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Things that explode if heated on the stove-top...

Luckily, no one was hurt.

Dessert Overlord

Up until last week, the only thing I ever wanted to be a (benign) dictator of was my own bookclub.  Other than that, I'm pretty much a big believer in democracy in almost all aspects of my life.

However, late last week I was appointed Cranberry Sauce and Dessert "overlord "of Thanksgiving Dinner.  At first I was skeptical, but now I see many possibilities regarding this.  Cranberry Sauce?  We have reason to believe many of the people at our table may not ever have had cranberry sauce at their Thanksgiving Dinner so I'm thinking of either serving basic cranberry sauce (maybe with orange, haven't decided) or making two 1/2 batches of cranberry sauce. One traditional and the other with jalapeno.

As far as dessert goes: I haven't quite narrowed down what I want to do.  I could do the Mrs. Smith and Dairy Godmother route.  I could be mean and offer my guests hot tamales and chocolate bars as desserts, but I don't think they would ever let me forget that.  I'm guessing I'll do a traditional pumpkin pie, a not traditional pie and then maybe something else as surprise..but I'm not sure what.

Not Rocky Mountain Oysters

Back when I was 12 I had steamed oysters for the first time.  My dad bought a dozen or so at Pikes Peak and my Aunt Mary Helen (and my mom or dad) steamed them.  They were horrible.  Texture, taste...no redeeming value.  Then there was oyster stew...milk (sometimes potatoes) and oysters.....worst soup ever. I also had raw oysters twice...both times were traumatic.

Well, when I was in Seattle in April, I discovered that oysters don't completely suck.  Not completely.
So when we were traveling this weekend I ordered fried oysters. Twice.  And I liked them (mostly.)

Joy (me) with Buffalo Style Fried Oysters. The Pumpkin is for decoration.

I also found that when oysters are fried, sprinkled with buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese...I don't hate them.  I also have swayed Kelli over to the "Oysters do not completely suck" Team. We wear our nebulousness regarding oysters with pride. 

Val

I think I mentioned that my dad lost one of his closest friends on Thursday. Val was like a brother to my dad and an Uncle to my brothers and I.  So, rather than type anything, I'm just going to leave a link to his daughter in-law's blog that she published on Friday.

Here you go:
http://onafricanthyme.blogspot.com/2012/11/val-j-mortenson.html

Delmarva Trip Map

Here's a map of the trip we just took.  

  I'll finish up day 3 tomorrow (or sometime this week).

Delmarva Trip Day 2

We (Joy-me and Kelli-Joy's Best Friend) woke up early-ish on Sunday to the sound of the ocean outside the hotel room.  That's right, the bonus of staying in Virginia Beach is there's a Federal Employee/Military (even for off-duty travel) discount and it's off-season. Totally affordable to stay on the boardwalk!

We headed for the Del Marva peninsula and drove over the 23.7 mile Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel.  While not as striking as the more well-known Bay Bridge, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge and Tunnel was cool to cross (and I bet they see whales off of it in the winter).  You see, we were headed to Chincoteague, Virginia and spend a hour or two doing their local museum scavenger hunt throughout the exhibits. Yes, there's a bucket with a B in that museum and a porpoise spine cane.  After scavenger hunt fun, we went out to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and drove out to the beach.  After building a sandcastle while flying a kite (kelli) and reading a book while convincing my lungs they like traveling (me), we had lunch.

This was a traffic circle two weeks ago. Kelli shouldn't be taller than that sign.

Kelli wanted a photo with her kite. At Chincoteague.

2 weeks ago this was a parking lot.  Sandy left a whole lot of sand in her wake. 

Cormorant at Chincoteague.

Then we spent the rest of the daylight identifying birds (Ruddy duck!) and I played peek-a-boo with a great blue heron. That evening we had seafood (again) and I decided since I was in the oyster capital of the world, I would try them again.  They didn't completely suck although the rest of the meal was sub-par.  Back at the hotel, we started watching The Notebook (neither of us had seen it before) but soon switched to a Lifetime Christmas movie.  Making fun of movies?  a past-time we both enjoy.