives down the street). So, all I have to do before Friday is roast the two turkey components, make two pumpkin pies (a cool whip recipe that is YUM–includes cream cheese and vanilla pudding) and finish cleaning house.
Over the weekend we went from being a three-bedroom house with a Very Large Storage Room to a four-bedroom house. We can now accomodate guests. Yay!
Also we redecorated the ledge, which was fun. I should say The Ledge. Our family room has a big high ceiling, and halfway up is The Ledge, which must have decorations placed upon it, or it looks horrifically bare. At Christmas we have a little tree, a proportional Santa and a reindeer, which was designed to place children atop, but its inclusion makes for a wonderful Christmas tableaux. But for now, we are continuing our African theme living room. Up went three elephants, a giraffe and two trees. The look fabulous!!
Anyway, now that we have a functional guest room, I shall go about decorating it. Unless the funds dry up!
I’m hoping everyone stays well for the next four days. Dear God, please blight not my Thanksgiving with the creeping crud! Amen!
cb- I have one word for you: Fandango.
Looks like I’m the only one here who’s working four days this weekend. <SOB!>
Y’all are going to be coming out of your tryptophan comas, but someone has to keep the bank running. After all, it will be Black Friday, and the mainframes will be running hot with all of those charges and debit card purchases running through them. I just checked with one of our mainframe guys, and right now, we’re loafing along at about 10,000 transactions per second. If I understod him right, we can stuff a total of around four million transactions through per second at peak capacity.
I just called my chiropractor, hoping to get an appointment for an un-pretzeling, and while their phone system took me from one message to another, I got a brief snip of their music-on-hold, and after I pressed 1 for scheduling, was greeted with “Oh my god!” and about a syllable of something else before the scheduling line rang. Just weird.
We were in Reno for an unexpected errand on Saturday. For reasons that elude me, we had to accompany someone else as they picked up a camper that was in storage. We weren’t involved in navigating, unlocking anything, signing checks or whatever else. At least it’s not been snowing yet, so the drive was easy-peasy. Add an inch of snow, and it turns miserable getting over Donner Summit.
On the way back, we stopped at Boomtown as we’ve been seeing their $19.99 Lobster Buffet signs for ages. Turns out that unless you have their chronic gambler’s card, it’s $24.99. They don’t seem to reveal that fine print until you’ve waited in line and are at the register. Food was nothing special either. Yes, they were serving up all the lobsters you can stuff into your gullet, but they were wee creatures, so it was very easy to eat three and think nothing of it. IOO (In our opinion) the buffet at Peppermill is much better.
OK, what’s “MMP”?
MMP=Monday Morning Post
I can’t be the only poor bastard who has to work on Friday, can I?
So there’s a regular monday morning post somebody makes, and it’s not usually Tupug Anachi? Who does it normally?
Usually, Rue De Day starts the post, but he got a new job and his ability to post (or start the thread) has been limited. So, because of this, one of the “regulars” now starts the thread. Once the OP is posted, we all comment on it and then the hijacks abound. A week’s thread will run the gamut from the OP, to recipes, to juvenile humor, to other stories, and so forth. It’s a lot of fun, and some of us have even met in person due to having to travel for our jobs.
I don’t have to work at all this week! Ha! Being unemployed is kind of cool. Except for not having money. That’s not so great. But I’m brilliant and highly talented, so I’m sure I’ll find a job very soon.
taxi, MN is nice, but a little chilly. I have to warn you, all the people I’ve know from MN are a little weird, but it probably isn’t contagious. And people up there know how to party.
I’ve never had fried turkey. It’s always roasted. I decided to stay home this year, so I’m having Thanksgiving dinner with friends. We’re having turkey and squash and lots of pies, and I’m bringing sweet potato casserole.
