A Thanksgiving Feast!

This is for those of you who have never experienced an American Thanksgiving dinner. Not all Americans enjoy a feast of food like this on Thanksgiving. Some have to work, some don't have the money to fix so much food, and some actually prepare and eat more than we do. It's quite a bit more food than we need to eat or even are comfortable eating...but it's tradition.

Even though Thanksgiving was being hosted by my mother and father, we spent several days preparing our dishes. Nancy fixed her famous green bean casserole, I baked several varieties of bread rolls, and Jacob baked a pumpkin pie (shown below) and also a pumpkin cheesecake.
When we arrived at my parents home my Mom and Dad were already busy cooking. They are a great team in fixing meals and also cleaning up.

The turkey was baking in the oven and my mother was starting to fix the gravy (sauce). Gravy is made with the fat drippings from the turkey, milk and a little flour. The stove is electric powered.

The turkey cooks for about four hours. It fills the home with a delicious scent which makes you very hungry. Finally the turkey was done; ready to come out of the oven.

Here's the cooked turkey. This one was about 7.5 kilos before it was cooked. The turkeys are sold in the store frozen or fresh (not frozen). If you buy a frozen turkey then you have to plan ahead as they take three or four days in the refrigerator to thaw out.

My Dad is the turkey chef. He likes to cook, just like Jacob and I do.

Meanwhile Jacob got a lesson from his Grandmother on how to make gravy. We encouraged him to pay attention because we want him to cook for us in the future.

Jacob jumped in and took charge of the mashed potatoes. Grandpa peeled and cooked them. Jacob just had to run a hand mixer through them to break the cooked potatoes up into small pieces and then mix them with butter and a bit of milk. Mashed potatoes are an important part of the Thanksgiving meal as you make a bowl out of them and fill it up with gravy.Dad let the turkey cool for a few minutes, then began scooping out the dressing or stuffing. This is made of crumbled bread, turkey broth, spices, celery, and ground beef. It is quite delicious!

Jacob enjoyed the best part of mashing the potatoes, which is licking off the beaters.

Dad continued working on the turkey, carving off slices of meat and putting them on a platter.

Jacob finished his mashed potatoes job by spooning them into a bowl, ready to be served.

Finally we sat down at the table. We were all very hungry. My parents already have their Advent calendar hung on the wall (it looks like a Christmas tree) even though Advent doesn't start for another week. They are ready!

Jacob is ready to eat! We were joined by a neighbor who lives near my parents. They invited him to join us when they learned he would be alone for the day.

Here's a closeup view of Jacob's plate. You may not believe this, but he ate two plates of food like this!

Jacob did declare himself to be "full" after the second plate. After laying down for a few minutes he was ready for dessert.
Here's proof of Jacob's eating. He even worked on one of the big turkey legs.
Dessert is an important part of the Thanksgiving feast and is sometimes a bit of a challenge after eating the huge main part of the meal. For our dessert we enjoyed two kinds of pie - pecan and pumpkin, and two cakes - pumpkin cheesecake and carrot.
Afterwards we went for a walk through the neighborhood to get a little exercise and let our food settle.

Hanging Out in Amarillo

These are travel photos from our recent trip to Amarillo for Stephen's installation. We started off at our favorite airport, McGhee Tyson in Knoxville. Unless you're stuck there for along time when you should be traveling, it's a great place to be. My bag of bread is in the background, unattended!
Flying out of Knoxville and westward across Tennessee on a clear day is delightful with many lakes, rivers and mountains to admire.
Here we are at the commuter terminal in Houston after a lengthy walk. It reminded me of a bus terminal, with many rows of seats and four or five doors with access to more than a dozen gates for flights.
Waiting for us at the Amarillo airport was none other than Stephen! What a thrill to see him operating in his new home town! We decided the Amarillo airport was just as nice as Knoxville, and both were quite a bit better than Houston.
We arrived at Stephen and Betsy's new home and were happy to see their "welcome home" sign, put up by members of their congregation for them to see when they first arrived.
The wind was whipping around the house and the banner was making a tremendous amount of noise. We took it down after listening to it for a few hours.
We had a few free hours on Saturday afternoon so we drove down to the Palo Duro Canyon for a quick tour. It's pretty impressive for a big hole in the ground. Stephen says that when they visited in July it was 110 F degrees on the floor of canyon. Sound brutal. We only had to contend with the wind and the blowing sand.
The interactive center at the canyon explained the era of each layer of rock in the canyon. Mysteriously there are no layers of rock from two time periods...where did they go? Yes, we drove on that little road that winds down the cliff.
The canyon floor was decorated with beautiful trees sporting yellow leaves. We're guessing they are elderberry trees but never got a local authority to confirm it for us.


There were many interesting rock formations, including this balancing act.
That night we dined at a local Mexican restaurant. My Dad and I ordered a beer and found out that they come in a big, big size.
It was a happy evening as we looked forward to the installation the next day.
On Sunday morning we discovered the waffle maker at the hotel made Texas shaped waffles. Many of the cowboys eating nearby wondered why I was taking a picture.
Here's a poster from the airport. They take their cattle seriously in Amarillo.
People really do wear black cowboy hats and sport silver cowboy belt buckles in Amarillo.
As we flew out of Amarillo the tributary fingers of the Palo Duro Canyon came into view.

Birthday Cake - double trouble!

My birthday celebration began with a small group of friends gathered at our home for a little dinner and conversation. Of course a birthday cake was involved, created by Jacob and Nancy. It was smothered in white icing, which is one reason you can't see much of it in the picture below...it blends in with the white plate. That's my tropical party shirt I'm wearing.Meanwhile far, far away in Amarillo Stephen was working on my 2nd birthday cake. You may have heard the story of him slicing his fingertip while opening the cake mix for this cake. Anyway, he lived to tell about it and the cake was delicious! It was iced with cream cheese and chocolate frosting, and topped with thin slices of Snickers bar. I believe Stephen got this idea from Jacob, who always layers his cakes with loads of sweets, candy bars, etc.
Stephen shows off his bandaged finger after we thanked him for his sacrifice.

Stephen's Installation - More Photos

We'll add some captions to these photos soon, hopefully Stephen will find the time to help us out with all the names!