My Photo of the Day: Bloody Mary.

A fierce Bloody Mary craving.

 

 

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving will just be my husband and me this year. I’ll be making a somewhat traditional meal, well I’ll be including some traditional elements at least! Overall holidays aren’t very traditional for us, but it’s usually all about the food anyway. We bought a young heritage turkey a couple of months ago from our friends at Li’l Bit Farms so that will be the centerpiece of the meal. I’ll also make mashed potatoes with gravy, roasted mini squash, sautéed greens, and probably corn pudding. For dessert we got some mini pies to share (pumpkin, pecan, and apple) from the last Boulder farmers’ market of the season. Oh and of course I’ll be serving the cranberry-orange sauce pictured above that I got at a swap last year.

This is our final Thanksgiving in Colorado because we move to our next duty station in January. December will be a crazy month for us, so I’m looking forward to a relaxing Thanksgiving weekend. I’m thankful that we had the opportunity to live in Colorado. It hasn’t always been great, but I’m not sure if we would have moved to this state if my husband wasn’t stationed here. No matter where we move, I set some goals for myself and I accomplished just about all of them here. Looking forward to our new adventures coming soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Dia de los Muertos.

I spent the weekend before Halloween with my friends Jen, Ellen, and Butter. We decorated some sugar skulls that Butter made and filled Halloween stockings that Jen sewed for us. Of course we also feasted on delicious food and had a great time overall. I’ve never had a Halloween stocking or decorated sugar skulls before, but maybe these will become a tradition from now on. Do you have Halloween or Dia de los Muertos traditions?

 

My Photo of the Day: Watermelon.

On a hot day, few things quench my thirst like watermelon. I picked up the habit of sprinkling some salt on watermelon from my parents, and that’s usually my preferred way of eating it. I also like cutting it into cubes and tossing it with lime, salt, pepper, thinly sliced chili peppers (or just flakes), ripe tomato, and cucumber. Sometimes I add a little red onion. Most times I don’t think watermelon needs much, though, especially if it’s in season. Do you have a favorite watermelon recipe?

 

My Photo of the Day: Cantaloupe-Mint ‘Agua Fresca.’

 

The day is still young, but this was part of my breakfast. Melon season is finally upon us and I’m going to be making a variation of this with watermelon as well.

Blended ripe cantaloupe, a little water and lemon juice, and fresh mint leaves (sometimes I add ice). You can also strain this, but I like it thicker. It’s great that the bit of mint makes this even more refreshing.