Another Quiet Spell

It's been another long period without any news on the blog. While everyone else was wishing the world a Happy Thanksgiving, I was cooking a big dinner...and then promptly getting sick afterwards.

Our house has been a plague house over the past week. While the Husband was supposed to have a relaxing week off, we spent most of the time fighting off the flu, and then a stomach bug. Of course, there was still Thanksgiving to do, grocery shopping to do, friends and family to visit, and a house to tidy after a week spent lying in bed.

Thanksgiving went off quite well in the end. It's one of those meals I always anticipate will be much harder than it actually turns out to be. With my friend Kerri's help we managed to pull off:

• turkey with gravy
• warm green bean salad
• cocktail sausages
• corn & peas
• carrots
• buttermilk biscuits
• cornbread
• mashed potatoes
• apple pie &
• pumpkin pie

So much for the misleading picture of instant stuffing up there! I meant to make it, and in the end it just got lost in the shuffle. Cranberry sauce somehow also got left off - a shame as it's probably my favourite part of the meal. Oh! And for those wondering what constitutes a Warm Green Bean Salad...Kerri and I just sort of made it up on the fly:

• Green beans
• Cherry tomatoes
• Garlic
• Onion
• Thyme
• Prosciutto 

We steamed the green beans, then pan-fried the other ingredients with a bit of olive oil (the cherry tomatoes were halved first). Then, once the tomatoes were smelling nice and looking a bit wrinkly, we took them off the heat and dumped them over the steamed green beans. All done! Nice and simple, but a good way to get in another vegetable...seeing as how eating a good selection of veg isn't really my strong suit most of the time.

Now, of course, it's on towards Christmas. We set up our tree the other night, and E has been loving the bright lights and the "fluffy rug" under the tree. It's a faux-sheepskin from IKEA that I bought the other year specifically so I could use it as a tree skirt. Advent Santa is out and counting the days, my giant Julebukks are coming out to flank the tree, and the last of the gift shopping will soon commence. Oh yeah, and then there's that whole packing-my-hospital-bag-to-be-ready-to-have-a-baby thing. No rest for the weary!