Nave/Marvelle/Lankford Second Annual Thanksgiving Gathering

This was our second year of hosting our families for Thanksgiving. This year the guest list included my family (mom, dad, Jesse), Nathan's family (mom, dad), my sister and her family (Michelle, Todd, Alex, and Lily), and our friends Keith and Erin.

What family Thanksgiving is not complete without a bird incident? We did not disappoint. I took the bird out of the freezer on Tuesday evening... giving it only a little more than 24 hours for a 21lb. bird to thaw. On Wednesday night when I poked the bird, it was still rock solid! So into a sink of cold water she (I named her Elvira) went. The next morning my mom, Nathan, and I woke up at 6:30 to put the bird in the oven to cook its allotted 5 hours to be ready to eat at 1pm. I could hardly get the bag of gizzards out because Elvira was still frozen - her wings were frozen to her body. I knew this was a bad sign!! After rubbing Elvira down with some butter and seasonings off to the oven she went.

Notice that it is still dark outside!

For breakfast we had fruit and bran muffins. I followed a cook's illustrated recipe for the muffins, but I would recommend not cooking them as long AND adding more yogurt. They were not as moist as they have been before.

We cooked the bird for 4 hours while we prepared a few other dishes that needed to go in the oven to cook. We took her out to rest while other dishes baked. I was stressed by the challenge of keeping things hot at the same time - with one oven. We need two ovens and a warmer next time we try to have so much food. After the dressing and other dishes that been cold from being in the fridge the night before had baked. We put the bird back in to crisp and brown the outer skin. We were looking at being on time... but then after about 30 minutes at 400 for crisping, the internal temp was only 150 - is was supposed to be 180. We put Elvira in for another hour and half. Finally she was ready, and we warmed the other dishes up (again) and had dinner at 3... 2 hours after we had initially hoped. Oh well - people were very hungry, but satiated with such a big feast!

Our menu (for posterity):
Nave family:
Tofurkey Fest (for the vegetarians)
Sweet potatoes with marshmallows
The famous (but rarely consumed) orange fluff
Pumpkin gooey cake

Naomi and Kevin
Sweet potato soufflé
Cranberry sauce
Mama Stamberg's horseradish cranberry relish

The Lankford family
Corn pudding
Macaroni and cheese
Pumpkin cheese cake

Keith and Erin
Collard greens
Cranberry cream cheese appetizer spread
Gerdes family appetizer surprise (I will let the cat out of the bag - it was celery with pimento and blue cheese)
Apple pie

Amanda and Nathan and anyone who wanted to help
Mashed potatoes
Thyme and buttery peas
Roasted Pears with cream fresh
Cornbread dressing
The Turkey
Gravy
Trader Joe's Challah Rolls
Pecan pie

Here's to another year of many more things to be thankful for!

Amanda with Alex and Lily - Nathan was able to capture Lily looking at the camera!

Nathan and his dad carving the turkey

Alex showing Pancake her coloring

The kitchen was crowded!

The table was set up in the living room - we moved one of the
couches to the dining room (see below)

Mom coloring with Lily

Cornbread

Growing up in Asheville, I would consider myself a Southern girl. And where I'm from, we don't put sugar in cornbread. A real southern cornbread has buttermilk, no flour, and is cooked in a cast iron skillet. It is savory and juicy with the edges crunchy from the oil in the skillet. It is not a cake or a desert.

If you haven't tried a "real" southern cornbread right out of the oven, then you don't know what you've been missing!

Bored? Here is a way to waste your time

Sometimes when I get bored I peruse some related blogs Lolcats, Loldogs, LolCelebs, Funny Look-Alikes, Lol News & Politics, Fun With Charts, Fail Pix & Vids, and Engrish.

My favorite is Fail Pix & Vids, which shows pictures and videos where the situation that is supposed to be represented has failed.

Here is a recent post where an ad was placed to make the headline read "Obama, McCain are dead" :
Here is a recent post from the fun with charts which speaks so true!

Animals of the Galapagos

The Sea Lions of the Galapagos

Check out our video - lots of baby sea lions. And one sea lion ATTACK!!

We're hoping to put up the rest of our Galapagos videos soon and we're thinking more and more about getting a video camera. You can get a HD video camera now that will fit in your pocket.

Quilting

Michelle and I have decided that we should go into quilt making (forget this PhD business!).

Here is the quilt we put together for Andrea.  Each of the squares were made by someone who attended her baby shower, so we can't take too much credit for the art.  However, we did pick out the fabric and gave some suggestions on what shape to put on the square.   It was so much fun to put together!  You can see my blue footed booby in the bottom corner.

History

“America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves: If our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made? This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.”

-Barack Obama

Election night before...

Election night after...