Sunday, May 11, 2008

The house is ours again

Our three house guests are gone and it seems very, very quiet around here. I thought I'd lie down for a little while this afternoon because I was worn out. I ended up sleeping for three hours!

My sister-in-law and her husband and my brother-in-law were visiting. It was her birthday Friday so we made her a cake and a pretty fancy dinner. The cake was the Hershey's "Chocolate Town Special Cake" from the recipe that used to be on the cocoa can. It is hands-down the best chocolate cake ever. The texture is more like a lighter brownie than a fluffy cake. It's dense and moist and deeply chocolate. The prefect frosting to complement this, and the one my mother-in-law always used, is boiled like making chocolate fudge. It hardens into a candy-like shell on the cake. Very delicious, very rich - and probably should only be eaten once a year!

Her birthday dinner was roast turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls and veggies (kind of like a mini Thanksgiving!). Five people are hard to feed with roast chicken. You have to make two of them, so I though, Why not a turkey? Well, I found out that turkeys are difficult to find in the grocery in May. I had to get a Butterball, which is not my favorite brand. We brined it overnight and it was much improved. If you're not brining poultry, look it up and try it. The meat is infused with the moisture and doesn't dry out while roasting, and the seasoning penetrates throughout the bird. It also works well for pork.

We also made stuffed pasta shells, which are delicious, but take a while to put together. And sauteed herbed green beans, another winner. I was basically in the kitchen the whole time, what with breakfast and dinners and washing-up and all. It gave my husband time to visit with his siblings.

When they visit, we don't go gallivanting all over town to the attractions and shopping. We sit in the living room and talk, watch movies, talk some more, walk around the yard, etc. Didn't even leave the property the entire time. When my other sister-in-law visits, we end up taking her and her family around to local places, like the aquarium or the Civil War battlefield parks or the state parks, and it seems like there is never time to just visit and catch up on our lives.

Tonight, I'm eating leftover turkey and gravy and relaxing. Tomorrow will be soon enough to put the house back together.

1 comment:

Mad about Craft said...

Sounds like you had a lovely weekend!!