Thanksgiving 2007

For some reason, I wasn't looking forward to Thanksgiving much this year. Because of The Boy's basketball season, we haven't been able to visit family during the holidays for about 3 or 4 years now. And we don't know anyone without family out here, so we don't invite anyone extra. Just our little family. Last year I felt a little sad.

So I decided I'd make all new recipes this year. Try something new. But every time I saw something good on the TV Food Network, I couldn't find the recipe online. Or, it turned out to be soup. People, I made pumpkin (or squash) soup for my entire family one year, and no one was into it. I guess I was ahead of my time.

Turns out, I LIKE all of our usual recipes. So I asked K if we couldn't cut something out this year, because it seems like SO MANY dishes! Since we're having mashed potatoes, can we cut out stuffing? Turns out, no, the family really likes ALL those dishes. Plus, some of them I only make once a year.

I was not feeling well on Wednesday, but I gathered up the energy to get up and make the Cranberry salsa and the stuffing ahead of time.

The next day was Thursday, Thanksgiving. K came home from work around 3pm, but the Boy had to work until 6:30, so we decided to wait and have dinner with him when he got home. This gave me ALL DAY to make the rest of the food. I liked that. I made the two casseroles during the day - this year I made it seem easy.

The turkey gave me some trouble, as it hadn't defrosted in the 4 days it had been in the refrigerator. It's hard to know this ahead of time, but luckily, it wasn't the first time this has happened to me. I soaked it in cold water until it defrosted. I like to cook turkey in one of those plastic cooking bags. I put 2-3 heads of garlic, separated, underneath it, and pour a cup or 2 of wine on top of it. Then I close up the bag and pop that sucker into the oven!

It smells SO GOOD when that turkey is cooking!

We had:
Cranberry salsa
Stuffing
Turkey
broccoli/cheese casserole
sweet potato casserole
mashed potatoes
gravy
roasted garlic
crescent rolls

YUM!!

When the turkey was done, I took it out (to rest) and popped the casseroles (including stuffing, which I don't actually stuff into the bird because I like it crunchy.) When you're the cook, you get to decide things like that.

The Girl made the mashed potatoes and set the table, which was very helpful. I made the gravy and the rolls right before we ate. This gravy, flavored with the roasted garlic (and wine) drippings, is SO good (IMHO).

We gave thanks for:

The Boy: That he's not living on the streets on Thanksgiving. And for his good looks and charming personality. (yes, he really said that)

Me: All of our health (usually it's indoor plumbing)

The Girl: Her family, soccer, and TV

K - The family, and water (because we're 75% water) -huh?

It was a truly nice meal, and I was thankful to have us all together for dinner, which seldom happens anymore.

Nice beginning, sucky ending

K's parents came out for a short visit. We took them to a few new places - Portos in Burbank, which they LOVED!!! There are so many fantastic pastries and cakes and sandwiches - all for reasonable prices. And also La Cabanita in Montrose, which has that fabulous carrot soup that doesn't taste like carrots. And excellent mole sauce. They liked that too.

We had a very nice visit up until about 5 minutes before they left. That's when his mom mentioned that his sister who lives in the same town as them, has her house back up for sale. This only affects us in that if they wanted to, they can arrange it so I get a referral fee - a small percentage of the sale. It's kindof hard to understand how or why someone would do this, but K went through a lot of trouble to explain it to his family. Plus his other sister did it for us, it's just that his OTHER sister has decided she doesn't want to. For whatever reason, she just doesn't want to.

Anyway, it's not that much money, but every little bit would help right now. And it's kindof hard to understand why a family member wouldn't help you out. Especially if it's no money out of their own pockets. Especially since she keeps telling us how much she loves us.

We thought it was a mistake the first time, that she would fix if she put her house on the market again. So anyway, we were speechless. I kept looking at K, he kept looking at me, then we'd turn and stare at his mother. At this point, she started babbling to fill the space, altho she didn't really look at us after that.

Then they left and we were pissed. I just feel like "whatever", and I can laugh it off. K can't laugh it off so easily, partly because he knows how hard I work and how seldom I get paid. Partly because we could use the money - it's Christmastime! It's his family! But I'm just trying to have compassion for her, that she can't make a better decision than that. Plus it doesn't look like their house is going to sell any time in the near future, for a variety of reasons.

So we had a nice visit with K's parents, it just ended on a bitter note.

While they were here, the Girl's soccer team played a tough game that sealed the deal for their team to win first in their League's bracket. That was exciting for everyone. Then last Saturday they had to play one more game to finish the season, and luckily they won that one too. We took them out for a team meal, and one parent brought a cake to celebrate.

Too bad we didn't have a little longer to celebrate. For some reason, the league had a tournament that started the next day, Sunday (yesterday). So we had to get up early for an early game against a tough team that gave us a lot of trouble. Before we knew it, they scored twice! In the second half, the coach put the Girl up front, and she just dribbled around everyone and scored! She almost did it twice more, but almost did not win the game. But it was exciting because the Girl looked so good. She is spectacular.

Then we had a second game at 2pm against a team that we suspected would not be too tough. WRONG! They tied the first team we played 0-0. Our team fought and fought, but after awhile they seemed to lose steam. After halftime they scored a third goal against our 0. The Girl got so frustrated that she asked to come out of the game and was basically crying. She told me, "They're not trying!" about her team. I argued that they were doing their best, and she said, "No, their not!." And they certainly weren't playing their best, so I didn't know what to say.

On the way home I said everything I could think of to cheer her up, but she was too upset. We went from the highest of highs to a new low point. It seemed like a sad and anticlimatic way to end a weekend that started out so well.

I wish I could protect her, but losing is part of sports. It's part of the drama.

You can't win them all.

Halloween and soccer

Halloween was anticlimatic this year. At the last minute, the Girl said she wanted to go with her friend who was Trick or Treating at her Grandparents house. Evidently they close down the whole street for the event.

Of course the Boy was off with his friends, so I said I'd just stay home and give out candy. This was the first year I didn't go with The Girl. The first year since I can remember that I didn't go with either child.

But that's OK, I stayed home to give out candy. The only thing was, only about 3 sets of people came by! So I gave everyone a good handful and was done with it.

Later I had to go pick up The Girl at her friend's grandparent's house. Holy Moley! The main street to get there was filled in the median with parked cars. I drove to the top and was able to park, and I walked over to the street in question. It was PACKED! This is a residential neighborhood. What happened to people trick or treating in their OWN neighborhoods?

The friend's mom said that her parents had 2,500 pieces of candy, but there were so many people that they were giving it out one at a time. And they ran out of candy, so finally had to shut their door and turn off the lights!

I don't see the advantage for the kids, if you're only getting one piece of candy at every home. But I hear the homes there are really done up for this holiday, so maybe that makes it worth it.
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Over the weekend, the Girl's soccer team had another game. They're doing really well this year, and have only lost 2 games all season. No ties. 8 wins. But the team last weekend was no joke, and I was nervous the entire game!

Even tho her team scored quickly - on about the second play! Then, the Girl, from defense, kicked a ball that flew high into the air and right into the goal! Then the coach put her up front for a little bit, and she scored again!

I keep complaining that the coach doesn't put her up front enough, but this should keep me quiet for awhile. As long as she gets the chance to score now and then I'll be happy.

Next week my in-laws will be visiting, and the team will be playing the toughest other team in our bracket. They beat her team last time, and they'll be looking for revenge! That team is very tough on defense, but they haven't won as many games as our team.

The in-laws just arrived, so hopefully we'll go eat something yummy!