Gobble Gobble Gobble

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! We had a great time! It was full of many "Firsts for" us...

• Our first Thanksgiving in the New House!
• My first time preparing a Thanksgiving dinner.... ever!
• My first time cooking a whole bird... ever... :(
• Our first Thanksgiving since we've been together, in which David and I could spend the holiday together! (David is usually at work)

With some help from The Internets, and a lot of hard work, it was a great success! We had three friends over: Mike, Julia, and Alexis...

I am a dork and I typed up a list of everything I was making (it was originally intended as more of an organizing "gameplan" than a "menu," but then as I went along, it was fun to make everything sound fancy...) Anyway, here was our Menu for the Day:

• BISCUITS with Butter & Honey
• CRUDITE - Fresh Veggies & Dip
• CHEESE & CRACKERS
• ALEXIS & JULIA’S HOMEMADE COOKIES
• -----
• ROAST TURKEY & HOMEMADE GRAVY w/ Thyme, Butter, Garlic, & Lemon
• HOMEMADE CRANBERRY SAUCE with Orange
• ROASTED RED POTATOES and Garlic
• STEAMED YELLOW AND GREEN BEANS
• ROASTED SWEET POTATOES w/ Butter & Cinnamon
• ROASTED RADISHES
• ROASTED GARLIC BRUSSELS SPROUTS
• WHOLE WHEAT HOMESTYLE STUFFING
• SPICED LAMB STUFFING w/ Apple & Cranberry
• -----
• WEGMAN’S BAKERY PIES - Mixed Berry Pie, and Pumpkin Pie w/ Whipped Cream
• VANILLA ICED CREAM
• ALEXIS & JULIA’S HOMEMADE COOKIES

So, all in all, it was a wonderful day. It ended with me, slightly drunk and exhausted, relating the day's antics over the phone to my parents in Queens, whilst curled up on our new green couch, crumpled apron and all. After all my fears about cooking a whole bird, and weeks of gathering advice from everyone who would talk to me (Momma Herzog, Momma Campione, Queen Susannah who I ran into at Wegmans and cornered for turkey tips, and don't forget The Internets...) I actually succeeded in making a moist, crispy-skinned, delicious roast bird! Go figure! Next year I have nothing to fear! :)

More pics of the couch (without me on it) to follow...

David leaves next week for work/training... More travel coming this "holiday" season...

HAPPY NOVEMBER, EVERYONE!

Well, we're having a lovely November here in Ithaca, and that means two things:

#1 The gorgeous fall colors are turning to bare branches...

#2 I haven't posted on this blog in practically a whole season!

Whew!

It's been a VERY busy Autumn for us. Most of my time was spent working at the Kitchen Theatre, and other than seeing the show six times (what a champ!), David of course spent his time at home this fall working on the house. That means finishing the floors in our great room, constructing our bed in the master bedroom (that's right, our mattress is no longer on the floor! Woohoo!), buying and installing new lighting and hardware throughout the house, and getting some new furniture...

Here's a preliminary pic of how the floors turned out in the great room. There will be many more pics to follow including (spoiler alert...) our new gorgeous green couch from Sam Peter!