Tag: thanksgiving

Playing Catchup

Hello from the most negligent bloggers in the land! We kept drafting posts, then not posting posts, then deleting posts, and ultimately ignoring the mere existence of posts. So here’s a little highlight reel of the last few months. We have trips to Chicago, Minnesota, and even India. We have weddings, and sightseeing, and family reunions. We have lots of friends, and lots of amazing skies. It’s been a great year and we’ve been, apparently, too busy to document it properly! Here’s to the close of 2013 and a 2014 with even more to show.

Big Apple BBQ
We came, we ate all the meat.

Chicago
Celebrating an old friend’s wedding in Jason’s favorite city.

Jekyll Island
Another wedding—this time family—on the beautiful Jekyll Island, Georgia, known for Driftwood Beach.

Bo Ssam
Shared an incredible bo ssam with ten friends and ate until we couldn’t see straight!

Beach Week 2013
Summer vacation tradition continues, but this time with a heavy heart for Jersey.

Fete Paradiso on Governor’s Island
An antique French carnival set up in New York Harbor? Ooh la la!

NYCC 2013
The boys headed to ComicCon again, this time with Cameron, too! (see more on Jason’s Flickr account).

India
Erin took the work trip of a lifetime.

Thanksgiving
Once again we hosted our family and friends for pie, stuffing, and turkey turkey turkey.

Minnesota Weekend Getaway
Braved 2° high temps to see Lauren and Peto! Escaped to Mall of America.

Bring on 2014
And as the sun sets on 2013, we are ready for a whole new year of adventure!

December 23
Giving Thanks

They always say that the times leading up to holidays fly by, but it seems more true now than ever! We can’t believe it’s been a month since Hurricane Sandy and a full week since Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is Erin’s favorite holiday by far (a holiday devoted to food, at which she alone receives presents (for her birthday)? perfection!) and we’ve hosted at our apartment for three years now. Our Thanksgivings in New York have always been for our “New York family,” our closest friends who also don’t travel for this holiday. But this year, because it was Erin’s parents’ first T-day back in the States, we invited them to join us. In all we were due to have 11 adults and 1 kiddo at the table, and food assignments went out early so everyone could chip in.

We were in charge of a few things besides the turkey, of course. We had to make Lindsay‘s stuffing, a tradition for all of us now that we keep up while Lindsay lives in Beirut. We also made the gravy, mashed potatoes, roasted yams, cranberry relish, pumpkin pie and apple pie. The menu was rounded out with wine and beer and these food additions from the guests: Nanda’s homemade cranberry sauce, Holly’s green bean casserole and appetizers, Tania’s Brussels sprouts and appetizers. Plus biscuits, ice cream, and whipped cream and cool whip from Heather.

Our day on Wednesday started early, with stuffing and pie prep well underway before lunch. Thursday was dominated by the turkey and stock, of course. We used Martha Stewart’s years-old method of soaking cheesecloth in butter and white wine to baste the bird. Folks started to arrive around 3pm and because of all the help in the kitchen, we were ALL able to sit at the table and enjoy some appetizers. (Adding Mom to the kitchen to cook and Dad to help with dishes meant everything went amazingly smoothly.) Everything came out great, even the un-brined turkey (though it was a touch dry). Sadly, we got late word that the McKee family were plagued with a stomach bug, so we were down two.

The rest of us gathered around our makeshift table (made up of our table plus a desk) and ate until we were full to bursting. We had a house full of dear friends and family, a table full of food, and a room buzzing with conversation. What more is there to be thankful for?

[left: Erin’s plate, including a bit of everything; right: Jason’s plate of nearly all stuffing.]

December 1