First things first: let’s pour some motivational coffee.

Then ask Google for some measurement conversions.

Okay, get mixing!

Turkey Brine from Anne Burrell:
¾ cup kosher salt
⅓ cup sugar
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bay leaves
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 ribs celery, diced
1 onion, diced
One 12- to 14-pound turkey

Combine 8 quarts cold water, the salt, sugar, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, garlic, bay leaves, carrots, celery and onions in a large container. Immerse the turkey in the brine and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days.

(This salt was a housewarming gift from my good friends, Bridget and Lindy — they also brought a loaf of bread.)

Just a touch of sugar!

(I’m not yet fancy enough for fresh herbs. Maybe someday.)

My sister shared some veggies from her CSA for Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. Since these onions were a bit small, I used two instead of one.

Someone was very excited about both the turkey and the sunshine beaming into the house on this gorgeous Thanksgiving day. Can you believe temps in Minnesota were in the 50s? That is insane.

So, that’s a lot of brine.

The bird and the brine are wedged into a cooler to sit until late tomorrow night, or very early Saturday morning. I haven’t decided when would be the better time to remove the bird from the brine. Our friends are coming over for dinner later on Saturday, so either way I’ll have plenty of time to decide.

Sorry, Ellipses, we’ll have to wait just a couple more days!

look how cute we are!

previously posted my phone photos on posterous, but i forgot about this photo. it was on my crappy neglected point-and-shoot camera. i’m looking forward to the day when i can get a new iphone and stop carrying my point-and-shoot camera entirely.

it was nice to have an extended autumn. i heard there’s going to be some real snow this weekend (as opposed to the 5 minutes of giant snowflakes we had late last week). it’s been chilly, though. i’m already tired of every sweater i own.

this is going to take all of my effort. it’s only seven o’clock and i am ready to go to bed. yaaaawn.

anyway.

i was all bloggy with it, until i went yarn shopping at needlework unlimited on tuesday night. i’m working frantically on a gift for a friend, while ignoring a ravenclaw scarf i meant to finish before starting another project. it’s always so much easier to work on projects for other people, though.

i spent too long thinking about color choices and i finally had to get one of the clerks involved. she made my mind up within 10 minutes. then i spent the whole rest of the night not understanding how to get started on this new project. i’ve got it now, though.

meanwhile, my worklife is full of sugar lately.

which is sort of inconvenient since i have two teeth that need to someday be replaced by implants and other teeth that are already giving me pain. i’d like to get rid of this mouth and start all over.

(side note: i think the implants will have to wait a couple years. that stuff is expensive!)

friday was sort of crazy day. the weather here in minnesota is extremely out of character; i think yesterday we even set a record for a new high temperature. i had plenty to keep me busy all late morning/afternoon at work, but i jumped at the chance to get out at 4.

as soon as i got home, i fell down on the couch and fell asleep for an hour or so. i guess that happens sometimes, doesn’t it?

i was a little more interesting on saturday. bertine hosted a clothing swap ( i brought 3.5 bags of my own clothes, and 4 or 5 bags of my sister’s clothes), then sarah and james hosted a birthday party for brett favre.

he’s the reason for the season, y’all.

… and for the sugar overload.

this is james, eating favre cake wreck with a side of cheesy poofs.

after the favre party, i went over to jason’s house. we decided it was a good night for the haunting in connecticut. jason’s favorite part was after the movie had ended: his cat, sio, snuck up and stuck her cold, wet nose on my foot and made me jump about a foot in the air. he actually high-fived the cat.

my tolerance for scary movies/tv shows (ghost hunters is great) gets worse and worse.

today i recovered by knitting my new project in the hammock in the backyard for two hours. it’s just completely weird how nice the weather is. i plugged my ipod into my ears and rock and rolled the stitches away.

i took a few pauses to watch the leaves fall off the branches above me. magical. is this what living in california would be like?

neighbor-dog, ziggy, came out for a visit.

what kind of berries are these?

my hands need a break now. no knitting, no typing. i’m surprised my fingertips are bruised yet.

