Leftovers 1, NavyGirl 0.

I gave up yesterday.

After staring at the tupperware containers in my fridge one last time, I admitted defeat.


All our Thanksgiving leftovers have finally been trashed. Nothing was growing mold on it or looking unfit for consumption, but the jig was up. The Thanksgiving leftovers won. Neither NavyGuy nor I are big fans of eating leftovers to begin with, so after too many days of trying to muster excitement for turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, stuffing, and cranberry sauce, the end has finally come.

Do I feel guilty throwing away such large quantities of food? Of course.

Do I feel guilty enough to attempt one of the four million "Thanksgiving Leftover" recipes bouncing around the internet and November's Real Simple magazine? Nope.

But now I am kind of jonesing for some mashed potatoes...

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Thanksgiving Day 2009

My modern Thanksgiving tablescape (eat your heart out Sandra Lee)



So pretty... just ignore that one mismatched plate. NavyGuy and I took one for the team and let all the guests have the good china :)



Gratuitous china shot :)



Consulting with MIL on the recipes.



What a good looking group! (And it only took eighteen tries to get one photo of everyone smiling...)



Some of my helpers! (Myself, Roomie A, MIL, and SIL)



Classic NavyGuy and NavyGirl Thanksgiving shot... both of us hunched over the stove, pouring our blood, sweat, and tears into making lump-free gravy.



NavyGuy carving the bird(s). Yes. Plural.



Brother-in-Law was the unofficial puppy-sitter for the weekend.



The NavyGirl family has always struggled with group photos...



This photo, while unflattering for everyone in it, probably most accurately depicts the general chaos and mayhem of Thanksgiving. It was awesome.

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Thanksgiving Highlights

Here's the most memorable parts of our 2009 Thanksgiving holiday celebration...

*watching Sister's dog Lucy bound up onto NavyGuy's Dad's lap and surprise the crap out of him

*managing to get all of the Thanksgiving food ready at the same time and on the table (mostly) warm at our projected dinner time (and people made fun of my meticulous schedule, time table, planning checklists... fools)

*reading a hilarious essay on "Decorative Gourds" and then snickering at every traditional Thanksgiving themed decoration spread throughout our house... (warning: linked essay is not suitable for children or people without a sense of humor)

*watching Tally and Sister's dog meet each other and proceed to romp and chase each other for two days straight. Tally thought Lucy's ears tasted very yummy and couldn't figure out why Lucy never wanted to sit still and let her gnaw on them. Lucy found Tally fun, but slightly annoying when she would get near anything Lucy wanted :)

*peeling carrots and spending time with Sister

*having our traditional National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie viewing after Thanksgiving dinner, complete with inappropriate laughter and everyone reciting the lines along with the characters

What else family and friends? What were your favorite Thanksgiving moments at our house?

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Slow News (Reporting) Week

The Thanksgiving holiday official begins tomorrow at our house, as NavyGuy's family arrives, followed closely by mine, plus our good friends A&B. Today was a blur of cleaning, organizing, and last minute grocery shopping. With a houseful of guests, I can't predict how much blogging will be happening this week. However, there'll be lots to report once the crowds thin and life calms down - Turkey day, Tally meeting her puppy cousin Lucy, my first Black Friday working retail, and who knows what else!

Hope everyone else is ready for the big day!

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If you can swing it...

...do your Thanksgiving grocery shopping at 9:30pm on a Thursday night. It was positively glorious. The Safeway was nearly empty. A few burly men stocking cranberry juice and malt-o-meal. Some twenty-three year olds buying ice cream and beer.

(Clearly not my actual cart... bananas, oranges, and no Oreos? Or Cheerios? Or anything ending in "o's"?... why bother going to the store!?!)

