Updates and Getting back on track

This is my attempt to get this blog rolling again.  I have NO idea how it's going to look this time around, but figure that this is just my outlet for anything that might be on my mind for the day/week.  I have been gone from this for a long time because, well, I just really didn't feel like organizing my thoughts this summer.  But, I do enjoy the times that I am productive enough to get something jotted down, so I am going to give it a try again!

Time is especially limited for me, these days, because Vienne is down to just one nap a day - a short 1 hour and 15 minute nap, at that.  Naps are basically the only time I have to get a lot done - ie:  make and eat lunch, tidy up, maybe get a workout in (yeah right), read my Bible and journal (ahem), check and respond to emails, get some cooking done/started....and, yeah, blog.  haha.  I have a friend (ahem, Lacey) who, in my opinion, seems like a super woman to me with two kids (one being a newborn this summer) who has already started a regimented workout routine, knits amazing projects, makes skincare products and sells them on etsy, cooks for her family and roommates, does housewifey things, and manages a blog a few times a week!!!  I am utterly perplexed and humbled by what she gets done.  How does she do it...well, I'm planning to ask  when I can get her out here for a visit.  I am a pretty organized person but there is NO WAY that I could get done half of what she gets done.  I feel like such a lazy ass.

Ok, anyway, enough of that.  :D

Updates.  How about some updates about this family of mine.  Well, this week Vienne will be 17 months old!  That is crazy to me.  She is quite the fun little lady with loads of personality - aren't they all?  She is completely buzzing all about the house now, full of creative insights each day.  We have discovered that this girl loves to organize, loves to clean (I'm serious...hand her a rag and she will wipe any surface), loves to play dress up, loves to dance, loves loves water and the outdoors, loves her soccer ball and is learning to kick it...especially on the beach...and much more, of course.  She is still pretty shy and hesitant out in public, but is opening up a bit more each time.  She is not really talking or doing many of the "normal" things kids do at her age, like pointing to her nose or body parts when you ask, trying new words, running, or eating lots of foods, for example.  Of course, we are not concerned about these things, we have come to learn that Vienne does things in her own time...she is a watcher.  She soaks it all up and then one day she just lets it all out, at once.  I know she is listening and watching and learning a ton and she responds very well...but she doesn't seem to feel the need to prove anything to us yet.  She is still very petite, as well which just tells us that she will be a small girl.  At 16 months, she was only 18 lbs. but, as the doctor said, she is developing just fine.

Anyway, so that's Vienne.

As for our family, we have a vision of some big changes ahead.  Mark is making some huge career changes which will give us the opportunity to move to Portland when things really take off.  Right now, the job is kind of slow-going but we are hopeful and prayerful.  We have listed our house and if we don't find buyers at the time that we want to move, then we will look for renters.  All of this is in God's hands and we are striving to remain faithful to His provisions and His will for us.  It has been a stressful summer to say the least, but we know we are well taken care of.

As a housewife, during all of this change and stress on our finances, I have been doing all that I can to manage our food and household expenditures in a frugal and wise manner.  I have been brainstorming for frugal meals and ways to keep the household going in an affordable and health-conscious way.  Not just because of finances, but more out of the heart to keep our household safe and healthy as well as lessen our carbon footprint, I have been making further adjustments along with the rest.  For example, I finally purchased my first 50lb. bag of bulk wheat berries to mill our own flour for baked goods, I have finally started making all of my cleaning products (save dishwasher and laundry detergents...which totally bombed for us...such a bummer....will try new recipes soon), shopping mainly at our local Farmer's Market throughout the summer, using whatever scraps that the critters left behind of our sad little garden...etc.  

These past few weeks I have finally really been getting into sprouting and I think I will write more on that later.  Fun stuff!

I've also been dealing a lot with my health lately and I think I will write a post on that sometime soon for anyone who can relate to hormonal imbalances as well as digestive issues.  Woohoo.

For now, I will bring this update to a close and insert a few recent pictures.

starting to love her books

soccer on the beach!

playing dress-up in one of mom's shirts (what a distressed look, huh?!)

going out for our 4 year anniversary!

anything can be a phone

picked up a rag and literally started cleaning the car!  that's my girl!

more cleaning....start 'em early!

dress up in dad's shoes

BIG weekend for Vienne!

I know this is turning into a blog mostly about Vienne lately....but, that's what mostly dominates my mind anyway!

So, this weekend we had quite a few big firsts from her.

1.  I laid her down for her usual afternoon nap on Saturday before we were to head over to a 4th of July bbq.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be one of those random fluke days that Vienne decided to skip her afternoon nap (she does this from time to time).  The days she chooses to do this, she typically lays in there, in the dark, and "chit chats" to herself for a half hour and then cries and whimpers for the next 30 minutes.  I usually make her stay in there for an hour.  Well, this day she was in there for the entire hour giggling, singing, and chattering LOUDLY the entire time.  I mean giggling so hard I could have sworn that someone was in there tickling her!  Finally, after the hour was up, I went in there (in frustration at her) and found her standing up and bouncing on her mattress!  This is a first, people!  This is the first time she has sat up from the laying position and then continued to pull herself to standing!  No wonder she was laughing with glee the entire time.  She was so proud!  All I could do was laugh right along.

