A Backward Glance at Yesterday's Meal

Some small discoveries... 

I did most of the prep work on Wednesday so that, basically, all I did was lay out the appetizers after I turned on the oven on.  

Our no-waste-turkey:  bones, skin, giblets and worse  was replaced by 2 lbs. of Boars Head roasted breast of turkey cut into half-inch steaks.  All meat and plenty of it.  The turkey that contributed to our table was the Dolly Parton of birds.  This is not a "bargain" as 2 lbs. cost $25 which would have bought a 30 lb. turkey but No Waste.  You could and we did eat nothing but "pure" turkey meat and the white meat at that.  

Roast Squash with a Butter Maple sauce turned out well after some initial difficulty cutting the ends off and halving it for face-down roasting.  An hour later at 350 degrees, it was done and cooling to be bathed in about a half stick of butter and half a bottle of pure amber honey for the sauce.  I'd given this a small shake of cayenne pepper to give it a little more than pure sweet.  The garnish offered was glazed pecans, but our guest "D" said he like it with just the sauce.    His mother's recipe cranberry sauce was delicious, as usual.

The only disaster - and it WAS one - was trying to cook the stuffing in a waffle iron.  I will gloss over trying to get the lid open to check on degree of doneness and breaking the lid lifter (which snapped back on) BUT the waffler still refused to open.   In desperation, I unplugged it (based on the odor of burning trash and steam from the cracks)  and let it cool.  Eventually we were able to open it to find sad black patties indistinguishable from coal.  The whole thing went out on the balcony where it spend the night in deserved seclusion.  

Richie's pumpkin pie finished off dinner and this year's added attraction was a generous scoop of vanilla bean ice cream.  "D" was particularly pleased at this addition - he loves him some ice cream.  

All in all, it wasn't a bad dinner; it just wasn't as good as others I've made in the past.  As I am stubborn and love the mental picture of gravy pouring into all of the little waffle holes I remind myself, I've got a year +/- to perfect stuffing waffles.  Gravy Greed can make you crazy.    You read it here.