NOVEMBER & THANKSGIVING...

Absolutely my most favorite month and holiday. November is the promise of 2 months of holidays and in the middle Thanksgiving. The day I have anticipated all year long. I have rarely ever cooked "ole Tom" myself. Those who know and love me would just as soon I stay away from the bird. My past experiences with Tommy havn't been so good, so I do what I do best. I am the "guest". I know, I know, you think its because I adorn a tiara, isn't it? Trust me, this is an act of love that I do for my family. One of my best friends and sister-in-law, Minerva, does the spread...and once you've had her menu, well, lets just say, you'd understand why no one wants me to mess with our fine feathered friend....But I do bring desserts. That is my contribution each holiday season. I save everyone the chance of food poisoning but bless this with my sweets...it works well for everyone..Ask anyone in my family....I have been up since 7 and have 2 fresh strawberry pies cooling, and of course, I just pulled out the pumpkin pies...my house smells wonderful!!!! I called Minerva to check on her and what is going on at the Simpson compound, and well, lets just say, she's had a minor setback..Now, we didn't plan on smoked turkey, but, ummm, dinner has been delayed while my brother, Kenny put the fire out in the oven....Don't be alarmed, the firetrucks were not called, he showed up in the nick of time and saved the day with a box of salt....apparently Minerva had way too many things going on at once and the aluminum pan had a hole poked in it...the sounds she heard coming from the oven, were not the results of her basting Tom, it was her basting dripping on the heating element, thus the fire....we laughed and then I remembered my own mishap 2 years ago...Again, I was up early, hmmming christmas carols(so what, i like them). I was baking 2 lemon meringue pies. I had lost my recipe for meringue, but i clearly remembered you just add sugar to egg whites and beat till they peak..well, apparently, too much sugar is NOT a good thing...the fire alarms went off, Jim ran into the kitchen, I am wondering what is going on...I was just thinking, I should have cleaned the oven before I started baking...Jim opened the oven and there were my 2 pies---ON FIRE--flames were all over them..Jim threw them in the sink and turned the water on...did that tick me off or what? I mean I had been squeezing lemons all morning and had plans for these pies...he didn't have to throw them in the sink...couldn't he have scooped the fire in the sink instead???? He says it didn't work that way, but I could have saved those pies...I learned a very valuable lesson that day...egg whites and too much sugar can be lethal..hahaha...use a recipe!!! HAPPY THANKSGIVING everyone...