Hope you all had a tasty thanksgiving! DH and I went to Issaquah, the next town east of Bellevue, which is in itself the next town east of Seattle. The invites gave an official start time of 12:00 noon, with a dinner ETA of 4:00pm.
We got there at 1:30pm, and we were the first people there, as usual, so we were put to work clearing, vacuuming and setting up. DH and I are used to this. The one T-day we showed when we knew everyone else would show was the day that they were wondering where we were. And it was our way of getting caught up with the hosts -- a private party as it were.
There was plenty to clear and clean. The father of the hostess had gone into the hospital with cancer, so his living quarters had shrunk, so the excess stuff landed in the house. The hostess and I gave each other a hug in support.
But here's a frugal dilemma. When you find change when you are cleaning at home, its yours. When you find change when you are cleaning a friend's house, whose is it? I gave thirty-five cents to the hostess, who absently gave it back to me. I absently put it in my pocket, so when I got home, I found it again. I guess I got paid for about an hour of work.
The turducken roasting was late, but whew, it was in the oven not the smoker, so that was one gravy making hurdle gone. Gravy making went pretty smoothly - although my judgment was hamstrung by about 3 glasses of wine (helped with the whisking though) and the fact that there was only whole wheat flour.
The workaround was to make a butter/whole wheat flour roux to cook the flour for a good fifteen minutes before adding pan drippings and stock. Duck pan drippings hide the flour flavor pretty well and having a whole stock pot of poultry stock means that anybody can make great gravy then. 
Host wanted the gravy a bit thicker than I did and thought that flour taste was still there, but those were pretty easy to fix, just keep the heat on a bit longer. Filled 3 gravy boats.
Didn't take any leftovers home, for which my metabolism is grateful.
Spending log - 3$ pumpkin latte & biscotti (gotta pace yourself)
T-day and today
November 24th, 2006 at 06:51 pm
November 25th, 2006 at 12:05 am 1164413102
When gravy still has that floury taste it just means it hasn't been cooked long enough. Usually just needs an extra five to ten minutes at a boil, with constant whisking. Whole wheat flour takes a little longer than white flour to lose the floury taste.
November 25th, 2006 at 01:18 am 1164417522
Exactly what happened. I put the gravy at a light boil (black bits would have spoiled it) and constantly whisked. It took about 10-15 minutes.
November 25th, 2006 at 04:49 am 1164430185