Thanksgiving mealplanning!

When I was a little girl, I used to dream about making Thanksgiving dinner for my whole family. Not the potluck kind, the kind where I do everything myself and wow everyone with my culinary skills and my ability to keep it all together.

Most little girls dream of fairy tales and weddings. I dreamed of stemware and poultry.

Last year, I did a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for my parents, who were in town the weekend prior. Emily and Kirby were still living in Del Rio, and Emily's friend Ann was in town as well. 

Last year's spread: Brined fresh turkey, sage and apple stuffing, gravy, cranberry orange sauce, sweet potato casserole, whiskey glazed carrots, mixed mashed potatoes

Emily was just starting to show with Lily in this photo. On actual Thanksgiving, it was just the four of us, and we had a much smaller turkey dinner. It was nice, and I had a blast arranging all the recipes. But it wasn't the same, since most of our family wasn't there.

But THIS year, we've convinced my mom and Mikey, Art's parents, Charlie, my Aunt Cathy and my Grandma Jean to all come down for the actual turkey day! And, believe it or not, they're all DRIVING the 24 hours from Dayton to Del Rio. Better them than me!

My brothers and their respective girlfriends, Dawn and Jamie, are currently on sibling probation for their absence. I will forgive them on Christmas. I think.

Anyway, here's what I've got on docket for this week, Thanksgiving recipes included. Links up where available!

Sunday:

• French onion sliced steak with Grueyere sauce and green beans Do you think they have Gruyere cheese in Del Rio? No. I'm using Swiss.

Monday:

• Roast chicken, broccoli with garlic, sweet potato biscuits

Tuesday:

• dinner out at one of the two non-chain restaurants in Del Rio (there's a third, but it's inedible)

Wednesday:

• Thanksgiving prep:
• Brine the turkey. I am extremely picky about my turkeys. I refuse to buy a frozen one, which means I can't get my turkey in Del Rio. The past two years we have ordered a free-range turkey from Whole Foods and driven the 6 hours round-trip to San Antonio to get it. Worth it!
• Make mashed potatoes and refrigerate (recipe: potatoes, cream cheese, salt, pepper.)
• Make stuffed mushroom stuffing and refrigerate separate from reserved mushroom caps for tomorrow's appetizer
• Make Roasted butternut squash soup and refrigerate
• Breakfast: Pumpkin Pie Smoothies
• Dinner: Braised chicken (Side note: This is from my old blog, and I wrote it just a few days after Art proposed. Ah, memories.)

Thursday:

• Breakfast: Art's pumpkin pancakes, turkey bacon, eggs
• Appetizers:
• Stuffed mushrooms (my own recipe... someday I'll post it!)
• Brie en Croute
• Thanksgiving dinner:
• Roasted turkey
• Gravy (someone else is doing this, maybe Grandma Jean. Gravy stumps me)
• Sweet potato casserole (Art's mom's recipe)
• Cornbread dressing with sausage and apples
• dinner rolls from the Kitchen Bible (best cookbook ever!)
• Roasted asparagus with tomatoes and parmesan
• Mashed potatoes
• Cranberry-orange sauce
• Dreamy apple pie with hard sauce
• Traditional pumpkin pie (made with PW's pie crust)

 I hope you all have a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving!

Interview dates!

Last week, Art got an email from Beale inviting him out for his U-2 interview! Originally they had said December-February, but instead he will be leaving much earlier! He will be out in California from November 27th-December 9th! :) He will find out at the interview if he gets hired or not, so in a few short weeks we will know if we are moving to Abilene as planned or out to Sacramento!

This is great news because Art hasn't gotten dates for his B-1 class yet. If he had, it would make things a lot more complicated and more inconvenient for everyone. So we are very happy he will be going out as soon as he is!

But he will be missing my birthday. :( And my birthday's on a Monday! :( :( But our family will have just left, so I'm sure I will enjoy the time to decompress after what will be a very busy holiday weekend!

Just wanted to share our super exciting news! Say some prayers for us!

