C'mon, c'mon...

Sigh... I am so excited. I'm getting to the point where I can almost feel my body tense every time I turn on Food Network, I keep eyeing my knives in the kitchen and all thoughts are turning to food. Yep, I'm ready to take on Thanksgiving.

I'm the head chef when it comes to the big food holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. I now accept the assistance from a sous chef from time to time but that's only been very recently and I'm trying to be a lot more patient with them, rather than chase every one out of the kitchen. I like things done a certain way, I can't help it.

So yes, Stella and I have created the menu for the big day. She's doing most of the sauces and some of the side dishes. I'm making the stars (ie, the Turkey, homemade mac and cheese, roasted acorn squash, candied yams, sauteed Brussels sprouts). And this year, like most other years I am indeed adding to the menu. I can't help it, it needs to be done. I am adding a lovely polenta dish. I've been playing with the stuff a lot lately and I think I can trust my skills enough to bring a dish to the big day table. I swear this day is like the Superbowl for me. I already have a game plan and I know what I'll be bringing to my brother's.

Once upon a time I remember clearly only needing to bring a handful of recipes and a few dishes over. Now I have to travel alone in my car. The back seat and the trunk usually end up packed with tools and an bags of groceries. I normally have to bring a lot of the basics because Alvin and Stella have a tendency to use up stuff in their dishes and not remember that there is a whole conga line of stuff I still have to make.

Traveling this year for the first time, my cast iron griddle, and several of my pie dishes. I was thinking about bringing my freshly sharpened knives, but I think I'll leave them at home. I don't want to leave one behind by accident. It would make me cry. I normally bring two boxes of equipment, but I think I may need another box this year. As it is I'm already bringing a roasting pan, my thermometers, my 3 baking sheets, pastry cutters, biscuit rounds, several serving dishes, rolling pins, possibly my fondue set and a bunch storage bowls for the overnight stuff. Oh yes and my gas torch. Yep you read that right, a butane gas torch. It's for spot burning such as the cheese on French onion soup, the tops of marshmallows or for the sugar on Crème Brûlées. Yes, I have one. Aaron also said, "Oh my God. Are you kidding?" when I first told him I have one and when he actually saw me pull it out.

I would bring my smoker pan. I didn't really allow much room in the menu for a smoked item. But had there been room, I would have had a nice smoked fish of some sort. Ah well.

There is one thing that's getting me pretty annoyed. And that's the fact that Food Network's site is so overloaded that it is running slowly as can be. Oh holy crap is that every getting old. But it's not just them. Epicurious and Allrecipies.com are the same way. Grrr... ah well luckily I have other ways of getting the info I want.