I need to make a punkin cheesecake, because it’s my bestest friend’s favorite. (FYI, “Punkin” was my brother’s nickname when he was a baby. If anyone can explain that, you get a prize!) I’m not making it this week because we’ll have plenty of other foods, but I’ll make it sometime soon and let you know how it goes. I have the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, so I’m sure it will be yummylicious. After lunch, I’m going to make some black bean chili and corn muffins. Just the thing on a cool, rainy day.
I made a Mexican Chocolate Cake this weekend. It was pretty nummy, so here’s the recipe, for all you cake-lovers:
Mexican Chocolate Cake
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 (1-oz) squares unsweetened chocolate (or 4 Tbsp cocoa powder)
1 cup water
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sour milk (1 1/2 tsp vinegar plus enough milk to make 1/2 cup)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
Combine butter, oil, chocolate, and water in a saucepan; heat until chocolate is melted.
Combine flour, baking soda, sugar, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in sour milk, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in chocolate mixture.
Pour batter into a greased 15 x 10-inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.
Ice with Mexican Chocolate Icing while still warm.
Mexican Chocolate Icing
1/2 cup butter
2 (1-oz) squares unsweetened chocolate (or 4 Tbsp cocoa powder)
6 Tbsp milk
1 box (16 oz) confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Combine margarine, chocolate and milk in a saucepan and heat until bubbles form around the edge. Remove from heat. Add confectioners’ sugar, a little at a time, Add vanilla and pecans. Beat well.
I didn’t use pecans, and it was good without them. The icing is really rich. When the icing was cooking, it separated a little before it started to bubble, but it got smooth when I added the confectioners sugar.
NO! I’ve seen the Leon’s Furniture commercial. The dog steals the turkey!
Some of us even have to work on Thursday. (Thanksgiving? Wasn’t that last month?)
We used to get the day after Thanksgiving off, but when the company was bought they changed that and gave us Martin Luther King Day off instead.
Still, there’s no point in coming in the day after the holiday when all the normal people have taken a four-day weekend, so every year all the employees in the department make sure they save one of their vacation days to take the Day After off, and we shut down the department, with an neener neener neener to other departments that did not have our foresight.
Frying a turkey must be done right. Personally, I prefer Alton Brown’s brining recipe…I slayed with that recipe last year.
(My first post to a MMP. Did I do good? Have I hijacked and tangented enough? Any suggestions for improvement? 
)
Lissla, Thanksgiving is on Thursday. It’s the fourth Thursday in November. A lot of us have Friday off too. Some don’t have Friday off. Of course there are people who will have to work on Thanksgiving day even. That’s just the way it goes, I guess.
donkeybear good for you for getting your project done but you shouldn’t have put it off for so long. Don’t do that again. [sub]Like that’ll happen![/sub] Also, it only takes one time to burn down the house by accident. After that, folks start to suspect it’s on purpose. You might want to pass that along to your family.
I just ate the rest of my Penne Gorgonzola from Saturday night at the good Eyetalian place. Penne pasta, chicken, mushrooms and roma tomatoes in a gorgonzola sauce. MMMMMMMMMM! Course I’ll be thirsty all afternoon cause gorgonzola makes me thirsty but it was still good.
puggy for heaven’s sake! If yer gonna eat green beans with almonds just say so. So There! 
Delores, my dressing recipe is lots of cornbread and broth til it’s soupy like. Then I add in onions. Then I add in salt and pepper. Then I start with the sage. Add a little. Taste. Add a little. Taste. and on and on til I know it has enough sage to take like dressing is supposed to. Then I add in a couple or three eggs depending on how big the batch is before baking at 350 degrees until it’s set. IMHO, it should still be somewhat moist when done. Dried out dressing is disgusting. So, really, I just know when it’s right.
You’re not the only one. I’m the only person in my team (of 7) that hasn’t taken vacation for Friday.
It’ll be either really quiet, or a Day In Hell TM.
Hey, since I posted to MMP, does this mean I get to join the Cool Kids in the MPSIMS board??
Eli