A Texan Thanksgiving With Family And Friends

Tyler's Home

It's Turkey Day in Dallas and finally, all of Beth's family is here as Tyler flew in from Boston last night, arriving home around 9:00.  After living on his own for months, he was typically starving but we had lots of dinner leftover for him to devour. 

Yep, Another Family Selfie 

We had a busy day yesterday, especially for the girls who did lots of prepping and baking.  Evie and Beth began the day with figuring out what would be the best container to brine the turkey.  Fortunately, since we are frying two, neither one is that big so we were able to place it in a bag in a pot and put it in the refrigerator for twenty-four hours.  Once that was accomplished, Beth and I skipped yoga so we could get some shopping done before the crowds but getting to Costco never seems early enough as the parking lot was mostly full when we arrived at 10:30, a half hour after opening.  Our major buy was a pumpkin pie, at the request of Tyler.  We also picked up some salmon and veggies for last night's dinner.  And I bought something else we don't need,  a couple of bottles of avocado oil, recommended by Beth, expensive but healthy with a heating limit of 500º.  We then decided to stop at Central Market despite the crowds and picked up a few more things for last night's dinner and Thanksgiving dinner as well.  It's never enough so I am sure we will be going out somewhere today to get 'one more thing.' 

While we were gone, Marisa and Evie were busy in the kitchen baking.  First, they made the families favorite, a cranberry bread, part of every Thanksgiving.  Once that was done, they made some cookies, another family favorite, snickerdoodles.  Then, Evie put together the dough for her dinner rolls which rises in the refrigerator overnight.  And finally, Evie also made a dairy-free pumpkin flan in ramekins for Mitch using coconut milk.  Most of the prepping for Thanksgiving was done by the time we got home.  Marisa was even able to give her room a cleaning and straightening up. 

Around 3:00, Mitch and I drove off to the local strip mall, as Mitch was looking for a new snowboard and I wanted to find a jacket at the upscale St. Bernards.   I did find a coat but did not like the collar so neither of us ended buying anything.  We then stopped at Tyler's, the local tee shirt and surf shop store but I was not in the mood to buy anything so it was a wasted trip.  When we got home, I took Cody out for another walk as he was begging me to go.

Beth And Ramiro Among The Hydrangeas

Rami got home around 5:00 and he and Evie got busy making marinade for the second turkey, of onions, cilantro, garlic, beer, honey, lime, and chipotle chili powder.  Once everything was pulverized in the blender, Evie strained it through a cheesecloth and Rami injected it into the turkey, getting it ready for today's frying.  By the time they were done, it was time to make dinner, so Beth spread an aioli mustard from TJ's on the salmon, baked it, heated up some ribs and chicken from Costco for those who don't like salmon, roasted asparagus and Evie made her garlic spinach,  We had quite a feast obviously and just enough was leftover for Tyler, good planning. 

The Many Faces Of Our Working Grandson

Evie and Rami picked Tyler up at Love Field, about 15 minutes from their house and he arrived, happy to be home for Thanksgiving, with lots of requests for dinner, among them a cranberry bread.  We sat around listening to music, screaming requests at Alexa, the new app which controls the lights in the house, the Sonos system, and TV via voice commands.  I can say, Alexa, play Barry White's "I Can't Get Enough Of Your Love, Babe," and voila, it comes on.  All seven of us sat around listening and talking, for the first time since the summer I think. 

A couple of us went to bed around 10:30, the early risers, but Marisa and Tyler went up to play a video game till late.  Beth fell asleep on the couch as did Cody, the end of a good day.