Luvly Jubbly in America: Thanksgiving

Hi there

The whole of the states were on a buzz for Thanksgiving. Everyone busy and lots of people baking.

Children were flying from all over the place to be home and everyone was making an effort to be with family. I really really like this holiday, it's a great celebration and no gifts exchanged at all.
The shops were rocking and you know how we all get when the shops close for one day we might not eat again. Always a few people try take you out with their shopping trolleys.
We ordered the BIRD. The great big BIRD, the turkey. Never done a turkey before so felt challenged in my cooking abilities. They never taught us how to cook a turkey at hotel school. Always good to call friends in need. We covered the turkey in bacon as done by Melissa's family. We drowned the turkey in chicken broth and made a bed of carrots and herbs like Caroline instructed. I made a frantic call to Jude for the stuffing. What do you do with the filling besides stuff the turkey. Needless to say I burnt the stuffing. We never had enough space in the oven so we fired up one of the many braais and cooked all our vegetables outside. See Melissa a South African can never have too many braai's. Thanks guys for your help.

We had a great day. It really was a true celebration of new friends and old friends. The kids ran around the house laughing and screaming. Never touched on bit of their lunch. They never do anyway. We tried Pumpkin pie which to be honest was very nice. I was making a few smart comments about eating the pie. Even the kids tucked in with gusto. We now have turkey coming out our eyeballs. leftovers any one.

I have made friends with an Israeli lady called Orit. What a fantastic lady. She has chickens at home, bakes all her own bread and just an all round fantastic person. She stopped over on Thanksgiving to give us some homemade bread. I was so chuffed. It's always the very small things which make you feels so special.

The Friday after Thanksgiving is know as Black Friday. Sales and more sales. People queue up at all hours of the morning to get great deals. Had to laugh because the news showed people sitting on the pavements with their big monster of TVs with no way to get them home. The TVs are too big to fit in cabs. There goes all their saving because they now have to hire a van to get the TV home. I hit Gap at 8.30am this morning where every thing was 50% off. I forced myself to try on ladies Gap clothes and was pleasantly surprised I walked out with a few tops. I normally get cross and say all the clothes are for little people I am not interested. The kids got some stuff for Christmas.

The kids and I have been weaving a rocking chair we found at a yard sale. Just love looking at other people's rubbish. I always look at the kids craft section when on my shopping rounds and I stumbled on craft loops which are strips of fabric. Abracadabra it's working and looking semi OK. If the men on the side of the road in South Africa can use recycle stuff I can also make a plan. Took the blinkers off and having fun.

Leon also hit the DIY shop and we now have biltong drying in our basement. Very professional biltong cupboard I have to add. Leon drilled, had a few beers, hit the books, then came back and did more drilling. So in about 5 days we should have biltong. Watch this space I might be making biltong for a living soon. So all in all a great weekend so far.

I celebrate all the fantastic people in our lives. We would not have survived without you all.

All my love
Heather

Have a look at my blog to see all the pictures