I'm also grateful for small things today. The new recipes turned out well. Everyone enjoyed the meal. The grandkids got along almost perfectly, with a small exception.
Highlight of the day: S1 came home on leave today. He's in the Army. Next year he'll be deployed on Thanksgiving.
Missing today: D1 & her boyfriend, who live far, far away. D3 & her sailor hubby - he's deployed & she was in Japan visiting for the port call. But thanks to the amazing technology we now enjoy, we've gotten to video chat with them via Facetime. (We're an Apple family-it's a requirement to be an Apple user if you want to marry into our family :)
Here was our menu:
Figs & Brie from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef
Butternut Squash Soup with Smoked Paprika from Gluten Free Girl and the Chef
Honey Brined Turkey with Herb Reisling Gravy recipe from Whole Foods
Dressing following the advice from NPR
Mashed Potatoes from Pioneer Woman
Green salad with pears and avocado with a choice of dressings from Hawaiian Vanilla Company
Canned cranberries - I had intended to make a fresh cranberry chutney, but forgot to add the ingredients to the shopping list, so they didn't get purchased. Oh well - better luck next year!
Homemade pumpkin pie recipe from pickyourown.org
Pecan Pie purchased at Whole Foods.
The pumpkin pie was the only recipe I was disappointed in. The pumpkin I used was a really wonderful heirloom pumpkin. We'd already eaten a lot of it, so I knew it was a delicious pumpkin. I was expecting a fabulous pie, but it really wasn't. I think next year I'll be happy to buy the pie, and just eat my pumpkin as a vegetable instead of dessert!
My favorite bits were the figs & brie, the butternut squash soup, and the honey brined turkey & Riesling gravy. Those are definitely keepers. The potatoes were really good, too. Add them to the list. Along with fresh cranberry chutney next year.
One of our guests is a friend of the family who likes to tease the grandchildren. One of our neuro-typical granddaughters, who is 8, has learned to laugh at his silliness. Her brother, the 10 year old who is being evaluated for Asperger's has not. The friend keeps telling him not to be so literal and gets a bit irritated with him for not understanding. I'm hoping once we actually have a diagnosis, we'll be able to communicate better to him how this isn't possible for this little boy. It wasn't a blight on the day, but it was a big reminder that all is not what would be considered normal. He & his autistic sister spent a lot of their day on the computer and watching movies. And my husband is looking forward to tomorrow, when D3 comes home and there are less people living in our house. He loves his grandchildren dearly, but between his age and Asperger's, it's a stretch having a house full of children for a week.
But I want to add that these are really special people in our family, who bring us great delight in addition to the challenges.
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