I didn't have to wait in line. I didn't have to battle anyone for the last can of Libby's pumpkin pie mix. I didn't have to stop myself from strangling the senior citizen who parked her cart in the middle of the aisle while she emptied her purse looking for some 10 cents off coupon (or a butterscotch candy). No screaming children, no loud cell-phone talkers, no congestion in the parking lot, no congestion around the sweet potato stand.

Downright blissful.

Now if only Target were open 24 hours and I could get all my Christmas shopping done this way, we'd be golden.

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Turkey Day Prep

Sunday night, I did a Thanksgiving test-run of the new recipes for this year (excluding the turkey). It was a slightly unusual menu...

Cocktail Weiners*



Butter-Pecan Sweet Potatoes


and Green Beans with Vinaigrette

Two of the three were hits. The cocktail weiners were fabulous (and the crockpot that Sister got us for the wedding works great!). NavyGuy loves sweet potatoes, and I didn't have them at T-Day last year, so I had to figure out an easy recipe so they could be on the table this year. Martha didn't disappoint - the butter, brown sugar, and pecan pieces were delicious with the already yummy sweet potatoes.

I'm on the fence about the beans though. The vinaigrette just doesn't have much flavor to it, so I think I'm going to keep looking. Any suggestions? Most of the other dishes I have planned are rich and heavy, so I'm hoping to keep the green beans fairly light.

*The cocktail weiner recipe I used came from a Fond du Lac cookbook. The sauce calls for 2 cups ketchup, 1 T of worcestershire sauce, and 1 cup light brown sugar. I used turkey weiners to make them a teensy bit less fatty.

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Turkey Day Decor

I've been trolling the web in search of Thanksgiving decoration ideas, and I'm clearly veering away from orange and pilgrims this year:

I love this simple napkin ring idea; you could put people's names on the paper and have them double as placecards, or come up with a nice Thanksgiving themed quote.
More Halloween-y than Thanksgiving-ish, but I love the concept...
Gray-blue? For Thanksgiving? I'm kind of lovin' it...
Again, muted tones and white pumpkins. Starting to sense a theme here.
Robin's egg blue? Again, if you added some browns and taupes and caramels, plus the white pumpkins, I think it could be a really modern Turkey day.

Cool tablecloth. The pop of red is also unexpected.

If I've learned anything about decorating, it's if you're going to stick with one color, you need lots of it. Hence, the large grouping of ivory candles and pumpkins.
Seriously - where am I going to find this many good looking mini white pumpkins?!?!

Oh Martha - you never fail to impress. Overturned pie plates, a few paper leaves, and some DIY pumpkin candle holders. I know I said I was avoiding orange, but the hanging lanterns are such a fun idea. Great color splash, and an easy way to add a chandelier for a special occasion dinner.

I've got just about a month to whittle down my ideas and amass supplies... you'll have to wait 'til then for the final results!

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Cheers and Jeers: Thanksgiving Edition

Cheers... to my and NavyGuy's families venturing on the "Washington Trail" and making it out to our neck of the woods for a Thanksgiving extravaganza.

Cheers... to the two semi-nice weather days we had while our guests were here.

Jeers... to the two spitty, wet, icky days we had while our guests were here.

Cheers... to a great menu of Thanksgiving food. Triple cheers to the deep-fried turkey (no fires or explosions!), stuffing, green jello rings, and hashbrown casserole.

Jeers... to the Rockette's nude colored outfits. Nude is not a holiday color ladies; find yourself a nice red or green leotard for next year please.

Jeers... to the pitiful reinvention of White Christmas on Broadway showcased during the Macy's parade. Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye would have rolled over (and danced a smashing tap routine) in their graves if they had seen the crap-tacular impostors mangling the holiday classics.

Cheers... to the six bottles of wine we managed to drain during dinner and dessert.

Jeers... to the butthead of a roommate who a) did not offer to help prepare anything before dinner, b) did not offer to clean up anything after dinner, and c) ripped the head off of my handmade Pilgrim man placecard and stuck it on one of the wine bottles. (A kids' table would have been wise.) He, and our other equally useless roommate, are on my list.

