Happy Gravy Day!

from Nicole: Gravy Day is also known as Turkey Day to some, but it all depends on where you place your emphasis on Thanksgiving. I myself could feel satisfied by a Thanksgiving with no turkey but would be horrified and mystified by a Thanksgiving with no gravy.

Anyway, my parents came to stay for the holiday and we had fun. Here are some pictures:





Here's my mom really happily sitting at the dinner table, and my dad reading Harry Potter at my craft desk. Aren't these kids so cute?





Notice how my parents wear bright colors, I really enjoy that. My parents made all the food and I was responsible for the mashed potatoes because they are my staple. I was kind of surprised that they trusted me though. I guess I am in my mid-twenties. I should know how to boil stuff and add butter.










One of my favorite nights while they were here we played a friendly game of Clue and Nick stomped on us. I was okay though, because mom had made pie and it was sitting right in front of me. I was Miss Scarlet, and in this shot I am in the Study with Professor Plum and no weapon but my killer looks. Turns out neither of us were guilty.



Mom and I got a little crafty one night making these super cute fabric birds that I found online. Check out the pattern here. It's free! It's from the blog "Spool." We were making Christmas-y birds, but these would be totally great for a nursery or kid's room or just general coolness about the house.











Nick speaking: Thanksgiving was the best of times, and definitely not the worst of times. Free range turkeys (none of that fake stuff), and gravy ahoy! I say, my good man, that it was quite possibly the best delight since turkish delight...or rapper's delight. Candied yams were aflutter the spread. Do you know the times?

Nicole: I love it when Nick posts.

Chase Saying His "F" Sounds

Hi. I am Nicole's sister-in-law Sarah. This is a video of Nicole's nephew Chase. It happens to be one of her favorites so she would like to share it with all of her friends. He is practising his "f" sounds with Nicole's brother Bill. Chase's brother Bryant gets in on the action a little as well. Hope you enjoy it as much as Nicole has.

In honor of my good friend Alison.

Al is a nice girl. She likes being crafty, cooking chicken pot pie with no chicken, watching movies, sleeping in, and being cool all the time. She loves Twilight and Edward, and that's no lie. So in honor of her happy evening headed out to see the midnight release of Twilight, I turned her into a vampire. Here it is Al, this is for you:

Alison as a nice girl: (with a really sultry look on her face...)

Alison as vampire

Have fun tonight Al. I wish I could be there to see you see it! Breathe for me, okay.

one of my new favorite recipes:

Back when I was young and dependent I would randomly and authoritatively declare that when I was older and independent I was going to make just the gravy and mashed potatoes the full meal. Nothing else. No greedy meats getting in the way of the goods. Mom would always say "Well you do that Nicole, but for tonight, eat your chicken"... or pork, or whatever greedy meat was in the way.

And then when I was all old and independent (married) I did fix just gravy and mashed potatoes for dinner. I told Nick the story and he seemed to be okay with just the mashed potatoes. (And sometimes he would only eat the potatoes and I was sitting there thinking "what is this crazy doing? doesn't he realize we're having gravy and mashed potatoes? he's leaving out the whole main dish!") I asked him a lot if he was okay with just the potatoes and he's really easy going and he always said yes, but secretly I wondered if he really wanted more.

Then I came across this recipe in Cooking Light and was instantly drawn to the gravy oozing over the picture. I tried it out for Nick's sake and fell in love. I can make gravy from scratch now and I feel so empowered. It might be what I've always wanted to be able to do. Anyway, here is one of my new favorite recipes. And I even like the meat! The recipe does not say to make mashed potatoes, so you have to remember to do that on your own.

Pork Chops with Country Gravy:

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chop and 1/2 cup gravy)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
• 4 (4-ounce) boneless center-cut loin pork chops (about 3/4 inch thick)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Cooking spray
• 1 1/2 cups 1% low-fat milk

Preparation

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Place flour, salt, dried marjoram, dried thyme, and dried rubbed sage in a shallow dish. Dredge pork in flour mixture, turning to coat; shake off excess. Reserve remaining flour mixture.

Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add pork to pan; cook 2 minutes on each side or until browned. Reduce heat, and cook for 10 minutes or until done, turning pork once. Remove pork from pan; keep warm.

Combine reserved flour mixture and milk in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk until blended. Add milk mixture to pan; place over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Reduce heat, and simmer 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Serve with chops.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 252 (34% from fat)

Fat: 9.6g (sat 4.4g,mono 3.6g,poly 0.8g)

Protein: 28.9g

Carbohydrate: 10.6g

Fiber: 0.3g

Cholesterol: 83mg

Iron: 1.5mg

Sodium: 584mg

Calcium: 142mg

Lorrie Hulston Corvin, Cooking Light, JUNE 2006

Atlas Shrugged Update

I'm on page 655 and I still don't know who John Galt is. I have my suspicions however. My favorite quotes/ideas from the book so far:

" ...achievement [is] the greatest gift a human being could offer to others."

and this exchange:

Dagny: "Hank, this is great." (speaking of something he created)
Hank: "Yes."
He said it simply, openly. There was no flattered pleasure in his voice, and no modesty. This, she knew, was a tribute to her, the rarest one person could pay another: the tribute of feeling free to acknowledge one's own greatness, knowing that it is understood.

Who is John Galt?

Nicole speaking: I recently joined a book club and next up on our list is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

My friend sent us all an email announcing our choice and included this quote from Wikipedia:

“….at approximately 645,000 words, the book is one of the longest novels ever written in any European language.”

Yeah, and my copy weighs about ten pounds, so I'm also getting a work out every time I read. Right now I'm on page 71 with 1097 pages to go.

Feel free to join in the fun and take up the challenge with me. I'm always up for a good book discussion.

pumpakins thru the ages.

Nicole speaking: Every year since 2005 I've carved Pumpakins with my boo, Nick. Let's take a look:

October 2005
Nicole: Super Noodle
and
Nick: Smitten Grin

October 2006
Nicole: Cat
and
Nick: Love

October 2007
Nicole: Holy Pumpakin (Nick called it Disco Pumpkin)
and
Nick: Stick Cat/ Space Worm (it's double sided)

October 2008
Nick and Nicole: The Birthday Monkey takes over Halloween

Nick Speaking: Thus we see that the longevity of relationships is directly proportional to the number of pumpkins carved per person per Halloween squared.