I'm not sure I'll get to making all of it, but I am set for the following menu for Thanksgiving.
There are a couple of extra chairs at the table if you're interested!
Now I'd better get prepping because so far all I've made is the cranberry sauce.
Thanksgiving 2009
Deviled eggs
Variety of cheeses with French bread
Corn Lemongrass Soup with crab and mussels
Arugula Fennel Mint Prosciutto Pomegranate Salad
Turkey – brined and deep fried
Cranberry sauce – with ginger and Cointreau
Traditional Stuffing with pancetta
Mashed new potatoes with skins on, and mascarpone and chives
Gravy -
Pearl onions roasted with a port reduction and bay
Green beans sauteed with wildrice, mushrooms, bell peppers and pinenuts
Crème Brule
Pumpkin pie with whipped creme
There's much to be grateful for and I try to remind myself of that every day.
Some days I forget.
But I'm glad there's one day of the year when we in the United States are invited to take stock of the abundance in our lives. I hope each of you are with people who are grateful for YOU this year and who express it.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Dizang asked Fayan, "Where are you going?"
Fayan said, "Around on pilgrimage."
Dizang said, "What is the purpose of pilgrimage?"
Fayan said, "I don't know."
Dizang said, "Not knowing is most intimate."
The Book of Serenity, Case 20
This kind of intimacy is real intimacy. No gap. No
ideas about who this is or what that is. Just being one, right here, right now, complete, whole, undivided. Just this.
This intimacy is the heart of Zen practice.
Who knew Coolio had a cooking show? On the web, but still...
This video is in pretty poor taste, but it's funny and it is hands down the best way to make a delicious turkey.
Here's our bird from last year coming out of the fryer. Yum! Last year I made two turkeys, a roasted one and a fried one. The roasted one was great, but this year, there's only one way the bird is getting cooked. Coolio style.
If we were children I would bake you a mud pie
Warm and brown beneath the sun
Never learned to climb a tree but I would try
Just to show you what I'd done
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe, I had you
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe
If I were old, my dearest, you would be older
But I would crawl upon your lap
Wrap a blanket 'round our frail little shoulders
And I'd die happily like that
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe, I had you
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe, if I had you
So lace your hands 'round the small of my back and I will kiss you like a king
I will be your bride, I'll keep you warm at night
I will sing, I will sing
It was now and we were both in the same place
Didn't know how to say the words
With my heart ticking like a bomb in a birdcage
I left before someone got hurt
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe, I had you
Oh what I wouldn't do
If I had you, babe, if I had you
Mark asked me what the Holidazzle Parade was and so I thought I'd show him. It's a Minneapolis tradition and even though I've been back in my hometown for the past several Christmas seasons, we've not made it downtown to see it since I lived there. Maybe I will go this year, assuming it's not several frigid degrees below zero or I can find a nice warm spot in the skyways.
Holidazzle Parade - Meet Minneapolis photo
Originally uploaded by meetminneapolis
At the start of the day I thought I knew what today's "Note From The Universe" meant and I laughed out loud at its perfect timing and choice of words.
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However, at the end of this day, I am less certain what it means than when the day started.
But it is Friday the 13th and perhaps it's time to think some entirely new thoughts.
The Universe is looking out for me. I just need to keep listening.
Like most of the country, I have sat by horrified and deeply saddened by the incident that took place at Ft. Hood last week. I have been further saddened by how Major Hasan has been portrayed as some fundamentalist Muslim on a religious mission of some sorts and the ensuing death threats against Muslims in the Ft. Hood area. Whatever the reasons motivating Maj. Hasan, of which I am sure there were many, none of them justify further killing or threats of any kind. Hate begets hate. If we all, or even a few of us, respond to this incident by targeting Muslims because one of them made a horrendous decision not in line with their faith, the chasm will grow and more horrible incidents will ensue. As Ghandi said, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.
So, I am writing to propose a way to refocus those energies and to respond to the situation with love. Show our troops some love and get yourself educated on S.1963 - the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. The goal of the bill is to increase mental health services to veterans. Our veterans are suffering tremendously and the VA, and the rest of the country for that matter, are woefully ill-equipped to manage the severity of the problem. We are sending these people out on multiple deployments in a war zone unlike any other before. Whatever your political take on the wars, I think we can all agree that we need to take care of our veterans. I support this bill, but encourage everyone to do their own homework on it.