Cheers... to the Michael's craft store in Burlington for having a wide selection of Cricut cartridges on sale for $29.99 Friday morning!!!! At that price, how could I not buy three of them?

Cheers... to my wedding planner/life coach for her fabulous bridal shower invitations that arrived on Friday. Despite handicaps like an ADHD dog, a pukey baby, and a husband, she put together a gorgeous invite featuring a pink wedding cake! Yea!

Cheers... to my Trivial Pursuit team for our Friday night victory. May youth (and second guesses) always prevail.

Jeers... to the whales of Puget Sound. Six hours on a rainy, cold, dismal boat trip around the islands of northwest Washington, and all you damn whales do is hide underwater the entire time!?!?! I did not pay good money to sit in my own shivering dampness and listen to Captain Carl tell me about the mating habits of harbor seals; I wanted to see Shamu in the wild! (Luckily, we each have a lifetime voucher to retake the whale watching tour again, until we actually see whales.)

Jeers... to the bug that crawled up my nose and gave me this vicious head cold.

Cheers... to Eclipse, Book Three of the Stephenie Meyer vampire saga, which kept me entertained when I awoke at 4:30 am dripping snot and unable to fall back asleep.

Cheers... to a delightful, if imperfect, Thanksgiving Extravaganza. For the family we did see, thank you; for the family we didn't get to see, Christmas is just a few short weeks away!

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Quick Blip

Hello gang! I'm still alive and still playing hostess with the mostess to my mom and NavyGuy's family (hence the lack of posting and general laptop cuddle time). You can expect the next posting sometime on Sunday, after I've had a few hours to recover. In the meantime, I'll leave you with a tantilizing itinerary of our events so far.

Thursday
1. food prep
2. turkey frying
3. 6 bottles o' wine
4. placecard beheading
5. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Friday
1. Black Friday cricut cartridge quest
2. brunch
3. driving tour of Whidbey Island
4. hiking over Deception Pass
5. failed summit of Mt. Erie
6. Wall-E!
7. leftovers
8. heated Trivial Pursuit battle (old farts vs. young farts)

Stay tuned!

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T-Day Prep: Outta' Time!

The families have invaded :) My mom, and NavyGuy's parents and sister, all arrived in Anacortes this afternoon!!! Yeaaaaaaa, my mom's in my time zone. Per usual, she came bearing gifts - everything ranging from a springform baking pan, the Jon and Kate Plus 8 Good Housekeeping magazine, wedding invitation inspiration, and deodorant (it was on sale - that's how we operate). NavyGuy and I gave her the tour of the house, then she whipped up broccoli salad and green pineapple jello rings (a culinary masterpiece that the Pilgrims wish they'd had) while I prepped the apple crisp desserts.

Later NavyGuy's clan arrived, we chowed down on some pizza, gave another house tour (lord I do love showing off the posh bathroom and white trim), baked a pumpkin pie, watched Bones, and rocked out to some monster hits on Rock Band (the video game). One of my favorite parts was watching NavyGuy's dad sing lead vocals on a Jethro Tull song ("Aqualung" ring a bell for anyone?); the man clearly missed his calling in the '70s and should have devoted his efforts to forming a classic rock group. Alas.

Now the families have headed back to the hotel, the boys are still rock-banding it, and I'm curled up in my cozy bed ready to watch tonight's new episode of Top Chef. After a day of cleaning, last minute decorating, cooking, and hostessing - I'm beat! And it was only a prelude to tomorrow's main act! First on the agenda tomorrow - catching the Rockettes at the Macy's Parade!

Hope everyone else enjoyed their Thanksgiving Eve :)

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T-Day Prep: Thanksgiving Placecards

Tonight I whipped out the placecards we'll need for Thanksgiving dinner (with a mixed crowd I figured it's safer to assign seats... and keep certain trouble-making boys away from certain other trouble-seeking boys... ahem).


