The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my second favorite holiday next to Christmas. Christmas is my absolute favorite because I get to see my family and it is usually the only time of year that I get to see my family. But Thanksgiving is my "friends" holiday. I have been hosting it at my house for the last few years and I usually have about 12-15 people in my tiny apartment which is very "cozy" and fun! To give you an idea of why I love it so much, I will share that my first 3-4 Thanksgivings here in San Diego were pretty bleak. Thanksgiving is such a family time for most people that I didn't get invites to go anywhere and the family that I do have down here always left town for the holiday, so that left me... all alone. Eating microwave popcorn and watching a movie or some such nonsense. It was really rather depressing.

Ok, enough of the "poor me" stuff. Fast forward to today. I have a wonderful community of friends that I love and enough of them also don't have family in the area that we can have our own shindig, and so we have. Every year, we eat a huge meal, go on a walk on the beach, and play games, and just be friends. It is such an enjoyable day. I kind of have a reputation among my friends for being a good cook so Thanksgiving is known for being pretty epic. It is a lot to live up to and I try to outdo myself every year. This year was no exception. There were a couple of things that didn't turn out as great as I had hoped - the apple pie was a flop, and the gravy was a little too rich. But overall, it was delicious.

My friend, Yong, deserves some kudos this year though. He was in charge of the salad and cranberry sauce. Those are easy "single guy" things to bring, right? Well, he wasn't going to take the easy way out and just grab a can of cranberry sauce and a bag of salad, he was going to make it all. I felt a little bad because I think he had some pressure to contribute to the most delicious of all meals. But at any rate, he made one of the best salads I have ever had and some pretty delicious cranberry sauce. He also ended up going to the ER for slicing his finger in the process. Talk about taking one for the team! Way to go, Yong!

Nattida got a hold of my camera and took pictures of every dish that we had so even though it is a lot of pictures, I will post them for those of you who weren't there so you can drool over our amazing dinner! I am not going to post recipes because there are way too many. But if anyone wants any recipes, just let me know and I will send them to you.

The whole spread:

 The Turkey:

 Shiitake Mushroom Gravy:

Roasted Root Veggies (from Abby):

 Green Bean Casserole:

 Stuffing:

 Mashed Potatoes (from Tricia):

 Herbed Butter Corn:

 Yam/Praline Casserole:

 Cranberry Sauce (from Yong):

 Three different kinds of butter for the rolls:

 And I forgot to take pictures of dessert but we had three pies: apple/cranberry, blackberry/ peach, and pumpkin/ praline. And Nattida brought Red Velvet cupcakes because it was Tricia's birthday as well.

And here are some of the guys just sitting around and digesting:

 And here are some of the girls on our beach walk:

And there you have it, Thanksgiving has come and gone and it was a wonderful day. Now for the "Day after Thanksgiving" activities - making homemade Turkey Noodle Soup and decorating the house for Christmas. YAY!!!

Breaking Dawn Review

I am a Twilight Fan. I big one. I have read all the books. Something like five times. I have all of the soundtracks. I have the Illustrated Guide. I own all of the movies and have watched them many times. I have seen most of the movies at midnight on opening night. Yep, I am a Twilight Fan... me and all the 14 year old girls in America. Don't mock me. I am allowed to have "my thing". So this is my review of Breaking Dawn part 1. It has only been out three days so if you haven't seen it yet and care about spoilers, stop. reading. now. This blog will be full of them!

I spent all day yesterday watching the three previous Twilight movies in preparation for watching Breaking Dawn last night. That was kind of cool to watch them back to back like that. It was interesting to see the different styles that each director brought to the film. I also definitely noticed the improvement in acting among the three main characters. The first movie has some nice elements but Kristin Stewart is so twitchy I can hardly stand to watch her. And Robert Pattinson makes really bizarre faces that don't really make him look like a thirsty vampire as much as a constipated, crazy man. And Taylor Lautner tends to make Jacob kind of whiney. All of that is really distracting! The characters in the books definitely don't do that! But I have to say, these three have come a long way, thank goodness!

