The friend we are going to see is a gourmet chef and always has waaay too much food at any gathering. She's a wonderful person, but always be prepared to spend a lot of time in the kitchen! (She freely pours the wine while we are cooking) She will hardly ever use any processed foods. She and her family are from Australia, as are the other friends that will be there (who were also given a list of food to make that inluded a turkey). I know besides the Aussie food, she is also making wild duck and pecan soup, salmon, some kind of bread pudding, Turkish Delight, and hot dogs or something her kids are willing to eat (I find it so funny that she won't eat processed foods, if a recipe calls for mayo, she'll make it fresh, yet her kids eat only hot dogs, cheese pizza with no sauce and chicken nuggets plus lots of vitamins). She said she gave me the "simple" dishes that can be made in a couple of hours! I've never made Creme Caramel or Creme Brulee before (are they the same thing?), much less a pumpkin one! She saw all the pumpkin I had canned in my fridge. I said I would make a pie, and she said "Oh no, it has to be something much less boring ... anyone can do pie!" Guess I got to go find that creme brulee torch she gave me for Christmas a few years back ... I remember seeing DH using it to light the BBQ about a year ago. At least someone got some use out of it! If I can't find it, I guess I can always use my flame weeder...
We have plans to visit other friends up in Lake Stevens on the 26th. (I need to pull out a map and find out where that is .... I'm thinking near Lynwood?) An old HS friend who found me on FB. Until this fall, I had not seen her since '85. She is having a "leftovers" party. I should have plenty to bring.
I just got an e-mail from the Aussie friend ... wants us in Kirkland at 10! Original plan was 3. I told her it will be when I get the roast out of the oven plus 1 hour.
I had the crowd here for Thanksgiving - we did 2 meals. A Thai Lunch and traditional dinner which everyone was too full of lemongrass soup to want to eat anything else, so we divided all the food out for everyone to take home. Luckily Karen did most of the cooking that day, but I still made the soup, phad thai, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, ham, mashed potatoes, yams, salad and asparagus.
DH took care of the carpet! DD seems fine after the purge. keeping my fingers crossed ....