On Tuesday night at 2:30 in the morning, our neighbor decided it would be a great idea to play the drums. My conversation with Lancer went a little like this:
Me: Lancer!! Our neighbors are playing the drums and it's 2:30 in the morning!
Lancer: Do you want some earplugs?
Me: NO!!! I WANT YOU TO PUT SOME PANTS ON AND GO MAKE OUR STUPID NEIGHBORS STOP PLAYING THE DRUMS AT 2:30 IN THE MORNING!!
Lancer is a good man. I'm very grateful to him for that, and a busload of other reasons too special to share with you. I love that man.
Kicked off Wednesday with a baking spree. I bought Lancer's Razzleberry pie, but I made my own gluten free chocolate french silk pie. It was so good, I currently have another one in the hopper ready to be bakes and filled. If you can't eat 2 pies at Thanksgiving, when can you?
I had the genius notion that my sink and disposal could handle a few yam peels. I was wrong. Now I know why people buy the canned stuff. Basically, I hit the disposal, and my sink vomited at me.
We called this clogged sink helpline (who even knew that existed???) They ask questions like "when you turn on the disposal, is there a whirlpool of food and scraps?" Um, yes, and then some. They told us to fill the left side with 4 inches of water and a metal pan. Then, add 4 inches of water to the right side, and plunge the crizzle out of it.
Amazingly, it worked! Did you know that Thanksgiving is one of the busiest days for plumbers? I do now.
After the hourlong delay, I got my candied pecan sweet potatoes cooking in the crockpot. Recipe here. They were easy and delicious!
And here are all of the goodies for my homemade, gluten-free cornbread stuffing. This has been the stuff of delicious leftover turkey lunches. It's stellar! It's loosely based on the recipe here.
This year, we smoked our turkey in our Big Green Egg. It looks like R2-D2 and produces a wonderful turkey with a light hint of smoke and flavor. It was delicious!
The whole spread
Here's our delicious finished bird, smoked to perfection!
Our delicious green salad with homemade dressing, blue cheese, and cranberries
My delicious (if I may say so myself) corn pudding. It's actually more like a corn souffle--super easy and definitely delicious. I'm a corn gal at heart. Recipe here.
And the aforementioned candied orange sweet potatoes with pecans and an orange reduction. Delish!
I finally got to use my Williams Sonoma turkey holder. I filled him with cranberry relish.
And we also got to use our fancy monogrammed napkins. I rarely bust these babies out, but it's fun for special dinners.
I also did a pomegranate Jell-O with pomegranate seeds. The Utah boy, a connoisseur of Jell-O and Jell-O related dishes, gave it two thumbs up. I trust his pallet--when it comes to Jell-O.
And the finished stuffing!
Lancer carving the bird with his fancy-schmancy Calphalon carving set--one of my Christmas gifts last year.
Dobbie is thankful for a wonderful mommy and daddy who made him a special plate with turkey and corn pudding.
And then the pies. Oh, the pies. Sheer gluttony.
The next few days were filled with fun movies about the destruction of the world. The special affects in 2012 were really cool. I loved watching California crack off and fall into the ocean.
We went up to HMB twice--once was rainy and windy, so we headed back up on Saturday to get a Christmas tree. Hayley had the same idea--she was pulling in as we were pulling out. Good idea, Atwood! We stopped into a nursery that has a hill full of trees you can cut down yourself. I was all excited about the idea, but quickly realized it was the Hill of Misfit Trees. They were all too short, too skinny, too sparse, etc. We mozied on to the next nursery, where we found our perfect little gem.
Here's the winner!
As we were heading to the counter, Lance spied a little 6 inch rosemary topiary, and asked if I wanted to get one--of course I did! He then asked "instead of our other tree?? Riiiiighhhtt. In what world is a 6 inch rosemary topiary a good candidate for a Christmas tree? I can imagine the 2 ornaments we could get on it right before it toppled over.
Taking home our hollitime goodies. You know, our tree, and then our 6 inch mini "tree"
After we got the greens on lock, we headed up the coast to Sam's Chowder House for some tasty lunch. Here's Lance pondering all of the possibilities for fun with his mini-tree.
We started out with the clam chowder (LJ) and the spinach salad with spiced walnuts and goat cheese for me.
For our entrees, Lancer got the tuna melt, and I got the roll-less lobster roll. Mine was good, but not great. I think something got lost in translation when I had to forgo the bread.
After lunch, we enjoyed the last few minutes of sun along the beach. It was a perfect California autumn day!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so grateful for all that we have, and all that we enjoy. We are truly blessed to live here, and we're grateful for all of our friends and family.
4 comments:
Thanksgiving was truly gourmet. Thanks for all your hard work. Tasty, tasty. I still think the 6" tree would be sufficient. Oh well.
You torment me with the food on your blog. Wait until you see what I'm posting tonight--so bush compared to your meal...
That stuffing looks so good. We totally ate the boxed crap and it sucked. I have got to go to Sam's chowder house before I die. Where is it? Is it in the city?
I loved seeing your Turkey Day spread - you truly are the domestic one of the two of us. I REALLY loved your little glass turkey dish as well as your big leaf - your stuffing looked even yummier in that dish. As for Lancer's topiary - my DOG is a little dog and she is bigger than that 6" tree. Always miss you on the holidays - love ya both!
You are truly the Hostess with the Mostess. I'm copying down the recipes and trying them for Christmas. Lance is one lucky man. (and I'm glad Dobbie got to sample too)
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