Although Eclipse is my favorite book in the series and I loved the movie as well, Breaking Dawn part 1 was probably the most satisfying of all the movies in that it portrayed what I imagined from the book REALLY well. The wedding scene was amazing! Not only was it gorgeous visually, the music was brilliant. When Edward and Bella were saying their vows and "Flightless Bird" started playing I actually started crying. Oh my gosh, I felt dumb but Bill Condon is a genius! He manipulated my emotions with music! The song made everything feel so nostalgic. I also loved all of the toasts. Not in the book but a nice addition. It gave everyone their moment of closure as that is the last we will see of Bella's high school friends.

The honeymoon scene was very well done! Isle Esme was beautiful and the whole thing was very romantic, yet tasteful. I love how they captured Bella's nervousness. Surprisingly well done, Kristin Stewart.  In fact, Kristin did a great job in the whole film. Not twitchy at all! And holy cow... did they make her look sick! I was very impressed with Bella's transformation. It was incredibly realistic and slightly nauseating, as it should be. And the birthing scene? Woah! Nothing more needs to be said. Woah!

I think one of my favorite moments was when Charlie called Bella and she told him that she was going to Switzerland. His pain at not being able to see her was very well portrayed. I love Billy Burke, and to be honest, I think he is my favorite character in the whole series. I just feel so bad for Charlie knowing what is coming! He is just so lovable and awkward I can't stand to see him in pain!

Jacob's transformation is nice too. He is becoming a man and is a lot less whiney than he has been. I am really excited for part 2 when he steps up even more. I think that they really handled the imprinting scene well. That could have been creepy, and who knows, maybe if you haven't read the books, it still was creepy because it is not explained as thoroughly but I think the idea came through pretty well and it worked.

The final scene was predictable of course, but perfect. It was the perfect place to break and I am very excited to see part 2. A WHOLE YEAR AWAY!!! arg...

I will leave you with this: the lyrics of "Flightless Bird". I love the song, it has such a beautiful melody, but have you ever listened to the words of Edward and Bella's love song? Weeeeeird! It goes to show that music is emotional and it can make you feel a certain way no matter what is actually being said!

I was a quick wet boy, diving too deep for coins

All of your street light eyes wide on my plastic toys

Then when the cops closed the fair, I cut my long baby hair

Stole me a dog-eared map and called for you everywhere

Have I found you

Flightless bird, jealous, weeping or lost you, american mouth

Big pill looming

Now I'm a fat house cat

Nursing my sore blunt tongue

Watching the warm poison rats curl through the wide fence cracks

Pissing on magazine photos

Those fishing lures thrown in the cold

And clean blood of Christ mountain stream

Have I found you

Flightless bird, grounded, bleeding or lost you, american mouth

Big pill stuck going down

Um... yeah... romantic.

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

The other night our Community Group had a bonfire on the beach. The great thing about November is that we were the only ones there. It was great! I brought some pumpkin swirl brownies for dessert. This is the season where I feel the need to add pumpkin to everything! I think this recipe originally came from Martha Stewart. I got the recipe from my friend, Abby, and I make them every fall. Pumpkin and chocolate might sound like a strange combo but they are delicious together!

Pumpkin Swirl Brownies


1 stick butter
6 1 oz. squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 Tbs. vanilla
1 1/4 cups pumpkin
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg


Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9“x9” baking pan.
Melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, cayenne, and salt in a large bowl; set aside. Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl and beat until fluffy and well combined (3-5 minutes). Beat in flour mixture.
Divide batter between two medium bowls (about 2 cups per bowl). Stir the melted chocolate into one bowl. In other bowl, stir in pumpkin, oil, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Transfer half of chocolate batter to prepared pan smoothing top with a rubber spatula. Top with half of pumpkin batter. Repeat to make one more chocolate layer and one more pumpkin layer. Work quickly so batters don’t set.
With a small spatula or a table knife, gently swirl the two batters to create a marbled effect.
Bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 16 squares.