my monkied brain (katekat1010) wrote,
my monkied brain

why hello!

Thanksgiving was ... in a word ... wonderful.  I guess we're doing something right because it was an evening that went off without a hitch.  Food was fantastic, we didn't scramble to make anything (partially because we'd made two entrees and the desserts on Tues/Wed), the company was amazing.  The dog didn't freak out and the dishes weren't too bad the next day.

First off, for the vegetarians who might be interested (or even those who prefer a different type of stuffing), please please try the mushroom bread-pudding stuffing!!  We couldn't find fennel, so we substituted a cup more of celery and a cup of walnuts, and OH MY GOD THE GOODNESS.  And it was ready before hand.

The day of dawned (well, I'm pretty sure the sun rose, although I didn't see it), Neil got up and got his turkey in the oven by 9:45 am.  We'd even done cleaning beforehand, so all we had to do was vacuum the living room and set up the tables to handle our guests.  D & I had already made the table ornamentation, and the door ornamentation (seen below) so it was simply a matter of putting out plates and the new silverware. 

We even managed to shower in shifts in between the dishwasher and didn't run out of hot water (a miracle if I've ever heard one).

And finally, at last, the carrots were cut, the potatoes went in, and lostgirlslair and mrtwstedwhsprs arrived first!! Smoking ensued! (well, after hugs). Everyone else got there in short order (well, except for a friend of mine from the department who ... unsurprisingly... is a little late where ever he goes) and we ended up with 8 not 10 (better elbow room, and easier to actually talk to everybody). The turkey got done sooner than expected (this also seems to be a trend at our house, but not a bad one), the food came out, we set up a buffet in the window, and ...

there was silence. Well, the sound of chewing. It was a success. Everyone ate! Even the dog tried to get in on the action by hanging around under the table. Luckily no one seemed to mind her little begging eyes (and no one fed her, so all she did was beg).

After dinner there was porch time for about half of us, then the other half played rock band inside. We called a halt to that eventually and brought out the desserts - cheesecake, apple pie, ice cream, and candied pecans. Oh yeah. The quiet descended again, although this time for not as long. then there was coffee, and conversation, and visits back to the porch, and then Cranium (my favorite board game for groups because you get to do a little of everything). And all of a sudden it had gone from 4 in the afternoon to 1 am. One of our friends stayed as the others left so we actually got to catch up with him in a non group way too.

It couldn't have been a better gathering - smart, funny, sweet people, there to eat and laugh and talk and just have a good time.  Even the dog was great... see that smile?  That's because she got talked to all night in Japanese (her [possibly] native tongue).  It was the cutest thing I've ever heard.

Ok, well, it wasn't Jesus.  And don't worry, I am not one of those people who finds the face of the virgin Mary in a pancake.  However, we ended up with one REALLY WEIRD potato, and I'd love it if someone could explain to me how the rot got in the middle when there were no visible signs on the outside (like NONE).  We were amused.  We obviously did *not* put this into the mashed potato pot.  After the photoshoot, this went in the garbage.  But at least we have proof.

Puppy training today, where we basked under praise and got a whole new set of things to practice through the new year. It was cold and rainy all day, so we trained inside at the trainer's office, and promptly came home and tried to stay warm. I even broke down and made myself a cup of hot chocolate tonight, both in an attempt to warm myself up and as a present to myself for grading papers on a Saturday night.  I've only got seven to go!

And since I'm being silly and procrastinating, I have a flickr meme stolen from tabaqui

The Rules:
1. Answer each of the questions below using the Flickr Search engine.
2. Choose a photo from the first three pages.
3. Copy the URL of your favorite photo into this site:  (a cool little generator that will assemble your pics into one handy jpg and then give you an html file to boot)
4. Save mosaic to some form of photo hosting thing and share w/world.

1. First Name
2. Favorite Food
3. Hometown
4. Favorite Color
5. Celebrity Crush
6. Favorite Drink
7. Dream Vacation
8. Favorite Dessert
9. What I Want To Be When I Grow Up
10. What I Love Most In The World
11. One Word That Describes Me
12. My LiveJournal Name

links to the original pics:
1. kdrawing, 2. Breakfast 14.8.08, 3. downtown moke hill, 4. Serene, 5. taylor kitsch shirtless2, 6. Coffe Bar, 7. South Andros Sunset, 8. Chocolate Mousse and Raspberry Cakes, 9. FRANCE - St Malo - Interesting sign, 10. __Lovin'_in_All_Stars__, 11. The.Magician, 12. Rude?
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