Snow White Trackers Withdrawal Club

[Bindidog]

Butterfly, I'm sorry those people have to judge you by your "family status", and not respect you as an individual. It is not fair to do that. I get that too, but in a different way.....always the expectations!

Welllllllll......I'm so pleased to give my "Turkey Report" tonight......I bought a roaster pan that was from the Marth Stewart collection, and it had a good recipe inside using lemons and onions. That went well, however I almost cooked up my boyfriend instead of the turkey....imagine me, first time turkey cooker, (And a former vegetarian for 13 years!) fishing around the nether-regions of this cold, dead bird for the giblets bag, and my DBF is trying to show me that he bought chocolate pudding for his nieces.....then he's trying to help cook the bird (by telling me what to do), and it's already 9:30 am, and it was suppose to go in at 9:00, and his family will be here at 12:00, oh, and we still have to vaccuum and mop......Bindidog almost turned into Rabid-dog, but I think the wild and crazed look in my eyes let him know that it might be a good time for him to leave the kitchen........

So after all that, we got the house nice and clean, and the turkey turned out dee-licious! (If it's good enough for Martha, it's good enough for me!) All the potential-future-in-laws loved it, and we had a very successful time of hosting our first Thanksgiving! ANNNNNNDDDDD.....get this......my DBF's dad did the dishes! So I have no complaints!!! Thanks everyone for your advice for cooking the turkey! I am so happy that it turned out well, and made this day so wonderful! I hope everyone else enjoyed their holiday! I am thankful this holiday for my family and friends, whether they be the ones I talk to face-to-face, or my fellow Webkinz addicts who chase after gem-mining dwarves! You guys are great!

[unsoclbuttrfly]

Cuts to conserve space...

Originally Posted by Bindidog

............I almost cooked up my boyfriend instead of the turkey....imagine me, first time turkey cooker, (And a former vegetarian for 13 years!) fishing around the nether-regions of this cold, dead bird for the giblets bag, and my DBF is trying to show me that he bought chocolate pudding for his nieces.....then he's trying to help cook the bird (by telling me what to do), and it's already 9:30 am, and it was suppose to go in at 9:00, and his family will be here at 12:00, oh, and we still have to vaccuum and mop......Bindidog almost turned into Rabid-dog, but I think the wild and crazed look in my eyes let him know that it might be a good time for him to leave the kitchen........

So after all that, we got the house nice and clean, and the turkey turned out dee-licious! ............

OMGosh Bindi - that cracked me up!! Literally laughed out loud when I read your post!

I am so glad it all came together for you and you all had a great time.

[My Escape]

Bindi - Congrats on surviving that turkey! I'm really proud of you and I hope that doesn't come out as condescending, because I don't mean it to be. There's a rush you get when something works out your way...it's a good, natural high. I've never been a vegetarian and I think that giblet package is disgusting. But I had to laugh at the tips from the BF, only because by now, my husband knows to corral his family elsewhere and leave me alone in my kitchen. They learn after awhile, they ARE trainable with time.

marnabear - I'm surprised on the lack of lobster, too. But glad you got a good piece of turkey. I have a friend who thought a place was going to be open for Thanksgiving. It wasn't, so she and her family headed elsewhere and ended up at a dreadful buffet where everything was dry. It's times like that I want to shove food through screens.

If no one minds, I'll be happy to post that flourless chocolate cake recipe at some point today. It wasn't difficult and there aren't many ingredients, my issues were all using the wrong sized pan. Pan size is critical in this one, so if you don't have the right one, buy it before attempting because the minutest difference matters. I will tell you, that cake is almost gone and even my two staunch lovers of pumpkin pie switched over to the cake last night. Fine by me, I love pumpkin pie (and I'm with Marnabear, it's better spiced up rather than bland).

**************************************************************

Actually, I found it easily on Bon Appetit's Epicurious website. It was from a January, 1999, Bon Appetit that I had saved because the cake was on the cover. Two minor changes - just grate or curl milk chocolate all over the top instead of trying to make chocolate leaves. The sweeter milk chocolate offsets all the semisweet in the rest of the recipe quite nicely. And there's an intermediate transferring step where you put the cake on a cardboard round/tart pan bottom before glazing. It's too hard to move to a platter once the sticky glaze is on it. Just put it on your final dish before glazing and don't worry about yummy glaze puddles at the bottom. (The glaze is amazing!) Above all... 9" inch springform pan, ONLY. Do NOT attempt an 8 1/2" or any other size, trust me.

