Giving Thanks



The past week has been so wonderful!  I love Thanksgiving and all the delicious food and warm camaraderie that accompany it.  We had a picture perfect “friendsgiving” with our good friends in Santa Fe.  Everyone brought something delicious – chipotle seasoned turkey and gravy, homemade stuffing, green bean casserole (hot dish if you’re from the north country), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, apple pie.  Did I mention there was wine and Baileys?  I’m so thankful to have met such a great group of friends here.

I’m not going to lie, I was pretty impressed with my own contributions to the Thanksgiving feast as well.  I baked my Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake that is probably the yummiest thing to every come out of my oven.  It was a little lopsided this time around, but just as delicious!  I also made some homemade walnut-crusted wheat bread and baked cranberries with apple and coconut.  I could eat these every day!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Cake (photo from Recipe Girl)

Walnut Crusted Wheat Loaves (photo from Taste of Home)

Baked Cranberries (photo from Taste of Home)

I roasted a 15-pound turkey earlier in the week because I got it for free at the grocery store.  Needless to say we had a lot left over, so I made some pesto grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches with turkey tortilla soup for the weekend, and a four cheese turkey pasta bake for a potluck tomorrow.  Turkey is tasty in everything!

What made Thanksgiving weekend even better was that my dad came to visit!  It was a great weekend of site seeing, picture taking, beer drinking, and meeting of the Santa Fe friends.  We listened to some impressive jazz music at El Meson on Friday, saw the Circus Luminous show at the Lensic on Saturday, and hiked Aspen Vista Sunday morning.  Kua loved getting some extra attention.

Lighting of the Christmas Lights in the Plaza

Lensic Performing Arts Center

Agave Lounge

Hiking Aspen Vista

Oh, and how could I forget the most exciting news of the week… I got engaged!  Full story to come soon, but for now let me just tell you that the proposal was perfect and my ring is GORGEOUS!  We’ve already started diving into wedding magazines, making a guest list, and creating Excel spreadsheets for the budget.  I can’t wait to start planning!

Post-proposal champagne toast on the Hyde Park Circle Trail


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Pacific Northwest Bachelorette Party

Image
I just returned home from a memorable weekend in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, celebrating my sister, Katie, who is getting married in just a few short weeks.  Four years ago she, as my Maid of Honor, planned the most unforgettable and fun-filled bachelorette weekend for me:  San Francisco and Sonoma Bachelorette , and now it was my turn to do the same for her!  We gathered together a group of twelve women from Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, Salt Lake City, Manchester, Santa Fe, Denver, and Seattle to celebrate the Bride to Be.  I wanted to have some organized, pre-planned group activities, but also plenty of down time for games, lounging, and drinking wine.  While we wanted most of the weekend to be spent at a cozy cabin overlooking the serene water of Puget Sound, we wanted one exciting night out on the town, and I think we achieved that balance.  Here's the breakdown of our weekend events: 1)  Night Out in Capitol Hill We arrived in Seattle on Thursday and checked into the
Read more

High Altitude Baking: Coffee Cake

Image
Happy January!  I have two weeks left of my maternity leave and I'm trying to make the most of it by spending lots of quality time with Baby Ady before she starts daycare.  It's going by so fast!  While I'm home I've been using my crock pot a lot, working on some yarn projects, taking long walks with Ady and Kua, reading, and doing some baking.  I have struggled with high altitude baking since moving to Santa Fe 5 1/2 years ago.  Cookies turn out okay, but I usually have to make some adjustments with cakes, and my breads are often mushy in the middle and crispy on the ends.  I can get by okay with a few of my favorite recipes that I have practiced multiple times, but it's often hit or miss.  For Christmas, my secret santa got me this amazing cook book, Pie in the Sky: Successful Baking at High Altitudes, that explains the chemistry behind high altitude baking and gives suggestions for adjustments to make at various altitudes.  Ingenious!  The idea for the book ac
Read more

My Bachelorette Party: San Francisco and Sonoma

Image
I have the best Maid of Honor in the world!   Between grad school, work, and preparing to move into a new apartment, she miraculously found time to plan THE BEST bachelorette party ever (and 3 time zones away, I might add).  I had such a fabulous time being surrounded by (and loved and adored by!) all my best friends for four days. The weekend started at 4:30 a.m. Thursday when my Santa Fe friends and I drove to Albuquerque (a 50 mile trip made possible by Panera breakfast) to catch our early flight to the Bay Area.  After a 2 1/2 trip (complete with Bloody Maries, Tequilla Sunrises, Coffees with Baileys, gossip and a few bridal magazines) we landed in Oakland!  One of my dear bridesmaids from Chicago who had arrived a few days earlier picked us up and we headed into San Francisco.  We met up with the other gals, checked in early to our hotel (Parc 55 Wyndahm in Union Square) and set out to explore the city by foot.  Some locals recommended Mama's in North Beach fo
Read more