A New Tradition?

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my in-laws. Delicious food, great company, good times. But when it came time for desserts my youngest, Sally, asked for pumpkin pie - but sadly there wasn't any.

My in-laws, now in their 70s, were tired of eating the same old thing every Thanksgiving and served pulled-pork sandwiches, baked beans, macaroni salad, scalloped potatoes and for dessert chocolate cake or banana cream pie. As I said, the food was great, I didn't think twice about it until Sally asked for pumpkin pie. And I realized what is routine, and perhaps boring, for us is neither routine nor boring for a six year old. The smell of a roasting turkey is not an ingrained memory for her.

I can't re-do Thanksgiving. Our tradition has always been to spend it at either my parents' or Mr. Bee's parents' homes. My parents are gone too soon, and I enjoy being with my in-laws whatever they decide to serve. We will keep going there.

Christmas is a different story and I have decided to start a new chapter, beginning with Christmas dinner. Turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie. Digging out the china, white table linen, cloth napkins, crystal candlesticks. What good does all that stuff do tucked away in cupboards? Some of it we received as wedding presents 23+ years ago and have never used!

I've never done the big dinner before. I am excited and a little nervous, but ready to start a new family tradition. I think Sally and the other kids will appreciate it someday. I'm making a memory. A good one, I hope. :-)

Last Thanksgiving

I wanted to post about this last year because I found it really very interesting, but then with the hub-bub of the holidays I forgot until another Thanksgiving rolled around again.

A Minnesota Family hosted Thanksgiving dinner for 32 people and the only thing store-bought was the salt. On the menu:

Venison roast with wild mushrooms

Pork roast with garden herbs

Wild turkey breast

Squirrel booya

Sweet and sour red cabbage and beets

Roasted potatoes with herbs

Baked squash with homemade butter

Corn on the cob

Green beans

Tomatoes

Sautéed kale

Cornbread

Popovers

Serviceberry pie

Boxelder syrup flan with a hazelnut crust

Rhubarb

Rhubarb/serviceberry wine

Hard cider

Grape wine

The family that hosted the dinner didn't prepare everything, the guests (friends & family) pitched in many of the homegrown items for the meal. It took a ton of planning, but how cool is that?!

N.W.O.

My fancy new scale gave me a sad wake-up call. I am what is known as Normal Weight Obese. (Insert loud, long, sad groan here).

What this means is my weight is within the norms for someone my height, and my BMI is in the normal range (22.4). But, my body fat measurement ain't what it should be. It should be mid-to-low 20s. It is 34%.

I'm like the package of bacon I wouldn't buy.

The good news is I don't need to diet. The bad news is I need to exercise.

I think I'll put up a ticker if I can find one and see how long it takes to lose 10% of the lard I'm packing.

Tales From the Back of the Fridge

#11

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

1 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (it takes about 6 lemons)
1 cup of sugar
2 quarts of cold water

And it is gone before you know it!

#1

10 jars of strawberry jam. 2 bags whole strawberries frozen. 1 bowl full in the fridge for eating. Yum!

#14

S'mores made on a campfire. MMMMmmm...