I {heart} them, and am planning to write the names on their orange smocks (historygirlie - can we think of a better term for Pilgrim garb?), and possibly add a little embossing flair; there's a few other things still on the to-do list, and I suspect our guests would prefer clean bathrooms over embossed place cards... The original inspiration for these came from here, but I like my cheaper/more original version better (plus they're out of stock at the moment). I plumbed the depths of my Cricut creativity and created various pieces out of rectangles, circles, and even the letter C! (This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my Cricut.) Anyone else come up with a cute holiday placecard plan?

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Holiday Votives

In designing a fantastic fall table for Thanksgiving dinner next week, I wanted to find a way to dress up some simple glass candle votives that I found at Michael's. What I came up with is based off of this article on WeddingBee (a bridal blog where lots of different brides share their wedding planning and DIY projects). Miss Emerald, the blogger who posted the article, decorated 144 votives with vellum (thin, transparent paper) for her wedding; dinner guests have no fear! Our Thanksgiving table will not be loaded down with a gross of candles!

Even though I didn't devote the time and energy to jazzing up that quantity, I still used Miss Emerald's directions to decorate several votives. The directions are pretty clear, so I'm not going to run through them again here (see the linked article if you'd like to try out this easy project), but I have included some photos to explain the materials I used and how I put everything together.


Here are all the supplies I used. I used double-sided regular paper as opposed to vellum, so that you can see the patterned back side of the paper through the glass. The white sheet of paper in the photo is a template that I created by taping a scrap piece of paper around the candle and tracing the top and the bottom (the candle tapers slightly from top to bottom, so you have to do this part carefully). The red ring pictured is a product called tacky tape (available at most craft stores), which is a more permanent adhesive than regular scotch tape or a tape runner, and you can use it to make sure the paper doesn't pop open when the candle heats up. You also need scissors and a pencil.

Here is the candle with the paper cover created. All I did was put a piece of tacky tape on one seam of the paper, wrap it around the candle, and then overlap the ends of the paper where the tacky tape is; that way, the paper cover can actually be slid on and off of the votive (so I can change them up for Christmas, Valentine's Day... yeah, I was pretty impressed with myself when I thought of that little trick :)And here is one that I made using vellum paper. You can see in the photo that when the candle is lit, it glows through the vellum (the Thanksgiving ones I made with regular paper won't glow quite like that because the paper is thick; I still think they look pretty nifty).

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T-Day Prep: Day 10

Two more items checked off the list - mashed potatoes and one dessert.

I know mashed potatoes are super easy, but I've never made them before, so I wanted to make sure there weren't any hidden obstacles (like say, an inability to peel potatoes or something). Lo and behold, I don't need to worry about any of that, because NavyGuy (aka mashed potato dictator) pulled off a non-violent coup d'etat in the kitchen last night and took power of the mashed potato making. I merely asked him to help peel potatoes because I was falling behind, and next thing I know - he's complaining about my attempts to drain the potatoes, fretting over the fact that they aren't "done" enough, and wielding the masher like a weapon! Oh, and I dared to use milk instead of heavy cream, AND I like my mashed potatoes with a few lumps left in for texture (as opposed to the liquidy, beaten-within-an-inch-of-their-life, baby food consistency that NavyGuy prefers). So, now that I haven't practiced making mashed potatoes, NavyGuy is going to have to leave his deep fried turkey long enough to come help with the starch. Good grief. We had a nice division of labor going on (Adam Smith would have been eternally proud), but now the whole system has gone to pot.

At least my dessert turned out splendid. One of my cousin's made a heavenly apple crisp at Thanksgiving last year; determined to find an easier way to make it though, I abandoned her honest to goodness homemade recipe and searched for something that would save me time and energy, while not sacrificing too much taste.

Voila! I present, Easy Apple Crisp (and after further intenet searching - Even Easier Apple Crisp!).

