Thanksgiving 2011

As I type this, I'm enjoying the quiet of the day after Thanksgiving.  It is early morning and the sun is just coming up.  However, millions of Americans are shopping on "Black Friday" hoping to get some good deals.  No Black Friday shopping day for me.  I hate shopping where there are crowds of people.  Today I plan to do some cleaning and organizing in our laundry/storage area in the basement.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, so I was busy cooking a somewhat traditional dinner for guests from Viet Nam and Korea.  Gahee and some of her friends were invited to the home of one of her friend's relatives who lives in Springfield, Missouri, so she wasn't with us.  However, her friend, Bora, who is also a student in one of my classes joined Vy, Anh and their guests.  Unfortunately, George spent the day in bed suffering with a kidney stone situation.  He has dealt with this before and Anh suggested he drink pineapple juice regularly.

So the students and I had dinner, and then we went for a walk.  After the walk, we came back and had desserts:  blueberry cheesecake that Trang brought, some fresh fruit, some pumpkin pie, and some homemade gingersnap cookies.

Here's my pumpkin pie story:  I love homemade pies and I love to make them, so yesterday I was making a homemade pumpkin pie when my son-in-law called to see if I would be home.  He had company for the holiday, they were baking, and voila! - he brought over another pumpkin pie.  Great!   About a hour after the second pie arrived, my doorbell rang.  It was my neighbor, Bob.  He said, "Here's your newspaper...and here's a pumpkin pie I know your gal enjoys."  He refers to Gahee as "your gal."    So I ended up with three pumpkin pies.  We'll have to do some extra walking to work off all the desserts!!

Enjoy some photos of the day:

You can't really get an idea of the dimensions of our tiny kitchen, but this is what it typically looks like whenever anybody is doing some cooking.  Our old condo is large, but the kitchen is quite small....and crowded!

This is most of the working area I had to make the different items for the Thanksgiving dinner.  I made some items the day before.  It's very limited space, by American standards, but it worked...as long as I kept cleaning up the area as I prepared different things.

               The Turkey!  I also had some boneless pork ribs cooking in the slow cooker because not everyone likes turkey.

         Vy took a picture of me as I tried to carve the turkey.  It's something I hate doing because I'm not very good at it and I usually end up wrestling bird to get the meat off the bone.  Fortunately, she was there to help out and keep me calm.

                          The group - after enjoying some dessert.

Ali's Surprise Visit!!

So there I was last night...returning from another trip to the store with items for our Thanksgiving dinner, when all of a sudden the doorbell rings.  When I opened the door, Ali was standing there with a big smile!  I could hardly believe it!   He went upstairs and knocked on Gahee's door to surprise her, too.

He is on Thanksgiving break and decided to return to Columbia to visit with friends.  What a surprise!  He's been attending Boise State University in Idaho and he brought us several "Bronco" gifts to wear and enjoy.

We had a great visit just catching up on life, and after a while Meshari stopped by to say hi...so it was like a family reunion!  Before Ali and Meshari left to go to the mall, we made plans to all go out to dinner Friday.

Here are some photos:

                                                   Jenny and Ali - Nov. 22, 2011

                                             Gahee and Ali - Nov. 22, 2011

                                             Our first three homestay guests:  Meshari (being silly), Gahee and Ali
                                         

                                            Meshari and Ali get ready to leave for the mall.  Nov. 22, 2011

Before leaving, Meshari asked Gahee if she had any more of those instant coffee packets her mom sends from Korea.  She went upstairs and attempted to give Meshari a bag with some, but Ali grabbed the bag and pretended to steal it for himself.    This explains the funny photo above.


                                     

Vietnamese Dinner Night

A few weeks ago, Gahee worked hard in the kitchen preparing dinner for her guests, and yesterday Vy and Anh  also worked for hours - literally.  The results were delicious and quite healthy.  Extra effort was made to accommodate George's vegetarian diet...and that was extremely thoughtful.  Gahee was invited to another dinner gathering with Korean friends, so she wasn't able to join us.

During the hot pot preparation, George was delighted to discover a new kind of mushroom he had never seen before.  Only recently did I see this kind in a market, but George was amazed at the shape and delicacy.  He loves mushrooms.  Practically everybody I know loves mushrooms.  To me, mushrooms have no taste.  Nothing.  And then I'm not fond of the texture, either.  But I am certainly in the minority.  I'm the only person I know who doesn't care for mushrooms--except for my parents.  They don't like mushrooms either and never prepared them.

So here are some photos from the dinner:

                                                         
                                                      Vy and Anh - after all the hard work!

                                                    Our hostesses and their guests.

                                              Part of the clean up crew in our tiny kitchen

                                                 Trang Quynhduong visits with George who is
                                                 wearing his MIZZOU Tiger shirt.  (I hope I
                                                  spelled her name correctly.)


During dinner we talked about the Thanksgiving holiday that is coming up next Thursday.  No one had any specific plans, so we invited everyone to join us for dinner.  It will be a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but I'll make sure we include several food items prepared in a healthy way.  

With Gahee, Vy, and Anh ...plus some of their friends, we'll have a big group for dinner, but it will be fun.   George will show them how to play  "Bumper Pool."

Gahee Hosts a Delightful Dinner

Last Saturday evening Gahee invited three friends for dinner, plus Anh, Vy, George and me.  We had such a nice time!  I had my first taste of rice wine.

Gahee made lasagna, traditional potato pancakes, and a potato noodle mushroom soup that got rave reviews.  For dessert we enjoyed slices of fresh fruit.   After dinner she treated her Korean guests to some tea and conversation time in her room while George, Vy, Anh, and I volunteered to clean up.

It was such a nice evening.  I think it was Vy who said, "We should do this more often."  Agreed!  I told Vy that she and Anh are welcome to have guests for dinner -  just let us know in advance.

In fact, we'll be doing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 24.  Vy and Anh's friend Jun (sp?) will join us and I told Gahee that if she wants to invite a guest, that's fine, too.

About an hour or so after dinner, the house became quiet.  Gahee left with her guests and Vy and Anh were picked up by some friends.  George watched a ballgame on TV and I went to bed early.  It was the Saturday when we change our time, so I moved my clock back one hour and enjoyed a good night's sleep.