I was hoping to have a funny story to tell you about some dramatic cooking disaster on Thanksgiving. . . but it went off without a hitch! It was actually quite a lovely day, and the cooking wasn't even stressful. My, how I have changed since the summer that Brandon and I were engaged and I actually broke down crying in front of him because he asked me to cook him some bacon and eggs and I was unsuccessful at both (and nearly burnt the house down when the bacon pan caught on fire). I never thought that a mere 5 years later, I would successfully cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner by myself. . . well, minus turkey, which simply needed to be reheated in the oven for a couple of hours.
Now we are in full Christmas mode. We weren't going to buy a tree this year-- but we did. We weren't going to decorate-- but we did. We weren't going to buy each other any presents-- but we did (sort of. We bought two snorkel vests for our upcoming vacation. More of a life insurance type thing than a Christmas extravaganza, but still).
Our "real" gift is the vacation, which works out pretty well since it's pretty much "free."
So what is that vacation? Well. . .
It involves some snorkeling. . .
some kayaking. . .
and some time at sea. . .
We are cruising to the Bahamas!
Well, *I* am cruising to the Bahamas. We're hoping that Brandon gets to come along. We've already been thrown a few curveballs that threaten to ruin his vacation. But so far, we've been able to juggle them all. Here's hoping we've seen the last of the problems, and that it will be smooth sailing from here on out!
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Thanksgiving: New Traditions
We don't normally do the big Thanksgiving meal. I love it, and always loved it growing up. But it was never practical when Brandon was travel nursing. Our Thanksgiving tradition became going to out eat. . . usually for Thai food.
We briefly flirted with the idea of doing the big family meal this year because my parents mentioned the possibility of visiting. But when their visit didn't work out, I assumed we would do like always and just go out to eat. There's a Thai restaurant nearby that I've been dying to try. I've been saving it specifically for Thanksgiving.
But today (Tuesday, as in two days before Thanksgiving), I mentioned to Brandon that I've really been missing my grandmother's dressing, and that I might make a batch this week. Brandon heard that and thought I was offering to make Thanksgiving dinner. His eyes lit up and he said, "Yeah, I would be totally fine with that. Some dressing, maybe some sweet potato casserole. You could do a chicken if you don't want to cook a whole turkey just for us. But if you do the turkey, we could use the leftovers for turkey noodle soup or something like that."
"Oh," I stammered, "You mean. . . me cook the whole meal instead of going out to eat?"
"Right! That was a great idea. Thanks, babe."
. . .
So, two days before Thanksgiving, I headed to the commissary. At 5:00pm.
Without a meal plan, a grocery list, or recipes. Without the faintest idea of how to cook a turkey.
I know.
I'm an idiot.
My grocery shopping trip was chaotic, to say the least. I walked the entire store four times. I bought items totally on instinct. Thanks to my Food Network addiction, a decent sensory recall, and several opportunities to scope out the shopping carts of women who obviously knew what they were doing, I managed to walk out of the commissary with every single ingredient necessary to make all of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes.
I even had one miraculous stroke of luck, and one moment of brilliance.
The miraculous stroke of luck came when it was time to pick out a turkey. Obviously, they were pretty picked over this late in the game. There were a handful of HUGE frozen turkeys, and several frozen turkey breasts. Neither one felt right for us. I wanted a small-medium size whole turkey. I was seriously regretting not ordering a restaurant turkey, like I had thought about when my family was possibly coming.
I happened to glance into another shopping cart and saw it. A reasonably sized whole turkey, fully cooked. What?!? Where were those? I had been up and down every aisle in the store and hadn't seen anything like that. As it turned out, there were a few secret, hidden turkeys. Fully cooked, smoked turkeys that weren't actually out on the floor. Thanks to a very kind manager who took pity on me (it probably didn't hurt that I asked him, a man, if he could tell me how to cook a turkey), I scored the very last one. When I first asked him about cooked turkeys, he said they didn't have any and that I had probably seen someone with a rotisserie chicken. But when I said, "Okay, so this frozen raw turkey. Do I just, you know, put it in the oven?" he said, "You know, we actually did have some smoked turkeys in the back, let me see if we have any more left." He brought it out and said, "You can just heat this in the microwave." Hahahahahaha. I was so, so grateful to him for finding me the perfect turkey.
