Happy Thanksgiving!

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This year, it's just DH and me, so I'm taking my time with the festivities (aka cooking). I'm having a very productive, yet very relaxing day. No time constraints...no place I have to be, just DH and me. I started the morning by knitting a bit on my Jawoll Magic sock.

I took a break to make the fresh cranberry relish - a personal and family favorite. I just love the tart and refreshing flavors that the relish imparts. That didn't take long, even though I do it the "old fashioned way" - with the hand-cranked grinder rather than the food processor. I like the irregularity I get with the relish when done using the meat grinder.

I then went back to knitting the sock. I'm close to halfway done with the foot. Once it's done, I'll have to start on the second sock in both the Zino and the Jawoll. That's the only problem with my "yarn experiment" - I'll have 2 socks completed, but they're NOT a pair. I feel like this makes me twice as likely to face "second sock syndrome" - LOL!


I don't think I have to totally complete the sock to finalize my analysis of the Jawoll Magic vs. Plymouth Zino. The Jawoll Magic yarn is DEFINITELY the same yarn as the Plymouth Zino...just as I suspected. I tried to start both socks at the same point in the color flow, but I didn't quite make it. I've placed the two socks side by side where the colors match - you can definitely see that the color changes are identical - further proving that the yarn came from the same mill and was distributed to two different yarn companies. (My lack of success at starting the Jawoll sock in the same place as I did the Zino will present a challenge to me when I go to make the second sock of each pair. I'll have to be VERY careful to ensure that the two socks start at the same spot in the color flow! Wish me luck!)

I think it's rather funny that a set of consumer reviews of the two yarns differ. One of them was totally panned (Plymouth) while the other (Jawoll) was reviewed as an OK yarn...but they're the SAME!!! I'm convinced that some folks rate quality by the label and/or cost - if it costs more, then it MUST be the better yarn. Yeah. Right. In this case, the yarns are truly the same...but the price differs by a full four dollars!

After knitting for a while, I started our breakfast...more of a brunch than a breakfast. I served two courses. The first was a fruit bowl of raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries accompanied by a buttered slice of cranberry orange bread from Great Harvest Bread Company. This was followed by a slice of whole wheat toast, some homemade sausage from the Norway store (I brought it back from Illinois earlier this year), an omelet full of mushrooms, green onions, lots of arugula, and baby Swiss - topped with some black bean salsa and accompanied by slices of fresh avocado.

I relaxed with a cup of tea and chatted with DH for a while before I decided to get started on my pies. This year, I decided that I'd make the pumpkin pies from scratch. It's a lot of work, but definitely worth it. I had a bit of a time trying to cut into both pumpkins. After about 5 minutes with a very sharp serrated knife, I hadn't made much progress - I barely broke the skin of the first pumpkin. I started to worry about slipping and cutting myself...and then spending the better part of Thanksgiving at the ER. There's got to be a better way!


I told DH I needed a saw - not the typical food prep implement, but definitely necessary! He went to the garage, got the hack saw and I washed it up to prep it for "pie use". Even with the hack saw, it took a while to get into both pumpkins. (NOTE: The saw was NEVER used to saw metal, so I determined that it was safe for food after a good cleaning.)



After steaming the pumpkins for about 45 minutes, I scooped out the halves and continued working on the pies. I was struck by how rigid the pumpkin skins were - even after all that steaming. I think they would make great bowls once they're dried out - they reminded me of "gourd bowls". Hmmm....perhaps I'll have to consider "Pumpkin bowls" as a new craft to try at some point.

I somehow messed up the crust on one of the pies when I attempted to add the protective aluminum foil around the edges to prevent burning. Oh, well...it will still taste the same! The pies are very dark because I LOVE cinnamon, cloves, and allspice...and I doubled the amounts or each for the pies.










I've finally put the turkey in the oven, so now I'm sitting back and relaxing for a few hours. Perhaps I'll finish the sock while the turkey is cooking?