Tuesday night addition: I HAVE JUST RE-READ MY BLOG FROM LAST NIGHT...BAD BALONIE....I SHOULD HAVE WAITED UNTIL I WAS MORE RESTED, BUT I JUST WANTED TO GET IT ALL OUT...I promise a better read, next time...I have no patience. I won't go and correct all the errors, because most of you have already seen my lousy spelling and omissions....Lord!!
I guess I'm not as young as I used to be. Don't you just hate when people say that, obviously if I was as young as I used to be, I wouldn't be this old...I don't know..
That said, the weekend was fantastic, and I pulled off the supper, with the help of my SIL Sheila and friend Janis. There were a LOT of little critters here, all six girls. Two of the cousins had never met their Winnipeg cousins before, and it only took ten minutes and they were best of buds.
I spent and exhausting Saturday cleaning the house, grocery shopping, etc. Later on the AAdjustment hour crew came over and it was Sheila's birthday, so we did some celebrating, with wine and cake and endless chattering. I still hear chattering...it never ended from Saturday until Sunday nite when everyone left. Chatter..chatter..chatter. My head hurt.
Sunday morning was prep time. Got out Mr. Turkey Lurkey, slapped him in a roaster about 11:00 AM...and started on ALL the other dishes I had I planned on making. Maybe I was on speed or something during the week, thinking I could possibly make all the stuff I was planning and not get tired, frustrated. The guests were due to arrive at 4:00 and supper would be 6-7ish. At lunch time I had to make the following food stuff ahead of time, because there would be no way I could do it later:
#1. Mashed potatoes for 17 people - A customer of Gord's had given him a huge bag of new (huge) potatoes he had just dug up from his garden, so I saved those for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, these monsters had 100 "eyes" in each potato. Well, "lordyluvaspud" I was picking, poking the eyes out of these things for hours, or maybe it just seemed that way. Good thing I had long nail on my thumbnail..to get into the craters. Anywho. I only have one big pot for that amount of potatoes, when I realize that step #2 need the same size pot. Just a note: I have a Jen Air stove that only has two burners and they don't both fit on the stove at the same time. So, I had to wait for the potatoes to get done. All finished. Drained, butter, milk, added, and I mashed them (really hard)..cause I was getting jest a little edgy by now. Stuck them in a casserole dish and set them aside until they cooled. It was now 1:00 PM
#2. Sweet Potato casserole - I wanted to throw a little US dish in my typical Canadian fare. Never made it before in my life. I started to peel them, and hey, that was much better than the Canadian counterpart potatoes, they peeled like a dream. BUT, how do you slice them? With an axe? Or a chainsaw? Those babies were like a wood stump, I swear. My hands were already so sore from getting all the eyes out of the potatoes, I did not have the energy to cut them up!!! Finally I remember I had one of those big chopping knives I had ordered from K-Tel a hundred years ago, and decided to do some "chop" "chop" with this pretty boy. I donned my Kung Fu garb..put the yams on my chopping block, picked up the knife over my head and hammered it down...job done. But of course, now you have to find them, they scattered into another room. The dog found them, but before she could partake, I picked them up, rinsed them, and tried again, because they we only in half, and I had get them into small pieces for the pot. I struggled for half an hour. Got them in the pot. Got them all boiled up, they looked kind of funny, being orange and all. Strained them, and mashed em. Then got out my recipe, and followed the instructions. HOW MUCH BUTTER DO YOU USE IN THE USA?...lordyloveayam...eggs, butter, more butter for the topping, and nuts..it looked decadent, but good. I put it aside, because Turkey Lurkey was in the oven, and he wasn't moving for nuttin. Okay, that's two dished on hold. Now it is 2:00 PM
#3. Salad: My mom always make a very special salad we all loved at Xmas or Thanksgiving...which involved "chopping" of more stuff. I chopped and chopped, and chopped. My choppers were weary. Then of course it had a home-made dressing...so I dressed and I dressed and I dressed. All done, I stuck it in the fridge, along with the potatoes and the sweet potatoes. All was cool. Now it was 2:30PM
#4. Dressing: I didn't make real dressing...(no time) I just make a batch of stuff you get from the grocery store..stove top wild rice stuff...but I added my own touch to it. By the time I finished I should have just made it from scratch. I wanted to fool my guests into thinking I had made it myself, and by adding all the extra's it took forfuckingever. Okay. Dressing is done. In the fridge with the rest of the group. Now it was 3:00 PM
#5. Party platter...for beforehand...I in my tiny little brain had conjured up visions of platters of fruit and veggies, along with very nice dips to dunk them in. First the fruits. More dicing and slicing, but they weren't as hard as the yams. Strawberry's, cantaloupe,pineapple, apples, and grapes and some other shit (loved the grapes..no slicing) If I ever do this again..it will ALL grapes...Okay..now I try to be imaginative and put it on a platter....with colour co-ordination..nice and prudy. It pretty well just get shoved wherever!!..and then for my home-made dip...yes internet...I was all about homemade, and I must have had a serious drug problem last week when I made up the menu. Now I had that to contend with my bad choices.
