Category Archives: Thanksgiving

Food Coma

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It’s been a great week. Food, friends, family, cats, baking, and eating. I thought I’d pop in to wish you a Happy Black Friday and to ask if you are getting a really good deal on a television to please buy me one too!

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Turkey Trotting.

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The world’s largest bottle of wine.

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Part of the spread. It was delicious.IMG_8472

And hanging on the couch with Catalunya while my sister and brother-in-law are at rehearsal (they are musicians too.) Catalunya tried to bite me several times.

More to come but for now, I’m back to my relaxing!  Putting up a few pictures on my blog is HARD WORK.

Vacation Time

I have a whole week off from teaching!

My last two posts were pretty cat centric, so I thought I’d try to balance it out with a less cat post.  I’m finishing up all the stuff I need to do to go out of town (laundry, packing, calling my grandma to wish her a happy 88th birthday!) and I’m pretty excited about that.

The weekend was fun. Last night I went to a “pajama party” at my friend April’s house. I didn’t know that I was actually pretty good at the game of “flip cup” because I’d never played before. I was a natural at flipping my cup. I didn’t play too many rounds though, because I didn’t want to make the other folks feel bad. Also I got bored and really prefer to just chat with people.

(I should have taken pictures, but my pajama pants didn’t have a pocket for my phone.)

I did take some pictures of a couple sandwiches I ate over the weekend (which includes Friday.)

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I do love sandwiches. If pressed I’d say my favorite food is pizza, but sandwiches are definitely a close second.

I did play a wedding yesterday. The season has slowed down a bit, but I had one yesterday and two next weekend.

The Crystal Ballroom at the Crowne Plaza.

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I believe that’s my finger at the bottom. It’s possible I should consider trying to take better pictures.

We played for the ceremony and a bit of the cocktail hour (not the whole thing which always seems a little odd to me, but whatever.) People were dressed to the nines, as usual. I had fun looking at the hairdos and dresses!

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And I did some running. This was after a particularly cold run in the park on Friday evening. It was dark by the time I got back, which I wouldn’t do on my own but I went with a friend who had a big dog so I wasn’t worried. The dog enjoyed running but not so much running in a straight line and not inspecting various trees and things along the way. I’ll be okay for the Turkey Trot on Thursday but don’t count on seeing any PR’s or even respectable 5k times from this girl. But I’m back at it, and that’s what’s important.

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I’m back on the “take a lot of selfies” train too. I figure since it’s the Word of the Year there’s no shame. Plus my hair looks good in that picture and I like my black turtleneck. (Eyebrows are suspect but we can’t have everything now, can we?) Truth: my student was stuck in traffic so I had some time to kill. BOOM.

Traveling to a very different climate is always a challenge. I hate wearing a coat to the airport and then just carrying it around, so I’m going to try just wearing a hoodie instead…I’ll be warm enough for the brief time I have to be outside I hope, and then I will also be cozy on the plane. I have a couple books queued up on my Kindle AND I’m excited that we will no longer have to power down our electronics during takeoff and landing. Before there would be these awkward amounts of time where I’d have to sit and think or read the SkyMall magazine (or bring, *gasp* a regular book or magazine to fill the gap) but no longer!

Oh and to make you jealous, here’s our Thanksgiving menu:

Turkey, stuffing, gravy, carrot-ginger soup

Pies

Mac & Cheese, Brussels sprouts salad, pumpkin gooey butter cake

pumpkin orange cornbread, butternut squash pudding

Corn casserole, AmishCorn, Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Mashed potatoes, creamed leeks, cranberry

“legit” cajun red beans & rice, chocolate cake

The list is in order of what person is bringing what (names removed—we have an amazing email conversation happening)—I’m the one making Mac & Cheese, Brussels sprouts salad, and pumpkin gooey butter cake. I’m excited to do some cooking and relaxing this week. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

How pretty is our table?

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I just spent the last three straight days preparing for Thanksgiving dinner.  Shopping and cleaning for one day, then practically two straight days cooking.  We had a garbage disposal mishap last night which thankfully Chris was able to fix, and today’s biggest mishap was when I cut my thumb wrangling with my food processor.  I meant to take tons of pictures today, and I absolutely FORGOT.  I was so stressed and so busy that I just didn’t.  Blogger fail.  But it was a wonderful day.  The food was amazing and plentiful.  The company was wonderful.  Chris and I worked together to do something challenging and really pulled it off.  I love that feeling.

Tomorrow I’m sleeping in, finishing cleaning up, running about 400 miles, and probably eating corn casserole, turkey, and pie.  I can’t wait.

