the $84 turkey (or: peters family thanksgiving)

nope, that is not a typo. this year, i got my american bronze heritage turkey, from the always wonderful JenEhr Family Farm. i had wanted one last year, which bryan quickly vetoed. this year i hadn't even asked before he told me no. but one magical saturday, kay spoke to him at the market and somehow managed to convince bryan that we just had to have one. have i mentioned that kay is my hero?

so, i got my turkey. and no, they're not cheap. but it's definitely worth it, for a multitude of reasons - helping to preserve a heritage breed, protecting the environment, and our health, and supporting a local farm. not to mention it has actual flavor. today, commercial turkeys are bred for their breasts - their legs are tiny, and their breasts are huge (and neither tastes like much). their breasts are so huge, in fact, that they can't fly - and real turkeys can actually fly. our 24 lb bird was a sight to behold - huge legs and a proportionate breast.

our initial plan had been to wrap the bird in the caul fat from our pig (think of a bacon wrapped bird... minus the bacon meat), which we had specifically ordered. the butcher that did our pig, however, was less than wonderful, and after defrosting two giant bags of fat, we were incredibly disappointed to find that there was no caul fat. bryan was, in his words, devastated. he spent the sunday before thanksgiving calling around town trying to find replacement caul fat. he was able to locate some, but at $60, i said no. maybe next year.

instead, bryan brined the bird, and rubbed a compound butter beneath the skin. he roasted it, and that was it. what resulted was a gorgeous bird.



dad carved the turkey, which we then served with gravy (which bryan of course made using the pan drippings), cranberries with port, roasted squash, stuffing with homemade sausage, bryan's corn budin, aunt debbie's mashed potatoes, mom's whole wheat rolls as well as rosemary garlic knots (which were promptly scarfed up by all in attendance), and marissa's green beans almondine.



the meal was all sorts of delicious. it was hard to stop eating and save room for pie, of which there were two, both made by me:

apple & fennel pie -



and a gluten free pecan pie -



bryan and i both agreed dinner was a complete success. i was very happy to have planned a much simpler menu than last year. we had plenty of time and oven space to make everything, and were even able to keep up with the dishes (a first, i'm pretty sure).





in a moment of clarity, i realized that the kids (oliver and my cousin's two kids) would pull out every single toy to make the biggest mess possible. since the toys currently live in our living room, i figured it would be better to put them all in oliver's room instead. i was very glad i did, as it turns out i was fairly clairvoyant about the course of events.

all of my sisters were in town, so of course we had way too much fun seeing them. oliver loved having a new audience to perform for and charm. he especially made a new friend in uncle kevin, who not only was a boy and thus automatically cool, but also always had m's (m&m's) on his personage, and didn't mind sharing.





more pictures from the week here and here.

a very happy turkey day indeed. and a great weekend filled with family, all of whom i am so incredibly thankful for.

oops

so, i had lost our camera last weekend. adrianne and shannon were in town, and i had taken some great pictures with them. we had gone to the history museum with mom and adrianne on saturday, and had used it there, but i knew we had the camera when we were home because i took pictures of lunch. but then sunday, we couldn't find it. we had gone out to dinner with mom and adrianne that night, but hadn't brought the camera. it had simply disappeared. we had to figure it had fallen out of my purse somewhere, or oliver had "put it away" at some point. we looked EVERYWHERE (or so we thought). so, not wanting to go too long without a camera, and since we wanted to buy a nicer one at some point this year anyways, we went ahead and ordered this one from fuji. i had wanted a dslr, but bryan did not (he didn't want to mess with lenses), and even though he doesn't actually take any of our pictures, he won. apparently, however, this camera performs just like a dslr, but you cannot change the lens. i am very excited to get the new camera. i was just upset at the cute pictures we lost.

