Living Pharr: Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving Meal

This Thanksgiving was the first Thanksgiving that Matt and I have stayed home and cooked the Thanksgiving meal ourselves. All of our other Thanksgiving meals have been eaten out except last year when I was working, and we bought our meal through Whole Foods to have ready to eat when I got home from work. As Thanksgiving cooking can be overwhelming and this was our first year to do it on our own, we tried to keep it manageable - turkey breasts (not a whole bird), a few sides that we are pretty confident we can manage and a dessert (since baking is one of my favorite cooking activities).

Veggies!

The main ingredients (along with the ground turkey below) of our Sweet Potato Hash

Turkey breast slices that have been dry brined overnight and then rubbed with herb butter

Thanksgiving Meal Success!

Herb-Butter-Rubbed Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash (as a gluten-free alternative to stuffing)

Chili and Cocoa-Rubbed Cauliflower (which was awesome!) and Green Beans with Sauteed Onions and Almonds

All in all, we did a pretty good job. We managed our time well enough to where all parts of the meal were ready to go all at the same time, and most everything turned out tasting good and looking pretty. I was impressed with us :)

Catalina

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we went to Catalina Island for the first time since living here in California. Catalina Island is a favorite weekend getaway place for locals, and now we know why. It is beautiful! Not to mention, friendly, welcoming, serene, cozy, fun - all of the things you want in a short but relaxing getaway.

Exploring the Island

The first night we were in town, we were right on time for our hotel's wine and cheese happy hour. We sat around a fire pit, enjoyed some good wine and company plus got some good tips from locals on what to do. We took that advice and went hiking on Saturday morning, on a semi-submersion marine tour Saturday afternoon and a jeep tour of the mountains on Sunday morning before we headed back home.

Our Saturday morning hike led us out of the town of Catalina, up around the golf course, through one of the island's camp grounds and all the way to the top of one of the mountain ridges. It was a 7+ mile hike altogether and we were rewarded with some fabulous views of the island and the town.

Later that day, we went on an excursion in a semi-submersible water craft to see some ocean life. Of course, the tour operators know the best place to go to see the marine life, and they throw some fish food in the water for good measure ;)

Our Sunday morning jeep tour was the best! The jeep (or hummer - Matt says technically it is a hummer) was way fun to ride in. And, while some of the territory we covered was the same as our hike the morning before, we got see a lot more of the mountain range than we ever could have covered hiking. It was such a fun and beautiful way to explore the island.