Busy Fall

(Photos taken in the school's parking lot)

 (Photo taken from our bedroom window.)

Life's been pretty busy around our house this Fall. It has been a colorful and fun season around here, and we're glad to be enjoying it this year. Here's a recap and a sampling of our life this Fall in pictures:

Liam's school:
Schlepping Liam to and from school every day, I'm starting to feel like a half day is just too little time for him. I have to drive him everyday because the pre-k that's walking distance from where we live closed after the last school year. I have already told him that next year he will be gone all day. To my surprise, he exclaimed, "Oh yes! I love school! I can't wait to go for all day!" Me, too! Perhaps then, I can get to do a little more around here without having to stop projects at the halfway mark. He is growing so fast and learning in leaps and bounds.

He played a turkey in his very first school play and had two lines. All the children did remarkably well considering all the parents had their cameras out constantly taking pictures. We all looked like paparazzi photographing celebrities. So cute! Bill took lots of photos with his fancy camera while I mostly shot video. Oh and Liam had two Thanksgiving dinners: after the school play and on Thanksgiving Day itself.

On our daily drive home from school, he almost always requests pizza. One day, I tried to get him to try a slice with chicken and broccoli, but he wouldn't hear of such a thing. It's plain pizza or nothing at all. I ordered a chicken marsala slice because it looked so darn good. (When you're really hungry, anything looks great.) He shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth and to my surprise, he really liked it. In fact, he closed his eyes, went "Mmmm!" and said that this was his new favorite. So now, every time we drive past that pizzeria he always requests a slice of chicken marsala pizza. I have to talk fast to get him distracted enough so that he doesn't realize that we're driving past his favorite pizzeria.

The house:
Things are looking better and better in our house. Bill has almost completed the installation of the banister in the basement, so it is no longer "the stairs of death." I can't even begin to tell you how many near falls we have experienced, especially by me hauling the laundry up and down those stairs, and Liam with toys he manages to find down there.
 
The bigger news, though, is our new roof! You may recall that Hurricane Irene dropped a tree on the back of our house. Well, I would love to say that the experience with the insurance company went smoothly, but it didn't. Perhaps if we had suffered severe structural damage like a roof collapse, then the claim would have been cut and dry. We have gone back and forth for months now and we still have some unresolved matters. We are crossing our fingers that they will err on the side of logic and fairness. We are very happy with our new roof. It has created a different feel to our house, making it feel more secure, quieter and somehow warmer. We went with onyx black to match the window framing and white gutters, of course, which will match the "white" siding once we have saved the money to restore them to its original whiteness.

In the kitchen:
I have done some baking, too, from scratch, with good results. Pumpkin pie made with fresh pumpkin (not out of the can), doughnuts, and my boys made me a birthday cake. The cake picture here is of course from a bakery. My mom brought it over on on Thanksgiving Day to celebrate my birthday again. How sweet of her! Another Thanksgiving feast went by, only this time, I have to say, it was the best turkey I have ever cooked, which is saying a lot since I normally cook a fabulous turkey. This year's though was more flavorful and the leftover turkey made for some very delicious soups. I must mention also that Liam helped me by bagging the last minute groceries for our feast. So darling!

Illness:
As predicted, we have had our share of colds and whatnot. It never fails. At the start of the school year, all the kids go through their rounds of colds and viruses, because, you know, "sharing is caring!" Year after year, it is almost guaranteed that I will fall sick anytime between Halloween and New Year's Eve, and this year has not been the exception. You may recall last year's beast of a flu. This time, despite the mild Autumn, I came down with a cold accompanied by a nasty cough that apparently lingers on for months. This has made my life so uncomfortable, causing me to place many important projects on hold, including the crafty stuff and this blog.

Shared computer time:
I do manage to squeeze in a little time to check out friend's blogs, mostly because Liam really wants to see pictures of his friends, etc., but because I am now sharing my computer with Liam, I get very little time on it. I mostly have to wait until he is fast asleep to get anything done. It really couldn't be helped. It was just a matter of time. He begs to see pbs kids, sesame street, qubo, and some other stuff including vids on you tube. The boy can also google and always yells out for me to spell certain words, mostly Star Wars related. It's pretty hilarious as is his growing vocabulary. He really is learning in leaps and bounds. I can hardly believe that he will turn 5 in January.

Yup! We've been quite busy around here!

