The world's easiest centerpieceand other Thanksgiving prep

Yesterday Sophie and I did our big produce market shop for the Thanksgiving meal. Along with my Marmalade Brie Toasts, I will serve assorted crudites with Baba Ganoush. Vegetables will include broccoli, asparagus, green and yellow beans, red and yellow pepper, fennel, carrot, green onions, and radishes. The first four will be blanched the night before; the rest will be served raw. I serve the longer ones (beans, asparagus, green onions, carrots, pepper strips) standing up each in a jelly jar glass, perhaps with a little raffia tied around the outside of the glass. The others get arranged on a tray.

I also bought a few of those miniature pumpkins, which I hollowed out to make candle holders. I'll give her credit: Martha thought of this first, but I think mine look better (she used white pumpkins and place them on an inverted pie plate). I'll put this in the center of the table and a few more individual pumpkin candles farther down the table.

In other Thanksgiving prep news, I made crust for the two pies I will bake, pumpkin and Dutch apple quince. I roll out the crusts flat, stack them between parchment paper, fold the stack in two, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and freeze. I'll take them out tomorrow morning for pie making in the afternoon. (They would have been fine in the fridge, but it's filled with vegetables, and a large bird is moving in later today.)

I was going to iron table linens last night, but news that a Facebook friend, with whom I've had lots of fun talking food, crisply informed me that he has completed all his shopping, ironed his linens on Monday, and was finishing off his silver polishing. I was so discouraged I just went to bed the minute I completed my very complicated centerpiece.

And I fell asleep wondering if I have enough frozen chicken stock. I think I do.