Thanksgiving Time is Here...Happiness and Cheer...

No...

Turkey Time is here...Lots of Ham and Beer...?

Maybe...

Thanksgiving Time is here...Bagels, lox and "schmeer"...?

NOPE!

Thanksgiving has come and gone, although I like to think that the Thanksgiving season continues on until December 1 then we can get down to serious Christmas business. Thanksgiving time is here with lots of turkey, ham, cheese grits, brussel sprouts, potatos, yeast rolls, three different kinds of pie, stuffing, you name it and we probably ate it. I have enjoyed two Thanksgivings thus far and have one more to go this weekend.

On Wednesday (W had to work) so me and Baby P went to the lake for Thanksgiving with my side of the clan: parents, my brother and his wife, my other brother and my sister. We literally cooked for two days and had probably one of the best meals I've ever eaten. The turkey was to die for. We used Pioneer Woman's Brining Recipe. I'm telling you: Best. Turkey. I. Have. Ever. Eaten. I keep going back to the fridge for little nibbles (even cold it's fabulous) and the flavor was unbelievable. You boil together water, apple cider, brown sugar, lots of salt, peppercorns, orange peel, some herbs and lots of garlic. Then you stick the turkey in that delicious smelling broth and put it in the fridge for about 16 hours. I'm drooling again. Really, do it sometime...not drool, make this brine...it would even be good in miniature with a little, bitty, whole chicken.

Here's our turkey! That's really our turkey, not just a turkey leg model.

Then we had the cheese grits. We borrowed the recipe from Josie's (a little restaurant/diner here) and they're amazing. They involve a little something called "processed cheese food" (that's velveeta, to the common man), chicken broth, some diced tomatos, garlic and cayenne (the secret to their greatness). Yum, yum, yum...I rewarmed them for my second dinner yesterday and I'm eating them for breakfast right now!!

Then there was the gravy, brussel sprouts (done with pancetta, salt, pepper and chicken stock), baby red potatoes braised in butter then tossed with assorted fresh herbs and I'll stop there because we really went out of control with the side dishes. My sister got halfway through dinner and had to go lay down on the couch.

Then yesterday, W had to work and several family members had a stomach bug, I did an entire separate Thanksgiving dinner for us. He requested a Honeybaked ham (always a crowd pleaser), I made the green beans that his mom always makes (mushrooms, ham, cheesy sauce, green beans baked in a casserole), cheese grits (duh!!), potatoes, and coconut cream pie (our fave!).

It was a great Thanksgiving! Can't wait for the one on Saturday with W's family!

I'm making cheese grits.

Some things I love about fall and one thing I hate...

1. This soft, blousy plaid shirt I found at Old Navy for $8.00! It's double lined so there's blue gingham inside when you roll up the sleeves. What says fall more than plaid?!

2. Corduroy Skirts: I found one in this style at Old Navy in plum corduroy for $5.00! Perfect with my brown leather boots! I love plum and pockets!

3. Fall Nail Polish: Deep, rich colors that you can't pull off in the warm weather. This is called Miami Beet, a great color and a vegetable pun. Ha!

4. I love Thanksgiving and this cute, funny long-sleeved onesie I got for Baby P today! The turkey is felt and corduroy.

 5. Stew. Like this one that I'll share with you tomorrow! Bistro Beef Stew. Readers: (i.e. Ashley, Sarah, Brittany, Caris ) It will knock your socks off!

6. Fall foliage, of course, and that fall smell of wet leaves, crushed acorns on the ground and chilly air.

7. Fried Green Tomato BLT's at Stella's with friends. 'Tis the season for green tomatoes and they were amazing breaded and fried with delish bacon, mayo and lettuce.  

8. Halloween: I love Halloween candy. I've had a bowl on my coffee table for two weeks in preparation for trick or treaters. Seasonal candy (like Christmas, Easter, Halloween) is always better tasting than normal. I love costumes on little children. Are you looking forward to Baby P's costume unveiling?!

9. Fall tablescapes: Cornucopia, mini mums, silver pheasant (a wedding gift), an owl candle (Thanks, Sally), apples, pomegranates, magnolia leaves and cones, and last year's runner from Pier 1 found on clearance.

 

 10. Outside fall decorations like this wreath. I love rootling around the basement for it and sticking it on the door.

11. My flower chair. In the summer that bucket is full of colorful impatiens, last year I put out a potted mum, this year I didn't want to deal with watering so I rolled up my fall garland from Michaels and stuck it in. It's fake, obviously so no maintenance but I love the colors.

12. My fake pumpkin. It's made out of some real things like twigs and pine cones, but has fake acorns and leaves. I've also used this on the dining room table before, it's very cute.

NOW FOR THE THING THAT I HATE. I HATE THE PSYCHO, DESTRUCTIVE SQUIRRELS IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. HERE ARE THE CHARGES :

1) Two years ago they ate my carved pumpkins. They ate the big, chunky teeth right out of their goofy pumpkin faces, but did stop there.

2) Last fall they destroyed the beautiful Indian corn I put out...dragged it all over the porch, nibbled off all the kernels, made a huge mess...

