Third Annual Nutcracker Outing

Last night Esther and I went to The Nutcracker - our third year doing so. I had asked Esther where she wanted to go to eat and she told me that she wanted to go somewhere posh. This was one of her recent spelling words!

So we went to Trevi's, a restaurant at the Las Colinas Omni Hotel. Arriving at 5pm, the place was deserted. Sometimes that's a bad sign. But for us, it was quite enjoyable! The staff was extremely attentive and prompt. And they didn't blink an eye when I asked if we could share each course (that's what I love about "posh" restaurants). 

Our salad was a layer of green, yellow, and red tomatoes with creamy fresh mozzarella, olive oil, and basalmic reduction. Dinner was fabulous - creamy herbed polenta with a light lemon sauce, asparagus spears, salmon cooked to perfection, and warmed arugula. Esther didn't care for the asparagus or arugula but she devoured her polenta and salmon.

The dessert was a small sampling of gelato - again, Esther's choice. We had mentioned that we were on our way to The Nutcracker so the waitress asked the chef to draw a nutcracker on the plate with chocolate. It was such a delightful surprise - one which I had a hard time keeping Esther from licking it off with her tongue! I did catch her once at it!

Then off to the Irving Arts Center for the performance. We opted to go to a local performance this year instead of at the Opera House in Dallas. I figured that for slightly cheaper, we could sit much closer to the stage (second row) and Esther could be more involved. This production is done yearly by a conglomeration of dance studios with the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Cavalier being performed by local professionals. It wasn't as professional, but it was well done and Esther enjoyed every moment of it.

It was hard to keep her quiet through the show as she was constantly telling me which dresses she liked the best, which part she'd like to dance, asking what instrument was currently playing, recognizing dance steps, etc. But at least all the chatter was about the show.

We got home quite late, but Esther was so happy. She was especially happy that we'd purchased a small nutcracker at the show for Nathan. She put it by his bed where he would see it when he woke up and couldn't wait to see his face in the morning.

My favorite moment: walking into the restaurant hand in hand while she skipped with glee!

The boys made pizza, watched Cars, played catch with a football, and tackled each other. Here is a cute picture of Nathan right before we left the house. His favorite dress up outfit - cowboy superhero knight.

Thanksgiving at the Janis Home

Wow! What a day! The weather cooperated and stayed nice and cool so it didn't get too hot in the house. We slept in this morning, ate breakfast, played at the park, and then got to work. Fortunately, Esther and Nathan played really nicely with each other (they are loving this week long break from school) while Daron and I spent pretty much the rest of the day together in the kitchen - one of our favorite things to do!

Sister Grant and the missionaries joined us this year for dinner. And boy, was it good! We tried to keep it simple, but it still took most of the day to cook. The difference was that the recipes were not too complicated, I did a lot of preparation yesterday, and we actually had everything cooked and warm right at 5pm like we had intended! Woohoo!

The menu:

The food:

We brined the turkey with chicken stock, candied ginger, allspice, brown sugar, salt, and peppercorns. After a good rinse this morning, he got stuffed with an aromatic mix of sage, rosemary, onion, cinnamon, and apples. Daron smoked some applewood next to it on the grill where it cooked slowly for   a little over 4 hours at about 300F for most of the time. He put it up to 400F the last hour. It was awesome!!! One of the best turkeys we've ever done! A slight smoky flavor, so tender and juicy and just delicious. Angelyn and Brian, you may have changed your minds about turkey if you'd eaten this one!

The cornbread and sausage stuffing was great this year - not too overcooked. Jimmy's sausage and homemade cornbread. How can you go wrong? I have a recipe for leftovers of this stuffing where you cook eggs with it. Looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

The cranberry mango sauce tasted almost like jam, it was so good. We made way too much of it so maybe I'll be spreading that on bread for awhile. It was a Bobby Flay recipe. The potatoes were similar to scalloped potatoes but with a creamy white sauce instead of cheese. Tender onions with a hint of thyme and nutmeg layered throughout the combination of russet and sweet potatoes. It was so soft and cooked to perfection. 

The carrots were simply steamed and mixed with brown sugar, lemon juice, honey, and butter - and a sprinkle of parsley for color. The elder who said he'd never liked carrots declared he liked these ones!

The salad was yummy - a simplistic version of an Emeril recipe. Bosc pears that had been tenderized in butter and brown sugar, then mixed with greens, blue cheese, and a quick oil/apple cider vinegar/honey dressing. Very light and tasty.

And the piez de resistance....

Triple chocolate pumpkin pie! We served it with a small scoop of Tahitian Vanilla Bean gelato. It was so rich and good! The kids helped me make it yesterday and we drizzled (rather sloppily) dark chocolate over it just before dinner. Yeah....looking forward to those leftovers. But maybe a smaller piece next time!

The table:

I chose a harvest theme this year, pulling in the gourds from around the house and fruit from the fruit basket, pinecones, leaves, and lights. A mini bottle of Martinelli's was a take home gift for our guests.

Esther helped me with the name cards. She did an excellent job! Again, I used my turkey plates. One of them broke last year so it was good we only had seven people at the table. I've been keeping my eyes peeled for more but have yet to find them. If you see any, let me know!

I am thankful that Daron didn't have to work today. It's been a crazy few months with his schedule. But I'm thankful for our wonderful children who keep us laughing, for our nice home, for Daron's secure job, for yummy food and the ability to share it with others. I'm thankful for Christ and His sacrifice for us all. Life is good.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!!!

The Burmese Cuckoo

The Burmese Cuckoo is finally ready! I'm posting the dress rehearsal as it's easier to hear without the background noise of an audience.

Thanks to my amazing cast and fellow crew and director who went on this crazy little journey with me. I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did! They are all very busy people and yet put in hours of work and took it seriously. In fact, we were all at a Halloween party recently and members of the cast and those who had been in the audience were quoting lines. It just gave me warm fuzzies!

I'll be taking a break from projects for a little while now - what with the holidays coming and a baby on the way. So don't expect anything amazing until next summer at the earliest. Though I do have an idea already mulling in my brain!

Anyway, enjoy the show and tell me what you think! I'd love to have your feedback.

(We had to really squash it in order for Blogger to post such a long video so the quality, unfortunately, is not the best. Some people are saying that they can't understand the words. Sigh. If that is the case, I apologize - we did our best but the gymnasium has terrible acoustics. I can email the script to you if you request it.)

Little Characters!

Here is Nathan at a Halloween party he went to with a bunch of other small children from church. He was so cute!

And Esther had to dress up as a character from a book for school on Halloween day. She decided on Eloise. And all day she told everyone, "Hi, I'm Eloise! I'm six. I live at the Plaza Hotel." Really getting into the act - that's my girl!