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Glaze Recipe at Epicurious.com

[Mrs. Shimmer]

Anything chocolate is worth it! My niece brought some yummy treats last night. Very simple:

Mix together a package of crushed Oreos and a package of softened cream cheese. Form into balls. Dip the balls in melted white chocolate. Chill and try to not eat too many or your pants will no longer fit.

[marnabear]

Bindi, I'm glad your dinner turned out great. I know how much you wanted everything to be perfect for the future in-laws.

Escape, thanks for giving us a link to the recipe. I can't make it now because I don't have a spring-form pan but it sounds delicious.

Mrs Shimmer, those treats sound really good and easy and your comment about not eating too many cracked me up. I guess I'd better not make those because sometimes my pants seem to shrink just by being in the closet too long.

The lobster was a special the restaurant has been having, but not yesterday when they had just a limited menu. I was tempted by the cranberry salmon, but we do have salmon fairly often and hardly ever get roast turkey.

I am skipping the Black Friday sales this year. Not even the estore specials are tempting me. I did buy the tree ornaments and got my window. I was really happy that the price for the complete set of ornaments was so low.

[unsoclbuttrfly]

Guess what!?! I was kind of bummed that all the stores with good sales on webkinz were not near here, so I decided when I was out today to just drop in and check this one local place that sells them. They have, BY FAR, the best selection within at least a 100 mile radius (and the highest prices...and usually NO specials), but the owner told me this summer that she's no longer ordering any of the older pets, only the newer ones (BTW Escape, I saw the moose...he's adorable!), but she said they'd have the older ones until they run out. So anyway, I walked in, thinking maybe I'd get one of the retired pets they still have in stock. Ever felt like someone was watching you? Well, imagine my surprise when I turned around to see who it was and found a single, solitary, very lonely looking Signature Panda beckoning me from the top shelf. Could not believe it was just sitting there, because they never stocked that pet before. Now we have a dilemma...do I adopt him as an early Christmas gift to myself , or do I save it as a gift for my niece ?? She had mentioned before that she wanted a zum buddy and a gecko, so I had already picked up the gecko (and this store has several of the zums in stock, but I decided to hold off buying it until I decide about the panda).

Anyway, just got home from another day on granny patrol (don't be offended, that's an inside joke started by my grandma). Decided to go today so I could stay in tomorrow if the weather is bad. They're calling for rain/snow mix, with icy road conditions. Ick. While I was out, I picked up some supplies so my niece and I can try our hand at making sock monkeys this weekend.

Originally Posted by My Escape

.......................
Actually, I found it easily on Bon Appetit's Epicurious website. It was from a January, 1999, Bon Appetit that I had saved because the cake was on the cover. Two minor changes - just grate or curl milk chocolate all over the top instead of trying to make chocolate leaves. The sweeter milk chocolate offsets all the semisweet in the rest of the recipe quite nicely. And there's an intermediate transferring step where you put the cake on a cardboard round/tart pan bottom before glazing. It's too hard to move to a platter once the sticky glaze is on it. Just put it on your final dish before glazing and don't worry about yummy glaze puddles at the bottom. (The glaze is amazing!) Above all... 9" inch springform pan, ONLY. Do NOT attempt an 8 1/2" or any other size, trust me.

Thanks for posting the recipe link and tips, Escape! That recipe doesn't look too bad at all. And oddly enough, my mom recently gave me her 9" springform. I think that's some sort of sign that I am supposed to make this cake, don't you?

Originally Posted by Mrs. Shimmer

Anything chocolate is worth it! My niece brought some yummy treats last night. Very simple:

Mix together a package of crushed Oreos and a package of softened cream cheese. Form into balls. Dip the balls in melted white chocolate. Chill and try to not eat too many or your pants will no longer fit.

OMGosh! That sounds like a whole lotta yummy goodness, too. My niece will love that as much as the cake...and my nephew might actually try them, too. If I don't tell him about the cream cheese. Thanks Mrs. Shimmer!

Originally Posted by marnabear

.............
I am skipping the Black Friday sales this year. Not even the estore specials are tempting me. I did buy the tree ornaments and got my window. I was really happy that the price for the complete set of ornaments was so low.