Ingredients
- 4-5 medium baking apples (I have no clue which apples are "baking" - I bought the ones on sale at the store. They were redish-greenish, and tasted good.)
- 1 T lemon juice
- 2 T granulated sugar
- 1 T flour
- 1 t ground cinnamon
- 1 pkg oatmeal raisin cookie dough (the package of frozen stuff)

Directions
1) Preheat oven to 325 F. Spray 8 in baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
2) Peel, core, and slice the apples. (My process - carefully peel with a sharp knife, then use an apple slicer to cut each into 8 pieces, then use the knife to slice each of the pieces smaller.)
3) Combine all of the ingredients except the cookie dough in a large bowl. Then put the apple mixture into the baking pan.
4) Crumble the cold cookie mixture on top. (I added a little more cinnamon on top just to make it fancier :).
5) Bake for 40-45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

I love this recipe because I looooove apple crisp, but making the mixture and the topping from scratch is just too much work. So, cheating and using the premade dough is a lifesaver. It tasted amazing - I served it with vanilla ice cream. You could also add caramel sauce to put it over the top :) [Recipe from Christine Moore, Little Flower Candy Co., Pasadena]

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Turkey "Hunting"

Setting: Our house, this afternoon.

NavyGuy: Hark woman! I am caveman. I have left the cave and tracked down a wild bird to feast on at Thanksgiving!

Mugs: What?

NavyGuy: I have done my manly duty of hunter/gatherer and secured a turkey for our Thanksgiving dinner!

Mugs: Seriously, did you hit your head?

NavyGuy: Bird! Turkey! I procured meat for my family! (grunting)

Mugs: So let me get this straight - as a "manly caveman hunter" you called the meat shop, told another man to go out and get a turkey, kill it, pluck it, and pull out its innards, after which you will brave the dangerous streets of downtown to retrieve it days before Thanksgiving.

NavyGuy: Well, I'll probably drink a beer while I cook it.

Mugs: There's your inner caveman.

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A Scarecrow Friend

Here's the final stamping project from my craft night a few weeks back. The hostess (Michelle) had previously made these small stand up boxes designed as pumpkins, but she managed to create a new design for a scarecrow. I love the shading we did around the edges, the teeny bird on his hat, and there's even a small piece of checkerboard fabric added to the back to look like a patch on his outfit. We used a diecut machine to create the front and back pieces, but I think I've figured out a way to replicate those using my Cricut. The eyes and nose are just layers of paper, and the mouth and other black details are all handdrawn with a marker. Very adorable for fall, and you could put a few small candies in the box portion.

I'm going to see if I can duplicate the idea and create a couple Christmas styles - maybe a snowman or a reindeer? (Not like I need any more Christmas decorations - the movers were appalled when they filled our entire crawl space just with boxes of Christmas decorations!) We'll see if my creative juices get flowing this week...

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T-Day Prep: Day 17

Today's mission: test drive maple glazed carrots.

Results: moderate success.

So apparently, creating a glaze for vegetables is not as easy as Real Simple magazine would have you believe. I have listed the recipe and directions below, because it is good (and relatively simple), but I've added my own comments and tips where necessary, to save other novice cooks from suffering as I did.

Maple Glazed Carrots - Real Simple.com

3 pounds carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Kosher salt and black pepper

In a large skillet, combine the carrots, syrup, butter, 1/3 cup water, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. I didn't use a full 3 pounds of carrots, so I can't vouch for the proportions.
Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, partially covered, stirring once, until the carrots are tender and the liquid has reduced to a glaze, 12 to 15 minutes. (If the carrots are tender before the liquid has thickened, uncover, increase heat to medium-high, and cook until the liquid forms a glaze.) I followed these directions exactly, and the liquid had not reduced to a glaze whatsoever after 15 minutes. The carrots weren't to the point of mush, so I upped the heat a lot and stirred continuously. This was based on my quick research in my Joy of Cooking book. After about five more minutes, the liquid had thickened enough to satisfy me.

