Wretched Excess

Nigella Lawson, http://www.nigella.com/ buxom British cooking wench on the Style cable network was being interviewed on my local NPR station, WBEZ, about her new cookbook Feasts, and she opined that the best thing about Thanksgiving was that it was a feast about feasting. I so agree. One may stop and think about what one is thankful for occasionally during the season, but what one really focuses on is the great big meal one will eat.

OK, enough of this 'one' bidness. I'm talking about me and food again.

I love the prospect of making lucious vittles and watching my guests get stuffed, groan and moan, and then eat some more. I love setting the table and having a real dining room with seating for 8, finally after all these years.

Yesterday my wonderful neighborhood Home Depot came through with the perfect centerpiece florals for me, and at a fabu price. Poinsetta plants, in 4.5inch pots surrounded by red foil, for $.99 each. I bought a dozen. My dining table is crammed with six and I will liberally sprinkle the remaining six on surfaces around the room. That's what I call wretched excess.

Then the darling husband, and aforementioned meatcutter, came home with a superb Black Angus Rib Roast. Omigod! Nine pounds of beautifully marbled goodness. I took a picture of the before and will promise to include a picture of the after, before it is all devoured.

There is more than enough wine on hand for this dinner (Baron de Rothschild Mouton Cadet Bordeaux, 2002) and two bottles of Bailey's for imbibing at dessert. As requested I found an Eli's cheesecake with four quarters in different flavors. Six guests, four slices of cheesecake? Well, I'm not havin' any. My vice, my desire, my passion is Pumpkin Pie, with Cool Whip, or vice versa.

Cream: Whipping Cream, Sour Cream, half and half. I have found a way to include this sensual liquid in almost everything on the menu. Look out arteries, here it comes. It's in the Mushroom Bisque, and the Garlic Mashed Potatoes, and the Horseradish Creme sauce for the roast beef, and in the after dinner coffee.
Where's my girdle?

I'm using my white damask table cloth and white/goldthreaded placemats, with gold chargers on the placesettings. It seems a shame to use stainless flatware with this set up but the gold flatware I got from Target last year rusted after one use, and went right back to the store. Now I can't get up the oomph for buying another set.

I can only hope that my guests will overlook this faux pas. Now that Martha is incarcerated, this whole society has gone down hill.