Thanksgiving 2024 - Sweet Potatoes, Fruit Salad, and Dinner On the Table

 Thursday,  November 28, 2024

I got the sweet potatoes ready while the turkey was in the oven. I halved the recipe on the can.  

Ingredients: 1 29 oz can of sweet potatoes; 1 egg; 1/4 cup milk; 3/4 cups brown sugar; 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract;  1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. 

Directions: Heat oven to 375 degrees; spray 9x9 in baking pan with Pam; mix ingredients in large bowl; add marshmallows on top. just before baking; bake 30-35 minutes and then take out of oven and let rest for 10 minutes

Mom arrived around 2:00 and Dale got the marshmallows on the sweet potatoes while I entertained her.  He got the sweet potatoes in the oven by 2:10 so they could be out by 2:45 and rest for 10 minutes. 

At 2:30 I got the fruit salad together. Easy to make. Two cans of mixed fruit with whipped cream. Dale got gravy ready using the giblets I cut up. He also got the stuffing ready.

Dinner was on the table by about 3:10 and it was delicious.

Dale seems to think I do a great job carving the turkey. I feel like I'm hacking away with an ax to the carcass but I guess I do okay since there's barely any meat on it when I'm finished. There's gotta be a youTube video out there that shows the most efficient and perfect way to cut it up. Maybe I'll look for that sometime. 

Mom brought over a pumpkin pie that some friends from church had made. She said they usually make about 100 pies every year to sell to people for Thanksgiving. It was delicious and one of the better pumpkin pies I've ever had. That's sayin' something cuz I LOVE pumpkin pie. 

She also brought over some port wine. Dale didn't think he'd ever had any before. I poured some for us after the pie. Mom and Dale didn't like it. They said the alcohol level was too hight (turned out it was 20%) and they just didn't like the taste. I thought it was fine but what do I know. 

Can't believe another Thanksgiving has come and gone.

Taking Dale and Mom to Creekside

Mom, Dale and I went out recently to celebrate our birthdays at Creekside Lounge and Supper Club. We were again fortunate to have Rebecca as our server (twice in a row!). We dug right in to the relish tray. Mom mentioned that Baba used to can pickled beets. Dale said they're packed with vitamins and that the pickling process somehow makes them even more nutritious. Being it was Dale's birthday Rebecca (I mentioned it to her while Dale was parking the car) brought each of us some champagne and launched into singing a portion I Get a Kick Out of You by Cole Porter starting with the line, "I get no kick from champagne." The three of us toasted to Dale's birthday but also to mine and Mom's recent birthday's.

I started with an Old Fashioned and Mom and Dale both had some nice red wine.  Rebecca brought us some popovers which were delicious. She told Dale she was taking a survey and asked him, "chocolate or strawberries?" Dale answered, strawberries. 

Mom had a little salad but Dale and I got the soup of the day which was a potato and cauliflower puree with fennel. So delicious. 

For dinner I ordered the spare ribs which came with carrots and loaded (with onions and white cheddar cheese) hash browns. Dale ordered the risotto with chicken. Mom wanted the capellini with shrimp but Dale mentioned that he had it last time and that it might be a little spicy for her taste. Mom asked about it when she ordered and Rebecca said she'd check with Chef Marcus to see if he could accomodate her. He could! He ended up putting on a substitute sauce which was garlicy but otherwise not spicy hot. 

After we were finished with our entrees Rebecca placed a white cake with strawberries in front of Dale. I said, "I guess the survey results are in!" It was so delicious. 

Despite having cake for dessert I still ordered a Pink Squirrel. When I asked Rebecca if there was a song for that she just smiled and said, "you go, squirrel!" However when she brought it she launched a version of the Temptations My Girl but changed it to My Squirrel. Mom, Dale and I talked about the recent visit of Sam and Pete and their families and also quite a bit about Dad. 

So nice to have dinner with two of my most favorite people. Rebecca helped make the evening extra special. 

Dinner with Sam and His Family

Wednesday, Augsut 16, 2023

Mom, Dale, Sam & Becky & their boys, and Pete  & his kids, along with Becky's cousin Cass, Cass's mother in law, and Cass's daughter Abby, all went out for dinner at Creekside to celebrate their last night in town. Pete's family was with us earlier in the week but they went home Tuesday evening. It's the first time we'dall been together since Dale and I got married in 2014. Wow, nine years. 

I'm having suregery on my foot tomorrow to have my broken fibia fixed. I know that's one of the leg bones but it broke just above the ankle. I'll be getting general anesthesia for the survey but the doctor said I could have one mixed drink the night before. I, not surprisingly, went with the Wisconsin style Old Fashioned.

