We had our 4th annual Gobble, Gobble Drink-a-Long the eve of Thanksgiving. I mean, who doesn’t love being hung over on Turkey Day AND having to ride in a car for 1.5 hours to Grandma’s house? I sure do :-/
We kept it on the Eastside for convenience and hooked up at our old stomping grounds, Danny’s aka the newly remodeled Dub Pub. Rainiers were consumed, friends caught up, games were played….a festive celebration to kick off the holiday season!
And just for kicks, the original Gobble Gobble group circa 2008!
Plus, a little goodness from 2010! Keepin’ it classy.
My scores from the Goodwill Glitter Sale! Compared to last year, I’ve already worn 4 out of 5 of the items I snagged. I’m even rocking these drop earrings today! I was trying to be a more realistic and practical shopper this year 🙂
This year, I snagged an all natural, organic, free range yadda yadda yadda turkey from the co-op on Capitol Hill AND carried the 18-lb. bird home with me on the bus. I’m a commuter not to be messed with I tell ya!
Cooked up this bad boy on Friday (there are never any leftovers from the fam Tday), sliced and diced it up and froze the cooked meat (with some chickens stock) in small portions to enjoy for the next few months. Turkey sandwiches in January sound mighty nice!
My preferred method of bird cooking involves a Reynolds oven bag. These things are pure genius! You basically put the bird in it, tie it up, slap it on a pan then throw it in the oven. No basing, no checking and the top gets nice and golden too. Highly recommended if you aren’t a whiz in the kitchen or are just plain lazy. Plus, they tend to cook faster in the bag. Ahhh, cooking science – gotta love it.
I also had first attempt at making cranberry sauce. Usually we do the can thing, but I came across a few recipes that seemed way too easy so it was game on! Decided The Pioneer Woman was a safe bet and made this:
Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce
While I was in the holiday spirit, I dolled up this veggie and pickle tray with inspiration from Pinterest. If you’ve gotta eat veggies, they might as well be in the shape of a bird – duh.
We also had a little turkey quiz made by yours truly. The Sugiura/Heuer clan is a competitive group – sadly, peeps didn’t study up on their holiday facts. The big winner got 5 out of 11 correct.
It was a jam packed weekend, so jammed in fact that I hardly had time to take any photos. Seems like every time I wanted to snap a shot, I was 1) in a sad looking church, 2) floating in a tank of salt water or 3) balls deep cooking 4 meals at once while simultaneously being a photographer’s assistant…..you know, the usual things people do on the weekends 🙂
Popcorn Friday!
I started off my weekend with a canning class on Saturday. I was all ready to get hands on – I’ve helped my grandma make jam before but she seemed to skip steps, which made me a bit nervous. I wanted to see what an expert had to say and learn a few tips on how to pickle vegetables.
Unfortunately, I didn’t pay close attention to the fine print and on the way to class, I noticed this was more of a lecture class and less of a demo class. Womp womp. Regardless, I was committed and made my way to class in an old church in SLU. Yeah, this class was nothing like I had pictured. Let’s just say it was a bit, um, ghetto hence the lack of photos – it def was not the scene to be busting out my phone. BUT, I did learn a lot and do feel comfortable tackling my first canning project: pickled green beans and/or asparagus. I know, I know….it’s totally out of season but I just want to try it once so I’ll be ready to really can come spring!
After the canning class, we had a late lunch at Brave Horse Tavern, one of Tom Douglas’ newer establishments. Yeah, yeah Tom Douglas blah blah owns too many restaurants in Seattle….but WOW. I loved this place – communal tables, 2 shuffle boards!, endless beers on tap AND the best warm pretzels around. This restaurant makes me want to move to SLU just so I could waste away my Saturday afternoons there. Nuff said.
Brat for days at Brave Horse.
We capped off the afternoon with a complimentary ‘float’ at our friend’s new business venture, Floasis, in Greenlake. Also known as floating, floatation therapy, sensory deprivation and/or isolation tanks, floatation involves lying in a super-saturated Epsom-salt solution about 10″ deep. The salt-water solution is heated to skin temperature (93.5°F). Once you are settled, it’s pretty hard to tell what parts of you are in the water and which aren’t.
The float tank looks like a large, enclosed bathtub. They are specifically designed to block out all external distractions, such as sights, sounds, tactile sensations and gravity. A private shower is provided in each room to clean yourself before entering and remove salt upon exiting the tank, which I did not seem to use properly. I kept finding patches of dried up salt on me the rest of the night. Note: always rinse well.
I must admit, I spent the first 15 minutes of my hour long session giggling. That complete feeling of weightlessness was strange at first, but I did finally settle in and found the latter part of my session to be quite relaxing. I can see how it would be really beneficial for people with chronic pain or high levels of stress.
The float tank, womb-like.
Sunday was spent at my parent’s house where I simultaneously prepped 5 dinners for my crockpot while also helping out my fav pet photographer, Jen Hutter, with her holiday shoot. We had lent her the garage space for the day so she could accommodate all of her clients for holiday card orders and such.
It was pretty freakin’ fun to watch all of the dogs parade through. French bulldogs, poodles, mutts, retrievers…they donned Santa hats and posed their mug shots. You think your dog is well behaved but once you get them in front of the camera, it’s a totally different story! Jen had to kick quite a few owners out of the space since they were too distracting 🙂 Of course, Stella got her camera time and did quite well. Obviously as soon as I get those pics, they will be posted STAT.
Hope you all had an enjoyable weekend! Was it as nuts as mine?
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