No wise words from the Universe today. Sorry. It’s Thanksgiving. Even the Big U gets time off. Instead…

True story. I had two jobs for Thanksgiving lunch at the BiL/SiL’s house today–my homemade Ice Box Rolls (hot yeast rolls )and pie. I have been making the dough and rolling out and baking the rolls since I could stand on a stool, erach the counter, and turn on the electric mixer. I don’t even look at the recipe anymore. I mean 60+ years? Even my brain can remember that. Except…

I digress, for a moment, to the pandemic and supply chain issues. I don’t bake  from scratch like I used to but I had a canister just a little over half full and a parial bag of flour in the pantry. As lots of things were hit or miss at the store, I went ahead and grabbed some Shawnee’s Best. They’re a local company, comparable in price and excellent quality. Skip ahead to Wednesday morning. The rolls are supposed to rise in the fridge over night, hence the reason they are called Ice Box Rolls. However, you can do them in the morning, let the dough rise during the day and roll them out after dinner for rising at baking first thing in the morning. This beats getting up extra early to rolle them out, let them rise, and bake on the morning of. Or you can do them early and freeeze them. Except I have no room in my freezer.

Hang in there, I’m getting to the part where you’ll laugh. So. Wednesday morning. I start making the dough. I do the liquid mixture using the “sticks” of Criscoo–handy things those are! I had just enoug for that and greasing pans. I thought to myself as I used the Crisco to the first batch, “Self, you need to add Crisco to the grocery list for next Monday.” So, I’m mixxing up all the wet stuff and start adding the dry. It’s all good, even though the flour seems a bit…coarse? I end up with some on my finger and I taste it. And it’s salty. Now, 4 teaspoons of salt are NOT notciable in the mix of all the other ingredients. In fact, the 1/2 cup of sugar completely hides the salty. So…

I pick up the bag of “flour.” It’s Shawnee’s Best. Shawnee’s Best WHITE CORN MEAL MIX. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Too bad I wasn’t making the dressing too. I would have had some incredibly fluffy and rich cornbread to stick in it. Instead, it all went into a plastic bag and to the trash because we’d NEVER eat that much corn bread. Not in a year. Or two.  So now, I need more yeast and flour. REAL ALL PURPOSE FLOUR. Cuz, gotta start over don’cha know. I run up to the grocery that’s only a few blocks away, grab TWO sleeves of yeast–because you know, just in case–and I had the very nice young man stocking the shelves verify that I was getting FLOUR, as I explained WHY I wanted him to double check. He was nice and admitted the packaging did look similar and he was trying hard not to laugh. Until I adivsed him not to get old because it sucks. He lost it at that.

So, I get to the checkout. My total is $6.61. I have excatly $4.00 in cash. 🙄 I use my debit card. I get home. I wash the mixing bowl and beater than had been soaking and I start up the water, Crisco, sugar and salt (that gets poured into the activated yeast and eggs mixture before adding the flour. Except…Crisco. I need 3/4 cup of Crisco, plus Crisco to grease rising bowls and baking pan. I had 1/4 cup.  🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️ Off I go back to the store. Remember that nice young man? Yeah, he is now stocking stuff right next to the Crisco. I said, “Don’t ask, just go ahead and laugh.” He did. I did. We wished each other a Happy Thanksgiving. The girls at the checkout who’d been flirting with the local firefighters who’d been in line in front of me the first trip, tried not to laugh. I told them to go ahead and since was laughing on the inside, they wouldn’t hurt my feelings if they laughed out loud. My tab thistime is $6.72. I STILL only had $4.00 in cash.

Anyway, I made it home in the cold drizzle–yeah, I haven’t mentioned that it was a lousy day to be out and about–got the new batch of dough mixed up and it turned out pretty darn gooe. This morning I thawed the pecan pie and made the pumpkin pie and baked the rolls. Off to the BiL/SiL’s around 11-ish. There could be 20+ people there and y’all know how much I love peopling. 🙄

That said, it’s Thanksgiving Day here in the USA. And I do have things to be thankful for. I may be old but I can still get around and I remember things if I write them down. 🤣 I have a wonderful family and friends. I have furry critters to love on. I have books to write–thank goodness the imgination still works! And best of all, I have y’all. Thank you for hanging out here, for buying and reading my books, for leaving reviews, and most of all for being totally cool people that I’d actually people with. In person, even. Anything you’re thankful for today? And is anyone watching the Macy’s Parade?