First Christmas

Due to a gigantic snow storm over the Christmas weekend, I spent my time being happily snowed in at home. I got home the Wednesday night before the holiday, and didn’t dig my car out ’til Sunday.

This is about half of the snow we got.

I probably should’ve tried to dig out a couple days earlier, but it was awfully nice being lazy.

Luckily Jason was willing to drive me around so we spent some time at his apartment (he has surround sound and satellite tv!), as well as an evening at Karyn and Bryan’s house.

Second Christmas

The following weekend, Jason and I drove down to Indianola on New Year’s Eve. We were spoiled by three days of sleeping in until 10 a.m. and having coffee ready for us when we woke up. Renee also made an endless supply of delicious food. It was a super weekend.

French toast and mimosas for brunch? Yes, please.

If I hadn’t let Nicholas and Alex take photos of me with my camera, this would’ve been the only real proof that I was there.

I think Logan found this Lego set – Lego Renee and a Lego chicken. Perfect (as Renee has chickens)!

We spent a lot of time playing Wii and card or board games in the evenings. I actually survived an entire game of Phase 10! Wine helps.

Third Christmas

And for weekend after that, I carpooled down to South Dakota with Karyn and Bryan to visit my own family.

My camera died when we reached the Sullivan Christmas party in Sioux Falls, so I took a bunch of photos with Karyn’s camera that I’m too lazy to post here.

It was Hannie’s first Christmas, of course, which is why she got so many more presents than the rest of us. (I kid!)

Ryan sent everyone their own Taiwanese banana case, which was pretty special.

Bryan knew these were SPAM, but he didn’t know which flavors! They came all the way from Hawaii.

I think I need to open this when I have friends around to help me drink it, in case it’s too weird.

That sushi pillow also came from Hawaii. I made a special trip to Honolulu’s Chinatown and sat on Waikiki beach with it all afternoon on my final day.

What a mess.

Kelsey and I have been friends since the 3rd grade and now she’s having a baby. Aren’t we somehow obligated to have babies at the same time so they can be BFFs, too? I am no where near ready for that, though. Oh, well.

Mom and Dad gave each other new toasters for Christmas. Dad hated their old toaster so much that he immediately threw it out… into a snow bank.

Karyn and I spent some time organizing and stuffing Ryan and Jane’s wedding invitations. Stamps and addresses were flying all over the room!

On our way back to Minneapolis, Karyn, Bryan, Hannie and I stopped at Grandma D’s house in Rock Rapids since we didn’t have a chance to see her in Sioux Falls. We had a delicious lunch, Hannie got some fun toys, and then we continued on our merry way.

That was the longest Christmas celebration ever!

So here I am, in Honolulu, and I already have way too many photos to share and stories to tell. I never got around to telling you about Adobe MAX or the MAX Bash or all the free crap I took home from L.A. last month. I got busy, but I still intend to tell you about these things.

But for now, I will just tell you that even though the ocean has been beating me up for the last two days, I am having such a supremely awesome vacation. I am happy to be with one of my best friends, Jen; I am happy to be getting multiple days of sunshine—it’s the summer that Minnesota missed this year; I am happy to sleep on this hard bed because I can hear tropical birds and see coconut trees and geckos on the wall and it is very amazing to be here.

Yesterday I saw a sea turtle, which was just about the coolest thing. Have you seen Finding Nemo? The turtles are the best part of that movie.

I miss everyone at home, but I have free wifi when I’m chilling at Jen’s apartment and I’m texting updates to Flickr and Twitter. I feel fairly connected, though the 4 hour time difference is just enough to make things awkward.

The wind is picking up now and the sun is setting a bit early today, but I think I’ve gotta grab my camera and go snap a couple more photos outside. Aloha!