Monday, November 29, 2010

Turkey in Texas

We got to go to Austin Texas for Thanksgiving this year.  After being wined and dined at all of the coolest places in Austin, we cooked a gigantic Thanksgiving dinner at home.
We began baking pies at 10:00 p.m. Wednesday night.
 I couldn't resist making a lattice for the cherry pie, even at that late hour :-)

Holly stayed up until 1:00 a.m. to pull the pies out of the oven.


Chad was the head Turkey and Gravy maker.    It is a good thing he knows how to cook, because I don't know the first thing about digging out the innards of a turkey . . . and I don't plan on learning any time soon!

I think Holly commented at least a dozen times that we could just buy rolls . . .  but how could I give up on making little armadillo rolls while in Texas?! (Actually, I didn't realize they look like armadillos until just now :-)
 I think we had like 5 pans total!
I pretty much spent the ENTIRE day making 900 rolls.  Ok.  Maybe that was a slight overstatement, but close!
Holly kept herself occupied doing 900 dishes in between cooking the filling for all of the pies, doing sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole,  . . . ect..
True to form, when all of the food was on the table and ready to eat (notice the casserole covered with tinfoil) Danny decided to "help cook" by making a last minute Mango puree for the chocolate pie . . .  
Two gourmets sampling the mango puree.
Why we needed this, I am still not sure . . .  chocolate fudge pie can stand alone!
Danny said a restaurant he likes serves 'miles of chocolate with mango sauce', so he had to try his hand at it :-)

Alex was in charge of making sure the rolls came out to perfection.

Megan, Jackson and Summer were in charge on entertaining the baby.

Master of the House

James was entertained by the fabulous Summer Luster tickling the ivories.

Is Danny really making Mango Puree while my turkey is getting cold?
Last minute Lusters  . . .  :-)

A culinary masterpiece!
 (Actually . . . it tasted curiously just like baby food.)

Summer and Jackson doing the Cha Cha to further entertain baby James.

James gets his first sample of sweet potato.

Dad is excited about it . . . but James looks less than thrilled.
Five bites later he promptly barfed all over Danny's rich boy wooden floor :-)



Megan ate like a whole plate of green bean casserole, a mysterious favorite.

Alex pulls a cheeky grin . . . let the eating begin!


Pie . . .  Pie . . . Pie . . . Cheese!!
(This is what Dan started chanting during the photo)


Divine.

Looked better than it tasted, but an A for effort!

Could this kid be related to Dan?  Look at the size of that bowl full of berries!


Hooray for cousins!!



Sumo baby trying to fit in with Sumo Dan :-)
Look at that beefy boy (the one with his shirt off :-)


Real men have chub :-)

Just look at that complexion!  Could you ask for a more handsome boy?

Holly teaching James patty cake
After dinner we played cards.  Chad got a little help from the baby.
Megan the card shark

Hiking in Austin











Alex found a tiny frog




A Texan bbq restaurant on the river



Eat Pork

Thanksgiving day we went for a hike in Danny's neighborhood. It was awesome!