Thanksgiving Post-Mortem

We had a great two day Thanksgiving. Thursday we went to my husband's parents' house. There were lots of people including my SIL's parents & my other SIL's ex-husband/current friend's sister and her daughter. There was a hodgepodge of food, both traditional and new. My SIL made Swedish apple pie, which was different and delicious. The daughter of the sister of the SIL's ex brought a salad made with pomegranates, coconut, corn, and celery that was really good. The cranberry casserole was exceptional.

I wished that I had taken the left-over cranberry casserole home. BECAUSE, I forgot to make cranberry sauce for the Friday celebration at my brother's house.

No one, except me, really LIKES cranberry sauce, but it is a tradition. Like collards on New Years, everyone takes at least a teaspoon of sauce. I mean nothing says "Plymouth Rock" like cranberries.

My brother spent one Thanksgiving in France. He and his American friends tried to put together a traditional Thanksgiving meal, and they discovered just how American the food is. I don't remember a lot of details, I think they used croutons to make stuffing for the chicken (no turkey.) I'll have to ask him to tell the story again. Anyway, they could not find cranberries. And this made them sad. Even though none of them really like cranberry sauce.

I make cranberry sauce with fresh cranberries and orange juice. I boil them until the cranberries pop. It gels all by itself. This is "the old way." A few years before she died, Mom decided to try a new recipe in which she put cranberries and orange peel in a food processor. I hated it, but she made it. When she died, I made the kind I like, and Dad said, "this isn't the right way to make cranberry sauce." Maybe that's why I forgot this year. Or maybe I was just overwhelmed. Who knows?

So other than the cranberry sauce debacle, I had a great Thanksgiving. I did not eat too much, even though it is true I will not get this food again for another year. I had a tablespoon of everything, and it was a gracious plenty.

Who says you can't eat well during the holidays? Although... there are those Christmas cookies calling my name.

Goodness, it's been awhile...

...since I've written anything in this blog. I'd love to say I've been eating tons of rainbows and lean protein, exercising regularly, and meditating every chance I get. But no, that would not be true.

This week, however, I am eating tons of rainbows. My exercise is limited to getting out of bed and meditation looks a lot like sleeping. But let's stick to the good stuff:

Lack of money, lack of energy, and lack of creativity have led me to eat the same lovely super rainbow salad for lunch every day this week. I am not complaining. It is a mixture of romaine and radicchio with a handful of broccoli, red cabbage & carrot slaw thrown on top. I've added red, yellow, and green peppers & weird interesting toppings like walnuts, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, and these sesame things on top. The dressing is orange something. Oh, yeah, chopped baked chicken pieces. It's great.

I've also been eating strawberry or blueberry Greek yogurt, because I like it.

I had a sleep study on Sunday night, and I hope to find out if I have sleep apnea or some other easy to treat disorder that is causing me to lose sleep which causes me to be tired, grumpy, fat, and wrinkly. (I'm sure I read somewhere that sleep apnea causes wrinkles. I'm really counting on treatment making me look like I did at 20 --- without the zits. Or the dazed expression.)

My darling husband went to the doctor a while back and the doc said, "Eat less bread and walk 30 minutes a day." He has been doing that (is that a man thing or what?) and has lost about 10-15 lbs (that is a man thing, I know.) I'd like to say I'm inspired by his dedication, but I'm only irritated. I need to get moving, or he'll weigh less than I do. And since he's six inches taller than I am, that would really really suck.