Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light

Last night I thought we were going to Gail and Mark’s for drinks but they had put together an amazing surprise party to celebrate my new citizenship! I always knew I have wonderful friends but I must say I was flabbergasted, the amount of work and care made me feel so appreciated it was by far the best party I have ever been in this country!

It was Gorgeous Gail idea and they really did a fantastic job of keeping me in the dark. It is hard to know where to start to thank you all for what you did: all the delicious food Gail prepared, the bubbly Karen brought ( and even more specially risking being stranded in Torrington by the predicted snowstorm),  the great cookies done by the other Karen, and gorgeous gift she and Rit gave me, the American Flag shaped Christmas ornament I got from Bob and Stacey, but above all it was the hugs and smiles and genuine love and friendship that even at this moment brings tears of joy to my face.

 He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed deserves an Oscar, not for a second he gave any hint that it was a party. He actually even said we might skip it since he was feeling so very tired, he asked me to make chili con carne for dinner pretending we were just going for drinks and he wanted a more substantial meal beforehand.

It was fantastic to enter the room and see them all there, Gail, Mark, Bob and Stacey, Rit and Karen, Marc, Linda, Bill, Frank and Pam, and Karen entering from the kitchen as she got there one minute after I did!

 I do feel amazingly proud to be an American but more importantly I feel immensely lucky to have such friends!

Not a bad bird at all!

T-day!

At first H-W-M-B-O declared we can do without a bird this year. He decided we shall have steaks and be thankful for that. I thought to myself no need to worry about buying a happy turkey, a free range, organic, hormone free (although being on hormone therapy myself I do realize the advantages of hormones if one have strong breast preferences! I have been feeling pretty chesty lately, but I diverge) the bird should preferably be Mozart listening 12 lbs specimen, all in all had a great life prior to get to his destiny as a happy meal.

I had made peace with the idea, especially because a turkey for two means lots of leftover that even my creative nature can feel challenged to come up with a variety of uses.

We went grocery shopping yesterday evening, H-W-M-B-O wants all the side dishes that usually goes with a traditional Thanksgiving dinner minus the bird, I was not convinced about cranberry sauce with steak but was prepared to please the boss. Then it happened: I found myself surrounded by fresh and frozen birds and could not help but stare and be overwhelmed by turkey lust!

This is my 9^th Thanksgiving here, the worst being the very first one when I did not realize H-W-M-B-O bought a frozen one and I spent all day giving it a cold bath in the bathtub and we still did not get to sit for dinner before 10 pm (I have proof, in the form of pictures, but I refuse to show them here!) the best one being last year’s at a friend’s house, surrounded by her family and friends and all I did was the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie the rest of the meal was prepared by her husband and let me tell you he is one hell of a cook!

In the years in between I was never able to convince H-W-M-B-O to have just the breast, in the light of us being very much into white meat. Some years I did the full turkey, just to please him, once I made a roasted duck( I love duck) and once I just made a nice roasted chicken, refusing to surrender to roasting a full bird that will take us weeks to eat.

H-W-M-B-O saw me eyeing the fresh breasts and finally surrender to the idea, so we are having a roasted turkey breast, with all the trimmings , I have done plenty of research and will do a combination of 3 different recipes, I have this thing about creating my own, sometimes just an adaptation from someone’s recipe, or two or three!

I truly believe we have plenty to be thankful; it was by no means an easy year but still a pretty good one.

Wishing you all a great T-day, surrounded by family, friends or both or like in our case just our two dogs which by the way are crazy about green beans!

Teresa's Birthday!

I lost her email and wanted to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, so hopefully she will check this blog soon!

The witch's caldron

da Capo

I have been trying to help with the restaurant website and yesterday I took a few photos to be used there!

Every time I visit the place I get so many compliments I will be needing an extra chair for my ego!

Bread Fever

The fever is actually gone by now, all that is left is an annoying cough but for the past two weeks the "bread bug" got me and I have been baking a storm.

He-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed had no complains about having fresh bread on a regular basis!

A Welcome to Teresa

I have been a bad blogger!

It was not intentionally, just one of those things that happen without rhyme or reason.

Today, out of the blue sky (and trust me the sky is unbelievably blue today), I got a phone call and a request for newer posts! None less than my most gorgeous mother and the very nice friend of her Teresa!

So this post is to officially WELCOME Teresa to my regular readership!

Teresa it will be a pleasure and an honor to know you are checking my little musings on this page.

Green Bounty

It has been a very wet summer and my garden looks beaten down by the severe storms but I do have to feel glad when I see the green bounty of sugar snaps this weather brought me.

Sunny side of the street

It has been awhile, one can even say a real long while. I will not offer any excuses or explanations.

Today I could not resist an attempt to capture my big white. I am fascinated by sharks but in this case I am talking about my dog Matisse. It seems he is getting whiter and whiter every day. I think the change gives him a spooky look but at the same time he has mellowed so much it has been even easier to love him.

I went to check where he was because the door to the patio was open and I found him taking the sun in. I went to get the camera fully knowing the chances were slim since usually he likes to check what I am doing and would just follow me but alas this time he must have been enjoying the heat on his bones because he just stay there even after I took a few snaps. Of course my Mr. Bug (also known as Frito Jack) got all curious and managed to insert his head on the last shot I took of Matisse.

He did raise his head when I went for the camera but then he just went back to look like he could not be bored with such a trivial thing as a photo shoot. On the next couple of pictures he does look a bit depressed although I know that if a fire truck drives up the hill he will be back on top of his game howling his head off! 

Somehow the order of the pictures got messed up but hey they are all there!

my boys