More Air Force news!! :)

I know I have some readers who were linked here because of the Air Force connection, and admittedly I blog very little about our life in the Air Force.

Why, you ask?

Because, every time Art gets a set of orders, they say Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas. It's happened three times now.

 Casual status... Laughlin. 

UPT... Laughlin. 

PIT... Randolph (a whopping 3 hours from Laughlin). 

FAIP... Laughlin.

Acronym check: UPT, undergraduate pilot training. PIT, pilot instructor training. FAIP, first assignment instructor pilot.

In short, it hasn't been that exciting, or that Air-Force-esque. Art goes to work in the morning and comes home for dinner every night, except for a few weekends when he's cross country. When I think of military life, that's not really the situation I think of.

It's got me pretty spoiled, actually. But since we now have our B-1 assignment, a set of orders that DOESN'T say Laughlin, that's all about to change.

When I posted about our B-1 assignment, I mentioned that we were still waiting on word from the U-2 squadron to see if Art could fly that airplane instead. Since the U-2 guys came to an air show here in Del Rio about a year ago, it's all the man has talked about. The B-1 news was exciting, overwhelmingly exciting, but I knew a little part of Art (and a big part of me) was still holding out hope that an email would show up asking Art to interview for the U-2.

Well... IT DID!!!!!!!

Last week Art received word that they were interested in interviewing him sometime in the next few months. Several people from Laughlin have been hired recently, so we are hoping that his reputation and superior flying skills (my words, of course) will speak for themselves.

He has not gotten the job yet and would kill me if I started talking about how awesome California is and how it's always been a dream of mine to live there and how PERFECT of an assignment it would be for both of us. So I won't.

BUT this is fantastic news for our little family and I totally believe he will kill this interview. I certainly will post if and when that happens! :)

Teaching causes bipolar disorder. I'm certain of it.

Yesterday, I was looking at jobs in Abilene in just about everything BUT teaching. This is for several reasons, not the least of which is that sometimes I feel burned out. I'm sure every teacher has felt this way, especially the first few years, but sometimes I can't help but think that I do NOT get paid enough for all the garbage I go through during the day. Not to mention all the work I bring home, whether it's actual papers or emotional work. It takes a lot away from my ability to fulfill my obligations to my family, and I hate that. And I can't imagine what it would be like if my husband wasn't so independent (HE packs MY lunch every day, for goodness sake) and we had mini Bulls. Sometimes I dream about a job where I get to work from home. People make money sewing, quilting, crafting, and blogging... so why can't I? I dream of that life.

And then days like today happen. Today, my district gave me the day out of my classroom to observe other teachers with my mentor, Brenda. Because I'm certified 4th through 12th grade, we went to the Freshman campus for first period. (Yes, our school has a totally separate building just for 9th grade!) I consider myself a smart person, but for some reason it didn't dawn on me that the students currently in 9th grade were in 8th grade last year, and, therefore, my former students.

I saw them. A LOT of them. For those of you that don't remember my first year as clearly as I do, I went home crying a lot. My kids were bad. Disrespectful, sleepy, truant, lazy, insubordinate... you name it. I wasn't that great either, and that was probably part of the problem. But anyway, I would not have ever imagined that so many of them would run up to me with mile-wide smiles on their faces, telling me that they miss me and they are so excited to see me. Even the student that my mom lovingly referred to has "The Boy with the Hippo" gave me a hug. Last year I never would have believed that could ever happen.

After that emotional roller coaster, I got to see a lot of classrooms that are different from mine and get some good ideas for how to better manage my class. It is so nice, every once in a while, to get a break from teaching and do some of the other stuff, like planning, that we are required to do but not really given any time to do it. Brenda watched me teach my toughest class and had some good feedback for me as well. All in all, it was a very good day, and a good way to break up the monotony.

Then, from 5-7 we had Open House, and I got to meet some of my kids' families, which is always so awesome. I wish more of my parents had shown up, but it was so nice getting to tell my parents how much I love their kids, because of course the only parents to come to open house are the ones with great kids.

