Weekend Plans for November 17: Winterfair and Thanksgiving Shopping

• There is no "e" on the end of Winterfair.
• The event is put on by Ohio Designer Craftsmen, a non-profit organziation that claims to support fine craft. So, here's hoping for more furniture and fine art and fewer hair pieces and country Christmas gewgaws.

My other plan is to implement a Patton-style strategic approach to prepping for Thanksgiving, where we're feeding eight guests, six of whom are staying at our house. Here's the list:

• Make food shopping list
• Order fresh Turkey from Wild Oats to pick up on Tuesday (done)
• Go to Penzey's to get good spices (done)
• Shop for all the food that will keep well through the week. Here is the conundrum. Wild Oats is expensive and has too many missing items (parchment paper, ziploc bags, aluminum foil). The Marsh at 62nd and Keystone is the standard, but their produce is average and they don't have much organic stuff. A surburban Marsh would provide a better selection, but then the trip would take twice as long because I don't know where anything is. I'll probably end up at the Keystone Marsh.

Here's the Thanksgiving meal plan:

• Turkey (one wild turkey, oven-baked, and one store-bought turkey, deep fried)
• Sausage and corn bread stuffing
• Great Aunt Mary's sweet potato casserole with pecans
• Green Bean Casserole (call me a cretin but I like the canned green bean and cream of mushroom soup kind)
• Rolls
• Mashed potatoes (add a teaspoon of sugar; it makes them taste better - really)
• Gravy (using Alton Brown's technique - make a roux, stir in chicken broth)
• Cranberry sauce (homemade - it's super easy and you can make it a day ahead)
• Relish tray (olives, pickles, etc.)
• Ambrosia (made and brought by my mother-in-law)

The departures from the standard:

• Cooked red cabbage and apples
• Beet and grapefruit salad
• Sauteed fennel and breadcrumbs (unsure about this one)

And dessert:

• No-bake pumpkin pie
• Monica's cherry and cranberry pie
• Bete noire (may fall off the list)

Wish me luck.