Hi marnabear! Yes, I checked the estore sales and didn't really see anything I wanted, either, except the ornaments. I think I'll buy those before they're gone for the season. The price came as a pleasant surprise...I expected them to be a lot more. Still need to get some more ornaments from the old series. Eventually, I'd like the full set and then I'll do one tree, probably in my office, that's all webkinz ornaments...but those are fairly expensive, so I only buy them once in a while.


Hello to everyone else! Hope you're all having a great day.

[WI 50ish]

Happy Black Friday evening!
It sounds as if everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and that makes me happy I ran out of fridge space so I placed the cranberries and three different types of jellos outside [IL -cold enough ] Obviously there was enough food because ODD found them outside this am. HA!

ODD went with friends at 3:30 this a.m. and she just returned with a boatload a half hour ago. Took DS shopping at Target with his own $ and he did really well picking out for sisters and DH. YDD and I hit Walgreens and made out like bandits. The BOGO was on every style webkinz and beanie baby in the store so the plushies came to $2.49 ea. We are not keeping any of them, we are donating them, so neither one of us could stop picking out. We had a great time 'hiding' them because the mgr put a limit of 4 on each mfr, so we made 3 trips back n forth from the car to the store! The clerk ringing was super nice - she let me make purchase, then DD separately ring up.
I am exhausted this evening, so I will call it a wrap for the moment.

unsocl - Just LOVE your new Snoopy + Woodstock avie <3

A wicked weekend to each of you

[debs_267]

Originally Posted by Mrs. Shimmer

Anything chocolate is worth it! My niece brought some yummy treats last night. Very simple:

Mix together a package of crushed Oreos and a package of softened cream cheese. Form into balls. Dip the balls in melted white chocolate. Chill and try to not eat too many or your pants will no longer fit.

So GLAD you posted this MrsShimmer...been looking for new recipes for Christmas Cookies...gifts from the home come straight from the heart..and I have a few chocaholics to bake for.

[unsoclbuttrfly]

Originally Posted by WI 50ish

Happy Black Friday evening!
It sounds as if everyone had a terrific Thanksgiving and that makes me happy I ran out of fridge space so I placed the cranberries and three different types of jellos outside [IL -cold enough ] Obviously there was enough food because ODD found them outside this am. HA!


unsocl - Just LOVE your new Snoopy + Woodstock avie <3

A wicked weekend to each of you

Thanks 50ish .

I'd say you must have had enough food if some of it was forgotten until the next day! We've done that with food before, back when we made a more traditional meal. Never the cranberries, though...just isn't Thanksgiving without those. We used to forget the rolls, one type of pie, maybe some random side dish (or two ). Okay with me, more leftovers means less cooking over the days that follow.

Sounds like you and your daughter had a blast picking out those webkinz! Congrats on finding such a great deal.

[My Escape]

Phew, I have been having problems getting to this thread all afternoon! No idea why I couldn't get in, but I'm glad I can now.

Mrs. Shimmer, those treats sound wonderful. I love easy stuff like that.

marnabear - I avoided Black Friday all day until after dinner. Decided to go to Old Navy then and found some amazing deals. But, wow, even at 8:30 p.m., they were packed and they were staying open until midnight. The only estore item I want is that lava lamp column that hasn't been offered in probably a year. I was hoping it would show up for Black Friday, but no luck. If there were ornaments offered, I'll have to take a look, although I probably won't get them.

50ish - Nice deals on those Webkinz. I can just see you going back and forth into the store. I would have done that, too! And great your kids made headway. I can't even get mine to tell me what they want.

Hi debs_267 - Glad you stopped by. Post anytime, this is a great group.

Buttrfly - I will be by a Hallmark tomorrow and will look for that moose. I think it's adorable - both the plush and virtual. I just don't get out to that store very often. I think you should keep the panda for yourself if you can swing it. That was a real find. Someone posted that they found the signature panda at Toys R Us for $10 and they couldn't resist. Sometimes, you just sort of have to look for signs that something was meant to be. Like the 9" pan and like finding that panda when you didn't expect it. Keep it and enjoy because the PSI with it is a fun one. Buy your niece the zum buddy she wants and don't overthink all this.