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Don’t judge my pie crust. 

Thanksgiving Menu

If you follow me on twitter, it’s no surprise that I’ve been struggling to finalize my Thanksgiving menu.  I just posted that it’s like Sophie’s Choice (confession, I’ve never read that book, but I understand the premise)—I keep seeing delicious looking dishes I want to make, but I don’t have the space on my menu!

(I like this idea but Chris is in charge of the turkey and isn’t quite the bacon fiend that the rest of us are. I like most of all that a friend thought of me and posted that on facebook for me.)

I thought I’d share my menu with you so you can start drooling and agonizing as well. 

THANKSGIVING MENU 2012:  {insert awesome nickname here}

Drinks:  Beer, wine, sparkling wine, coffee, Perrier

Appetizers:

Veggie Platter

Something else, light and easy…?

Friend bringing: some kind of chip/crackers and dip

Main Course:

Turkey and Gravy

Sweet Potato Casserole

Picture of Soul Sweet 'Taters Recipe

Dressing (Family recipe)

Corn Pudding with Cheddar and Chives

Cranberry Sauce

Something else green?

Friends bringing:

Martha’s Mac and Cheese

Brussels Sprouts Salad (my friend recreated the one at Trattoria Marcella.  That’s why we are friends, actually…hers is BETTER somehow…maybe because it’s free?)

Cornbread Stuffing

Green Bean Casserole

Scalloped Potatoes

Pies: Pumpkin, Sour Cream Apple, Old Fashioned Cream.  And I’m going to make my own pie crust this year if it kills me.  I have a marble rolling pin that should help (a wedding gift from one of my favorite students.)

Dessert: Friend bringing something else

Okay, honestly this looks ridiculous when I’m looking at it.  (I think we are going to have to make a nice food bank donation to feel less guilty.)  But I still want to add something else, or make some bread or something?  I know, I know.  So…recommendations? It’s not like we NEED anything else, it’s more that I want to spend two days cooking and banking and that’s how I want to spend my Thanksgiving. 

Last chance

It’s your last chance to see Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Mikado” with Winter Opera St Louis today at Chaminade High School.  (I’ll be in the pit). AND the clock is ticking on my ticket giveaway for Chamber Project St Louis‘s Concert on Wednesday.  Don’t be afraid to enter!  Or afraid to attend!

It’s been a pretty busy weekend.  Yesterday I stupidly ran a 20K trail race.  I say stupidly because you know of my injury troubles—when I signed up for 20K I’d figured I’d keep my 13.1 fitness and add in some trail running during the month.  Instead I ran about 13 miles total during the last month.  I’ll do a whole post about the race later, but in a nutshell:  first 10k was GREAT, second 10K was a disaster and today I can barely move my legs.  The bright side is that my hip feels just fine, so I feel like that’s healed and I should be fantastic heading into marathon training at the beginning of December.

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The rest of the day all I wanted to do was lie around and not do anything, but instead I had to play a gig for a couple hours.  I find that calf compression sleeves fit fairly well under black pants…

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Except when you cross your legs and you realize they don’t.  Oops. 

The main thing on my mind NOW is Thanksgiving dinner!  We are hosting this year (we even have a dining room table now!) and having about 10 people over.  The symphony works through the holiday (other than the day) so we are always around.  I’m having a great time brainstorming for the menu, and will have to finalize my plans in the next few days.  Or at least by the time I make my big shopping trip.

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It takes team work to put the turkey in the bag. 

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dish?  What are you doing for Thanksgiving?

Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a good night!

The day started early, with a 6 mile Turkey Trot.  6 miles in 1:04:47.  6 really hilly miles.  Then we loaded up the car and headed over to our friend’s house.  We only had to make one trip back home (forgot the roasting pan and the oranges.)

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Now that’s teamwork!  Gotta get the turkey in the bag.

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Peeling potatoes.  Do you see my excellent earrings?

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Jon and Laura.  Laura’s having a cranberry mocktail.  No worries!

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Melissa and Steve.

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Jen, and a beautiful showcase of the artwork as well!

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SO delicious!  That’s brussel sprouts salad, potatoes, stuffing, mac and cheese, turkey…

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Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie.  A lot of work, but ultimately, WELL worth it.  Thanks to Natalie for the recommendation!

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Oreo mini cheesecakes, pumpkin bread pudding.

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The cheesecake again, and key lime pie bars!

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All in all, a wonderful and fantastic day, filled with friends, food, and well…thanksgiving!  I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

Happy Birthday to my Grandmother as well!  I hope she can make it out for my wedding in January 🙂