HOWEVER.

guess what i found today? yep, our camera. it was in one of the compartments of the stroller. i forgot that last saturday, after oliver's nap but before going out for dinner, we had gone on a walk. DAMN. since the new camera not only already shipped, but is in this state ready for delivery, we will just now have two cameras.

oops.

so let's get down to business.

wednesday, march 4th: thick cut pork chops, feta wheatberry salad, and whole wheat rolls with salt. mom dropped off some rolls that day, and we thought they would go perfectly with this meal (they did!). i think the feta wheatberry salad will become a favorite summer dish. it was so good, and so easy. bryan and i both love a greek salad of cucumber, red onion, roasted red pepper, parsley, and feta in a red wine vinaigrette, and the simple addition of the wheatberries made it to die for.

thursday, march 5th: pizza and beer, a classic combination. bryan's infamous pizza crust always makes me swoon. schlitz beer has made a comeback, and bryan has decided to switch his everyday beer to that brand. support the home team, and all. it's pretty good. though be sure to get the bottles, not the cans - apparently the bottles is the good, old '60s formula, while the cans is the crappy '80s formula. or something. i don't know about the details of the beer, just the part where it goes well with pizza.

friday, march 6th: pecan crusted catfish with sweet potato hash and tabasco beurre blanc, sweet peas. this had been a dish on this season's top chef, and while we weren't huge fans of the chef that made it (although he did end up winning), the dish itself sounded very attractive to me. it helps that i love hot sauce, i guess. this was fabulous. we almost didn't make the sweet potato hash; i hadn't planned on it, but bryan wanted to make it. and i'm SO glad we did, because it was amazing. of course, it was sweet potatoes fried in bacon fat, how could it not be? we didn't use tabasco brand hot sauce, and we decided not to use bryan's homemade hot sauce either, since it would have been too hot and overpowering (having been made with habaneros). it was scrumptious (and not quite as day-glo orange as it appears in the picture).

sunday, march 8th: roast chicken with pan sauce, homemade french fries, and artichokes with homemade garlic aioli. need i say more? oh, only that i made a compound butter with lemon zest, parsley, and rosemary to stuff liberally under the skin of the chicken. mom and dad joined us for dinner, and there wasn't much left over (the fries were devoured the fastest, i believe). although we are not huge fans of poultry, this meal may be the epitome, to me, of simple, easy, honest, and perfectly delicious home cooking.


monday, march 9th: chicken enchiladas. using bryan's homemade chile paste. one of the dishes that he used to woo me early in our relationship. turns out, it still works.



tuesday, march 10th: shepherd’s-style rigatoni with ricotta and irish country sausage, roasted cauliflower. a very simple dish that everyone loved. keeper!



thursday, march 12th: sweet potato and black bean burritos with brown rice and tomatillo salsa. bryan roasted the sweet potatoes, and we threw everything else together in whole wheat flax seed tortillas, topped with cilantro, and dug in. adrianne was in town and ate dinner with us. not our usual combination, but good enough to become one.


saturday, march 14th: for lunch, i made tomato soup and grilled cheese for us, mom, and adrianne. the soup recipe calls for cream cheese at the end, but since we were having grilled cheese, i skipped it completely. a very delicious lunch. it turns out oliver loves tomato soup!

and now, since we did not have our camera the following week, text only, sadly:

monday, march 16th: chinese lemon chicken with rice, snow peas, and bell pepper. bryan used a crockpot recipe as the idea, but of course used real lemon rather than lemonade concentrate. oliver loves asian food and rice, so this was a hit with him. i love lemons, so it was a hit with me as well.

tuesday, march 17th: beef stew with whole wheat molasses bread. mom, dad, and shannon came over to celebrate st. patrick's day with us. the weather turned out to be in the 70s, so not the best day for stew, but it was delicious anyways, especially with the bread. can you believe i didn't even have a beer, though?

thursday, march 18th: thai tofu butternut squash with asian vegetables and rice noodles. bryan and oliver were over the moon with this one.

friday, march 20th: mascarpone chicken with pasta, and spinach with red pepper and garlic. we again used a crockpot recipe as the inspiration, but did it on the stove and changed a few things. bryan made his homemade cream of mushroom soup to use, and i bought mascarpone instead of cream cheese. bryan seared the chicken breasts, simmered them in the soup, and added the mascarpone. simple as that. when i told oliver there was cheese (mascarpone), he got very excited for dinner, and kept saying "cheese! cheese!" until we put him in his chair and gave him some.

saturday, march 21st: bbq buffalo with cornbread. bryan had wanted me to make something with buffalo, and include my cornbread. i decided to go bbq style, and browned the meat along with onion, then added diced yellow squash, diced sweet potatoes, and green beans, and mixed in some annie's bbq sauce. topped with the cornbread batter, and baked. this took literally no time to put together, and was very good.

and what else?

