Domesticity

I'm basically posting this because I'm avoiding going to the gym.

I believe in full disclosure.

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I have a friend's birthday party tonight, and she's requested a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. No presents, just dinner. I offered to make the stuffing. (Well, it will be dressing, since I'm not cooking it in the turkey.)

Stuffing, in my family, is a Very Big Deal. My mother's stuffing is legendary. I've seen people practically stop breathing when they taste it. When I had a roommate, if I didn't bring her back leftovers after the Thanksgiving holiday, it was the ultimate insult.

In fact, my mother's stuffing is so good that she won't let anyone else make it. That includes me. So, while I've watched her make stuffing for my entire life, I've never actually been allowed to make it. (I'm allowed to do all the chopping, though. Nice.)

You don't really learn to cook anything, I think, until you have to make it myself. So today, for the first time, I made dressing. It's sitting in a nice blue casserole dish, waiting to bake for 45 minutes or so before I go to the party (and it can finish off when I get there). Having tasted the mix, I can say two things:

1. It is not my mother's dressing.
2. It does not suck, regardless of #1.

I already know a couple of things I'll do differently next time, so the experiment was a success.

And I made stuffing. I feel like a real grown-up now, somehow.

Also, random thought for the day: I was back from my errands before 11 a.m. Note to self: the grocery store really is that much less crowded if you get your butt out of bed earlier. Worth it!