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Saturday, November 24, 2007

Weekend Update

  • Curran's AP European history class is watching Pride and Prejudice--the movie, not the miniseries, but still. The reason: its historical accuracy.

  • Dinner out this week was at our local döner stand--still reasonably priced despite the plummeting dollar. I had a pizza with feta cheese and veggies. Yum.

  • The dollar hit a record low this week. Oh, joy.

  • We went shopping on Thursday. I wanted to look for some baking and serving dishes, and some folding chairs for our Thanksgiving celebration on Friday. I did get a nice thingy for the veggies and dip, and some chairs, but completely spaced on the baking dishes.

  • Turns out I don't loathe all shopping after all. We ended up in a furniture store, and spent quite a long time shopping for furniture for the loft in our house in San Antonio. We both zeroed in on the same wall unit, and wavered between 4 different Wohnlandschaften (literally: living landscapes--in other words, big-ass sofas). Actually purchasing them, however, will depend on whether we get back to our house this summer or not. Currently, the odds are running 50-50 between San Antonio and Heidelberg. I'm not exactly sure how depressed this makes me. The fabulous thing is that no matter what, we will be moving out of this house next summer.

  • I overslept Friday morning. Didn't get up until 10, when I'd expected to get up at 8. I always get up at 8, if it's not a school day. Still, with huge amounts of help from Carl and the boys, the house was clean and the food was ready, and we were all bathed and dressed by the time company arrived. Then in the middle of wild preparations, the chimney inspector showed up.

  • The menu:
    • Turkey: we had 2, a 15-pound, and an 8-pound. The 15-pound went in the rotisserie, then after about an hour, it got stuck and one wing got a little burned. So Carl switched them around and the little one cooked in the rotisserie and the big one finished in the oven. They both turned out moist & yummy.
    • Stuffing: just regular stuffing with celery, onions, and mushrooms
    • Mashed potatoes: real ones. These are the only thing that ended up being a bit late--I underestimated the amount of time it would take the water to boil. They're lucky they got them at all. I usually skip the mashed potatoes, thinking they're too boring for a holiday dinner.
    • Gravy: I was totally lazy here, and just used the jars. I know how to make homemade gravy, but it's a PIA, and nobody who was there would have made it from scratch, either.
    • Sweet potatoes: I keep trying to have something other than candied sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, but everyone complains. At least I use fresh ones instead of canned. Because of the shortage of brown sugar, I used pancake syrup and left out the butter. They were a little soupier than usual, but tasted fine.
    • Green bean casserole: there would be mass protests if we didn't have this. Curran made a triple recipe and added fresh mushrooms.
    • Marinated broccoli and tomato salad: Camden made this one by himself. He had fun, I think, dunking the broccoli florets in the boiling water and watching them turn bright green. It's a pretty and tasty salad.
    • Green jello salad: if you're from the midwest, you know this one: cottage cheese, CoolWhip, crushed pineapple, lime Jello. Another must-have. Camden made this one, too.
    • Cranberry sauce: the recipe from the bag, using about a quarter less sugar, and adding chopped apples and walnuts.
    • Pumpkin pie: I had just enough flour for the crusts--by the time I had the crust rolled out, I had maybe 1 tablespoon of flour left in the canister--I hadn't even thought about checking on the flour.

  • Dinner was great. Everything turned out well, everybody had fun. before
    and after:
    even the dogs had fun:
    Diva


    Murphy--we didn't get a picture of Jenny--she spent all her time under the center of the table.


  • Unfortunately, when Oma and Opa left, they hit a huge traffic jam and were stuck for three hours on the autobahn not moving at all. They finally got home shortly before 4 a.m. Thank goodness for cell phones--they were able to call and let us know, so Carl's brother and his family could take the back roads and not get stuck in it, too.

  • With all the busy-ness and concern over Carl's mom, not to mention Carl snoring after having several fuzzy navels (his version of holiday punch, I think), I slept rather fitfully and dreamed a lot. I only remember one, though: Kate Rothwell was married to Anthony Head (Giles from Buffy), and we saw them looking out a window of the Cinderella castle at Disney World. I'm not at all sure I want to know what that means.
...more


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Comments:
Fantastic pics! What a treat to see your table and family thanks for sharing those! I just did a big post on the dinner too...with a video and some crazy conversations...

I'm slow again this week making rounds for TT but am going to your TT list right now!

Hope you're still having a wonderful weekend...we are too!
 
I'm just reading all the menu again, and am fascinated by the marshmallows and swet potatoes. I was following the menu directions from my boyfriend, who said we had to have gree bean casserole which I had never made before.

I love your idea of adding apples and walnuts to the craberry sauce. We made ours from the package with less sugar too...but next year I am going to add the apples and nuts, sounds divine!

I am humbled that it is difficult for you to get some ingredients...like brown sugar...and it really makes me realize, even though we struggle here sometimes with bills etc We have a lot!

I've so enjoyed this post and reading about the food and the pics...thanks again!
 
Tomorrow (Sunday) I will be eating more Thanksgiving feast, at friend house. So this mean my stomach will grow by the time the weekend -end LOL! I might do a little update on these dinner too....

My friend have always use the fresh cranberries from bags to make cranberry sauce. But when my family made it, we made it from the can.

All your menu sound wonderful! I felt like I was there, sittin on the table with your family *grin*...Happy Thanksgiving Darla!
 
I'm sure you guys have a great Thanksgiving feast, Darla! The menu sounds yummy; enjoyed the pics too. Hope you have a great weekend.
 
I thought that version of Pride and Prejudice seemed more accurate--pigs wandering the yard and all that.
 
Candy--mostly it's not a problem, it's just when there's something that they simply don't use in Germany. Cool Whip is another oddity--I was lucky this year: I got the next to last carton. :)

Julia--when I was a kid, we always had the cranberry sauce from a can, and I always loved it, but now, I'm the only one who likes that kind, and even I like the fresh berries better, so that's what we have.

Thanks, Melody!

Scribbit--yeah, I'm sure that's why they watched it. Still: no Colin Firth. :)
 
I like the cranberry sauce made both way (can or bag). It just that I'm afraid if I done it myself from fresh berry from bag, I won't know if I have enough sugars or too much ;)

Guess what we had again for dinner tonight (Thursday 11-29-07)? Yep stuffed mushroom..yummmm!
 
Yum! Thanks for the reminder! I'm going to put shrooms and stuffing on my shopping list and make them this week.
 
Oh, forgot to say--the bag tells you how much sugar. It's 1 cup per bag. Since I add chopped apples, though, I cut it down to about 2/3 cup, depending on how sweet the apples are. It's always better to err on the side of not sweet enough, since you can always add more sugar if you need to, right?
 
I never thought about putting in apple, but I will try it that way the next time on the sauce :) Thanks for the tip. Is that 1 whole apple; chopped? Or how many apples you chopped?

I'm planning to make White Peppermint Bark to sent out for gifts this year *grin*
 
It's one apple for a bag of cranberries. It's not fussy, but that's what I use. Oh, and you stir the apples in AFTER the cranberries are done boiling.

Oooh, yum! Camden wants to make chocolate fudge with crushed candy canes in it. I'll let you know how it turns out.
 
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