The restorative powers of getting out of town...

Well, J., Allie and I arrived home yesterday from our three day trip to Black Butte- J's brother, also J., and his wife M., and our father in-law plus AlsoJ and M kids were there. I never have spent much time with any of J.'s family except Also J and M because they live here in town and the rest of J's family is in Alaska and they don't celebrate holidays. Plus, Also J and M are very fun.

It was a lot of fun. I got to spend time with M., we made thanksgiving dinner from scratch. I was basically the back up, since I like canned, boxed convienence foods, so this whole "from scratch" thing was alien to me. Of course, it made me take my once monthly vow to improve the eating habits of my family, which are terribly appalling and I'm shocked at times we don't have rickets or scurvy the way we eat.

It all came out very well, except our sweet potato recipe. I guess now sweet potatoes and yams are interchangeable, but they are really different things. The picture with the recipe was orange, so they really meant yams and not sweet potatoes, but anyway, we had sweet potatoes, which are like regular potatoes in color. In an effort to add color we added some pumpkin, however this made them a yellowish/orange that to any mom who has breastfed, reminded one of that early months of baby poop in color and consistency, hence they became the "baby poop sweet potato dish" The baking and topping didn't help the look- however, I did eat some and it tasted really good. My homemade biscuts didn't rise very well either, but otherwise- all quite tasty and very traditionally thanksgiving-y.

We (J. Allie, and I) stayed in a cute little cabin, while Also J and M got the joy of the father-in-law at their house- really quite a likeable guy except for some of his retro-thinking about women- fortunately J and Also J do not hold similar beliefs. A sample "women are unknowable creatures." I am neither "unknowable" nor a "creature"- yet I'm a woman....hmmm.... But, lots of fun anyway.

It was snowy and lovely. I guess dispite having a great time visiting and eating my favorite moment was Saturday morning. J and Allie were asleep. I was in my pink sheep pjs, stretched on the couch, cup of hot tea by my side and a blanket on my lap- reading Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" by the big picture window watching the big, fat, fluffy snowflakes come down....ahhhh......