Planning Thanksgiving Dinner

Only four weeks off.  Always one of my premier annual efforts, usually successful though with enough daring to sometimes flop and more often than not create a minor injury.  Always know where the first aid kit can be found in the kitchen.

Unlike other dinners which go by categories, this one is modified to incorporate ingredients.  Turkey for sure, though a half breast instead of a big bird.  I have a large roasting chicken, but while the right amount of meat for everyone and it presents on a platter as a whole bird, it wouldn't be a suitable substitute. Stuffing is a must. Sweet potatoes, cranberries, and apples need to appear on the menu.  They come in different forms, though.  I always make bread.  Appetizers are the course most likely to fail.  Dessert is the course most likely to delight.  While cranberries usually get made into sauce, I have incorporated them into dessert.  

For Thanksgiving in recent years, I leave my many cookbooks on the shelf, instead searching the internet for what I want to make, the bread for motzi being the exception, as I really like the Hungarian farmhouse loaf that I make most often.  But this year, I'll seek out motzi electronically.  I can search by dish, such as appetizer or dessert, by pareve, by ingredient like sweet potato, or by what my favorite kitchen masters have to offer.

I think one of the attractions for this has been the diverse ways the final result can be created, from planning, purchasing, to the final kitchen execution.  One of my more stimulating post-retirement challenges.