It's Turkey Day Once Again...

I’m astonished how quickly time passes. Is it already this time of year again? In two days is Thanksgiving. A few more days later we’ll move into the month of December and before you know it the holiday season is upon us. Followed by a brand new year. What ever happened to this year? Weren’t George and I not just in Germany, celebrating a new year? This year just flew by.

Astonishing!

On the other hand, I’m glad this is a short work week and a long weekend is coming up. We don’t have too many of those. George and I are staying home this time. The last few Thanksgiving weekends were celebrated in California, where we stayed with friends and enjoyed a wonderful meal and a great time at their wonderful home. Or having a couple of fun days at Disneyland. This time we decided to make it all traditional, with cooking at home, having family visiting us and the whole nine yards. Without the hoopla of all these football games though.

We got ourselves one big turkey. Over twenty pounds. And we got a great deal on it too. Just by accident did we see that one of the local markets had a one-day special where they sold brand name turkeys at incredible low prices. We literally saved up to 75% compared to all the other places. That may not have made that poor turkey’s day but it sure made ours.

Starting tomorrow, we’ll be cooking nonstop for two days. And we probably will be eating for the following two weeks. But we have family over to help us. George’s brother will drive in from California and stay with us for the weekend too. We all love turkey dinners with all the trimmings but it has been forever since we’ve actually cooked a big meal like that ourselves in our own kitchen. It’ll be a treat. Especially since George has the magical touch to turn everything into the most delicious meals.

It will be a fairly traditional fair. Since we are not your typical all-American family, traditional American foods are not a regular staple at our homes. We are far too adventurous for that...in a culinary sense. So this meal will be a very special treat for all of us. A huge turkey with gravy, corn bread stuffing, cranberries, mashed cream cheese potatoes with sauteed onion bits and leek, corn and mixed vegetables. Some cakes, plus apple and pumpkin pies for dessert. Of course, tons of appetizers and snacks before, during and after the big meal. Is this American enough?

Like I said, we’ll be cooking for two days and eat for two weeks.

However, with all this feeding frenzy going on we will not forget to be grateful for everything we have. Isn’t that the point of Thanksgiving? To take some time to reflect and be thankful for what one has and has accomplished? We don’t need some special day to be reminded to be thankful though. We are fully aware of how lucky we are and we recognize this everyday and count our blessings.

But it happens to be Thanksgiving and it will bring us a nice long weekend. So we’re definitely not complaining and we’re trying to make the most of it. We hope you are too.

Happy Thanksgiving, ya’ll.

Chicken, Horses, Lanterns...and a Cuban

Chicken, horses, lanterns and a Cuban...that’s basically what our first weekend of May entailed. On Saturday George and I were at his mom’s place where she grilled marinated curry chicken to perfection. While we waited for the chicken to be done we were sitting outside in her backyard just chatting away and enjoying the sun, the gentle breezes and a real Cuban cigar. Later, we would follow the Kentucky Derby horse racing on TV and further stuffing ourselves with delicious ice cream.

Grilling the marinated curry chicken breasts

The portions were huge

Enjoying the sun, gentle breezes and good conversation

On Sunday morning, George had to meet some of his class mates to discuss an upcoming school project. In the meantime I had a nice chat over the phone with one of my friends in Germany. When George got home after his meeting we treated ourselves to curry chicken leftovers from the previous day. We were debating if we should hang up the colorful outdoor lanterns amid the strong desert winds that were howling through the valley for most of Sunday. For the sake of checking another chore off the list, we hung up the string of lights and attached the lanterns. It took us a bit longer than anticipated but the payoff is a festive looking patio. We love it.

Another weekend well spent. Next weekend we’ll be in be Southern California.

What can I say? Life is good.

Our lanterns are all lined up on the floor, waiting to be hung

Our own backyard is filled with flowers and blossoms

More flowers

Ta-dah! The lanterns are up. When is the next party?

One of countless snail vine blossoms

Homer’s Weekend in Vegas

Homer was in town over the weekend to visit his friend Erich. George and I met Homer, Erich and Erich's roommate David for dinner at the Venetian on Saturday evening. It was great seeing Homer again and meeting his friends. I just loved George’s comment when we all sat down for dinner at the Grand Lux Cafe: “Look at this table full of fur.”

