You want me to what?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great - filled with food, family and more food. I spent the morning cooking and getting the house ready. I only had to do the stuffing but I helped my mom and sister with their dishes. I really cracked the whip over my mom because she tends to do things at her own pace and ends up still cooking while guests arrive. This year, for the first time in memory, we had food done and on the table on time! Of course as fate would have it, our half of our guests were late. Doh!

We timed for food to be out of the oven by 4:00pm. Guests were to arrive between 3:00pm and 3:30pm, which translates to 4:00pm. It would be perfect! We got my mom's baked sea bass in the oven, my sister's brined turkey was in the other, her cookies were done the night before, my stuffing was in the 3rd oven, sharing it with a tray of roasted vegetables. My sister-in-law was working on the mash and gravy and shrimp salad... it was as if we were all a part of a well-oiled machine.

Then I noticed a huge slab of meat on the counter. What's that?, I inquire. It's an 8-lbs roast, my sister-in-law tells me. I don't think we have enough food. Can you make a prime rib?

WHAT?! It's 2:45pm! Are you kidding me??

A "discussion" ensued between Mom, sister, sister-in-law and me about the merits of doing an 8-lbs prime rib. Did we need it? Is there time to cook it? Do we have enough food? Should we, shouldn't we? Meanwhile the clock is ticking and I'm running out of time.

In the end it was decided that we'd halve the roast, make it a 4-lbs slab and cook it in 90 minutes instead of... instead of... whatever 20 minutes per pound for an 8-lbs roast adds up to be. I quickly made a garlic rub and threw that hunk of meat in the oven at 3:15pm, praying that it would taste decent since I wasn't able to give it the love I normally would.

In the end, the timing worked great - it came out with the rest of the food and medium-rare to boot. I personally didn't have any but there was only a 1 inch slice left so I can only assume it tasted good.

I haven't been told that we're going to eat anything besides seafood today but I know we still have that other 4-lbs slab of meat floating around somewhere.

I'm prepared this time.