Ohhh, my aching body. Oh no, I didn't stop there, I had to make a Veggie Platter as well, nothing is to good for balonie...not nuthin....chop chop...and chop...I am an asshole for the record!! Now, another dressing...well Kraft helped my out there. I can't believe what I did as I am writing this. It's 3:30, and the turkey is still in the oven just ready to come out ( I wanted to make it ahead of time so when everyone comes over it's not such a hassle)..yeah rite. So, Turkey Lurkey, is removed from it's kiln, cooled...only slightly, because of time restraints...and carved, put into platters and refrigerated. Now my fingers are not only bent out of shape from removing 100 potato eyes, etc. they are burned by carving the turkey whilst it's too hot. My oh my. I poured out all the turkey juices into a big container to make the gravy later. Turkey flies back into the fridge. (Can you see how I have saved time)..yess, I be a big time saver huh? My fridge was bulging at the seams...It's now 4:00 PM...I am on target!!
Bring the guests on in...My SIL was making meatballs which is a tradition, and Janis was bringing the dessert....what timesavers they were..LOL ..but I only asked them to bring that, they would have brought anything else...but I thought I was SUPERPERSON.
Oops, forgot to mention setting up of the table, laying out of the napkins, you know, the hard stuff! My house is too small for a "sit" down dinner with so many people, so it was buffet style. There were many more things....but alas I have lost track.
But, after all the stress, and everyone arrived, I started to relax. My nephew and wife and kids came in from Kelowna came over first and I got to meet the newest member Chole. Fortunately we had the most wonderful weather, it was beautiful.. That winter storm had made a wreck of our backyard, but Gord got all that cleaned out whilst I was killing potatoes and such inside. After MY GIRLS helped me out with supper we actually sat outside to eat!!! yes it was sooo nice. Like I said before it wasn't a sit down supper, so everyone parked their ass where they wanted too, and my house is plenty big...except for the kitchen. MY GIRLS, helped me with clean up...and then we all sat and talked, and drank and stuff...Fun was had by all.
I had to laugh at the kids...all six girls ranging from 3-12 having such a great time together. I love that cousin stuff. The baby is only a few weeks old (the 7th cousin)..another girl..so no participation from her...she slept right thru thanksgiving!!! But she will probably climbing my stairs next year..they all have.
We had a great time out on the deck last night, teasing with the guys, trying to find out why the couldn't make "boys"....all these girls, it's unreal....My nephew Chris has already quit the game..and had a vasc. but Damon my other nephew, might be willing to try once more for a boy. His wife loves kids, so that's not a problem.
I guess I have been going on too long here... but I should say with the help my good friends supper went off without a hitch....(they put a bag over my head)...and ..YES everyone liked it...I didn't kill any one...that's the best part...no food poisoning or such.
The kids were such a treat..Auntie Balonie has a chart on her kitchen wall with all their height measurements from year to year at Xmas...and this year being was first for my nephews Chris's kids. I yelled out to the other kids...it's time for measuring.......and all the kids streamed in the kitchen for their measurements..it was so cute. (they knew the balonie meant business) Then, Uncle Gordon...brought out some fireworks and delighted them another treat...but we almost gave the dog a coniption..is that a word? well..she was scared... So, all and all it turned out good, but I is one tired little Canuck Chick...but I can't sleep, I tried this afternoon, but didn't happen. Too much shit going on my head.
Just a few pics:
All those little girl critters in a row.
Those damn yams.............
Emerson..tooth fairy just came
Lynnae - the oldest of the cousins (11)..and a sweetie pie.
Mackenna...Spiderman...She's got an attitude going on here. I can't believe this kid, she really, really thinks she is spiderman...her whole world revolves around it, therefore the PJ's she has got on... her Dad was thinking she might be gay...unless there is a spiderwomen...is there?
Chloe from Vancouver(3)....a Barbie girl...she is so beautiful. My nephew and his wife lived in Costa Rica with the kids until a year ago, and they was telling us, that the locals in the area would always try to touch her head for good luck. She has such a wonderful personality and has no idea how pretty she is.
Jamie (9)..another neice, she is sooo sweet. She is total love with the new baby in the family. She held her for most of the evening. I love her hat.
This is Chloe's sister from Vancouver..Jessica(5) She is the sweetest little thing you could ever meet. She is such a nature lover at her young age. I caught the flash in her glasses..dang...she has the most amazing huge hazel eyes I have ever seen, they just suck you right in. And she too, is missing her two front teeth..
This is the guy responsible...for my name..balonie....my nephew Chris from Vancouver..little turd..For some reason he thinks he looks better without hair, dumb-ass. He has such beautiful hair..and he's not even going bald...maybe he anticipating it and trying out the look. He was my fishing buddy for many a year when he was young..He and my other nephew Damon told me last night how much the appreciated the "balonies" efforts to take them fishing every week-end. That was nice.
This is Chris's wife Melody..we call her "Tunes"...mother of Chloe and Jessica..she is such a nice person...and guess what...she is starting to scrapbook...now she will my best friend forever!
I was trying to find a pic of Damon..that is him in the background, when he was letting his daughter Emerson pour herself a rum and coke at the bar LOL...
This is Jennifer, wife of Damon and mother of that little new baby we saw in the first picture...our new addition to the family ...little Tarlyn.
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