is the word 'diary' better than the word 'blog'? probably not.
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Doing Dallas, Family Style.
Dallas was fun. I arrived on a Friday afternoon and hung out at Adam's place while the family members trickled in. We got some yummy take-out Thai food to keep things simple. I was exhausted and went to bed at 11pm. And then! I was awake and already at work baking at 8:30 in the morning�a most unjillsy kind of an hour. And there I was, in Adam and Kate's amazingly lovely and well-equipped kitchen, until roughly 2, baking a cherry pie with lattice top (grandma's recipe), a pumpkin pie with chocolate crust, a chocolate bundt cake with ganache, and some pie-crust cookies for my grandma's sons, who were filled with nostalgia. And later, with pie.
It occurred to me later in the day that I could have shaved some time off my kitchen-hours if I had used both ovens. But I am not used to having such an option, and also Adam had mentioned needing the other oven for turkey-roasting. However turkey roasting didn't happen until after I was finished. But, like I said, my long morning in the kitchen was time well-spent!
And here it is, one view of the beautiful kitchen in which I worked all morning. Later in the day it was more crowded with people getting at their meal-making tasks.
It was nice to spend the long morning in the kitchen. Various people would come in, one by one, and sit with me for awhile while I was working, and then leave, and then someone else would come in. It's sometimes nice to have casual conversations like that, rather than finding oneself sitting on the couch facing relatives and fielding questions about what has happened for the last year or more since you last spoke.
After a looong satisfying shower in one of Adam's eight bathrooms I joined the "kids" outside and played in August's fort for awhile. Here I am trying to get him to hold still for a photo.
And here's Adam at the helm, with a camera.
Our meal was excellent. We had turkey, ham, salmon, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, succotash, creamed spinach, three kinds of bread, an excellent salad crafted by Natalie, and grandma's cranberry walnut relish concoction, which everyone in the world except me loves. Then we took a walk to walk off some of the stuffing, as it were, before we returned for the dessert course. We then watched a bunch of old family movies, which was fun and funny. All the men in my family LOVE all things gadgety, including cameras, so there are lots and lots of home movies going back to when my dad was just learning to walk. Photos too. It was fun to see how all of us had spent so much time in that same baby high-chair in my grandma's kitchen over the years.
The photo of me from one of last week's entries, with my long hair at age 6 or so, is a still taken from one of the home movies. That's Adam in the background.
There was also a funny risque reel of my grandma's new year's eve parties over the years. It was fun to see her and my grandpa all dressed up, and drinking and playing party games with their friends, who included my other grandma and grandpa, and various other people I only knew in other circumstances and at more advanced ages. I never would have pictured any of them drunk and playing a kissing game. Not that I didn't know that these parties happened. One of my favorite things that my grandma ever gave me, after she found out about my penchant for throwing parties with elaborate themes or dress codes, was her file of all the parties she had thrown that had had elaborate themes or dress codes. Full of good ideas, that file is. Perhaps I will once again end up living a life where I can put some of them to USE. Very soon.
12:51 a.m. - November 17, 2006
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