My First Louisiana Thanksgiving

So Darryl told me that he wanted me to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year, and the last time I HOSTED Thanksgiving (I didn't even cook it) I blew up the oven! In my brand new house with all of the family coming down from MD/DC within hours. We ended up buying a Boston Market turkey and cooking mac n' cheese on the grill! HA

My family still brings that up to this day!

So both he and Rah agreed on a small Thanksgiving and the menu was set: turkey, ham, greens, candied yams, and dinner rolls. Doesn't seem like a small Thanksgiving to you either? lol

But we bought small portions and I got to cooking enough for four serving sizes and just to make my husband feel some sweet home comfort, I called my mom-in-law for my first attempt at making her infamous mac n' cheese! Now everyone in his family loves her recipe - they take home pans of it at a time - but I have never attempted it, well I don't attempt much of anything. But I decided to try as this was my first time really cooking.



So I thought it turned out pretty well! Until Ebony told me my turkey looked like a frog and Mr. Jarden pointed out that it didn't have wings or legs, how didn't I notice that until looking back at the pics! HA HA HA

I also placed marshmallows on the candied yams but placed regular sized marshmallows instead of mini marshmallows (note-to-self). When I told Darryl to check the yams he said "The biscuits have overflowed into the oven" to which I replied "I haven't cooked any biscuits yet"! Ha

And the mac n' cheese, well it turned out splendidly! Although Kita told me I wasn't supposed to let the noodles cool before adding the cheese (something about the hotnoodles helping thecheese melt). It was the first thing to go - no leftovers!

Pre-oven

I must say, My First Louisiana Thanksgiving turned out pretty well!
 

Happy Birthday Bestie!!!

Niece turned 40 November 2nd and decided that she was just gonna sit home and bartend for her monumentious birthday and that was simply unacceptable. So I did what any best friend would do - I scheduled a flight for a four-day weekend and went to Raleigh to celebrate her mega birthday in style.

We  planned a weekend of spa, shopping, jazz clubs, dinner, and painting with a twist (that's when you paint step by step with an art teacher while drinking a grown-up beverage of your choice). We had so much planned - but alas only a few of those things actually materialized due to sleeping in late!!! We were so tired, that's the life of military working moms. We did have so much fun though catching up on our latest happenings of each others' lives and Tracey even came up to join us later in the weekend to make it a good ole' trio! I miss not being able to get in my car and simply drive to her house or for that matter living in her spare bedroom for the summer! HA


So Happy Birthday Bestie and I wish you many more...