As we left I noticed a VCR tape of The Three Stooges was playing on the grandma style floor console television set. What a hoot. Outside on Chicago Avenue we all said our goodbyes. It was bittersweet as I think it'll be a long time before all our families reunite again. 

Thanksgiving 2022

Thursday, November 24, 2022

Dale made the cranberry sauce at around 9:30 a.m. It's the item that makes the most sense to make ahead of dinner since it can just sit in the fridge. 

We follow the Nigella Lawson turkey recipe from her book Feast. It's on page. 

Dale gave the turkey a bath around 11:30. 

We pulled out the giblets and saved them for making the gravy. 

Post bath.

I dried the turkey off.

Between cleaning and food prep I'd check in on the parade once in a while. 

And sip on my Bloody Mary. 

Turkey was in the roaster just a little before 1:00.

Dale buttered it...

...and had it in the oven by 1:06. For the first half hour the oven was set at 4:00.

After the turkey was in the oven Dale had the giblets ready to boil then simmer. 

The turkey got basted with white wine after its first half hour in the oven. The oven temp was turned down to 350 and the turkey's next hour of baking. 

I got started on the sweet potato casserole at 1:50. The recipe I used is the same one I used last time. I drained the yams a little better this go-round. It turned out pretty well overall. Although I halved the recipe I didn't do so with all ingredients. Next time I'd recommend trying to be more precise overall. That said it still turned out pretty well.  

The turkey after an hour and a half in the oven...

...which is when we flipped it over. It went back in for another half hour. Upon removal we tented it with aluminum foil and let it rest for an hour before I cut it. I did the cutting which is my usual duty. I generally do a hack job but it all ends up okay. At some point I should look up the official way to do it. 

When the sweet potatoes were done we put them in the oven warmer until we were ready to serve up Dale's awesome Brussels sprouts. The Stove-Top stuffing was made right at the very end. Getting everything in serving dishes and on the table was quite busy but pain-free. 

Mom and Noel came over around 3 p.m. For hors d'oeuvres we had olives, pickled herring, crackers, and wasabi peas. Dinner was on the table at 4:37 p.m!

Mom brought an apple pie her friend Joanne made for her and Noel brought over a pumpkin pie from Mrs. Kowalski's. 

I had meant to make fruit salad but got distracted the last hour of prep. For next time I think the only things a might add would be corn and maybe dinner rolls. However, that said, what we had was more than enough. 

Mother's Day 2021

Sunday, May 9, 2021

Dale and I took Mom to Red Stag for dinner tonight. She was excited to go to a restaurant for dinner. When she goes out with friends it tends to be for lunch. 

I, of course, started with a brandy Old-Fashioned while Dale and Mom both had merlot. 

We started with a relish tray which featured their pickled vegetables. I was leaning toward ordering the fried chicken for dinner which is their Sunday night special however I went with the prosciutto carbonara linguine which was simply divine. Dale ordered the chicken breast and Mom got salmon. They both said their entrees were excellent. 

Dale and Mom shared some carrot cake for dessert. Red Stag has the BEST carrot cake. It's dense yet very smooth tasting. I got a Pink Squirrel. This is the first time I've gotten one there that wasn't very good. It wasn't blended well (lots of big ice chunks) and not very flavorful.

Weather-wise I don't think we could have gotten a much better day for this time of year. It's always nice to see the sun and I think it made it to the lower-60s today. Mom said Sam and Pete both called her this year so all-in-all I think she had a pretty lovely Mother's Day. 

Dale did too!

Thanksgiving 2020

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Thanksgiving was scaled back this year due to the pandemic. We often head out to visit Pete & family for the holiday but that was not to be this year. When we've been in town for the holiday over the last few years we've gone out to eat. Also, due to the fact Covid-19 cases are surging again we decided not to have Mom over. We did, however, run a care package to her after we finished our dinner today. 

The day melted away seemingly quite quickly due food prep here and there throughout. There was time in between for the scaled back Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. . .

...and a Bloody Mary. . .

...and the coloring of the turkey in the Star Tribune. 

We ate at 3:15. Dinner was awesome and we watched a Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. 

After we ate we got Athena taken care of and then ran a care package over to Mom. She met us at the entry to her building with her mask on and seemed pretty excited to be getting delivery on Thanksgiving. She texted me that she was impressed with the amount of food. She also texted how delicious she though it was. Pictured above are Mom and I during a pre-pandemic Thanksgiving. I believe the photo was taken at Jax in 2015.