Happy Thanksgiving

We had fun. Mel and I, and two of our friends, went to my dad’s house for Thanksgiving. Altogether, there was 17 of us – quite a crowd and a real party atmosphere. We got pretty tipsy trashed but still managed to chow down on the great food. Turkey and all the trimmings, along with a traditional oyster casserole (which I never eat because I don’t like oysters), a sweet potato casserole with marshmallows on top (too sweet!), green bean casserole, and more. Everyone brought something.

Mel’s contribution was homemade herbed wheat rolls that contained asiago cheese. She used organic wheat flour and basil that’d been grown in my mom’s garden and frozen. They were delicious, especially when slathered with Kerry Gold Irish butter.

I made two pecan pies with pecans from some gourmet nut company in Georgia and Maker’s Mark bourbon. The pie was a huge hit and the other store-bought apple pies, as well as the ice cream, went mostly untouched.

I had no intention of shopping on Black Friday until I learned that Sears had 20% off sale on Kenmore appliances with either free delivery or 12 months of no interest/no payments. We have been needing a new range for quite a while now. Our existing stove is a 25 year old Tappan that I bought used about 15 years ago. The electronic ignition on two of the burners doesn’t work, the oven door handle frequently needs tightening so it doesn’t fall off and the cooktop is cosmetically beyond redemption.

So, we braved the crowds and went out to buy this range. I splurged a bit and got the low-end convection oven model. I wouldn’t have bothered if I thought it wouldn’t get a fair amount of use but Mel does a lot of cooking. Now we’re both excited to learn about convection cooking. We nearly bought the stainless steel model but then realized it would be $120 more on an already-very-expensive bill. So, we’ll find out on Monday when it’ll be delivered. Bring on the hot air, baby.

Today was beautiful, in the high 50’s, and tomorrow should be too. I spent the day going through all my outdoor Christmas lights and deciding what was going where. This will be the first year we’ve decorated since the porches were built so my old plans are out the window. I got some of it done but it always takes some time the first time around to figure out the best way to affix stuff so that the weather doesn’t trash it but it can still be removed easily in spring. We’ll finish it up tomorrow.

Hope you’re having a nice holiday weekend!