Thanksgiving and more

After a fun weekend of partying and boating we’ve had a nice Thanksgiving week.  Our week has been filled with fun activities and of course lots of delicious food.  Monday I had a doctors appointment in the morning and Maisie decided that she wanted to go along with me so she tagged along and then I took her out for a little girls lunch together.  Once home Maisie had a bit of playtime with K & A before we headed to the gym for her gymnastics practice.  Because it was a holiday week her practice was later than usual, starting at 4:30 and ending at 7:30, just a few minutes after my parent’s plane landed at Hartsfield so once Maisie was finished we headed straight to the airport.  Maisie was very excited to see her grandparents but exhaustion won out and just minutes after my parents got in the car Maisie was fast asleep.  Once we arrived home though Maisie was up again so it turned into a late night as she was happy to have her Grandparents here and didn’t want to miss out on anytime with them.

Tuesday morning Maisie had a swimming lesson so my Mom and I went along and watched.  Once home Maisie had lots of playtime with my parents and even played school with my father with her being the teacher and teaching him all about math.  Come mid-afternoon the late night caught up with Maisie and she was completely knackered and asked if she could just rest instead of going to gymnastics…so I knew she was really tired.  

Wednesday was a major cooking day for me as I didn’t want to have much to make on Thursday so Maisie spent the majority of the day playing with my parents.  I started cooking just after 8am and I don’t think that I finished and sat down until close to 9PM, thirteen hours of cooking but I got a lot accomplished.  I made an appetizer of chicken liver pate as well as sides of sweet potato casserole, corn soufflé, shredded brussels sprouts with bacon & walnuts, apple cranberry slaw, sage & onion dressing and for dessert dreamy apple pie with hard sauce and I didn't even cheat with the crust as I made that too!  Then if that wasn't enough cooking for one day I also made roasted garlic potatoes, oatmeal coconut raspberry bars (one of my faves) and then Maisie, my Mom and I made eggnog meltaways.  While I was so busy, to get out of the house Maisie and my Dad took a nice little walk together (something that they love to do together everyday when we’re in Aruba) and then after lunch I dropped the two of them off at a local playground where they stayed for quite a while before making the almost 1.5 mile walk home.  (I would have picked them up but Maisie wanted to walk)  Late in the afternoon K & A came over as I had a craft for the three of them to do.  My Mom helped Maisie, K & A make cute little Pilgrim men & women as place markers for the Thanksgiving table. 

Thursday morning we all slept in a little late…well 7:13 is late for Maisie!!  Once up Eammon played with Maisie as I finished up the Thanksgiving cooking making a spiced rubbed turkey with cognac gravy which made the house smell wonderful and also produced a gorgeous looking bird.  Just after noon we headed next door to Anne & Steve’s house where the eating fest began.

Thursday was a gorgeous and warm day so we spent a few hours enjoying the appetizers and watching the children play outside before we sat down at the table for dinner.   

My turkey looked gorgeous when it came out of the oven.  I would definitely make this recipe again as the turkey was super moist & juicy and the flavors were wonderful and I don’t even like turkey!   Yes I roast my bird dark meat up as I find that roasting it that way produces a much moister and juicier bird.

Shredded brussels sprouts with bacon & walnuts.  Oh my gosh were these wonderful and I have never enjoyed brussels sprouts before…but then again if you sauté anything in bacon fat it’s bound to be good!

This is one of Eammon’s favorites and he always requests it, onion & sage stuffing.  Everyone said that it was wonderful but I’m not a stuffing person so I’m just glad that everyone else enjoyed it.  Funny as I’m writing this post I realized that I do a lot of cooking of things I don’t actually eat.  I don’t care for turkey, I don’t really enjoy gravy, I’ve never liked brussels sprouts and I don’t like or eat stuffing…hmmmm.  I did actually make some things that I do like.

I have been making this corn soufflé for years as I just adore it but I limit it to once or twice a year as it’s definitely not low fat, low calorie or particularly healthy but oh my is it delicious.

This sweet potato casserole is another one of my favorites and I have been making for years as it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

This apple cranberry slaw was a new recipe for me and it’s different and we really enjoyed it and I’d make it again.

This apple pie is appropriately named, dreamy apple pie as it truly was dreamy and the hard sauce which I made a wee bit lot harder really put the pie over the top.  This was also the first time I’ve made a pie crust from scratch and it was easy and turned out flaky and delicious.

So you see all the food that I brought over to Anne and Steve’s but what I didn’t photograph were all the appetizers, the butternut squash soup with shrimp, the traditional turkey, gravy, cornbread dressing, mashed potatoes, string beans, yams with marshmallows, sweet potatoes in bourbon & butter and salad (and probably a few other dishes that I’m forgetting) which Anne made!!  To say that there was a lot of food would be an understatement but no one went home hungry!  It was a fun and delicious Thanksgiving and it was great spending the day with family and friends.

Today Eammon and my parents had a lunch of leftovers and my Mom made sandwiches for them to take on the plane.  I then packaged up six “Thanksgiving” meals to put in the freezer for Eammon to eat while Maisie and I are away and with the bird carcass and the bits remaining I made turkey soup for Eammon, some of which will also end up as freezer meals that he will eat.  I ate the one remaining slice of dreamy apple pie and now all the Thanksgiving food is done, finis, finito, terminado, 完成, klaar, päättynyt,  outta here, so long, sayonara, see ya again next year.

This morning Maisie woke up and spotted a friend waiting for her. 

Mortimer has returned.

Maisie was excited to see her elf sitting high up on top of the curtains.

This morning Maisie’s gym had a “shop till you drop” gymnastics play day so she had fun playing with her gymnastics friends and I enjoyed a bit of quiet time.  Thankfully I’m finished with my holiday shopping so no black Friday drama for me!

After gymnastics Maisie and my Mom did a craft project together.  They had fun adding sticker decorations to to a pink & purple foam tree.

They then made a snowman garland to string on the tree.

Maisie & Grandma with their completed tree.

Grandpa joining in the picture.

Maisie enjoyed her time with her Grandparents and will miss them as very early tomorrow morning I take my parents to the airport as they’re heading down to Aruba.  But it will only be a week as next Saturday Maisie and I fly down to join them for two weeks!!

Hope that everyone had a wonderful and filling Thanksgiving.