Thanksgiving Redux

This year I spent Thanksgiving with my guy Dave and his family, the Hall family, in Washington, D.C. Dennis, Dave's brother, and Lara, Dennis' wife, cooked up a lovely, generous feast for six (soon to be seven): roasted turkey, butternut squash soup, rosemary-cream-infused mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, cranberry relish, green beans, and pumpkin pie with homemade cinnamon ice cream. Dave and I were so inspired by the divine ice cream, that this weekend we're going to experiment with egg nog ice cream. Oh, yes; we're up for the challenge.

I'll also post a recipe by Sunday of this week. I'm going to start experimenting with a new posting schedule beginning next week: Thursdays and Sundays. The Tuesday weekly post isn't working for me or my work schedule, so Thursdays and Sundays, here I come. Stay tuned.

Hugs and high fives,

Kella

P.S. My class' service learning project is featured on Drop In & Decorate's site. Woohoo!

East Coast Baking with My Best Buddy: Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

This week I've been staying with friends in Washington, D.C. The great thing about my job is I can work from anywhere (thank you coolest job ever!). I'm so grateful that I made the decision to leave last Friday to see Lara, my future sister-in-law, and Jenna, my best friend in the whole wide world. On Sunday night Jenna and I thought it would be fun to do some baking in her cute Constitution Avenue apartment, so we got busy making Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies. [Please click on the hyperlink for the recipe, por favor, and just add one cup dried cranberries to make this receipe extra tasty!]

This week we also managed to dine at some delicious eateries across DC: Etete, fantastic Ethiopian (I recommend the peppered beef and collard greens), Rasika, the best lamb chops with mint chutney I've ever tasted in my life (hello, chocolate samosa), and Teasim's (in Dupont Circle) cutie pie salmon, edamame, cucumbers with pickled ginger and vinegar, and brown rice bento boxes. While St. Louis has some great places to eat, I was so excited to experience Ethiopian, Japanese and Indian in a city that has some incredible chefs and good eats.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I'd also like to give thanks for my mom and dad, sisters and brother, my granddad, grandpa and grandma, my adorable and wicked smart 8-year-old nephew, the love of my life Dave, his family, our friends (we are so lucky to have so many... thank you for making life fun!), and the cute little fuzzy creatures (aka, my three cats) who share the ups and downs of our lives.

While I won't be responsible for baking or roasting a turkey tomorrow, I do want to give a shout-out to all of you who will be. May tomorrow's meal be a great reminder that we all slow down, give thanks, and enjoy a delicious slow-cooked (or baked) meal.

Hugs, high fives, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Kella