oliver had a bit of a woopsie last week monday. when i picked him up from day care, they had just gotten back from their walk. we took him out of his stroller and let him walk up the driveway with everyone while rachel and i chatted. i carried him over a puddle, and when i set him down, he either tripped over his own feet or thought i was still holding on, and went forehead first into the driveway. ouch. he got a pretty nasty scratch on his forehead, but was over it pretty quickly. i was just glad it wasn't his nose or mouth.


last week thursday, adrianne showed up to spend some of her spring break with us. as i mentioned, she joined us for dinner that evening, and oliver had quite a fun time showing off for her.






last week friday, shannon came to spend her spring break here as well. i had a party after work, which i stopped into for a short time before heading over to mom and dad's house so we could all have dinner together. they grilled chicken, ribs, salmon, and asparagus. oliver very much enjoyed having multiple grilled meats at his disposal.





the next morning, we headed down to the museum with mom and adrianne. i think oliver's favorite part is the butterfly room. he recently picked up the word butterfly ("buy"), so it was pretty fun watching him run around yelling "buy! buy! buy!" although, the butterflies are a little too inured to the presence of humans, which is unfortunate around a 16 month old. we had to do a lot of very active policing of him and his fingers!



we had a blast running all around the museum all morning. i think mom and adrianne wanted to actually look at exhibits, which is hard to do with an active 16 month old in tow. still, we all had fun.









after the museum, we all headed back to our house for lunch and then a nap. after nap time, we went on that walk (whereby the camera was "lost"). the weather was so beautiful, we couldn't resist walking through the park. after a quick run through target (i swear, we can't stop moving), we headed off to margarita paradise to meet mom and adrianne for mexican food (and margaritas - though i ended up having a mojito).


this past week, shannon offered to babysit for us, so we jumped on the chance and met my cousin jamie for pizza at wells brothers. we had read about the place as being one of the top 10 pizza places in the world, and in talking to people who had gone, knew we just had to go. so we left oliver with shannon, hopped in the car, and took a 50 minute drive - for pizza. about halfway there, bryan asked where the heck we were going? haha. :) but - it was worth it. the pizza was outstanding. super thin crust, which i'm not normally a fan of, but this was soft and delicious, and the edges were caramelized. we sat at the bar, and the bartender was very friendly and knowledgeable about the history of the place (opened 1921, making pizza using the same recipe since the 1940s), AND he was able to deal with bryan's silly questions. so, although it was a long drive, we'll be sure to go back. we had a lot of fun hanging out with my cousin, eating after 5pm, and being out after dark (though we were still home around 9:30). i had a few beers to make up for missing out on st. patrick's day.

our weekend is shaping up nicely. bryan wanted to check out some garden statues, so after oliver's morning nap (necessitated by a 5:45am wake up, grr) we headed out to waukesha to check out a place i had found in the yellow pages. um, turns out they just had headstones. oops. so we grabbed some coffee/tea instead, and went to visit our friends maggie and enrique. it had been forever since we had seen them, so it was really nice getting to visit. they are dog-sitting for a friend's miniature cocka-poo, and oliver got a total kick out of seeing a tiny dog! we stopped at culver's for lunch, checked out the new menards (a local hardware store) - 2 stories, including a ridable cart escalator, similar to the one at ikea, which had oliver so excited (he kept calling it a "choo choo"). then home for a nap (for everyone). after nap time, we headed out to get bryan and oliver hair cuts. oliver usually does very well, but started to freak out a little when she sprayed water on his head (he, like his father, has a very weird fear of water in his face - although he will dunk his face in water) SO he ended up getting a sucker so he would sit still. his first taste of candy, and he was not disappointed. back home for dinner, and then a walk through the park (and finding the camera). gorgeous weather, fun, fun day.

tomorrow morning, we're meeting mom, dad, and shannon for breakfast. then, oliver and bryan will spend the day together while i get the day to myself. i plan on hitting up macy's, going to the library, and just generally hoping both my boys are alive when i get home in the evening.

check out more pictures in the march gallery.

hopefully monday i'll have a new post with pictures using the new camera!

let it snow

happy thanksgiving everyone! it has snowed here; just a light dusting but it's pretty. moose is pretty happy about it. oliver thinks it makes the sun too bright.

