My family loves Smitten Kitchen's spinach and cheese casserole - I double up on the spinach though. I also serve bacon, sausage, mimosas, fruit salad, and home fries. I might skip the home fries this year, though, and just have a bread/muffin/biscuit basket out. You can do the spinach and cheese casserole ahead of time (and should) as well as slicing fruit.
Ruby Slipper - so good we went there two mornings in a row for brunch. The french toast and corned beef hash are awesome Snug Harbor - jazz club. Visit Frenchmen's street (where SH is at) for the local vibe Pat O'Brien's piano bar - order a hurricane and hang out in the piano bar. It's worth the line. Commander's Palace - go on a weekday and order the turtle soup and some $0.25 martinis. Dress code enforced. Walk around in the garden district afterward. Jacque Imo's Cochon Go on a swamp tour
No rental car is needed. It's about a $30 cab ride from the airport and it's just not worth it to deal with parking. I think a long weekend is perfect and it's what worked well for us.
For now, I'm fine with either and we plan to adopt. I assume due to what's common now that we'll have an open adoption and that's fine.
As an adoptee I have a semi-closed adoption but as far as communication goes it may as well be closed. There has been no contact in my life and it's fine. I never felt abandoned or unwanted. Perhaps if I had a different story/my birth parents had a different story I'd feel differently. My birth mother was 15 and was soon to be an orphan (father died in the year before and her mother was dying from cancer.) She did what she felt was best to provide the best life for me and her. My birth father was MIA. Even as a small child I understood that a raising a child when you're 15 is hard, even with a support system.
In theory it'd be nice to have medical records but even now my birth mother is only 41. It could very well be a long time before she has any information. On the flip side, it's nice not knowing sometimes.
We broke tradition this year because we didn't go back home. But generally,
H's family: All 10 nieces/nephews will run around and shriek like baby pterodactyls. In-laws will do nothing about it. We will then play games. Someone will get angry and storm off during the game. I drink a lot.
My family: Everyone watches a different TV in a different room in the house.
don't actually know anyone who is a Black Friday shopper so every year I'm shocked at how many people are out and about. Last night we drove by the new outlets near my house and they were SWAMPED.I
I don't actually know anyone who is a Black Friday shopper so every year I'm shocked at how many people are out and about. Last night we drove by the new outlets near my house and they were SWAMPED.
Wednesday afternoon/night (I get out of work early): Stuffing, peel potatoes, brine turkey, make cranberry sauce, ice cream, sweet potato casserole, compound butters
Day of: Put potatoes in crock pot, brussel sprouts, pies (morning), rolls
I love my KA mixer and use it all the time. I also love my food processor and am so glad I registered for it. I didn't know how much I'd end up actually using it. I wish I got an 8 cup one instead of the 4.
I didn't care for the article but I suppose it's good to have it to share experience beyond, "I was poor, now I'm not. Yay me!"
I know she didn't say her experience was the same for everyone, but as someone whose family was poor not such a long time ago, I roll my eyes a bit. Poverty is hard. Not everyone can get out. At some point, though, you have to look at your choices, recognize that some of them are poor, and actually try to do something about them.
I've been working on being less negative for years. H is the same way and we both know it's a problem. We know when we're being negative it's just a touch habit to break.
I don't go balls out with appetizers because, per Ina Garten's suggestion, I don't want people to get filled up. I'm just putting out two cheeses with crackers before dinner, cut up apples, and that's it.
The show is more of an affront to any organized religion, not just Mormonism. If you can laugh about your religion, you can see the show. My dad, a devout Catholic, was deeply offended. My mom, a devout-er Catholic, thought it was fucking hilarious.
For what it's worth, when I saw it in Chicago, the local LDS church was advertising in the Playbill. The ad read, "you've seen the show, now read the real book!" So they seem to be taking advantage of the show's popularity, even if they're offended, lol.
Exactly. I'm religious and thought it was hilarious. Am I going to be singing along to that song in the car? Probably not, but it was still funny.