Indeed, it was quite something to behold.


Homer was trying his luck on one of these Indiana Jones-themed slot machines. Despite hearing a hat that looked like the one Indy's dad was wearing in the movies, Homer walked away rather empty handed.


Afterwards we strolled along a very bustling “Strip” and ended up having gelato at the Bellagio, where we were also taking in the dancing water fountains and the Spring flower display at their garden conservatory. What a fun evening it was.

Yesterday, Homer spent most of the day with us at our house as Erich had to work. It was another fun day that involved more food. We made breakfast with scrambled eggs and bagels and went out for pizza around lunchtime. And sometime in the afternoon we all enjoyed huge bowls of butter pecan ice cream. Homer having ice cream at our place seems to be turning into some kind of tradition. We haven’t eaten so much at once on a weekend in a very long time.


I luvs me some Homie.



While we waited for the pizza, Homer was contemplating which photos to use on his blog.


Homer enjoys ice cream.

Homer is now on his way back to Tucson. George and I hope to see him again down in Tucson over Memorial Day weekend.

More fun times ahead...and more food.

I’m almost sure of it.

Perfectamente

What a perfect weekend this was.



George and I did absolutely nothing.



Okay, we did a little somethin’ somethin.’ And a few other things like thanking the universe for having each other, cooking amazing meals and enjoying “cooler,” cloudy days.



Yes, we actually enjoy clouds. Because we rarely have them here in the desert. For a brief moment it looked as if it was also going to rain. The smell of rain in the air was so intense. And there may have been two or three tiny drops here and there but that was about it. Of course. Nature can be such a tease.



Yes, that right. We like rain too.



While people in other parts of the country complain of constant gloomy and rainy days, especially when rain can threaten to ruin precious weekend plans, we here in the Mojave Desert hope and pray for just a little bit of precipitation every now and then. Every time we spot a cloud in the sky it’s like some divine miracle has just descended upon us.



You know, like seeing the image of Jesus’ face on a burnt slice of toast.



Even the temperature dropped considerably. It can already hover in the lower 100° F in early June. What am I saying? We already had our first wave of 100° F days in May.



So this little deprive of hellish temperatures into the lower 80s was a truly welcomed change. You see, for us desert dwellers 80 degrees feels almost cold and the nightly lows in the lower 70s is downright wintery to us. At night we needed to cover ourselves with an additional blanket again which we‘ve already stored away.



Likewise, this “cold spell” was such a relief on everybody’s wallet. There was no need for turning on any air conditioning units. We ripped open every window in the house and let the cool breezes fill up every nook and cranny with fresh air.



Ah, so this is how normal people live?!



The few chore-related things we did over the weekend were cooking, watering the plants in our backyard and lifting our arms to point the remote control at the TV to either change channels or to press the play button to watch a recorded film on the DVR. We were planning on going to the movies to see Sam Raimi’s new horror flick “Drag Me To Hell,” but ended up walking in the park instead.



Yeah, we’re real bad asses. That’s what we are.



On Saturday morning, George made this amazing light and fluffy omelette, filled with fresh vegetables and provolone and cheddar cheeses. Add two slices of sage breakfast sausage and some hash browns, along with freshly brewed Peet’s coffee and we were both in breakfast heaven.



And yesterday evening we enjoyed our masala chicken, which we’ve prepared with a medley of multi-colored potatoes, asparagus and okra. It was absolutely delicious. Just thinking about it makes me all hungry again.



Somewhere in-between we also stuffed ourselves with bowls of french vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate syrup and slices of cheesecake, topped with whipped cream and pecans.





Potato Medley: A mix of yellow, red and blue organic potatoes

Meisterkoch George is sautéeing onions in sesame oil

Chicken Masala on its way to perfection

Guten Appetit! I had to nosh a little masala before dinner...
you know, to make sure it was done right

Did I mention that we had the perfect weekend? Good food, pleasant weather and the love of your life right next to you. What else could one possibly ask for?

Exactly!

I rest my case.