The stroke of genius happened when I was thinking about cranberry sauce. I definitely wasn't going to make cranberry sauce from scratch. Neither of us really even like cranberry sauce. I just take a little each year because I do like having something light, bright, and fruity with my turkey and dressing. So, I started thinking about pomegranates instead. My first thought was to get a couple of pomegranates and use the seeds in a little salad. But since they were out of pomegranates, I had my little moment of brilliance-- cranberry pomegranate martinis. Perfect, right? You get the cran and the pom, those perfectly tart Thanksgiving flavors, but in a yummy pre dinner cocktail. Oh yes. I'm pretty sure martinis will be our new Thanksgiving tradition.
When I texted Brandon that I had bought a turkey and was going to cook the entire Thanksgiving dinner, he was so excited. He wrote back that he couldn't wait to have our first "real" Thanksgiving together. I realized he was right-- we had never had the full Thanksgiving experience together.
So with that, here is the menu for our very first "real" Thanksgiving:
Pomegranate Cranberry Martinis
Wheat rolls
Watergate salad (a family fave)
Smoked turkey with dressing
Green bean bundles
Sweet potato casserole
Fried Okra
Sugar Free chocolate pie
I'm thrilled about our new traditions!
We briefly flirted with the idea of doing the big family meal this year because my parents mentioned the possibility of visiting. But when their visit didn't work out, I assumed we would do like always and just go out to eat. There's a Thai restaurant nearby that I've been dying to try. I've been saving it specifically for Thanksgiving.
But today (Tuesday, as in two days before Thanksgiving), I mentioned to Brandon that I've really been missing my grandmother's dressing, and that I might make a batch this week. Brandon heard that and thought I was offering to make Thanksgiving dinner. His eyes lit up and he said, "Yeah, I would be totally fine with that. Some dressing, maybe some sweet potato casserole. You could do a chicken if you don't want to cook a whole turkey just for us. But if you do the turkey, we could use the leftovers for turkey noodle soup or something like that."
"Oh," I stammered, "You mean. . . me cook the whole meal instead of going out to eat?"
"Right! That was a great idea. Thanks, babe."
. . .
So, two days before Thanksgiving, I headed to the commissary. At 5:00pm.
Without a meal plan, a grocery list, or recipes. Without the faintest idea of how to cook a turkey.
I know.
I'm an idiot.
My grocery shopping trip was chaotic, to say the least. I walked the entire store four times. I bought items totally on instinct. Thanks to my Food Network addiction, a decent sensory recall, and several opportunities to scope out the shopping carts of women who obviously knew what they were doing, I managed to walk out of the commissary with every single ingredient necessary to make all of our favorite Thanksgiving dishes.
I even had one miraculous stroke of luck, and one moment of brilliance.
The miraculous stroke of luck came when it was time to pick out a turkey. Obviously, they were pretty picked over this late in the game. There were a handful of HUGE frozen turkeys, and several frozen turkey breasts. Neither one felt right for us. I wanted a small-medium size whole turkey. I was seriously regretting not ordering a restaurant turkey, like I had thought about when my family was possibly coming.
I happened to glance into another shopping cart and saw it. A reasonably sized whole turkey, fully cooked. What?!? Where were those? I had been up and down every aisle in the store and hadn't seen anything like that. As it turned out, there were a few secret, hidden turkeys. Fully cooked, smoked turkeys that weren't actually out on the floor. Thanks to a very kind manager who took pity on me (it probably didn't hurt that I asked him, a man, if he could tell me how to cook a turkey), I scored the very last one. When I first asked him about cooked turkeys, he said they didn't have any and that I had probably seen someone with a rotisserie chicken. But when I said, "Okay, so this frozen raw turkey. Do I just, you know, put it in the oven?" he said, "You know, we actually did have some smoked turkeys in the back, let me see if we have any more left." He brought it out and said, "You can just heat this in the microwave." Hahahahahaha. I was so, so grateful to him for finding me the perfect turkey.
The stroke of genius happened when I was thinking about cranberry sauce. I definitely wasn't going to make cranberry sauce from scratch. Neither of us really even like cranberry sauce. I just take a little each year because I do like having something light, bright, and fruity with my turkey and dressing. So, I started thinking about pomegranates instead. My first thought was to get a couple of pomegranates and use the seeds in a little salad. But since they were out of pomegranates, I had my little moment of brilliance-- cranberry pomegranate martinis. Perfect, right? You get the cran and the pom, those perfectly tart Thanksgiving flavors, but in a yummy pre dinner cocktail. Oh yes. I'm pretty sure martinis will be our new Thanksgiving tradition.
