Leftovers & Now Candles
Yesterday it was Thanksgiving. Is it just me, or did the 4th Thursday of the month occur like, uh, a week late?
Despite this, it was a good day. We had a very nice time.
As usual, we cooked our Sourdough/Chestnuts/Parsley/Apple stuffing (enough to both stuff the bird, as well as three extra casserole dishes worth). The turkey was our best ever. Slivers of garlic and Rosemary were delicately infused (an overused menu term, but truly appropriate in this case) throughout, plus a generous rub of fresh Thyme, and some other spices.
One of our better Thanksgiving meals. We hung out most of the day with our friend Bob (also known as "Bob The Computer Guy"), eating (more like noshing [1], actually) stuffing while waiting for the bird to cook. Susan whipped up her wonderful cranberry sauce (using real, fresh cranberries, no canned Ocean Spray for our table!) with oranges and pineapple. I just had a minor taste of that, watching the sugars as I must.
It was a very cold day here in Rockland County, NY. We were at Bob's place (actually it is Bob's Winter residence, but that's way too long a story for this blog), and the heat of the oven alone might have been sufficient to keep us comfortable. I'd gotten some sort of special oh-so-good kind of yams. Bob is also Diabetic, so Susan was happily in her role as The Diabetic Dining Companion, having in our stead all the things we cannot consume. These yams (I hate yams, can't stand them, didn't like them even before I was Diabetic) were some sort of particularly excellent breed or hybrid or whatever. All I can say is that when Susan cut one open, the insides were a brilliant orange. Bob and I both used the term, almost at the same exact moment, as we looked at the color.
It was a little reminiscent of those neat colors I photographed during the foliage peak, a few weeks back.
And now it is Hanukkah again. Or is that Chanukah? See last year's entry [2] for a further discussion of that "How To Spell Hanukkah" matter.
Thanksgiving on Thursday, Hanukkah on Friday, and a weekend to follow. Thanksgivukkah, it feels like.
Maybe tomorrow or the next day I will post about all the myriad of feelings and memories conjured up by certain November dates, Thanksgiving, and Hanukkah. But not right this moment.
I'll be seeing my kids soon enough, in December. We will make our annual trek down to Florida to visit their grandparents during the holiday season. When I get to their place we will open the Hanukkah gifts. The distance between us prevents us from having Hanukkah together, and I like to be there as they open up their presents. A certain element of the joy of giving them these presents is seeing their faces light up with glee or appreciation as they get the gifts. I've been getting them various items since the end of their Summer visit up here. Even found them both some neat things while on vacation. I have one more cool gift to go buy, and will do that over the weekend.
It will be another fun Hanukkah gift-opening session when I fly down to see them in advance of our drive to Florida.
Happy Holidays to one and all. Man, I am actually in a festive holiday mood. Usually I am in grinch mode. I missed the end of the parade when Santa shows up (actually, I barely saw any of it, and what I saw didn't captivate me at all this year), and I stayed away from the television all day and night Friday, so I have yet to be inundated and deluged with seasonal blather.
So, for the moment, I am actually feeling, yes, even a bit spirited. Am I mellowing out, now that I've had a 50th birthday?
I guess anything is possible!