Pumpkin pie and all that jazz

This pass Thursday was Thanks giving. A Holiday set aside for us to be thankful and thoughtful of all our blessings. Sometimes this day has nothing to do with showing our gratitude. We either wake up at the crack of dawn to start the day of cooking or stay up late the night before baking our pies and preparing for the day to come. We spend hours preparing for a meal that usual is over with in 15mins or so. We make the list of food we want served at dinner, we give out assignments (assuming there are others who are willing to help), we make our own grocery shopping list and then we battle the chaos at the grocery store the week of Thanksgiving because we dont want to get our stuff too early. Weather you are cooking for 6 or 60 i'm pretty sure the routine is the same. If you are hosting this blessed event you also spend the week cleaning and decorating your house so when your family and friends come the house is spotless and is oozing of "thanksgiving spirit". You have colors of golden yellow, rust red and brown throw around the house to create a "harvest wonderland".

When you have all the food prepared you need to figure out how it will be served. What goes where? Should the rolls be first or last? Do we need a separate plates for the jello? Once that is done you are ready to sit down and eat. Then its time to say the blessing and get everyone qiet for the 2 min prayer. As soon as amen is said everyone scrambles to get what they want first. You wait your turn and pray they have a decent piece of turkey left when you finally get your chance. You get to enjoy sitting and chatting for about 30 mins then its time to start thinking about getting the desserts out. Do we have small plates for the pie? Wheres the whipped cream? Should we let everyone dish up their own or should someone serve it? Finally dessert is over and its time to clean up. At this point most of your guest have already bailed so it up to you again to clean your house. Why do we do all this? What makes us do it year after year? It comes down to one thing....tradition.

Yummy!

Last night we went to El Rico's in Queen Creek for dinner (power and riggs). Why did we go all the way out there you ask? I am being a good girl and getting my visiting teaching done early. One of the girls Elise that we (Bonnie and me) visit, her family owns the restaurant and she works so much that it is only way we can visit her. We brought along Katie, Audry and Amy who we visit teach and/or they visit us. It is the cutest place! It would be perfect for a wedding reception or party. The food is good too. The portions arent enormous but they are a good size and the food isnt greasy. Bonnie fell in love with their chicken enchiladas. Im pretty sure we are going to go back...every month now to do our visiting teaching. Also they are closed Sundays so thats another reason to support them.