6 posts tagged “thanksgiving”

For the past few days, I've sat down to write entries and within the first sentence have lost all interest, logged off and walked away. I'm usually so good about keeping my vox up to date but life has been such a rush recently. My apologies to my friends, neighborhood and myself... I'll get back in the groove soon enough, I promise.

Weekend update:

Thanksgiving: I tried a new recipe (roasted sweet potatoes and carrots) and it was fantastic. Even Jon the veggie hater ate it with a smile. The turkey breast was melt-in-your-mouth-awesome, but the dark meat was under cooked and too pink. In the end, a half wasted expensive Amish turkey, though I'm still counting it an overall success.

Black Friday: I Avoided the crowds and shopped online. On a whim... bought a new bed! Thats right, I've purchased a memory foam mattress online without ever testing it in person. I figure it was such a good deal + free shipping and anything, even a piece of plywood, would be better than my 16 year old current broken spring mattress.

Christmas gifts checked off: Mom, Jon, Brian, Greg, Alicia & Julia. Only four more gifts to go!

Tree Hunting: It's been something like ten years since I had a real Christmas tree so this year I was on a mission, a new house with plenty of room for a real tree, I was on it! We drove out to the country, found a tree farm and cut down our very own tree (a first for me). Six feet tall and five feet wide, its a fat one, but a beauty.

Decorating Tradition: We follow the tradition in decorating for Christmas the weekend following thanksgiving. Red boxes were pulled from the attic and a Sufjan Christmas Album played in the background as we pulled old memories from Christmas past and hung garland and lights to brighten the room (pictures to come soon enough).

Thirty Feet of Insulation: I was worried about the uninsulated water pipes in our unheated utility room and attic so my dear husband installed fun-d-noodle'esk pipe huggers (technical name unknown) to keep our pipes snug for the winter.

Wet paint: An unsuccessful window of time to paint our fence. First coat down and starting to dry when it began raining. A day later it is still raining.

I'm done with the work week, whohooooo!
Now on to getting a head start on tomorrows big meal, the list is a little overwhelming.

- Clean and organize the house
- Wash guest linens
- Bake veggies and do prep for seasonings
- Go to butcher shop and pick up turkey
- Setup & decorate dining room
- Brine the turkey

I'm a little nervous, this is my first time cooking a thanksgiving dinner.
* fingers crossed *

Last night I tried this recipe, I was looking for a sweet candy to help fill the empty spots in my Kentucky bourbon ball basket for thanksgiving day. Something that wouldn't take away from the bourbon flavored balls of goodness but would add a special touch. If your a nut lover and have a sweet tooth, then sugared pecans are a dream. They are so simple to make, just coat the pecans with an egg white solution, some sugar and spices and then pop them in the oven for half an hour.

Sugared Pecans

1 egg white
1 Tbsp water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz pecans - about 2 cups
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1.) Preheat oven to 300°F.

2.) Put sugar, cinnamon, salt, ground cloves, and ground nutmeg in a plastic bag, shake to mix.

3.) Put egg, water, and vanilla in a bowl. Beat until slightly foamy, add pecans and coat well. Lift pecans out of bowl with a slotted spoon and put into the bag of sugar and spices. Shake pecans in bag making sure they are well coated.

4.) Bake 30 minutes on a baking pan lined with lightly greased aluminum foil. 15 minutes into the baking, stir up the pecans with a fork. Let cool completely before serving.

Makes about 2 cups. Thanks Simply Recipes my favorite food blog.

Moe comes to our apartment tonight. Moe is our new pet sitter and as you can tell I’m fairly entertained by her name, Moe that is. I say our new pet sitter because the girl who promised to do it for us has not shown up or called for over two weeks and seems to be avoiding all communication. So in a rush yesterday we fought to find a new sitter. Moe  was the only one to pick up the damn phone. She’s certified and has many clients, she also charges out the ying-yang for her services $38 per day at three visits a day, with our 3 days in St. Louis it is a total of $114. Ouch! But the alternative is we bring her with us and like the many years before we have to stay at the in-laws, where Luna gets beat up by the other dogs and where we have to sleep uncomfortably on hardwood floors. In a two bedroom house with five people and three dogs. It’s holiday hell. So I’ll pay Moe the hundred dollars and dish out a couple more hundred for a hotel, all in the name of comfort.

We leave early Thursday for our five hour drive to St. Louis. And I’ve got a billion things that need to be done before then. Tonight while Jon meets Moe and introduces her to Luna, I have to run to the grocery and pick up ingredients for my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner (sugared pecans & fudge). I also have to find the time to make two spare keys for Moe, that’s right she wants two, because everyone says one isn’t enough. *note the sarcasm.* I feel rushed and no matter how hard I try, I always feel this way when its time for Thanksgiving. Christmas isn’t bad because there is so much time to prepare, but thanksgiving just sneaks up on me two weeks after my birthday which is a week after Halloween. It’s all too fast.