We did it! My cousin Sabrina and I pulled off our first Thanksgiving meal without a glitch! When we were at Cub on Wed. I was looking at Better Homes and Gardens magazine and saw this idea to carve up a pineapple (the symbol of hospitality). I asked Sabrina to run and get me one and it worked! I love this idea--very simple too. Sabrina cared for her bird impeccably and it was juicy. I also liked how my house smelled like rosemary all day long--yum! The "bread dressing"as my cousin Buddy called it was my favorite, made with apples, cornbread, and turkey sausage. A single size portion of the traditional green bean casserole was made just for my uncle Paul, as the caramelized shallot butter green beans just would not suffice (nice recipe Lund's magazine). The cranberries with pomegranates were amazing as well. I glazed roasted yams with sugar free maple syrup mixed with some pumpkin pie spice and cayenne pepper--nice idea Good Housekeeping! Our first dessert was a much better cinnamon struessel topped pumpkin pie (thanks Cooking Light) that I had made before--this one looked way better. Live and learn eh? We deflated as we played Catch Phrase--Sabrina and I mastered the art of playing while looking at the newspaper ads--driving Kyle and Laura nuts! Uncle Paul even woke from his assumed slumber to shout out an answer from the sofa, "Jar Head!" So Sabrina's parents and brother left around 6 and I thought our night was over. There was talk of a movie but nothing worth seeing we decided. Then I remembered Champps Americana was open on the holiday and Sabrina and I were thinking a night cap sounded good while Kyle has his mind on waffle fries. After that we were all thinking chocolate and ordered a brownie sundae! Oops! Complete sabotage...yet on a day when it all seemed OK! No sooner had we finished dessert when Kyle's pager went off and we all headed to the hospital in Minneapolis. Kyle set us up in the waiting room and the "Mean Girls" movie and magazines awaited us. We kept telling each other that we were certainly making memories! I also kept thinking that life won't be like this for long--in a couple of years we'll be home early for our daughters bedtime and a late night trip to Champps will be a thing of the past...but then we have all new wonderful things to be thankful for! And so this is our season of life...thanks for the family and food and memories. And a giant thanks to God for the health of my sister Erin recovering from surgery in Singapore.