2.  My girl is walking!  Well, not entirely confidently all around the house.  But, she is solidly 'island-hopping' - like from the table to the chair to the cabinets to the wall and so forth!  No more needing mom or dad to steady herself and hold her hand!  Check out the video of her walking between us but just using us as stopping points.  Pretty exciting!  We finally started baby-proofing the house this weekend.

3.  Vienne might be proving to be an artist!  Maybe like her mommy?  So, during one of her naps this weekend, I pulled out some paper and pencil to sketch a bit.  I left it laying on the couch that afternoon.  Once she was up, I left her playing in the living room while I cooked (living space and kitchen are one huge open connected space where I can watch over her....love it!).  Anyway, I look over and find that she has picked up my pencil and brought it over to the paper and started drawing on it!  First off, let me clarify that we have never taught Vienne how to use a pencil yet.  We've never played with crayons or anything.  So, as you can imagine, I am just overwhelmingly shocked that she has succeeded to not only pick up the pencil and hold it the right way, but to also put the writing end onto the paper and then continue to draw with it!  She covered the paper w/mostly scribbles....and not once did she touch the couch or cushions with that pencil.  Well, after she was finished and I picked that paper up.....look below at what I discovered on it!!!
NOT KIDDING!  Do you see the two stars???  Two!!  Crazy, huh?!  Now, I must admit that I have been pretty reserved in boasting any exceptional behavior from her until this point.  I even admit that I used to think that she might just be behind most of the 'typical' kids her age.  She has never exhibited the need to rush forth with anything, prove anything, or acquire new skills quickly.  But, now I'm starting to rethink things about her.  I am wondering if she is just that quiet smart little one who sits back and really watches everything.  I've always known that she is extremely watchful and observant, I guess I just never put it together that she was actually learning so much from that watchful behavior!  I am excited to see what else she pulls out in the months and years to come!

First Steps

Vienne Juliet is 14 mo. old today.

My little baby girl is pretty much walking now!  Very exciting times in our home.  She's been walking, holding onto our hands for a few months now - but now she is walking back and forth between me and Mark!  And, last night for the first time, she let go of the edge of the table to walk towards my open arms!  That was huge!  Any day now I know she is just going to let go and walk towards something that she wants instead of towards my arms of security.

She has also been sleeping on her tummy every night and naptime and now I find her on her hands and knees once she is awake.  Perhaps she will finally start crawling after she is walking!?  That would be funny!  Or at least this position is teaching her to sit up on her own....finally!

As far as first words, Vienne has been saying "Mama" and Dada" for quite some time and also says "num num" on occasion and just added "Bob" to the vocabulary.  "Bob"?  You ask?  Oh yes, Bob is one of Grammy's puppies.  

Vienne has been mimicking me more and more, which has been totally cute.  She now picks up her comb and tries to rub it on her head.  She has picked up my makeup brushes and shoved them at her face.  Last week she started using her spoon quite accurately.  And, of course the organizational skills of hers continue to grow and grow.  Have I mentioned these?  This girl loves to organize - to put things away, in their place or at least some new place she has assigned them.  Rarely does she make a catastrophic mess because she is always putting things in containers and back up on shelves and in little holes.  Yes, of course we have covers on the outlets!  Her favorite toys are tupperware containers and boxes along with tiny little objects to sort in the boxes and then shut them away with the lids.  The other week we were in a little health food store and I set her down on the ground to walk along a shelf that was at her level.  The shelf was filled with display boxes of granola bars and such.  A normal baby would probably pull everything out of those boxes and strew them all over the floor.  Nope.  Not my Vienne.  She re-organized those boxes in her own terms - removing bars from one box to put them in the next.  Not one granola bar was on the floor, nor even on the actual shelf....each of them were in different boxes from their original spot.  It was so funny.  Of course, I had to put everything back where it belonged before we left - but I was quite impressed.

Growth-wise, Vienne is still so very small.  I'm not really concerned because she still has a decent amount of chunk on her thighs, belly, and cheeks.  I just wonder when she will have a growth spurt!  She is 14 months now and can still fit into 9 mo. size clothing!  And  last night I just happened to check the tag on one of the jammies she regularly wears...it is size 6 mo.!  I put it away for principle's sake!  And, man oh man, her feet have never grown!!  She still wears a size 2 shoes!  That is the same size she was wearing a year ago!  Surely saves on the pocketbook!  But it's kinda weird, isn't it?  At her 12 mo. checkup (which was actually at 11mo.) they said she was "perfect" so I'm not going to think twice, I guess.  

And I think that about sums up June for us!  And, here's a video of those first steps last week along with a few cute pictures!

Summer finally arrived here on the Oregon coast!

Getting my girl out to enjoy the beach she lives at

Organizing garlic into the jars while she eats lunch on the counter

Took a morning walk to check out the low tide and the tide pools around Haystack Rock

Being coy

Vienne Updates - June '09

Well, this past week has been full of a few new things from our precious little girl.  