Liam's wardrobe:
You may recall me mentioning Liam's wardrobe issues last year. His karate uniform pretty much cured him if it. This year, thanks to the generosity of my family in Texas, we have not had to buy a single article of clothing for Liam (except for underwear, socks and shoes). My cousin's three year old son is so big and tall that he outgrows his clothes at lightening speed. As a result, Liam has inherited so many wonderful clothes! We are humbled by their generosity and feel truly blessed. One more thing... you will notice in the pictures that he is diving into the package, well my aunt and cousin also threw in some hot wheels and matchbox cars.What a lucky little boy!

So there you have it. There are a few more photos I should include, but can't seem to find. I will insert them when I do. If there's one thing I can't stand is not being able to find my photos. Dear tech guy, please stop moving my files around without telling about it first. Thanks.

Celebrations

Let's lump up the year's end activities in one post, shall we?

That horrendous flu back in the beginning of November took a lot out of us. I was still in recovery mode when my birthday rolled in. Thankfully, my birthday came and went rather quietly. We celebrated with Junior's Cheesecake which didn't exactly help my cough and congestion, but I was craving all sorts of comfort foods. Finally recovering from that monster flu was enough reason to celebrate.

We managed to rake and clean up the backyard nice and tidy. We put up the blinds in the living room. We also got to work full speed on the dining room a week before Thanksgiving. We wanted it ready once and for all, especially for our holiday dinners. I wish people could have seen us running around like chickens without a head to try to get the dining room ready just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Bill and I looked like we could have been on a reality TV show with a time clock ticking away. Between bastings, I was vacuuming and helping to remove the painter's tape. Bill was cleaning up, moving furniture, and trying to install the baseboards. Thank goodness Welita was here to help me with Thanksgiving dinner.

We kept it really simple: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and my long-overdue birthday cake from my favorite Latino bakery. We had plenty of leftovers since we ended up having dinner alone with my mother, so we bagged the leftovers and set aside the carcass for turkey soup the next day. A tradition in my family since childhood. Yummy!

He started with dessert, but upon seeing his daddy with a turkey leg, he immediately requested the other one and went to work on it.

I had to tickle Liam to keep him from digging his little fingers into my cake again.

Liam helping Welita make turkey noodle soup
(I got the fake smile. Clearly, he didn't want to be disturbed.)

Two weeks later, we picked up our Christmas tree. 

Liam is holding one of two baby trees that we got as a bonus.

Welita also came over for Christmas Eve and stayed over till the next day. We had turkey dinner (frozen from Thanksgiving) and pumpkin pie. Boring, I know, but my husband is crazy about pumpkin pie, little Liam too (but a la mode). I wanted to make my husband's family's traditional Christmas lasagna, but I just didn't have the time nor the energy to embark on such a project. Actually, I didn't have my late mother-in-law's recipe. Next year, I will make sure to have all of the ingredients to make my mother-in-law's best loved dishes for our holiday dinners.

We decorated graham cracker houses with premium candy (instead of the yucky dollar store candy), so we nibbled away at them carefree for days after Christmas. Liam made out like a bandit with some great toys and clothes. We got a great deal on a game cartridge and he loved his truck. He also got some great clothes from a dear friend, and my aunt and cousin sent him a box full from Texas. We stashed away the rest of the toys we bought on sale before the holidays to give it to him for his birthday the next month.

Our Christmas family photo. 

Liam was in the middle of his wardrobe issues and we couldn't wait any longer. We took a break from decorating our tree and took the pic.

Our window decor

Hooray for our new windows!

 

We were given these glitter pine cones and two baby Christmas "trees". I gave a baby tree to our next door neighbor. Once they are bigger we can plant them outside in our backyards, respectively. We were told they would grow as tall as the Christmas tree we brought home.

Daddy helping Liam play with his new video game cartridge 

(that I bought for $6.49, tax free and free shipping, yipee!)

His hips are so slender that he actually fit in it.

Liam was thrilled to see that Santa ate the cookies and drank the milk.
("Santa" was in such a hurry that he accidentally misspelled reindeer.)

Welita's cool Christmas sweatshirt

Modeling a few of his gifts. 

(The other cute clothing was slightly bigger and has been put away until it fits him comfortably.)

