Post Thanksgiving Update

Well, this is my post Thanksgiving belated post. Apparently, I am the worst at posting in a reasonable amount of time from an event.

Matt and I had Thanksgiving with his sister Anne and her husband Carlos. It was at Carlos's sister's house in Orem. We opted for this Thanksgiving dinner because my parents were indecisive as to their Thanksgiving plans until two days before Thanksgiving. I like a definite plan, so I went to the dinner with a time and location already set. I've spent a few Thanksgivings without my family though, so it wasn't too unusual. When I was living in Hawaii, I would have dinner with the ward, which was cooked by the wonderful folks in the cafeteria. This years dinner was so much better than those Hawaii dinners.

Matt and I went over early in the morning to help Anne get the turkey ready because we were in charge of stuffing and we wanted to stuff the bird. Matt and I have taken to adding cranberries to our stuffing. I think that they add a delicious tartness to the stuffing. If Matt had his way, I think that the stuffing would be made of the giblets completely. He was very insistent that they be put in the stuffing. It wasn't my favorite, but it wasn't bad either.

I helped as much as I could in the kitchen with all the preparations, but I was spent early on in the day and had a lovely nap at the same time as Carlitos. That left Matt in charge of making the mashed potatoes. They turned out a little garlicy for me, but everyone else loved them and that is what matters. I woke up in time to hear an argument going on in the kitchen about whether or not the turkey was done cooking. Apparently, Anne didn't know what the little plastic red button in the turkey was for, so she pulled it out when she was prepping the turkey, so we didn't have a visual indicator of whether the turkey was done inside. It was pretty funny. We all made fun of Anne for her mistake, but the turkey turned out great so it didn't matter. I got to carve the white meat off of the turkey, which was fun. But, I left the dark meat slicing to Matt; it is much more involved.

It was a little strange being with new people for Thanksgiving because in my family, everyone wants the white meat. There is usually only dark meat left once the meal is over. But, in the Kimball household, it is the dark meat which is coveted. There was tons of white meat left over, but no dark meat. It was like being in upside down world. I even went to my parents house a couple days after Thanksgiving and they had made the dark turkey meat into a salad for sandwiches so that it would get eaten without people knowing that it was the dark meat. I took one bite and knew that I had been tricked. I cannot be fooled with dark turkey meat! It is just gross to me.

A dish that was absent from my usual Thanksgiving feast was Dar Dar Dar (named by my strange brother Mike). It is pretty much a jello salad with whip cream, cottage cheese, and pineapple. It is a family tradition to have it at Thanksgiving and meals where Mike is present. But, Matt's sister Anne did make a pistachio pudding fruit salad which had Dar Dar Dar qualities only with more fruit, no cottage cheese and lots of marshmellows. This fruit salad inspired me to create a variation of Dar Dar Dar because Matt doesn't really like my family's recipe. So, two days ago, Matt and I made a salad with pineapple, mandarin oranges, apples, cottage cheese, pistachio pudding, and whip cream. It was delicious! I have to say that it was better than Dar Dar Dar (even though saying this will bring curses down on me from my family who charishes the original). Maybe, someday, I will try to bring it to a family dinner and try to convert them. Or, maybe I will be stoned for changing the recipe.

After dinner, nothing much else happened on Thanksgiving. We played Ticket to Ride and Matt and I went home. It was a good day.

The day after Thanksgiving, the dreaded Black Friday, I went out just a little to go and get Matt's Christmas gift. My wonderful brother Johnny came with me for muscle support. He was my lifter and toter. Then, Matt and I put up our Christmas tree. Our tree is currently our only Christmas decorations, but I figure that the longer that we are married, the more decorations we will collect. I'm excited for the coming holiday!