This is a holiday week here in the USA. For my international friends, Thursday is our Thanksgiving.
This kept me up late Monday, because my work scheduled a potluck. Makes sense, we have to stay up all night Wednesday to cook, why not do it Monday too? I had enough chile verde to take home for supper last night.
Tonight I have to bake dinner rolls. I made the mistake of baking these for Thanksgiving many years ago, and everyone demands them now. It’s a raised dough product, so hours of rising and punching down, and re-rising are part of my evening plan. My wife said we need a TRIPLE batch this year. I actually have one giant-sized bowl I might be able to make it all at once in. I’m sure I have to wash it first, and will have to wash it during the process because it’s also my storage bin for the finished product.
Bake time is another issue. I only have so many sheets, and the rolls have to raise one more time after they are shaped. This year, I’m going to be thankful for getting it over with.
Things have slowed down online. I’m noticing it on all fronts. Since I ended my big promotional push, I have a lot more time for other things. I’ve even expanded beyond my “must read” list on WordPress. Some of you may notice some likes on blogs I haven’t visited for a while.
I took a vacation day Friday. We have company, but I don’t know if they’re all going out for Black Friday. I don’t see it being a productive writing day, but it could happen. Pure luck of the draw, my flex day is Monday and that could be a writing day.
I hacked out another “anthem” piece for my Enhanced League baseball stories. I’m pretty happy with it. This one is about the extra guy on the team. The one who fills in for injured players and the lack of respect for his job.
In other news, I have a fun Lisa Burton Radio post scheduled for tomorrow. I couldn’t sell Thanksgiving to anyone as a good day, so I wrote this one on my own. It isn’t about one of my books though, so if you get a break in the action tomorrow you might want to check it out.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates it. I’ll be thinking about you slaving over your cornbread stuffing, and green bean casserole while I punch down dough.
PS: Don’t forget to thaw the turkey.
Have a great Thanksgiving Craig! I’ve just made Christmas cake, readu to feed with brandy in the run up to Christmas. I also have six jars of mincemeat for mince pies! ’tis the season to be eatin’ 🙂
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My grandmother used to make and can her own mincemeat. She used venison from my grandfather’s buck. I remember it being pretty darned good.
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Sounds interesting! i should have clarified thoug that mine is sweet mincemeat, a bit of a British thing I think 🙂
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This was sweet too and became pies at holidays.
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Now that is interesting! I’ve not tried that before. This is just fruit, sugar and veg suet that I’ve made 🙂
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Her old recipe still exists somewhere, but most of us shy away from canning meat products. Fruit is simpler and safer when it comes to canning.
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Happy Thanksgiving Craig!
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Have a great one yourself.
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Reblogged this on O LADO ESCURO DA LUA.
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Thanks for sharing.
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I would have lost my chit if I’d had to do a pot-luck at work this week. They’da gotten some storebought pie and a 2-liter! lol
I tend to forget the rolls take a lot longer to rise in Indiana than they did in Georgia. I’ve mentally noted this repeatedly, but I still worry about failing myself.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours 🙂 — in case you’re not on WP tomorrow. I’ll be here with doors.
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I’ll be here. My cooking will be over, and I have Lisa’s post to monitor. Looking forward to the doors.
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🙂
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Happy Thanksgiving, Craig.
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You too, John.
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🙂
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Have a fun Thanksgiving and a restful Friday. I have this image in my head of you fighting the dough while Eye of the Tiger plays. 😜
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That’s a great example. The dough monster will not win this one. Have a great Thanksgiving yourself.
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Having it twice here. Tomorrow is a way and Saturday is here. Not 100% certain this is a good thing yet.
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At least you can sleep it off on Friday.
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Maybe. The kid is home from school, so we’ll see what he does. I’m pushing to sleep in tomorrow since my wife promised to watch the parade with him on TV.
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I know from experience that works on occasion. Convince her to take him to the actual parade might work even better.
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Yikes. The Macy’s Day Parade is a mess to get into. I still shiver from the one time my family tried it. Barely saw anything and two people squeezing together caught my scarf between them. Think of a dog on a chain that runs too far and you’ll know how that one went for me. I’ll just remind her that she owes me a sleeping day and I’m calling in the favor. 🙂
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That might be too much to wish on a wife and child. I’m still holding out that my company will do Black Friday. Then it’s just me and the bulldog.
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We stay far away from malls on that day. I’ll be hunting for online deals though. Maybe a few anime sets if we find anything worthwhile. Ended up getting $65 worth of Amazon gift cards, so we might as well use them on us.
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I usually wind up with some of those for Christmas. I bought books most of the time.
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I usually get money for bills on the holidays. Not the real intent, but that’s where it goes.
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Yup. If I get cash that’s where mine goes too.
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Adulthood really isn’t all it was promised.
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No kidding. I think we were supposed to have flying cars by now too.
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At least hover boards or machines that make food. I keep hoping 3D printers are a step toward that last one.
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I still liked the idea of faxing me a six-pack of beer, but we gave up on fax machines too soon.
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That would have been awesome.
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Happy Thanksgiving!!!!
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You too, have a wonderful day.
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Hope you and yours have a fabulous Thanksgiving, Craig. And good luck with all that dough wrangling. I bet those rolls are excellent!
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They really are, but they’d have to be for all that work. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving yourself.
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Reblogged this on Anita Dawes & Jaye Marie.
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Thanks for sharing this.
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Thinking about you, up to your elbows in flour, has given me the giggles…
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Yeah, I tend to get stuff everywhere when I bake.
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Me too, where would the fun be otherwise?
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Do you have to do anything to keep your beard out of the dough?
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Yes, stand up straight.
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Have a happy thanksgiving!
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Thanks, you too.
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Wishing you and yours a blessed holiday!!
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Thank you, Traci. Have a Happy Thanksgiving yourself.
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A rising number of people in England do a Thanksgiving meal now, and some restaurants are jumping on the bandwagon too, it’s really not our celebration but there not letting a mere historical detail stop them from having a big dinner! I am making a Thanksgiving dinner but then my children are half American so that makes sense 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving to you!
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* they’re
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I generally have one typo per comment, so don’t feel out of place. WordPress comments are the worst, and you can’t correct them.
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Some typos are obvious typos and I don’t worry too much about those, but this one could look like I just didn’t know I’d used the wrong spelling, so I couldn’t leave that!
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I’ll save the correction and apply it next time. The rolls I’m making were the ones you featured on Sugarness after we spoke about them last year.
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In a small part of the US, lobster is the traditional meal. I think we should adopt that, but it would be kind of expensive when a big crowd shows up. Enjoy your Thanksgiving meal.
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Ooh yes, lobster! Would love that.
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Happy Thanksgiving, Craig! I laughed at your rolls dilemma. I made that mistake, too, and now everyone clamors for them. Have a wonderful holiday and good for you on taking Friday off work. We’re on a 4 day weekend and plan on watching lots of football, relaxing and Christmas shopping. Cheers! 🙂
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Sounds like similar experience and similar plans. I’d prefer baseball, but football is fun too.
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Some people view bread making as a kind of meditation. Especially the dough-punching part! Maybe you can punch out a few story ideas while you’re at it.
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It really is, but I usually get more into it when I wake my sourdough up in a week or two. I finished up about 11:30 last night, and they’re pretty darned good.
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Happy Holiday! I would write more but Google chrome gives me about thrity secs before crashing “Aw Snap” and I’ve already cleared cookies. I don’t know what’s going on.
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