We tried really hard to put Liam down to bed on New Year's Eve, but he knew something was up and wanted in on all the action. He fought bedtime tooth and nail and so the little stinker stayed awake to ring in the new year with us. (Picture me rolling my eyes now.)  To his delight, we rang in the new year with his tambourines and maracas. We even heard fireworks around our neighborhood. Super fun!

"Cheers, Welita!" He finished his sparkling apple cider before I was finished pouring the last glass. (And yes, he peed in bed that night. Happy New Year to me. Grrr!)

We watched Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve on the tele and Liam danced the night away.

He wasn't tired at all as evidenced in this pic. I just might have to sedate him next year. Kidding!! Or feed him tons of turkey (Tryptophan!!).

Thus ended 2010 and a decade that brought us:
- the good  
(Bill's wonderful conversion, our marriage, our baby boy, Bill's calling as an LDS Bishop and our new house)
- the bad
(September 11th, and the passing away of dear family members: my wonderful mother-in-law Bette, Bill's sweet grandmother Mary, and my favorite uncle Gonzalo)
- and the ugly  
(the beast of a flu that Liam and I caught at year's end).

This decade, so far, is starting out happy and hopeful too, especially as we continue to celebrate our little Liam's many milestones.

Cooking Thanksgiving dinner in the tinest kitchen in America

Well, I don't know if ours is really the tiniest kitchen in America, but it sure felt like it on Thursday when I cooked our Thanksgiving meal. I do not exaggerate when I say that I deserve nothing short of a medal for cooking something as huge as a Thanksgiving dinner in a kitchen that measures all of 8 x 4 feet with a counter space that measures all of 10 x 12 inches (pretty much the size of my chopping board).

This is not by any means a step-by-step process with exact measurements and all, but this sort of gives you an idea of what went on in my tiny kitchen on Thanksgiving Day. I took a couple of short cuts here and there, basically to keep my sanity and stress level low. Mind you, I could have done a lot of preparation the day before, but I just wasn't up to it. Anyway, here you go!





The turkey:
We decided to go all out and get an organic turkey (not cheap), weighing a hefty 14 pounds to make sure we had lots of delicious leftovers. We bought it on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving so that I didn't have to deal with the hassle of thawing it out. I pulled the turkey out of the refrigerator very early Thanksgiving Day morning to marinade it. I pulled out the giblets, set them aside, and gave the bird a really good rinse, inside and out, with plain water. I marinaded it in the baking pan, inside and out, with sea salt (gray salt), black pepper and sofrito. I slipped many pats of unsalted butter under the breast, covered it with tin foil, and then put the turkey back into the refrigerator for a couple of hours. According to the experts, to avoid bacteria, it is not a good idea to marinade the turkey overnight, unless you are going to soak it in a brine (which is mostly made of salt). If you do decide to soak it in a brine, the turkey will be flavorful, but the drippings will be too salty and not a good base for the gravy.

I then put the turkey in a super hot oven 500F for about twenty minutes or so. Experts recommend this to kill any bacteria. They say turkeys are prone to bacteria if not handled correctly. Then I reduced the temperature to 375F (for x amount of hours, depending on the weight of the turkey).

Turkey stock:
I cooked the giblets with a couple of bay leaves and a bit of sofrito. I used this broth to "baste" the turkey. Actually, I poured a large amount of that broth on the bottom of the baking pan and then placed the turkey on a rack inside the baking pan. The bird never really gets a wet bottom. I do this because my oven is tiny and I have to set the shelf pretty low in order to fit the pan in the oven without the turkey touching the top of the oven. I don't want the turkey drippings to burn in the pan.
Uses:
- The leftover broth was refrigerated for turkey soup the next day.
- Some was used to thin out the drippings in the pan for gravy.
- I also use some of it to prepare the stuffing. I used it instead of the plain water that was called for in the instructions on the package.

The Side Dishes
Stuffing:
I cooked four sweet Italian sausages with a little bit of water. After about a half an hour or so, I took the lid off to let the water evaporate and let the sausages brown. When they cooked through, I sliced them and set them aside. I softened about a half a cup or more of chopped, pitted dates in a skillet with water (or turkey stock from the giblets I had cooked earlier) for about 2 minutes and then set them aside (including liquid). I prepared about a half a package of Arnold's seasoned stuffing per the instructions (you can use turkey stock instead of water). When done, I added in the sausages, softened dates, about a half a cup of golden raisins, and about a half a cup or more of chopped, previously roasted, chestuts (or toasted pecans, walnuts or pignoli nuts). Placed all ingredients in a covered baking dish and just reheated it after I pulled the turkey out of the oven. (According to most chefs on the cooking channel, you are supposed to lightly toast the nuts in a dry pan "to help them release their essential oils", though I can't really tell the difference when I skip that step entirely. Also, they say stuffing the turkey takes longer for the turkey to cook and then you end up with a dry breast.)

