Lotsa goodies...including the mother of them all - Thanksgiving!!!

Wooooooooo.  Yaaaaaaaa.  Sooooooo.  Back on track.  Seems whirlwindy.

A little catch-up on some fantastic feasts Jason put out pre and post almighty Thanksgiving:

Cre A tiv Ah T = coined TJ's mango chicken sausage, roasted fingerling potatoes, corn and spinach with freshly grated gruyere cheese - I mean...real good.  So unique.

Picked up some Tilapia fillets on sale at Sendik's on Oakland - Jason does an egg-panko-parm bath and pan cooks them.  On the side, roasted broccoli (on the menu and mind because Jason had them at Jay and Ken's place after deer hunting on their farm and ravvvvved about them) and roasted potatoes - both with just olive oil, salt and pepper.  Fantastico!  AND do notice the plated olive oil - direct from Italy from Jason's parents, Mary and Dave!!!  Suuu uu uu per good.

Not your everyday chicken sandwich: on oven-toasted ciabatta bread with sun-dried tomatoes, avocado and gruyere cheese.  We use Whole Foods Nature's Rancher 40 oz bag of frozen chicken tenderloins most things chicken.  As a side - a huge favorite - coined carrots sauteed in butter, honey, garlic and soy sauce - this batch was extra good (Jason made them this time...I usually do, hence this blog).

...last and maybe least but still good - baked ziti last night

And how thankful are we for our new little nephew Emmett Allan who arrived the day before Thanksgiving!  So thankful!  Another little blondie cutie for Ryan and Jen and big sis Brooklyn!  Pretty neat.  Here they are with their brunette cousins.

Thanksgiving prep was a bear this year but the final product was sooooo very nice.  We had about 17 - 20 family members all together.  Everyone brings something which really makes it - each thing is just so fantastic with many, many passed-down special family recipes and new things like brussel sprouts with gruyere cheese - WOW, real good.  Nice one, Andrea.  And the eve was rounded out with our annual, infamous ornament exchange.  Thanks to all for making it sooooo very nice.

I was planning on not crying this year when my Dad said the prayer but alas...I did...again.  It's OK.  It's for my sister.  Robin is always so heavy on our hearts and minds - especially this time of year and this Thanksgiving holiday.  So many things to be thankful for.  So many.  One huge and central one is Robin's life and knowing her and learning from her beautiful life and even from her sudden death.  From suffering and difficulty can come strength and blessings.  Priceless gifts.  Thank God.

Here are a few photos from the joyous occasion.

Innnnnteresting...

Last night Jason found a recipe for which we had all of the unique ingredients on hand...though the name of it included 'dressing' and was misinterpreted as 'salad' dressing versus a 'stuffing'; it was very good and Jason accompanied it with seasoned chicken tenderloins...

From the foodnetwork.com, the dressing=stuffing included:
wild rice, goat cheese, chorizo, whole wheat bread, carrots, celery and chicken broth. 

It was very good with a nice, unique flavor.

Kuuuudooooos to Chef Jason.

Dreary weekend weather wise but Graham had fun at his first basketball practice early Saturday morning.  Nan/my mom came to spend some time and the night Saturday and Jason and I went to trivia night at St. Robert.  Really fun - some questions were really difficult but we had Joe Cincotta!  What a ringer...our whole table each contributed though too and we had a blast.

On Friday, Ryan, Jen and Brooklyn came for dinner and a most likely last visit before family member #4 arrives!  Jen's ready to go and in wait...so exciting!  Should be within the next couple weeks!  You're in our prayers Jen...

Kabobs, Ski-Hi, Smiley Kiddies,,,

Mmmmmm: we had kabobs on the grill - red pepps, green and yellow zuchhnini, red onion, chicken chunks all tossed in evoo, kosher salt and fresh ground pepper...flavor fantastic.  60s out today!  SO NICE!

Aaaah, forgot to take a pre-photo - the lemons are left; Jason's idea for putting next to the chicken and it worked

Our trip to honor and remember Robin to Ski-Hi this season was heavenly...maybe thanks to her!  The weather, the scenery, the feeling and most of all the family that all came together; Mom, Dad, Kathy, Joe, Bubsie/Matt, Em, Sean, John, Connie, Tim, Deb, it was all so touching and just good.

Tis the season for soup and stew...

Jason made a reallly interesting stoup - as Rachel Ray calls this sort of thing - it had potatoes, a poblano, jalepeno AND red bell pepper, onion, celery, roasted tomatoes and corn with a mostly stock base and a bit of cream added.  Woooo, real good.

This is the extent of my contribution - the sous chef

Last night he made the Costco ravioli with grated carrots and julienned yellow and green zucchini with a seemingly secret sauce - unbelievably great.

We're going to Madison this weekend for an annual trip to Ski-Hi orchard near Baraboo with my parents.  Robin stopped at Ski-Hi to get some apple cider and other goodies the Sunday after Thanksgiving 1999 on her way back to school at Winona State University. 

Mr. Shumacher was there and their store wasn't really open but he invited her in and recounts with us the special encounter he had with Robin; what happened to be moments before the car accident that took her to heaven.  We cry together and he says with such conviction what a delightful person he could tell Robin was and what a memorable and warm conversation they had. 

Mr. Schumacher has since suffered a stroke a number of years ago and we hope that he is comfortable and happy wherever he is...we hope to see him on Sunday.  And hope to see Robin's picture that he added under the glass with the family and staff of Ski-Hi. 

We miss you Robin - this is such a touching, heart wrenching, beautiful, sacred time of year for us my sweet little sister - you are heavy on our hearts, thoughts and in our prayers this season and always.  I love you.

Below are some pictures from Ski Hi 2007

Halloween'd out

A little butterfly and the Incredible Hulk!

Last Saturday Boo Bash at St. Robert, this past Friday TrickorTreat at Bayshore with the gang, Saturday sweet, spooky party at Laurette's and Sunday Sunday Sunday Graham and I handing out candy 1-4p and then Graham and Jason TorT'ing while I hand out candy again to the neighborhood 6-7:30p!  Woooooo!  Real fun but real done! 

This pic sums it up...we've played 'find the candy', 'candy basketball' and Graham set out a Dots box to look at b/c 'he likes the colors'.  Kids and candy.

Graham had his last little soccer game Saturday and they actually scored a few times and might have won!  Nice game, Stegosauruseseseses!  Basketball next up.

Mmmmmmm: last night we had a phenom chicken sandwich; gruyere cheese, avocado, roasted peppers on grilled sourdough peasant bread, uh!  So good!  Saturday was a fantastic gourmet, healthy feast at the Blanchards and tonight we had a regular; enchiladas [ground turkey, mexi cheese, sauteed onions and red pepps wrapped in corn tortillas with a mild red enchilada sauce, organic blue corn chips with salsa and guac] Muchas gracias Jason.