If you discover you support it, please call Senator Coburn's office and ask him to remove the hold from the bill. He alone is preventing the bill from leaving committee and reaching the Senate floor for a vote. The Committee on Veterans' Affairs has a statement about it here. Senator Coburn has his rebuttal here. If you believe the bill should be supported, please call your senators and ask them to support it. If you don't know how to contact your senators, go here.
I have hesitated for some time to post this because too often well-intentioned posts about how to offer support to our troops get thread-jacked by those wanting to debate the validity of the wars. I am the daughter of a veteran who served in two wars and I am proud of my dad's service. I am also a flaming liberal who vehemently opposes the wars. If I can separate the soldier from the action, then you can, too, and I respectfully ask you to do so here. If you want to say anything hateful, discriminatory, or negative, please make your own post. I don't post publicly very often because it's easier to deal with my small community. But, our troops are part of the larger community and we ALL need to come together to support them. It isn't enough to put a ribbon on the back of your car and wear an American flag pin. The heart of our country is action and I am asking you to take some positive action today to help support our troops and turn the events at Ft. Hood into a forceful, positive response from the country in support of our combat veterans. Many thanks.
I've been having a few health issues lately. Nothing serious I suspect, but enough to seek medical attention. I had an appointment last week with some lab tests, another one today and another tomorrow. Three different doctors in the same (giant) medical group, a medical group with a good reputation. But as far as I can tell they don't deserve it. Tomorrow will tell with the third doctor, a specialist, but the first two doctors I've seen have seemed rushed, disengaged and generally on auto-pilot. Like the pilots who missed the airport at Minneapolis/St. Paul International.
Today's doc wrote me a prescription for an anti-inflammatory when I told her I was taking 2-4 Advil per day for joint pain. I asked her why it would be better to take the prescribed meds than what I was doing. Her answer was something about it being more convenient for me to just take one pill that lasted all day. Convenience wasn't an issue for me, but uh...okay.
I filled the prescription at the pharmacy, but before taking anything, I do what I always do, read the warning label. Whoa, this was some powerful stuff! After reading what Walgreen's had to say about it, I went to the Internet for more. On WebMd there was a big warning at the top of the page, not in the fine print.
This drug may infrequently cause serious (rarely fatal) bleeding from the stomach or intestines. Also, related drugs rarely have caused blood clots to form, resulting in heart attacks and strokes. This medication might also rarely cause similar problems. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the benefits and risks of treatment, as well as other possible medication choices.
If you notice any of the following rare but very serious side effects, stop taking and seek immediate medical attention: black stools, persistent stomach/abdominal pain, vomit that looks like coffee grounds, chest pain, weakness on one side of the body, sudden vision changes, slurred speech.
On other sites there were more reasons to suspect that this was
probably not the drug for me. I'm not sure what she was thinking or if
she was thinking actually.
I'll just stick with the morning dose of two Advil. And see what the doctor tomorrow has to say, assuming I can get more than 15 minutes of his time and undivided attention.
"I have the choice of being constantly active and happy or introspectively passive and sad. Or I can go mad by ricocheting in between."
-Sylvia Plath
I don't, or didn't, watch "Jon and Kate Plus 8" and I don't care for Nancy Grace one little bit.
Yet, because I am addicted to celebrity gossip pop culture, I am familiar with the lives, dramas and personalities of all kinds of people who I have no business knowing about.
I know Kate had a tummy tuck, got a weird hair do and later changed it. I know that Jon thinks he's a celebrity and is really just a dumb ass man in Ed Hardy t-shirts going through some pathetic midlife crisis in public. I know that Nancy Grace is obnoxious, overly judgmental and incessantly ranting at the guests on her show. I think I've seen her a few times on TV for all of about 90 seconds before I have to flip the channel.
And yet, when I see this clip of her grilling Jon Gosselin and his stuttering deer-in-the-headlights look, I can't help but like her just a little bit.
