Turkey time

Whew. 

We're just waking up from our turkey comas.   Thanksgiving was a big hit.  We ended up having 12 people in all, and enough food to feed an army. 

I made some pumpkin pies and brownies for dessert.  We have a convection oven, which is really nice...except I haven't quite figured out how to use it.  I mean, I know how to use it.  I just don't know what all of the settings mean.  And don't get me started on celsius to fahrenheit conversions.  The back pumpkin pie in this picture got a little "caramelized" on top because I didn't realize the broiler was on.  Oops.  It ended up being the best tasting pie though. 

I had a lot of left over crust and filling, so I decided to make some personal pies.  I just rolled out the crust again, cut out big circles using a big cup, and pressed it in muffin tins.  Waste not, want not. 

I also made some decorations out of the extra pie crust.  I used kitchen shears to cut out some leaves and acorns.  I tried two different methods for putting them on the pies.  On one pie (this one), I put the decorations on before I put it in the oven to bake.  As you can see, it kind of slid down into the pie, so you couldn't see it all. 

On the "caramelized" pie, I put the decorations on after it had been baking for about 15 minutes.  That worked out better because the pie had firmed up just enough for the stuff to not sink into the filling. 

Here is one shot of about a third of the group.  We ended up needing to put an extra leaf in our table, borrow chairs from another person in the building, and pull out our camping chairs. 

I'm not even going to tell you how many times it took us to get this "good" picture.  The couple to the right of us, Rita and Dave, helped out a lot.  Dave fried the turkey (he's from the south, so obviously we had to show these other northern and west coast jokers what's up).  Rita helped me out with all of the side dishes, and gave me all the moral support I needed. 

After we finished eating, I made everyone go around the table and say what they are thankful for.  One of my favorites:  "I'm thankful for the married couples that provide us with food."

Even the drinks were delicious. 

Overall, I think it's safe to say Thanksgiving was a success.