So, I guess, there are good days and bad days, just like everything else. I'm not sure if I'll teach forever or not, but in the midst of all the craziness and the stress, it was so nice to have a day to recharge. And see my kiddos from last year. :)

In the words of my philosopher husband: "Would you just decide already if you like your job or not?!"

Yes. No. Yes. No. Yesno. Yesnoyesnoyesnoyesnoyesno.

Is that so hard to understand??

WE HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT!!

I really wanted to post about our Dodge Journey adventure before this, but it seems crazy to me that I've waited this long to post about our next assignment! We have been waiting for this news for... count them... FOUR AND A HALF YEARS now, and last weekend, while we were in Lexington for my dear friend Erin's wedding, we got the call.

Ready, people?

Art will be flying the B-1 (pictured above), and we are moving to Dyess AFB in Abilene, Texas!! This may not seem like exciting news, especially for those of you who don't know much about the drop process, but it IS! Yes, I'm going to be a Texan for another (unknown) amount of time. BUT, Abilene, is a much bigger town, about the size of Dayton, and the B-1 was our first choice on the dream sheet. So, this was incredible news and we are so blessed.

So, what does the B-1 do, exactly? It does two really really cool things:

1. It breaks the sound barrier. (Confession: I can't really grasp what that even means. Looks neat!)

2. It rains hate. Serious. Hate.

I'm so proud of my husband. It truly feels like finally, finally, he is getting something he really deserves for all of his tireless work. I am so glad that he's being recognized for being amazing at his job and I feel so blessed and lucky to be by his side.

And... I'm gonna say it... I feel so blessed and lucky to be MOVING. Bring on the Starbucks and the Targets and the highways and the Michael's and the diversity and the sushi and the non-Walmart grocery and everything else that's in Abilene that isn't in Del Rio. I'm EXCITED!! We don't know any dates yet, but April-May timeframe is the best guess at this point. Unless something crazy happens and we leave way earlier than that, I'll still be finishing the school year with my kiddos. And I'm definitely going to sob uncontrollably on the last day of school. So I have that to look forward to.


We are still waiting to hear back from the U-2 squadron. The U-2 is a special request assignment that Art is still eligible for. It's truly the plane he's dying to fly, but since it's not on the dream sheet, we put B-1s first. The U-2 squadron is just outside of Sacramento, California, so there is still a chance (we are really really hoping!) that we will go there instead.

But lemme tell ya, if we don't get the U-2, we already have our second choice, and it's a pretty splendid place to be. I am loving life!

A Peanut Post

I have a post coming about our Dodge Journey adventures last weekend, and another about the NEW ASSIGNMENT we just got, but my little furry friend just walked across the room and inspired me to write about him. Here's a list of things that I hope I never forget about this dog:

- At night, he gets grumpy and just wants to go to bed. Sometimes, if he decides we are staying up too late, he puts himself to bed.

- After a long day of napping inside, his favorite thing to do is go onto the back porch and lay in the sun. After a good dose of vitamin D, he comes back in.

- His favorite favorite thing, of all time, ever, is string cheese. The dog will arise from a dead sleep if he hears the cheese drawer in the refrigerator open.

- When I put on sweatpants, he likes to prance around in the legs before I put them on.

- He always wants to cuddle with the last person to sit down.

- He is happiest when all three of us are at home sitting as close together as possible.

- He likes to sleep under the covers, but just in between the two quilts, not under the sheet.

- He catches flies in midair. Often.

- The tazer is the worst thing to ever happen to him. (The sound, I don't actually let anyone taze my dog)

- He has a freckle on his left ear.

- Because the sewing room gets the most sun in the house, sometimes I find him hiding in there.

- Aside from me and Art, his favorite person is Gloria, our cleaning lady. She calls him "Peanuts," and sometimes we do too.

That is all. More about the Journey and OUR journey... later. :)

Confession: I love Jewish food. Forever and ever.

