We had our Thanksgiving early this year. My daughter Jen came up from San Francisco for a weekend visit on November 15
th. We celebrated my husband's birthday (he is now officially a
whole year older than I---which will last until March and I plan to enjoy those few months of being the younger wife!), Jen's visit and an early Thanksgiving last Saturday. It was a fine day.
I did the traditional turkey with all the trimmings and my mother-in-law Eunice, sister-in-law Nonie, movie date night buddy Rune and Don and family all came to help us celebrate and eat. I think my very favorite moment was when everyone had a plate full and all conversation ceased and they all began to eat. For a cook, that total silence while the guest first s
tart tasting your food is the highest of praise. I must say, the turkey was stunning! Brown, crisp, juicy and full of yummy stuffing. It was a fine meal and the company was divine.
Emma provided the comic relief. She had butter and a chocolate turkey for dinner. She claimed to be eating a roll, but mostly she was just shredding it into ever smaller crumbs while
announcing to the table, "I need more butter." So, the doting
gramma would put a bit more
butter on her plate and Emma would deposit it on her knife (while holding onto a crumb of roll), then put the knife in her mouth, slurp off the butter
and then announce to the table, "I need more butter." This was repeated often. She was also quite concerned with who was still eating as she had been firmly informed that no chocolate turkeys would be consumed by
anyone until every single one of us was completely done eating....
Finally, the chocolate turkey consuming portion of the meal arrived and Emma was allowed to "open" her turkey. It was good, as you can see from the above photo, but she was a
much neater eater this year, disappointing her family
tremendously. Last year she was chocolate from forehead to toes. Ah, well, I guess we should count this as wonderful progress in civilizing the child, but I rather miss the messy little face with the huge blue eyes filled with the joy that only a mouthful of chocolate can
elicit. They grow up so fast!
Connie and I got to spend the better part of the day aboard the Crowley Marine tug boat Hunter. I won our trip by bidding for it on the Market Foundation online auction earlier in the spring. We boarded just before noon, after having been treated to espresso and pastries and then spent several hours cruising Elliot Bay and taking part in the Maritime Festival. The high point of the afternoon was the Class A race for the unlimited tugs, and the Hunter was the winner again this year. Number two was another Crowley tug, the Valiant and the third place went to a Foss tub, the America. It was great fun to be aboard and I loved every second of the day! Any day were I get to be on board a boat is a great day. I love messing about on boats.
