Fat Turkeys are We

If you move, they will come. This year we hosted Andy's family and our friends, The Jensens, for a wild and crazy Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone had a food assignment, lest you worry that anyone slaved away all day. I cooked my first real turkey (with help from Andy, his Dad, and his twin sister) and it turned out grand. The secret: Oiling the skin; massaging the inside and out with herbs, fresh ground pepper, and kosher salt; and using a turkey bag. Here's our holiday, in pictures. They're in reverse chronological order because I can't get the picture upload software to work.



Gorging ourselves silly

The best part of Thanksgiving comes after the meal. I love to pick the turkey apart and get all the meat off the bone.

House elves, busy at work
Turkey love (and a mouth full of cheeseball).

A feast prepared and all Ben wanted was a Thanksgiving grapefruit.

Everyone loves a good cheeseball (except for me)

Princess Charlotte and Charlie


Emily, Pete, and Betsy on potato patrol. They tasted divine, thanks to the Barefoot Contessa recipe.

Tagged

So I'm a blogging newbie and I guess this is all the rage. Here's everything you probably didn't care to know about me.

Jobs I've Had:
*Paper filer in a law office (My sister, who is now a lawyer, had the job before me. Isn't nepotism grand?)
*Gym supervisor for the Kennewick Parks and Rec. Dept. (sat in a school gym and did my homework while waiting for teams to finish practice so I could lock up. Got the job b/c I knew the school principal)
*Parking lot attendant at Utah State (Upside - free parking. Downside - $5.15/hour)
*Intern at the USU Public Relations/Marketing Department
*Intern at the Utah Farm Bureau in their communications department. Wrote articles for their monthly newsletter.
*Account manager at two PR firms in Phoenix

Jobs I'd Like to Have Someday:
Writer for the Wall Street Journal, a travel magazine, or other interesting publication
Katie Couric's stand-in
Book critic
Travel guide
Adjunct communications professor

Movie's I've Watched Over and Over:
Casablanca
About a Boy
Room With a View
Oceans' 11

Some Favorite Books as of Late:
From Beirut to Jerusalem
Pride and Prejudice
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Harry Potter (of Course)
Angle of Repose

Favorite Things to Do:
Read the paper
Read a good book cuddled up in my bed
Walk/jog with a friend
Have a good conversation
Watch the sun set and be outside in general
Go bargain shopping
Travel and explore new places
Learn something new

Places I've lived:
Cedar Rapids, IA
Nyssa, OR
Kennewick, WA
Logan, UT
Jackson Hole, WY
Jerusalem, Israel
Salt Lake City, UT
Tempe, AZ
Boston/Cambridge, MA
Dayton, OH
Hilliard, OH

Favorite things to eat:
Chocolate in all its varieties, especially baked
Coffe Chip and Chocolate Oreo ice cream from Handel's
Seafood
Freshly baked bread with honey
Italian food with lots of garlic
Ethnic food (Thai, Indian, etc.)

Places I'd rather be:
Getting a pedicure
Sitting in a hammock on a warm summer day reading a book or relaxing
Shopping (alone)
Grand Teton National Park
Traveling throughout Europe
New England in the Fall
Driving along the Maine coast
Arizona in the winter
Sydney, Australia

Words I Love the Sound of:
Cacophony
Onomotopoeia
Gesticular
P.S. Andy hates the words "fluids" and "pamper"

Who I'm Tagging:
Bekka
Kira
Trine
Jenn Knight

Veteran's Day Parade

We watched the Columbus Veteran's Day Parade downtown and enjoyed beautiful weather. It was so fun to sit on the curb, wave flags, and collect candy. We even made it onto the local TV channel, which filmed us an interviewed my friend. I'll upload more pictures soon, but there were marching bands of varying skill, a Sherman Tank, classic cars, and lots of other military vehicles. The piece de resistance was the ear-splitting cannon salute by the local Civil War reenactors, which scared Ben. Reminds me of another book - Confederates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz. A hilarious journey through the modern South that shows that the Confederacy isn't really dead.

Where's the Beef?

Ben and I took a little trip to the OSU Farm this week and had some close encounters with livestock. As the state land grant institution, OSU owns farmland for teaching and research, but because of urban sprawl, the farm is surrounded by big box stores. Ben was distraught that we couldn't see the pigs, but they wouldn't let us into the swine facility because of the biohazard risk. It reminds me of a book I read this summer, The Omnivore's Dilemma. A thought-provoking story about how our food is produced and the implications to society, the environment, and our bodies.

Ben wanted to draw on the chalkboard in one of the buildings.

Ben and his little friend Nessie, a fiery redhead. Sorry, Madi!

Gobble Gobble

My mother-in-law sent these charming Thanksgiving placecards in the mail and I can't wait to make them. They're from The Paper Source, and appear to be a fool-proof craft. All of Andy's family are coming to Ohio for Thanksgiving, so we can celebrate in style. To rhapsodize about The Paper Source, they have the most exquisite stationery and I loved stopping in at the store in Boston on Boylston Street whenever I ventured downtown.

William Tell Overture

I downloaded the William Tell Overture and Ben spent almost half an hour today galloping around our house to the music, along with Andy. The best part is that the live recording we have includes the audience clapping along with the music, so you feel like you're almost at the performance. I wish I had a picture to accompany this, but of course my camera's batteries died just at that moment. Murphy's Law in action. Or maybe I'm just becoming my mother. Every time we had a big event (a school dance, performance, etc.) her camera would die and we stood there waiting while she scrambled for new batteries.

Millions of Readers Can be Wrong

I know I'm swimming against the current here, but can someone PLEASE explain to me why these books are NYT Bestsellers? Insipid dialogue, a clunky plot, and poorly developed/ unlikeable characters are just the beginning. She takes 500+ pages per book to cover what could have taken 100. Most of it is spent with Bella oogling over Edward (my recent favorite line: "His eyes were like liquid onyx...") - Gag! After hearing glowing reviews, I read Twilight, and found it stragely compelling, but definitely so-so. I went on to New Moon, hoping the author could redeem herself, but to no avail. I wasted 10+ hours of my life on these books and refuse to read the third. I'm sure someone can give me the plot in a minute or less. If you are a Stephanie Meyers devotee, please let me know what you like about these books so I can find some heretofore overlooked redeemable qualities.

My biggest regret is that I gave my 16-year-old sister a copy of Twilight before I read it. Kaylee, my apologies and feel free to sell it on eBay or give it away at a white elephant gift exchange.