Due to inclement weather, Chris and I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving. That didn't stop us from making an entire Thanksgiving Dinner for the two of us though! We had an 11-pound turkey that we rubbed an herb butter all over and injected with melted butter with copious amount of garlic, and stuffed with the usual aromatics (orange, onion, garlic, lemon). We also had Stovetop Stuffing and cranberry sauce from the can - a couple guilty pleasures - and mashed potatoes with gravy. For dessert I made a pumpkin pie and a cherry crumble. Needless to say, we had lots of leftovers. I put four dishes of turkey enchiladas in the freezer, and we had turkey sandwhiches for days. Yum!
Happy Thanksgiving!
It was a great day - I got to meet Stef's Aunt Pam and we went horseback riding and wine tasting at Garrod Farms in Saratoga. Our trail ride took us through the Cooper-Garrod Vineyards and the Open Space Preserve on the eastern slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. My horse, Whiz, became a bit antsy about 3/4 of the way through the ride. Apparently she knew home was just over the ridge and wanted to get there soon, and gave me a hard time keeping her in the line. But it was a lot of fun and I haven't been riding in ages. Think I could keep a horse on the patio without the HOA knowing?
After the ride we went to the tasting room where we tried seven of their wines. My favorite was the George's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, named for the founder and winemaker of the vineyard. Then we headed back out of the mountains, in Pam's convertable with the top down to enjoy the beautiful day.
We met neat people, did cool things, and laughed till our cheeks hurt. In fact, you haven't had a great day unless your cheeks are sore - and with horseback riding I guess that would include both sets.
Check this out - Nutro Natural Choice, the same company that makes the kibble we feed Ayla, now makes desserts for dogs! If you can't read it, there are four flavors: Berry Cobbler, Carrot Cake, Pumpkin Crumble, and Apple Torte.
Ayla tried the Apple Torte over the weekend. My verdict: Looks like cat food, smells like apples. Ayla seemed to like it though. And at less than 100 calories per can, as it so proudly states on the front, she can eat her dessert and still keep her girlish figure!
I think we'll save the pumpkin one for Thanksgiving...
Its been a rather quiet weekend. On Friday Ayla and I found a neat place to hike that's really near home: the Las Trampas Wilderness in San Ramon. There are many many trails, picnic sites, and its shared with horses so there's lots of road pies for Ayla to sniff. Unfortunately it had been raining prior to our exploring, so there was too much mud to go far. In fact, we were headed up the Elderberry Trail and I accumulated literally inches of mud on the soles of my shoes, so we had to turn around. I'm looking forward to doing lots of hiking there when the trails dry out a bit!
Otherwise we've been doing the usual - good food, playing with the pup and the cats, enjoying our condo, and keeping happy. I'm off to find some new recipes to try out. Cheers!
