Fall 2011

Just had to take some pictures of the beautiful autumn colors in our neighborhood this year. I do believe Fall may be my favorite season.

The Red Maple trees in our front yard were so ablaze with color, they seemed to set the house afire when the sun hit them just right. Wish these pictures captured the feeling...

  

Meanwhile, all down the street, leaves changes color of various hues, making our daily drive past them a true delight.

   

Another highlight each Fall is Sarah's birthday. Although she elected not to have a party with her friends this year, we had a good time going out to dinner and celebrating as a family. The Mounds birthday cake was definitely a hit! Still can't believe she's turned 18. Where has the time gone?

Meanwhile, an early cold snap caught us off guard. Emily ventured out to the upper deck and found a bit of ice that made the perfect sword! No shortage of excitement in this household!

Thanksgiving brought us a return invitation to the home of our friends, the Overholsers. So nice of them to include us each year. Good food, good company, always a fun game. This year's choice: Pictionary Man. What a hoot!

Still, it's not the same if you don't experience the aroma of turkey wafting through your own house, so on the Saturday following Thanksgiving, we had our own family mini-feast with turkey and all the trimmings. 

A feast for the eyes and stomach, and leftovers for soup! 

 

Napkin folding courtesy of Sarah; kitchen help by Emily, including making the Sweet Potato Biscuits.

I truly enjoy cooking with my daughters; they are such a help in the kitchen. Emily, especially seems to really like getting in there and whipping up something to eat from whatever happens to be around. That will serve her well in the future...

Thanksgiving 2010

We were kindly invited to spend Thanksgiving with the Overholsers again this year, and gladly accepted. This was our third year with them, and it's always a real, traditional meal with lots of family - and a few orphans like us!

As befits any true Thanksgiving feast, the table was groaning with the amount of food on it. Besides the requisite turkey and dressing, there were mashed potatoes, gravy (made on site by moi!), corn, sweet potatoes, lots of bread, and pies, pies, and more pies for dessert. I brought a green bean casserole and some Brussells sprouts.

 

I was really afraid the Brussells sprouts would not be appreciated, but I'd just gotten them from my CSA, and they were so beautiful and fresh, I couldn't resist. Turns out everyone loved them - they were so popular, there were none left over! (Larry and the girls liked them so well, I bought more and fixed them again a week or so later.)

One of the Overholser traditions is to play a game after we eat. This year's game was a crazy survival trivia game that we played in teams. Lots of fun while waiting for room for dessert!

Back home, I watched the movie version of Alice's Restaurant. Not that great, but I had to get our tradition of listening to the song in somehow!

Wonderful as it was to avoid the stress of Thanksgiving preparations, I did miss the aroma of roasting turkey wafting throughout the house (and the leftovers), so on the following Saturday, I prepared a turkey breast and all the trimmings just for us. I used some CSA sweet potatoes for my own savory sweet potatoes recipe, and it was pretty yummy.

 








CSA pears contributed to a pear crisp that was great with ice cream. 

 

 Hey, if one Thanksgiving is good, a second has to be even better, right?