The dinner party that wasn't

We had planned to have several friends over for dinner this evening.  Roger and his wife Sharon, V's college roommate and 2 others.  But we had a change of plans.  About midnight last night K8 started throwing up.  He vomited every hour on the hour until about 5 this morning.  Bright and early this morning we called all our friends and gave them the option of bailing out on dinner.  They all took us up on this...I wonder why....

We still had dinner to cook... at least we didn't go out and buy anything we wouldn't normally eat except that it will take us more than one meal to get through the bottles of wine we bought. But we did have the 18 lb turkey in the fridge that we were planning to roast.  So we cooked it anyway.  I found a recipe in a magazine that used an apricot, lemon and sage glaze applied during the last half hour of cooking that we wanted to try.  It is great.  I didn't have any fresh sage since mine has been in the deep freeze outside but I substituted dried and it worked just fine.  K8 still wasn't up for eating with us so we have LOTS of turkey leftover.

BUT.... after cutting off most of the meat, I used the carcass to make stock that is now cooling on the porch (no room in the fridge).  I plan to skim the fat tomorrow, reheat it and try out my new canner.  OOH, excitement!!!  

Honestly, I think V thinks it's crazy that I'm getting so excited about this.  I see this as another step towards independence and conquering a fear.  I've put off pressure canning for so many years it's finally time to take the plunge.

We spent a bit of time this evening watching a DVD that V got for me.  It is an old British sitcom called 'The Good Neighbors' (or in Britain- The Good Life) from the mid '70s.  It has always been one of my favorites.  It's about a couple who give up their cozy suburban life to become self-sufficient in the suburbs (sound familiar??).  I had been trying to describe it to J14 and she was shaking her head saying 'Right, Mom'.  Now that she has seen a few episodes, she can't get enough.  V found the complete series for me on DVD.  When I asked him why I got an extra gift he said "The canner was from Santa, I wanted to get you something fun".  Isn't he sweet.  I'm not sure we should have afforded it but then, the canner was something I was planning to get anyway and Christmas was the good excuse.

Well, I've got to get some sleep.  I've got stock to can tomorrow, and being awakened every hour by a vomiting child last night wasn't conducive to restful sleep.