Sure it's been practically a month since my last update - but it's still November! This glorious month ain't over yet!
We did not dress up this year, but we had a friend with a booth and we made some serious scores on the old purchasing front.
I present my sweet new wallet and a freaking plush of Pops from Regular Show
Yes. POPS.
He's amazing, and I love him. The plush I mean, well. Okay the character too.
I had been a little anxious about going to Comic-Con that day. I was on the mending end of 2016's gross cold of death #2. To try and ensure no relapse, as soon as we got home I downed a load of vitamins and took it easy. While Jon and Dylan enjoyed a game of Portal, Skins and I luxuriated in the master bedroom and shared some pumpkin cookies.
It did the trick, I did not relapse! (Whew!) Though, I'm not sure which Arnie enjoyed more, the pumpkin cookies themselves, or the plastic case they came in.
To continue ALL THE NOVEMBER (and, if I'm being honest, this happens to me every single year) We had to cook with turkey! We had a large amount of mushrooms that needed used up (Costco shoppers, you understand.) We also had some ground turkey on hand. I hit up the ol' Pinterest for some ideas, and we found a turkey Salisbury steak recipe and one for mushroom gravy that utilized all the mushrooms we had!
I remember thinking that the Salisbury effect was almost magical, I did not follow the recipe exactly, or even all that closely. Turkey patties: about 1 pound of ground turkey, a packet of that lipton onion soup, one egg, not a whole lot of panko followed by a splash of half and half, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, pepper and seasoned salt. Split that into 4 patties, put bacon grease into a skillet and cooked 7+ minutes per side (there was flipping, they plumped up on me.) The gravy was sautéed mushrooms, added some sherry, let that all cook down before adding garlic, chicken stock, a little more butter, another splash of half and half and flour. Then sort of played with more stock and heat whilst whisking. We also had a little bit of leftover rice that we reheated and added some chicken broth to. I really hope we'll be able to recreate this one in the future!
The next day at work, I had the place to myself. So over lunch I decorated our resident spine/ribcage sculpture (long story, but recently we've decided we're going to decorate it for every holiday.)
Later that week, we attended a going away sushi dinner for a friend of ours. No pics of people (you know the drill) but I did snag a memory to share here!
I mean, come on! It was brewed for good times!
Next up on November's agenda was Birthday Party Weekend. We had 2 in a row, a Saturday and a Sunday for 2 adorable little kids. One party was at the park, so we brought Baxter along for the ride. He had a great time! Then we snagged a photo of him actually being Mr. Peanut Butter
The next day's party was a Fancy Nancy theme party. We learned (thanks go Google that morning) Fancy Nancy is a little girl that likes to make every day extra fancy. So, we fancied up.
That weekend was packed! The same day as the Fancy Nancy party was day 1 of 2 days to see the Super Moon. I did take out the big camera and take real photos, but I haven't loaded them. And I'm impatient. So you get to relive with the photo I took on my phone. (sorry.)
That day we went up to Jon's since he's got a great view. We made brussels sprouts and amazing garlic bread out of pretzel buns and enjoyed the Sunday night lineup on Fox. Good times!
The following weekend: El Tour de Tucson. Also known as: no one leaves their house because all the roads are closed.
We didn't make the above meme, but we did throw an El Tour de Tucson apocalypse party. We bunkered down, had snacks, played video games, and accepted our fate. Well, at least the fate that we couldn't leave the house for one day. Not exactly that the world was ending ...
Some time after, I snagged the world's greatest photograph of Peggy!
She's so freaking cute she looks like a baby seal!!! <3 <3 <3 <3
We're getting ever closer to the now! The week of Thanksgiving, we had donuts at work. The box was too cute to pass by, I had to get a photo.
Then came the big November day! Turkey Day! Thanksgiving 2016!!
No photos of people (I'll remind you, you know the drill) but take a peak at the spread!
First Course: SNACKS!
We had an amazing selection of cheeses that included a truffle cheese (nom!) We also had a fig loaf (that sounds gross, is that what it was called? It was crazy good!) Also fruit and veggies, including those tiny little apples. How adorable are they?
My contributions to the snacking was a cranberry salsa. I found the recipe on a Target article about making tasty Thanksgiving offerings (fancy that.) I fudged the recipe slightly. I used a full bag of fresh cranberries, more sugar than the recipe called for (heh) and I used 3 green onions instead of two. It also included a jalapeño stripped of all it's spiciness and a fuji apple. It did include some salt, but I omitted the cilantro it called for. After sitting, this salsa is GREAT.
A friend of ours owns a BBQ catering business and food truck. This year, he offered to collect and smoke your T-day Turkey. We signed up! It was AMAZING! Dylan carved it up, take a look, but I warn you, it will make you hungry.
Hello tasty deliciousness!
The spread:
Everything was fantastic. Every last bite! I was far too busy eating to snap a photo of my actual plate, but what are you going to do? We hardly had room for desert, but I did take some pie for the road that I may or may not have polished off in front of the TV later. (More like I did in fact do just that.)
Black Friday was exciting, not for the sales (though, I understand that's a fun tradition for lots of people.) For me, the excitement was the Gilmore Girls revival on Netflix!! A girlfriend of mine hosted a killer theme party!
She made candy sushi!
Fantastic themed signs!
Then, of course, I had to take a photo of my food with the sign that said not to do it.
After a couple more days of family fun, that brings us to today! Not too long ago, I enjoyed Thanksgiving plate 2.0 so I took a pic of that:
Redemption!
Next weekend, we'll decorate for Christmas and that should offer me some blog fodder! And, maybe by then I'll have uploaded those real photos of the Super Moon. But don't quote me on that.
