Thanksgiving Recap

With all the excitement of my big Four Star Luxury Trip for Two to Napa Valley win yesterday, I didn't even get to update on my Thanksgiving and weekend! Though I was bad with keeping up with photos of the weekend, here is what I was able to capture.

Wednesday night Chris and I walked two hours in Manhattan from 59th Street all the way down to 10th street to have dinner with friends at Sammy's Noodle Shop. It was a gorgeous night and we had some time to kill before dinner so we took our time and made some stops along the way. We saw the tree in Rockefeller Center, and we stopped in Bryant Park to watch the ice skaters, and perused some of the pop-up shops there for the Holidays.  By the last 10 blocks we were pretty beat, and definitely ready for dinner!


We drove to my parent's house in Pennsylvania on Thursday morning. Zoey saw us packing and was very worried she wouldn't be joining us, so she kept giving us uber-puppy eyes to ensure that we wouldn't say "no" to bringing her with us.
How pathetic is she?!


Our Turkey Day Dinner consisted of Turkey, caramelized brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, sweet potatoes with apples, and homemade bread. Mom did a great job with dinner as always...YUM!
 and of course...some wine:


For dessert we had my mom's homemade pecan pie, a raspberry cream pie from Briermere Farms on Long Island (my mother-in-law sent that home with us and it was sooo good) and I made my first ever pumpkin roll. Though it kind of fell apart and didn't so much "roll" as it did break apart and crumble everywhere, it still tasted good, and I am determined to tackle (and perfect) the pumpkin roll sometime again soon:

After a successful day of black Friday shopping my parents, Chris, and I had dinner at Alandro's Cuisine in Bethlehem, PA. It was authentic Kenyan cuisine and despite some glitches with the wait staff, it was really good food!
Top Left: Kenyan beef Samosa appetizer
Top Right:  African Peanut Soup
Bottom Left: Beef Stew
Bottom Right: Chicken Masala
The rest of the weekend was spent catching up with friends (Holla to Cassie, Mal and Eric!) watching movies (J. Edgar - very interesting, and seriously, Leonardo DiCaprio is truly an amazing actor!) and Zoey did her best to keep us safe from evil squirrels lurking outside the house!


We drove back home to New York on Saturday, and made a brief pit-stop on Staten Island to drop off some things we bought to donate there: canned goods, water, cleaning supplies, gloves, etc. I can't tell you what I was expecting to see...or what I thought the place would have looked like...but we were shocked by the damage still there on Staten Island. Wrecked cars everywhere, houses completely blown out, debris, dirt and sand everywhere. We didn't take too many pictures because it was sad and we didn't want to look like "tourists". We caught this picture where there is an overturned truck in the back left and a car hanging over the side of driveway.

Driving home along the Belt Parkway, there was still sand all the way up to the highway and many piles of debris near Rockaway Beach.

It was a sad reminder of what other families are having to deal with this Holiday Season, and yet another reason to feel very lucky and thankful for my happy, and safe family.

Comments

  1. Glad you guys had a great Thanksgiving. And your Pumpkin Roll looks delicious. It is really sad to think about everything that people are still dealing with out there! I hope things start to turn around soon for all of those that are still being affected.

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    1. I so hope so too, it was so sad to see it in person!

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  2. I'm glad you had a great Thanksgiving with lots of tasty eats! Zoey is too cute! It is so sad to know what families are still going through in Staten Island and elsewhere. It's awesome that you were able to donate supplies and help support the families that are in great need this holiday season.

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    Replies
    1. Once we got there, I wish we had so much more. I know that any donation is needed and welcome, but I felt bad that we didn't actually stay to volunteer or something.

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  3. Ohhh Zoey!!! The face!
    Looks like you ate lots of good food and had a nice time. So glad you are safe and able to give back!

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    1. I know zoey cracks me up, she knows just how to wrap us around her finger..er..paw.

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  4. I am proud of you and Chris for donating to those dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. You/we are indeed fortunate for tragedy and devastation like that is random and can happen to anyone anytime. We must be thankful for all that we have, share generously with others and not take anything or anyone for granted. And Zoey's little brown eyes could melt a glacier and she could start her own global warming effect!

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