Chef Debbie is a Globe Trotter!

Bet'cha didn't know I was a Chef with so many different talents!

I met the legendary Curly Neal and the darling Moo Moo Evans of The Harlem Globetrotters on Friday.

They were at WGRR 103.5FM promoting their 2010 Magical Memories World Tour and they just happened to need another player...

Sweet husband Tim was so jealous!

Chef Debbie Talks Turkey With The Bengals

I'll just say that the last couple of months have been slightly hectic and we'll leave it at that.

Vacation in Puerto Vallarta ~ lovely. This photo is from the 2nd floor of one of our favorite bars, The Cheeky Monkey, overlooking the bay. We spent many pleasant hours here sipping $1 margaritas and watching the amazing sunsets.

Torn ACL and partial tear of MCL ~ painful.

Thanksgiving and all of the accoutrement's ~ exhausting.

For the 3rd year in a row, I've had the pleasure of cooking Thanksgiving dinner for Shayne Graham and his Bengal buddies.

So I started cooking the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Peanut butter and banana pies were first up. I've created client monsters when it comes to these pies ~ I have standing orders that whenever I even think about making them, there's a long list of people who expect to be on the short list to receive one.

I also started the cornbread for the cornbread dressing. Using my great~grandma's cast iron skillet and her recipe, I made 12 pounds of cornbread for the 20 pounds of cornbread dressing I needed.

After day one, I'm tired but functional.

Day Two of the countdown to Thanksgiving ~ absolutely must take take off to watch the Bengal's game. Oh Hell! Not one of their better games so now I'll have to drown my sorrows with a few glasses of wine. No more cooking today.

Day Three. Power shopping and the hell that is Costco.

Day Four and down to some serious cooking. Starting to get my second wind ~ or maybe it's a sugar high from all the wine I've been consuming...

The big day rolls around entirely too quickly and I worry. No matter how much food I've bought and prepped, I always worry about running out. I mean, let's face it ~ these are BIG men and the eat like they'd never seen food before.

How much food?

Between a couple of clients and the Bengals:

70 pounds of turkey
30 pounds of potatoes
15 pounds of sweet potatoes
20 pounds of cornbread dressing
9 pounds of green beans
9 pounds of fresh cranberries
26 pies
12 sides
were cooked, consumed and cleaned up.

By the end of Thanksgiving, I was so tired that even my eyelashes hurt.