When I texted Brandon that I had bought a turkey and was going to cook the entire Thanksgiving dinner, he was so excited. He wrote back that he couldn't wait to have our first "real" Thanksgiving together. I realized he was right-- we had never had the full Thanksgiving experience together.
So with that, here is the menu for our very first "real" Thanksgiving:
Pomegranate Cranberry Martinis
Wheat rolls
Watergate salad (a family fave)
Smoked turkey with dressing
Green bean bundles
Sweet potato casserole
Fried Okra
Sugar Free chocolate pie
I'm thrilled about our new traditions!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Catching up, and big changes.
Seems like it's getting longer and longer in between posts. A lot has happened around here, so I'll try to do a little catch up!
We have a new baby in the family. He was definitely a surprise! Brandon has been begging for a German Shepherd for years. This little guy fell right into our laps-- he's a Purebred, and was 5 months old when he came home to us. He had a medical condition that made him "special needs." This condition (which I would name if I could remember what it is) affected him so badly that when we got him he couldn't even walk. His first owner took him to a shelter. He was adopted there, but the second owner got spooked by a veterinarian who had a glass-half-empty attitude. So, the second owner decided he couldn't keep him. It took Brandon about 2 seconds to decide that we could handle it. He hadn't even met the dog yet. :)
The awesome thing is that two weeks later, the medical condition is pretty much non-existent. All it took was a couple weeks of meds, a nutritional change, and some patience as he learned to walk. He is now RUNNING and GALLOPING around our house. You would never know that anything had ever been wrong. I'll be honest. . . it's sometimes a headache to have a 50 pound puppy around here, but thankfully, GSDs are incredibly intelligent and easy to please. Right now, our biggest problem is that he likes to drag all of the dirty laundry from the hamper into the living room floor (I know the obvious solution is to keep the laundry room door closed, but I swear, he's figured out how to open it). Yes, it's embarrassing when somebody drops by the house and I have to explain why my bra and Brandon's boxer shorts are in the floor, but if that's the biggest problem we face, I'll take it!
Another big change is that I cut off my hair for Locks of Love. I haven't yet taken a good picture of the final product, but my hair is now pretty short (shorter than it is in the picture above), with heavy bangs and layering. It's the most edgy haircut I've ever had. When I'm in the mood to wear a pretty dress to church, I'm not a fan. . . but when I'm rocking my skinny jeans, boots, and a cute scarf, I LOVE it. It's so much fun. I kind of want a nose ring now too, but Brandon isn't convinced.
Brandon took me to a Renaissance Faire, and I got to fulfill a lifelong dream-- I met Captain Jack Sparrow! The RF was a benefit for St. Jude's, and I loved it so much that I want to volunteer next year.
We've also been doing quite a bit of fishing. Sadly, we haven't caught a thing. But when our friends catch fish, they sometimes give it to us, so we've enjoyed some really awesome fresh fish dinners! I've never been a big fan of the water, but Brandon's actually gotten me to go fishing in the ocean, in a canoe. Yes, it was kind of scary. . . but canoeing beside a school of dolphins is quite possibly one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. I'm enjoying the water so much that I actually asked for a snorkel set for Christmas, and plan on doing some snorkeling next year.
Speaking of next year, it looks like we're going to be doing some major traveling. Possibly some together, definitely some separate.
Remember that vacation we were planning to take for our 5th anniversary? Our second honeymoon, first real vacation? The one that we had to cancel three days prior, because the Air Force disapproved the itinerary at the last minute? Well, even with travel insurance, we didn't get any of our money back. But, the company we booked through was nice enough to give us a credit toward a future trip, worth 75% of what we had spent. So, we used our credit to book a new trip for next year. We will NOT attempt to go to Mexico again, we have decided to go somewhere completely different. So far, Brandon's leave is approved and there are no problems with our chosen itinerary. But, we've learned that anything can happen. So while we are hoping to travel together next year, if Brandon's leave falls through at the last minute, I'll be going solo. On a trip out of the country. Yikes! Brandon is insistent on this. If we cancel, we'll lose the credits/our money. Brandon is definitely not cool with that. So, either way, I'm going on this vacation. We are just praying that Brandon gets to come along! I would be seriously bummed to travel and have all of these amazing experiences by myself. I want my best friend with me.