3) This summer I got a package in the mail from one of W's co-workers. It was on the porch for a couple of hours. I went outside and the entire corner of the box was gone, a bag of chocolate chip cookies was open and mostly eaten and a baby outfit was pulled halfway out of the chewed hole. WHAT kind of squirrel chews through a cardboard box and pulls things out to reach its goal?! They were good cookies (there was another untouched bag, I don't eat after squirrels).

4) Remember those beautiful pumpkins we carved in September? Within a day the designs were completely gone and the pumpkins collapsed in a pulpy mess (they were thrown in the trash before I could photograph, sorry). Sick!

5) So, after the pumpkins were destroyed, I thought I'd be smart and stick with fake decor. Good idea, right?! Freaking squirrels!! Take a closer look.

What kind of nutso squirrel (haha, nutso) eats styrofoam berries? They don't even look like something you'd find in nature! There are berries all over the floor today and they haven't stopped trying to eat them.  

My poor, cute little pumpkin! Dang squirrels ate the fake acorns on top. What? That's all I can say. What, what, what?!

Ok, I'll be heading out now to pick up a pellet rifle. Squirrels are going down.

Friends

            Last weekend, we got the "old gang" together. We've known each other since high school or college and some of us even elementary school-we're going on eleven years or more of great friendship. We've been through a lot together and I couldn't do without these girls. When I was in the hospital for 8 weeks on bedrest with Baby P they visited, brought me lunch, sent flowers, called, emailed, sent care packages, prayed like the dickens and were so supportive. Last week was the first time in years that all six of us have been together in a long time and we had so much fun. We don't do it often enough!

We have hundreds of pictures like this one, the people at the table next to us actually got up from their seats (all four of them) to take this picture for us. Cheers to them!

We took lots of pics of these neat handpainted horses in downtown Lex. After looking at this one, I realized I probably should have worn heels and then had a nightmare about short legs chasing me around the house with a pair of stilettos...

Hey there, movie star! Where's your BF Dean Martin?

Sarah really wanted to feed the horses and the only thing handy was a her little leather clutch, yum! And it matches!

Weird story involving a policeman directing traffic after a Nickelback concert. We are huge fans, by the way, of Nickelback and that friendly policeman who led us over to a dark corner of a park to give us contraband concert memorabilia (C went home with 3!!).

I feel like there should be a scary Halloween story to go with this picture...something like: the woman who drank so much caffeine she jittered away into nothing and could never be photographed again...

Baby P loves his aunties! Obviously :)

That's better, maybe it was just Sarah that made him cry...

Happy Birthday to me...

           I had a fun birthday weekend even though it was totally different from past birthdays. Every year since I went to college, I've had a bunch of close friends over to my parents and my Dad's made his famous Caajun BBQ'd shrimp-really spicy and totally delicious! Here are some pictures from birthday dinners all the way back in 2005 and 2006!

Here I am with friends Ashley and Sarah, always part of the Caajun shrimp dinners, and that's Mom and Dad in the kitchen working on dinner.

No, idea what was going on here. I'm just glad I'm not on the bottom of the pyramid--thanks Ashley, Chloe and Sarah for sacrificing your spinal health.

Again, why? We must have been in cheerleader posing mood. Instead of

birthday spankings...we'll pick you up!

What's a birthday without Mom's famous Wesson Oil Cake?
Rhetorical question of course, and that's my friend Brit on the left!

           Well, this year, the whole family and many of our friends were busy with the World Equestrian Games opening ceremonies and rehearsals so we didn't do the birthday dinner this weekend, maybe in a few weeks. W was off work on Saturday so we celebrated then. I woke up greeted by the fragrances of Panera hazelnut coffee (with half n half of course) and cinnamon rolls baking in the oven. The coffee was perfect and the cinnamon rolls, bless their hearts, were a little burnt...but rich with the flavor of love (sorry, couldn't resist). Then W gave me some beautiful flowers-all fall colors-and a fun pumpkin carving kit (he knows me so well). I'm still enjoying the flowers and sniffing them maniacally.

I also love the mod square brown vase.

               Mom, Chloe and Jack stopped by later in the morning with lovely cupcakes from Caramanda's. The strawberry ones that I already loved and some yummy, glossy German chocolate ones that I love now.

They tasted as good as they look. (And are still tasting, I still have 4 left...mmm...3)

            In the evening, my sweet husband picked up Idian food for me (chicken tikka masala, naan, papadam and samosas-to be exact), even though he can't stand it and it makes him sneeze. He ate a mushroom and swiss burger from McDonald's. W also bought wine and two big, fat pumpkins. We had a blast carving them up (using our new kit) and drinking wine on the front porch with Baby P hanging out in his swing. You tear the pattern out of the book and tape it on the pumpkin, then punch holes through the paper and start carving. I was skeptical about my design because it looked really complicated. Here's how they turned out!

Whole pumpkins, pre-carving

W's quirky grin...

             And my terrifying Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow! I'm not expecting it to last, we have pumpkin eating squirrels in our neighborhood. But we'll enjoy it for now! There were cars backed up around the block to look at these magnificent works of art. :)