Thanksgiving

Well Tim and I did it. We managed to make our very first Thanksgiving Turkey together without incident. Despite being miles away from the majority of family and friends it was still a nice day. There's no one else I'd rather have spent the day with yesterday. We didn't do a heck of a lot: played a board game (in which Tim beat my butt), prepped the food, watched a couple movies, etc. Just a nice relaxing day for the two of us. But the food came out perfectly, considering we've never done it ourselves before and we were working with pretty limited space. I was worried as dinner got closer that we'd have to have cold side dishes or cold turkey because there just wasn't enough room in the oven to bake everything at once. But somehow it all worked out and we had a fabulous dinner (with tons of leftovers).

I'm looking forward to being home in ~20 days. We fly back the 21st, then dress shopping in Racine with my mom, my cousin, and my sis2b on the 22nd. We'll be in Wausau for Christmas, and then back to Racine on the 27th to finish out our stay with Tim's family. I'm really excited to get to see everyone. I can't believe I've lived out here almost 7 months already! I fear I'll have a hard time saying goodbye and getting on the plane back to PDX. We'll make it though - halfway through!

White Friday

I know a lot of people who participate in the shopping frenzy on Black Friday. Heck, I used to be one of them. Up by 3 or 4 in the morning, shopping through the day until we finally divided the stash later that evening at one of my aunt's or my grandma's house. It was a great excuse to spend the day with my aunts and cousins shopping for Christmas presents.

In the past few years (last year excluded as I had just come back from Belize) I've been partaking in a different tradition. A clerk at the grocery store the other evening had the perfect name for it: White Friday. See instead of waking at the crack of dawn to wait outside in the snow and cold, I wake up, head to my kitchen and fire up the oven. I spend the day doing what I love to do: baking. I bake numerous different kinds of cookies and candies in preparation for Christmas. Most of these are treats I only make this one time of year, so they really are special.

This year the baking is going slower, and I'm not enjoying myself quiet as much. I'm thousands of miles from home and missing my baking buddies. I also miss the space that having a house affords. Apartments weren't designed for the magnitude of baking that I do. Regardless I've already made the peanut butter cookies and the peppermint swirls. Now I'm just waiting for the peanut clusters to firm up before I move on to a Christmas favorite: Christmas Testicles (they won't be the same without you Laura).

Holiday Cookies

I think it's apparent that I love baking. I could bake all day, every day. In fact, my friend and I have talked about opening a bakery someday and I'd love to see that dream come true. I think with enough hard work and savings it could happen. We've thought of all sort of names and concepts for the place, we just need the time and money to make it happen. Short of opening a bakery, I make sure to take time at least once a week to bake something and when I saw my emails start coming in with my daily holiday cookie recipes I knew I'd be busy.

So the first cookie I decided to attempt this year is a chocolate chip meringue cookie. I've always been mildly afraid of making a meringue cookie because they seem so easy to mess up. But the simple ingredients in this recipe made me want to try it. So last night, to the sounds of Grey's Anatomy, I heated up the oven and started cracking eggs. Despite their delicate look, these delicious morsels were quite easy to make and I'm excited to try them again. I think they'd be wonderful with peppermint extract instead of almond to give them a little bit of a holiday feel.

Check them out and give them a try. I promise you won't be disappointed.