I spent just over a week at home in New York for Thanksgiving. It was so nice to be home and sit still for a moment! Of course, I also did lots of running around, seeing some people (but not enough!) and making it into the city. However, this time around, I did spend most time upstate, mostly because I was so exhausted and just needed a break. Plus, then I got to cook with my mom and play with all the pups! We had tons of people over for Turkey Day so it was certainly busy.
There was so much good food to be had and I ate like there was a famine coming! The appetizers I really loved were roasted chickpeas and baked brie with cranberries, walnuts, and currant jam (as well as some impromptu trail mix created by the chefs for cooking snacks!). The dinner menu was particularly amazing this year. We always have both a turkey (this year we actually had two) as well as brisket, plus all the trimmings. My personal highlights were the whipped sweet potatoes with caramelized apples, roasted root vegetables, jalapeno corn muffins, apple sage stuffing.... I'm really a carbohydrate kind of girl! The boy came to Thanksgiving too and I made him one of his favorite Thanksgiving dishes, green bean casserole, which I actually liked! (I was able to subdue the food snob in me for a bit!) I also tried these Sweet Potato Biscuits out. They were a huge hit at dinner, but for me, they were too light and fluffy. I like my biscuits to have more substance so I can load butter and other things onto them! For dessert, we also had deliciousness like lemon pecan squares, oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies, and my absolute FAVORITE, my mom's homemade rugula with nutella. A guest also brought these oatmeal bars which were filled with chocolate chips and gooey caramel. I pray that I never get my hands on that recipe because I must have eaten half of them (and finished the rest off in the morning).
I love how my mom plans Thanksgiving. One of my favorite tips is that the day after the meal, we write down comments about the menu which she files away for next year. It's always super helpful since it's so hard to remember specifics about the previous year. For example, from last years comments, we remembered that the meal worked better without a salad course (too hectic) and how it's always hard to keep mashed potatoes hot (thwarted again!). Also, we have dessert in a more informal setting and with bite sized pieces instead of full pies. Usually everyone is so full that bite-sized grazing is all that can be managed! Finally, for the cooking process, she also photocopies all the recipes so it doesn't matter if you spill vanilla extract all over it (oops) and there isn't a huge stack of cookbooks taking up counter space.
Thanksgiving Table, all set up before the masses descend...
....and the feasting begins!Unfortunately, I barely got any work done (read: none) which means I'm in a bit of a crunch now. Only two and a half weeks until the end of the semester though and then home for a whole three weeks! Too bad there's a whole lot that needs to be learned between now and then...
Yoga has been going pretty well. I went to a class in Beacon at Shambhala Yoga and was the only one to come to the class so I ended up with a private session! I'm so used to my teachers method here in Nashville so the cadence of the class felt a little odd but it was still fun. I also was able to get some more one-on-one feedback on my headstand which was great! It was nice to be back here in my usual classes though.
PT has been going pretty well too. I was pretty good about staying up on my exercises while I was home but had a few days of laziness/fullness! On Tuesday I was cleared to try a 10 minute run today, but about 5 minutes in, my left knee started to hurt so I immediately stopped and walked home. I'd rather be careful this time around. Sigh. I did walk the New Paltz Turkey Trot while I was home though (walked. the. whole. darn. thing. yay self control) and had no pain! I know that I'm making progress, it just feels sloooww. I did get a pedicure today and now have glittery gold holiday toes, so that helped of course. :)
Alright, time to walk the pup and get some rest! Hopefully I'll be more productive tomorrow!
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