I'm Catholic. Like, super Catholic. I don't go to Mass every week (although we talk about going to Mass every week!), but I've been fortunate enough to never have doubted my faith. Not once in my life have I ever doubted it... that's a big deal to me! I credit my mom, my godparents, my grade school, and my second family, the Colemans, for instilling this faith in me. I'm lucky. I would never denounce Jesus Christ and I believe in the New Testament with my whole heart.

That said, I'm pretty sure I have a Jewish grandmother alter ego, or at least an alter stomach, because I love Jewish food. Love. Love. Love.

My stepmom is Jewish, and she was the first one to introduce me to my first traditional Jewish dish/ingredient... matzo. Or matzah. Whatever you like. It's basically unleavened bread, although it's not the same texture/flavor as the unleavened bread we Catholics take at Mass as the Eucharist.

 As an aside, my dad's father was part of the Hitler Youth in Nazi Germany and my dad ended up marrying a Jewish woman. There's all kinds of restitution happening on the Tiedge side.

As a second aside, that also makes my Chinese sister half Jewish. I'm excited for her to apply for colleges (in three years?!!!) and get every scholarship available just because she can check, like, every ethnicity.

Anyway, matzo comes in many forms... matzo meal (which is about the consistency of bread crumbs), matzo crackers (like you see in the photo above), matzo balls (like dumplings... but better), matzo brei (Jewish French toast of sorts)... and I'm sure there are more. I love matzo. And I'm making matzo ball soup for dinner tonight, so I thought I'd dedicate an entire post to a genre of food that I'm just crazy about. I hope you try some Jewish food soon, even if you aren't Jewish... you life will be better. I promise!

Blintzes, which are sort of like crepes. I love blintzes because, for the most part, they are savory. I don't really do sweets, so I loooooove these when they are just alone in their carbohydrate goodness. I can't do the sour cream of course, but with a little salt and herbs... to die for.

Knishes... they're kind of like calzones, but with more of an Eastern European flair. I like these best with just sausage, onions, and herbs. You can add cheese to them, but it's not Kosher if you do. I actually like mine better without the cheese, and it's not just because cheese and my intestines hate each other. :)

Kugel. There are so many recipes for kugel out there. I've only had the sweet kind, which kind of reminded me of cinnamon Yorkshire pudding with noodles. I am dying to have some savory kugel, but haven't found a recipe I loved yet.

Jewish apple cake. Please don't buy Jewish apple cake. Ever. Google for a recipe and make it yourself. This has been a public service announcement.

Lox and cream cheese on an everything bagel. Lox is smoked salmon... regular cream cheese... capers... everything bagel. I don't like red onions on mine, but I know a lot of people do. I could eat this for breakfast every day. And I would, if they made dairy-free cream cheese and sold it at Wallyworld. But they don't.

Challah bread. Or Hallah bread. Or Halla bread. Or Challa bread. I don't know why it has so many different spellings, but no matter how you spell it, it's the best bread. Ever. It's also incredibly easy to make (please use honey and not sugar!) and doesn't need anything but a little bit of salt to taste incredible. This is the first bread I ever made from scratch!

Latkes. Think hash brown cakes... but better. These can be eaten at any meal, and they are soooooo good with a little bit of salt and applesauce. And they're easy to make! I really like Emeril's latke recipe, but without the caviar. Honestly, if I had to buy caviar, I wouldn't even know where to go. I'm just not classy enough for cavier I guess.

Matzo ball soup. Without a doubt my favorite Jewish recipe... I'm eating it as I type this. I never have fresh dill, but I know dill is delicious in it, as is just a teeeeeny squirt of lemon juice before serving. I used Manischewitz's matzo ball mix that my mom sent me (there's what, 6 Jewish people in the entire city of Del Rio? Not much matzo running around), but I have made them myself before. I love these as much (if not more) as I love regular dumplings... these are so much lighter and airier. There is NOTHING else like matzo ball soup when you're sick. It's better than chicken soup for sure. Once you have it, you'll never want chicken soup again!

Thank you for humoring me while I gush about Jewish food. I hope you go out and try one of these things immediately, for the sake of bettering your life.