Sylvia's Scenario

This is a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa that is in her cookbook Back to Basics that I found on the internet when I was looking for a make-ahead dinner for tomorrow.  In the midst of preparing Thanksgiving foods, I wanted something non-poultry since we'll be eating turkey and turkey sandwiches for the next few days, as will most of America.  Not that I'm complaining.  I love turkey and especially leftover Thanksgiving turkey.  So much so that we're hosting a potluck on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, so we can have our own Thanksgiving turkey, simply for the leftovers.  It's less formal than the actual Thanksgiving sit-down dinner, but it's still lots of fun and everyone can drop in with their leftovers.  Bruce's sister, Lynn, is arriving tomorrow from Chicago (weather permitting) and I wanted a nice, homemade dinner that we can have ready for us when we get home from the airport and this is it.  I will reheat it and make some dumplings to go along wi

I know that there are Christmas decorations in stores, Christmas ads on TV, Christmas music on the radio, parties being planned, Christmas cards in the works but it's just too early for me.  There are six less days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year because Thanksgiving runs late so now everyone is in a panic but I'm just not feeling it.  I feel like I ought to be in the Christmas spirit but I'm not there yet. This is harvest season!  I know I no longer have all that canning to do with a garden and orchard to tend to anymore but I still can't stop enjoying the harvest season. Would you believe I've been to two harvest dinners recently?  Now that I live in a urban environment, people are inviting me to harvest dinners.  It's fun to pretend you're cooking up a feast from all your fruits of labor, even if you did just purchase it all at your local market instead of digging it out of your gardens.  But it's still a good excuse to have a dinner