Spanish rice (of course):
On the menu was also "arroz con gandules" (i.e. rice with green pigeon peas which my mother made with brown rice this year instead of white). She warmed up the sofrito in some olive oil and ghee (clarified butter), optional. She then added the (white or brown) rice and the "gandules", gave it all a good stir until you started to hear a "sizzling" sound coming from the rice (less than a minute). She then poured the water, added salt to taste, and let it boil until water started to evaporate, reduced the heat and covered with lid.

Mashed potatoes:
I made some mashed potatoes in case Liam would want it, but he chose rice instead. Anyway, I am aware that everyone knows how to make mashed potatoes, but here is how I made them: I scrubbed and cut the Russet potatoes in quarters and cooked them in just enough chicken stock. (Sometimes I also throw a sweet potato in with the regular potatoes, but I totally forgot to do it this time.) When potatoes were cooked through, I poured the liquid out into a large measuring cup and set it aside. I transferred the potatoes to a large mixing bowl. I carefully pulled the potatoes out with a fork and peeled the skin off* with a paring knife. The skins surprisingly come off quite easily. I then transferred the potatoes back to the pot. I added a little bit of salt and pepper to taste, the liquid (chicken stock) that I had set aside, a couple of pats of unsalted butter, a splash of cream (optional), and then mashed it with a regular potato masher until nice and creamy.
*I cooked the potatoes with the skin and then peeled it off since most of the nutrients are found just under the skin. Sometimes I will just mash them up with the skins.

Green beans:
I kept them really simple. I just steamed the green beans until tender, added salt and pepper to taste, a dash of granulated garlic, and a pat of butter.

Salad:
A no brainer- it was just a prewashed salad mix that is sold in a bag which I topped with tomato and avocado slices with a fruity vinaigrette as a dressing (ideally) or in our case that day, your choice of three bottled salad dressings.

Gravy:
After the turkey was done, I pulled the pan out of the oven and let the turkey rest for about fifteen minutes or so. Experts recommend that you allow any roasted meat or fowl to rest before carving it to avoid losing all the juices. (At this point, since I do not have a double oven (ha!), I do not turn the oven off, but instead place the baking dish with the stuffing mixture to warm up.) Before transferring the uncarved turkey to the platter, I lightly brushed the nice brown skin with some of the pan drippings. Then, I went to work on the gravy. I thinned out the pan drippings with some turkey stock (from the giblets I had cooked earlier) and a splash of wine. I then poured the pan drippings through a sieve into a small sauce pot to wait for the thickening agent. In a glass measuring cup I placed some cornstarch in some water and stirred it well until any lumps were dissolved. Then, I poured the mixture into the saucepan and stirred it until the wine was cooked thoroughly and until it started thickening, and well, looking like gravy.

Cranberry sauce:
I hear this is very easy to make, but I opted to just buy a can from the organic supermarket.

Dessert:
Ideally the traditional pies and other baked goodies are prepared the day before, but since I can't bake to save my life, we decided to have my long overdue birthday cake from my favorite bakery (that did our wedding cake) as dessert with a scoop of ice cream. Yeah!

After dinner, of course, comes the daunting task of dealing with the leftovers (sigh). So, I grabbed the bull by the horns, as they say, and went to work. I pulled all the meat from the bones and froze some of it for soups. The remainder of the meat was placed in a glass food storage container in the refrigerator, and the bones were used to make stock for soup.

I am not sure that I will ever make a meal this large in a kitchen this small ever again, but you know what they say, "never say never." Besides, in the end, it doesn't matter what you serve up on Thanksgiving Day, whether it be a traditional turkey dinner or a quick pasta dish. It does matter in the end that you remember to give thanks for all your blessings, beginning with two of the most important- your family and your health. Wait a second, we do this every day anyway!

Liam? He was thankful that he could wear his Star Wars costume to dinner.