Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a great time in BR with Walter's family.  Walter and I arrived on Tuesday to get everything ready.  Remember the table we bought on our last trip?  It was delivered and we got it set up in the eating area.  Here it is set up for Thanksgiving Day:

And here's a closeup of the centerpiece.  I took the Garden District trough and filled it with rhododendron leaves,  blackberry branches, fresh fruit, and flowers.  Sarah arranged the flowers and did an excellent job - thanks, Sarah!

I cleaned out my Memphis freezer before we left and took packages of chili and spaghetti sauce with me.  Tuesday night Walter and I had the chili.  Wednesday evening our guests arrived in three waves - two from Atlanta, two from Ft. Pierce, FL and four from Jacksonville, FL.  As they arrived and got settled, I dished up spaghetti and cornbread.

Thursday was the big day, of course.  For breakfast we had pastries that I bought at Stick Boy Bread in Boone.  This was our Thanksgiving Dinner menu:

Smoked Turkey (sorry, no recipe.  Walter did this ad hoc and it was delicious!)
Squash and Cheese Casserole
Sweet Potato Souffle
Szechuan Green Beans
Cornbread Dressing
Gravy from Bogies (in Memphis)
Cranberry Sauce from Bogies
Yeast Rolls from Stick Boy (in Boone)
Carrot Cake from Bogies
Pumpkin Cheesecake from Stick Boy
Pecan Pie (purchased at the BR Farmers' Market)

Yum, yum, yum!  It's funny about the dressing.  We ordered some from Bogies, Walter picked everything up on Monday evening, we packed everything into a cooler for travel, unloaded the cooler in BR, started getting organized on Thanksgiving and said, "Where's the dressing?"  No dressing...it wasn't in the order we picked up!  Then I remembered that I had leftover cornbread from the spaghetti dinner the night before, so I went to the trusty internet, found a recipe that a lot of people had said was good, and made it at the last minute.  It was delicious!  Saved by the internet - again!

Walter's sister, Kathy, and her husband, Mike

Friday morning we had a super Breakfast Casserole from my main man, Emeril.  Those of you who've had the Cooking Light breakfast casserole...well, this one is way better!  What's not to like about pork sausage?  Friday night Walter's nephew made a crockpot barbeque that was out of this world and his niece made an ultimate comfort food shells and cheese and broccoli dish.  I'll post the recipes as soon as they send them to me.

After this meal the kitchen closed.  Two groups left Saturday morning and the rest of us ate leftovers for lunch and went to Ristro Boca for dinner. 

Saturday morning we all went out to Bolick Pottery and watched the annual opening of their wood-fired kiln.  The Bolicks have been potters for generations and the extended family lives in a little valley outside of Blowing Rock.  The kiln opening is a big thing, with a mad dash for one of a kind pieces.  Our niece Shelby snagged a great Santa face jug for me!  Wish I had a picture of it!  Here's the Bolick mailboxes:

Bolick mailboxes

And here's niece Sidney playing with a very friendly Bolick beagle!

Sunday morning was departure time for everyone.

A good time was had by all.  Thanks for making the trip, guys!

Sunday morning sunrise, 11/28/10, Blue Ridge Parkway, mile marker 302

Food for Thought: Whiskey River

Most mornings I have a fairly set routine.  I get up, read the paper, eat a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, and go to my exercise class.  When I get home from exercise, I get a cup of coffee and sit down to gather my thoughts for the day.  I always check for new posts on my son Cort's blog, FixMemphis, 'cause it's the best way I have to keep up with him!  By the way, "FixMemphis" refers to the type of bike that Cort rides - a fixed gear bike - rather than to any attempt to improve the City of Memphis.  Then I read the posts for the day at Smart City Memphis to get my adrenaline flowing.  This one does have to do
with ways to improve the City of Memphis!

I know, I'm pretty boring.

Lastly, I read Whiskey River (the intoxication of being swept along with the current.)  I use it as my meditation for the day.  I encourage you to bookmark it and check it occasionally.  What hits me may not necessarily hit you and vice versa.  In the meantime, here are the posts from the past couple of days:

For Equilibrium, a Blessing

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity be lightened by grace.

Like the freedom of the monastery bell,
May clarity of mind make your eyes smile.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what's said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of God.
- John O'Donohue
To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Invocations and Blessings

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"The wonder of a moment in which there is nothing but an upwelling of simple happiness is utterly awesome. Gratitude is so close to the bone of life, pure and true, that it instantly stops the rational mind, and all its planning and plotting. That kind of let go is fiercely threatening. I mean, where might such gratitude end?"
- Regina Sara Ryan
Praying Dangerously
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Don't you love the line about the water?

My driveway, November 2010

Food for Thought: Walt Whitman on Thanksgiving

From The Writers' Almanac for Thanksgiving Day, 2010:

On Thanksgiving Day of 1884, Walt Whitman published a piece in The Philadelphia Press, writing about himself in the third person. He wrote:

"Scene.— A large family supper party, a night or two ago, with voices and laughter of the young, mellow faces of the old, and a by-and-by pause in the general joviality. 'Now, Mr. Whitman,' spoke up one of the girls, 'what have you to say about Thanksgiving? Won't you give us a sermon in advance, to sober us down?' The sage nodded smilingly, look'd a moment at the blaze of the great wood fire, ran his forefinger right and left through the heavy white mustache that might have otherwise impeded his voice, and began: 'Thanksgiving goes probably far deeper than you folks suppose. I am not sure but it is the source of the highest poetry. [...] We Americans devote an official day to it every year; yet I sometimes fear the real article is almost dead or dying in our self-sufficient, independent Republic. Gratitude, anyhow, has never been made half enough of by the moralists; it is indispensable to a complete character, man's or woman's — the disposition to be appreciative, thankful. That is the main matter, the element, inclination — what geologists call the 'trend.' Of my own life and writings I estimate the giving thanks part, with what it infers, as essentially the best item. I should say the quality of gratitude rounds the whole emotional nature; I should say love and faith would quite lack vitality without it.'"

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner

Walter and I are going to BR for Thanksgiving, so we had our Memphis boys and their girlfriends over for dinner Sunday night.  I made Emeril's Jambalaya, coleslaw, and German Chocolate Cake.



Getting ready to bake a cake

One of my BR neighbors, Loy McGill, gave me the recipe for the German Chocolate Cake.  She is a terrific cook and hostess.  She had the neighborhood over for dinner for Labor Day and served this cake; Walter went into raptures and she was kind enough to send me the recipe. 



Cooling the layers



The finished product!

The kids liked everything.  The cake was awesome - thank you, Loy! - so very rich.  Jambalaya and cake leftovers went home with the boys and girls; the rest of the cake is going to Walter's office today so that we won't eat anymore. 

Look at this great centerpiece.  I bought this trough at Garden District last year.  Dotsie did a centerpiece for a luncheon and cut stuff from our yards, added fresh fruit and flowers.  I borrowed from hers and added some nandina berries.  Very fall and festive.  I'm taking the trough to BR to use for my Thanksgiving centerpiece there and will use local flora.

Before



After

  Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving, everyone!