Brandon will definitely be doing some solo traveling. He's scheduled for a TDY early next year, and it's the kind I can't tag along on. . . which is too bad, because he'll be going somewhere that I actually really want to go. It's a pre-deployment training TDY, where he will have weekends off, so I am keeping my eyes open for super cheap flights. If I could find one of those $99 round trip flights, I would totally fly up for a weekend to visit him.
Of course, pre-deployment training means that he might be doing some MAJOR traveling of his own next year. I try not to think about that though. When Brandon first went to training, they told him that he would probably have between 12 and 24 months before first deployment. That sounds like such a long time. . . until I remember that he has now been in for over six months. Time is flying so fast. Just another reason I am praying that his leave doesn't get messed up again-- I want that real vacation with him before he is up for deployment.
The awesome thing is that two weeks later, the medical condition is pretty much non-existent. All it took was a couple weeks of meds, a nutritional change, and some patience as he learned to walk. He is now RUNNING and GALLOPING around our house. You would never know that anything had ever been wrong. I'll be honest. . . it's sometimes a headache to have a 50 pound puppy around here, but thankfully, GSDs are incredibly intelligent and easy to please. Right now, our biggest problem is that he likes to drag all of the dirty laundry from the hamper into the living room floor (I know the obvious solution is to keep the laundry room door closed, but I swear, he's figured out how to open it). Yes, it's embarrassing when somebody drops by the house and I have to explain why my bra and Brandon's boxer shorts are in the floor, but if that's the biggest problem we face, I'll take it!
Another big change is that I cut off my hair for Locks of Love. I haven't yet taken a good picture of the final product, but my hair is now pretty short (shorter than it is in the picture above), with heavy bangs and layering. It's the most edgy haircut I've ever had. When I'm in the mood to wear a pretty dress to church, I'm not a fan. . . but when I'm rocking my skinny jeans, boots, and a cute scarf, I LOVE it. It's so much fun. I kind of want a nose ring now too, but Brandon isn't convinced.
Brandon took me to a Renaissance Faire, and I got to fulfill a lifelong dream-- I met Captain Jack Sparrow! The RF was a benefit for St. Jude's, and I loved it so much that I want to volunteer next year.
We've also been doing quite a bit of fishing. Sadly, we haven't caught a thing. But when our friends catch fish, they sometimes give it to us, so we've enjoyed some really awesome fresh fish dinners! I've never been a big fan of the water, but Brandon's actually gotten me to go fishing in the ocean, in a canoe. Yes, it was kind of scary. . . but canoeing beside a school of dolphins is quite possibly one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced. I'm enjoying the water so much that I actually asked for a snorkel set for Christmas, and plan on doing some snorkeling next year.
Speaking of next year, it looks like we're going to be doing some major traveling. Possibly some together, definitely some separate.
Remember that vacation we were planning to take for our 5th anniversary? Our second honeymoon, first real vacation? The one that we had to cancel three days prior, because the Air Force disapproved the itinerary at the last minute? Well, even with travel insurance, we didn't get any of our money back. But, the company we booked through was nice enough to give us a credit toward a future trip, worth 75% of what we had spent. So, we used our credit to book a new trip for next year. We will NOT attempt to go to Mexico again, we have decided to go somewhere completely different. So far, Brandon's leave is approved and there are no problems with our chosen itinerary. But, we've learned that anything can happen. So while we are hoping to travel together next year, if Brandon's leave falls through at the last minute, I'll be going solo. On a trip out of the country. Yikes! Brandon is insistent on this. If we cancel, we'll lose the credits/our money. Brandon is definitely not cool with that. So, either way, I'm going on this vacation. We are just praying that Brandon gets to come along! I would be seriously bummed to travel and have all of these amazing experiences by myself. I want my best friend with me.
Brandon will definitely be doing some solo traveling. He's scheduled for a TDY early next year, and it's the kind I can't tag along on. . . which is too bad, because he'll be going somewhere that I actually really want to go. It's a pre-deployment training TDY, where he will have weekends off, so I am keeping my eyes open for super cheap flights. If I could find one of those $99 round trip flights, I would totally fly up for a weekend to visit him.
Of course, pre-deployment training means that he might be doing some MAJOR traveling of his own next year. I try not to think about that though. When Brandon first went to training, they told him that he would probably have between 12 and 24 months before first deployment. That sounds like such a long time. . . until I remember that he has now been in for over six months. Time is flying so fast. Just another reason I am praying that his leave doesn't get messed up again-- I want that real vacation with him before he is up for deployment.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
