Monday 26 November 2007

Gobble gobble

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Ok, as usual, a little late, but am finally recovered from our Turkey Day feast, which, given the fact for some reason it’s not a national holiday in this country, we celebrated on Saturday.

I tried to be so prepared – which meant making the cranberry sauce on Tuesday – but that was about as far as my early preparation went. At least I remembered to ‘stale-ify’ the stuffing bread by leaving it out over Friday night.

Menu for the day? Pretty much the classics – turkey, stuffing (my first that didn’t start with the words ‘Stove Top’), sweet potatoes, green beans, aforementioned cranberry sauce, spicy cornbread, and of course dessert & more dessert. Pumpkin pie of course (though, sacre bleu, it’s not one of my favourites, so luckily the one other American attendee volunteered for that one!), chocolate brownies (you must have one chocolate dessert for any dinner party. It’s the rule.) and cranberry apple crisp – all topped with vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. Yum, yum, and double yum - If I say so myself.. though I think the empty plates give a good indication of the yum factor. And also serve as a sign that we did a pretty good job of consuming our estimated 4,500 Thanksgiving meal calories. Each. Some of the carnage can be seen in the photo here – unfortunately we forgot to take any of the shiny untouched meal before the knives came out, so remains are all you get...

Key learning from hosting a dinner party for 12? SERVING SPOONS! The last time around I borrowed so many dishes & other implements from Kim, who we missed this year (though I’m sure you enjoyed that week in the Bahamas...) Ah well – we’ve got a while to amass a few more of our own before our next one...

So many thanks to ‘the other American’ (only 2 at this year’s festivities, counting me) for bringing 3 dishes (especially that pie!) and my dear American-in-spirit husband for the best mashed potatoes ever as well as delicious gravy, and our guests for the wine, champagne, charades and company that sweetened the evening and my favourite holiday all the more.

Thursday 15 November 2007

Nostalgia

Awww... 10 Things I Hate About You was on last night. I do love that movie - and I think it gets cuter each time I see it. I managed to keep my 'that's my high school!!' squeals down to only 3 or 4 times. Or maybe 5. Hmm...

Don't think it's supplanted 16 Candles ("Lek. Big lek." "Married? Married. Married? Yes, married. Sheesh.") as my all-time favourite teen flick, but it's definitely up there.

So - what's your favourite classic teen movie that can stand the test of time? And is it on this list? (Why is 16 Candles only 49 out of 50? And where is Better Off Dead??)

[On a side note -- why, despite having many of these films on DVD, do I only get excited and watch them when they show up randomly in the tv schedule?]

Tuesday 13 November 2007

Do you know your venesection from your fellah?

Test your vocabulary at (www.freerice.com -- I couldn't figure out how to link out from the image) AND donate rice through the UN. It's rare they say to get above level 48 -- I am *so* going for it...

Wednesday 7 November 2007

Yum yum yum

Four forks (or should that be spoons) for this Spicy Corn Chowder from Epicurious... like many of the reviewers I added a potato and jalapenos -- thicker and spicier. (maybe a little too spicy -- jalapenos + overfill on the cayenne pepper = firy tongue). And super easy to make. Yum and double yum - certainly one to add to the autumn / winter rotation. Looking forward to tomorrow's leftovers for lunch already...