So, despite my glazing difficulties, the recipe was a success - and will be showing up on our Thanksgiving buffet! :)

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T-Day Prep: Day 23

Today's menu taste test was a sweet potato recipe. I, not being a fan of the item in question, went searching for a sweet potato recipe that might make me a believer. NavyGuy loves sweet potatoes - loves them - so I needed something that would meet high standards.

Sadly, my first attempt will not be showcased on the T-Day buffet. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com, for pineapple sweet potatoes (doesn't it look yummy?). All of the reviews made it sound easy and delicious, plus I already had most of the necessary ingredients. However, after a trip through Safeway, I realized I had absolutely no clue what a sweet potato looked like; I thought they were orange, but the only ones I found in the produce section looked yellow when I "accidentally" snapped one in half. Everything orange colored was labeled a yam, and in stupid decision number eight for the day, I didn't think to consult with one of the nice produce guys restocking lettuce to find out whether yams were just another name for sweet potatoes.*

Well, long story short, the recipe did not work. The yellow sweet potatoes did not soften up enough in the oven, so I ended up taking them out of the oven after the required cooking time and mashing them up with the pineapple and brown sugar sauce. NavyGuy, Roomie #2, and myself all vetoed it, though Roomie #1 declared it delicious and preceeded to eat as much of it as possible (straight out of the glass Pyrex dish by the way), so I guess 1 out of 4 ain't bad. However, as NavyGuy is such a fan of the weird vegetable, I am determined to figure out a way to make them edible. [Photo: (left) orange sweet potatoes, (right) yellow sweet potatoes)]

I can't bear to peel another batch of sweet potatoes already tomorrow though, so next up is a maple glazed carrot recipe from this month's Real Simple. Wish me luck!

*After extensive internet research and consultation with my Joy of Cooking book, I have unearthed the following information: there are two varieties of sweet potatoes. Say what?!? Yellow sweet potatoes are drier, orange sweet potatoes are eroneously called yams in North America (so my confusion at the grocery store today was TOTALLY not my fault in the least). Orange sweet potatoes are sweeter than the yellow variety, so they're much more common. True yams are more often found in Latin American and the Caribbean; they have purple or red flesh, and can grow to as large as seven feet long! So, in short - if you want to make a sweet potato recipe, you will probably need to buy what's labeled "yams" in the grocery store. Lesson learned. You're wlecome.

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T-Day Prep: Day 24

As of Monday morning, I have 24 days to put together the first annual Northwest Turkey Day Extravaganza (from here on out known as T-Day). First priority - food. It doesn't matter how cute the decor is or how clean the bathrooms are if the food is sub-par. As it stands, NavyGuy is taking care of the bird and the liquor, his mom is handling stuffing, my mom is handling the green jello pineapple rings and a salad, and that leaves me to cover appetizers, the remaining side dishes, and desserts.

So far, I'm confident in my crab dip and beer dip appetizers. That's it. Leaving, some non-cream-cheese-based appetizers, mashed potatoes, rolls, a couple more veggies, gravy, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and whatever else I'm forgetting! So the next task on the list is to do an in-depth scan of all the best magazines (Good Housekeeping, Real Simple, Cooking Light) and internet sites (Food Network, Martha Stewart) to round up recipes that meet one or more of my important T-day requirements:

~ involves less than 10 ingredients
~ can be prepped or cooked ahead of time
~ does not include a food processor
~ excludes obscure cooking directions (e.g. chiffonade, liaison, quadriller, spatchcock - all real culinary terms, I swear - look 'em up)
~ guarantees delectable results

Feel free to pass along suggestions. I've already received some good pie recommendations from Auntie T (thank you!), and I'm hoping to get the menu settled by the end of the week, so I can move on to other tasks.

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