we're getting ready for thanksgiving around here. we are hosting this year, with help from the fam. bryan is in charge of cooking. we are making crisp apple-scented roast turkey with cider–calvados gravy, port wine cranberry sauce, green bean casserole (the real deal), corn budin, sweet potatoes, port glazed onions (some cross between this recipe and this one), cornbread stuffing (shannon's creation), cranberry bread, mom's famous yeast rolls, cranberry chocolate torte, apple pie, and mulled cider. yea, it's gonna rock. bryan and shannon are currently in the process of totally destroying my kitchen in pursuit of the meal. i am staying out of the kitchen in order to retain my marbles.

all the sisters are in town, which is awesome. katie has been coming over every day to help out with the baby, which has been a total blessing. last night, shannon made 5 pizzas (deep dish sausage, stuffed crust meatball with a balsamic tomato sauce, feta and tomato with pesto, chicken with pecorino romano sauce, and pumpkin). we had a lot of fun as usual. as we determined last night, the conversations haven't changed so much as our vocabulary has expanded. a typical conversation at the dinner table goes something like this:
mom: [explaining a recipe for swiss chard]
katie: what's chard?
adrianne: swiss chard?
katie: oh... cheese.
everyone: what???
katie: well it's swiss right?

yes, she is blond. ;) as is shannon. this is just further proof of her innocence. after dinner, we were talking about ron jeremy (don't ask me how we got on the subject).
mom: who's ron jeremy?
shannon: oh, you don't want to see that movie. it's really bad.
everyone: what?!?!
shannon: anchorman!
adrianne: no that's ron BURGUNDY!
shannon: oh. then who's ron jeremy?



oliver has been growing bigger already, which is bittersweet. he gets cuter by the day, and more alert and in control of his motor skills. we are, of course, convinced that he is a very advanced baby. which i am sure he actually is.

feeling thankful today

things i am thankful for:

- having had the willpower this morning to not eat candy for breakfast. the woman in the cube next to me brought in halloween candy, and managed to get all my favorites save one (she is forgiven). it's sometimes hard to concentrate on working with a bowl of two-bite baby ruths sitting 3 feet from you.

- knowing that the financial "squeeze" i feel shortly after pay day is due to the fact that after i've paid the bills, bought food and other needed household goods (and perhaps a few extras), i've overpaid our credit cards and made a noticeable deposit into the savings account, not because i don't have enough to cover the bills. it's easy to forget that when we are too tired to cook and want to eat out, or there's a new video game bryan wants, or i find a fantastic deal on a designer wool coat, and i look at our checking account and don't feel comfortable spending the money on said item.

- that due to this, our savings account is growing again, surely and slowly. priority driven budgeting has served us well. we have aways to go (and i'm sure it will always feel that way), and i know there are lots of big ticket expenses coming up (including but not limited to a child, a car, and a new kitchen), but seeing our progress makes me know we can do it.

- experiencing such an easy and perfect pregnancy thus far. for any of the discomfort, in all reality, i have had it very good. so few symptons and no actual problems (knock on wood). i know plenty of women have it a lot harder. i've "hit the wall" and i'm ready to it to be over, but i've loved the experience and hope that in the future i have the opportunity again, and that it's just as delightful.

- being both happy and challenged in my job. part of the happiness comes from the challenge. i've been challenged, and happy, in my employment in recent years, but it's been a long time since it's been both. and everyone here seems to be impressed and thrilled with my work, which is a good feeling.

- having access to my parents. it's been so nice to be near them again, to spend time with them, have the ability to just drop in, and be able to share the excitement of this year with them in such close proximity.
- finding the house we did, in the neighborhood we did, for the price we did. i feel truly blessed about this. i absolutely love *our* home. i enjoy all the improvements we've made, and am excited to continue to do so for years to come. i've been looking forward to owning our own home together for years, and i'm still taken aback at how it all came together so seamlessly for us. bryan kept telling me to be patient, but that's not one of my strong suits. he was right once again, and everything has come out better than we had even hoped to plan for in that arena.

- being one of the few lucky ones to have a loving, attentive, and totally devoted significant other. i can't begin to explain how helpful and supportive bryan has been, even when i am cranky for no reason other than having a 30 pound wiggling bowling ball in my tummy, or too tired to do anything (even talk) other than lay on the couch. he hasn't complained once, and in fact is always there insisting i relax while he takes care of whatever needs taking care of at that moment. in my increasingly weak moments when i can't help but complain about how i am feeling, he smiles and tells me he loves me and how excited he is for this new chapter in our life.

i'm a pretty lucky girl.