Dec 1, 2008 by Rochelle
Well Thanksgiving has come and gone. My first Thanksgiving, in a sense, was a great success. I’ve never made Thanksgiving dinner before, but since things were not going so well with my Mom and she didn’t invite me to Thanksgiving, I decided to do my own thing.
Well on Thanksgiving day it was very cold and grey, perfect! I went out to watch the boys from work play flag football. It was fun, but did I mention cold? I was smart enough to bring a chair (thank God!), and for the longest time it seemed that they game on the field pretty much hovered around the middle of the field. It took them a while to score some points. One of the guys who played owns a bakery and so he brought us all kinds of goodies, including Virginia Rolls, which I grabbed up in case I didn’t have time to make my own dinner rolls (which it turns out I didn’t).
After I got home, I took the longest hottest bath to warm myself up. Then I rested for a long time before starting to cook. Since my Thanksgiving was happening on Friday, I had the extra time to pre-cook, which I am so grateful for. My menu included:
- Turkey and gravy
- My mother’s special stuffing (both sausage and vegetarian versions)
- Mashed potatoes
- Corn
- Grape and apple salad
- Candied yams
- Green bean casserole
- Cranberries
- Virginia rolls
- Pumpkin pie
Surprisingly, this took a ton of ingredients.
So many ingredients!
So the day before, I made the pie, the vegetarian stuffing, and did all sorts of prep work, like making the cornbread of the stuffing and peeling things. I ended up having to peel 16 apples! And then peel 3 lbs of yukon gold potatoes. I felt like all I did was peel stuff to get this meal ready. But it’s worth it, especially my mom’s stuffing. I know that everybody loves their own stuffing, but I seriously cannot even enjoy other stuffing. My mom’s stuffing has six apples, sage sausage, cornbread, whitebread, onions, chicken stock, butter, and sage. The sage and apples together create a wonderful aroma.
Thank god for Costco bulk organic apples.
The next morning, Mike came over to help me with the turkey. I’ve never made a turkey before and I enjoy his turkey oh so much. He’s got a great basting recipe that makes the turkey moist and tasty. And then it also makes the greatest gravy. I was happy that he shared his recipe with me.
My first turkey was so delicious!
My dad carved the turkey.
So I cooked and cleaned and got everything ready. My guests included my dad, my sister, and her boyfriend. There were moments when there could have been around eight people attending, but I’m glad it only turned out to be four. It turned out just lovely and it tasted so great. I was really proud of myself.
Yum!
After the meal I told my family to go relax while I cleaned up a bit. I always hated how my mom guilted us into cleaning for us since she cooked the meal. So I refused to do that. Plus, I have my own way and a small kitchen. They all promptly took a nap while I put the food away and washed off dishes.
After they woke up, we enjoyed pie and coffee and watched a special on the history channel about “The White House,” and then watched “Christmas Vacation”.
My favorite part of the meal.
My sister and Johnny eventually left, and then it was just me and my dad, which was nice. We watched “P.S. I Love You” and then went to bed.
The next day, my dad and I had breakfast and then went to the mall for a bit. It certainly wasn’t as crowded as we expected. After that, my dad went back to Pueblo and I was left alone to relax.
Well ever since Thursday I had been feeling sick with a cold. I got a sore throat while watching the football game. It finally really caught up with me, so from Saturday night until now, I’ve been in my apartment relaxing and trying to get better. I didn’t go to work today either. It’s been nice.
Saturday night I finished reading New Moon. And then yesterday I read Eclipse from start to finish with little breaks in between. Eclipse was great. I think it was so hard to get through New Moon because I am not the biggest Jacob fan. So now I just have Breaking Dawn left, and I’ve decided to ask for that for Christmas. I don’t want it to be over yet, so I’m restraining myself and I’m going to read something else between now and then.
Now I’m just hanging out watching “The Holiday”, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite movies. I watch it whenever it’s on. I should be doing laundry and the like, but it’s just so nice to be cozy. I really miss working out, so I might go take a walk upstairs. I think I’m well enough to do about a half workout. I lost four pounds in a week since setting up my home gym. It’s been really rewarding. I hope I can keep it up. I’m trying to look at weight loss by percentage, like they do on the biggest loser. It seems more achievable if I have my 10% goal. I’m trying not to be too strict with myself or go over board, because then I get burned out immediately, but I decided to set up some goals and rewards based on percentages:
2% – Haircut
5% – $100 shopping spree
10% – $250 shopping spree
15% – New TV
20% – European trip
I know those seem like huge goals, but losing 20% would ridiculously improve my health and my body shape. It would be great to lose 20% by next fall and take my trip then. I’m thinking of a tour and going on my own. Or maybe with my sister. But for some reason, I think on my own would be great. I don’t know why. Anyway, we’ll see what happens with that. Slow and steady is the way.
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