Last week, while visiting Grandpa in Portland, Vienne took her very first 4 steps on her own, away from her Daddy's secure hand.  It was very exciting and showed us that she may just be closer to fully walking on her own than we thought!  She has grown very skilled at scaling the walls and really only needs one hand on the wall or furniture to get around.  I think it's more for her own security than anything else...like she doesn't realize that she really can do it on her own.  One characteristic I've really been noting about this little girl is that she is in no rush to acquire a new skill...or at least hasn't been up until this point.  She takes her own leisurely time and doesn't need to prove anything.  It's funny.  Most kids I see are just so dang determined!  She's totally skipped the crawling stage...and if I haven't mentioned before, we've already gotten a lot of flack about that one!  Like you can control whether they crawl or don't!  It's funny - this girl can pull herself up to standing position and pretty much navigate around any obstacle as long as she can have a grasp on one edge of it...but, if laying on her back she canNOT sit herself up to save her life!  When on her back, she is like a beached whale flapping her arms until you sit her up or pick her up!  Isn't that weird??  I know she'll learn it on her own, soon enough...but it is strange.  She'll be walking on her own soon, but won't even know how to sit up on her own....like a turtle flipped on it's back! 

Well, along with this new realization that she is sooooo close to walking, she has just actually given up the interest in scaling the walls in preference to holding our hand and walking her all around the house, in circles, back and forth.  It's terrible and tiring.  And, of course since I am not game to do this for more than one loop around the house, she has begun to reveal her first selfish tantrums!  I experienced the very first full-body fit just the night before last.  It was sooo strange for me to watch!  Let me explain - this girl has been sooo mild-tempered and easily consoled and distracted.  Now, she knows what she wants and it's all that's on her mind and she will scream to get it...finally showing that 'determination' that I thought she lacked!  I was a kindergarten teacher for like 4 years...I've seen my fair share of fits, so I don't give in too easily.  I just stood over her and watched her thrash until she calmed down, panting and gasping for breath.  Then I held her until she was breathing normal.  Once she was calm and content, I let her walk just a bit.  But, I want to nip this in the butt as soon as I can...I am not one who will placate her through her tantrums and give her what she wants.  But, man oh man, it is so ugly to see this new side of your child!  I should also add in, though, that that night we discovered a new tooth that just broke through the surface that day...thus, most likely explaining her dramatics and moodiness.  Poor girl.  

So, this week has been interesting...pushing a little toother forth and enduring many little fits.  It's hard to get much done now when she's awake cuz she's so moody if she doesn't get to walk about, holding my hand.  Eventually, I just sit her on her bum, or leave her holding onto the couch and tell her that if she wants to walk that she needs to do it on her own. Yeah, that's not getting across to her too well...but, that's my mentality!  Anyone have any suggestions for how they've dealt with their baby's tantrums??

Through all of this, Vienne surprised us the other night by sleeping fully through the night!  What a treat for me!  So, despite the fact that she is breaking a tooth forth, I am going to go ahead and start weaning her from her one night time feeding...which, I know, is against the books.  "They" instruct you to wait til their body is not going though anything traumatic, but I think she is ready and I want to follow through with what she accomplished the other night by doing it all on her own.  So, that's my new endeavor...maybe this Mama will be more refreshed and rested through the days!  yay!

Here are a few pictures...

This is my "mild baby" - the one who sits on the counter and plays with garlic cloves for 20-30 minutes while I cook.  But, this is soon to change, I am learning!

So close to doing it on her own.

Bored with that...now wants my hand!

Starting to whine and getting close to a possible fit...

This is her yelling for me since I walked out of the room...haha

Playing 'pat-a-cake'

When Mark Dresses Vienne...

It always gives me a fun chuckle when I emerge in the morning to discover that I forgot to lay out clothes for Vienne, which left my color blind husband in charge of dressing her for the day!  Today, we have a darling little peachy-pink dress with brown trim, layered over a strawberry pink undershirt with darker pink polka dots and finished off with plum purple fleece pants with striped cuffs.  Doesn't actually look that bad in the picture...he has managed to pull of worse...but it was just silly enough for me to share.  He literally thought the colors here were brown, green, and blue.  Not really sure how that would've worked together, anyway...but man oh man this color-blindness of his keeps me on my toes!  Isn't it great?!

Back from my hiatus...

Took a bit of a break from writing, in the last month.  Here's a catch up of things in a nutshell...

Celebrated my 31st birthday.  Celebrated our Risen Savior on a stormy day.  Seth and Lacey came to visit.  Tried to finish a crochet project.  Gave up on said crochet project.  Tried a new naturopathic doctor.  Found inspiration for my yard.....finally.  Started planting flowers and herbs and preparing for a vegetable garden.  Planned for a compost bin...waiting for wood to build it.  I started making kefir.  Finally and officially switched from using paper towels/napkins to cloth.  Finished my collection of cast iron pans to replace my old yucky ones.  Vienne started cruising around the house, holding onto walls and furniture...but not yet walking on her own.  Vienne claps to music and excitement.  Vienne started 'dancing' in place when we say "let's dance!".  Vienne celebrated her first birthday! My baby is ONE!  Threw a huge birthday party for her...and she got spoiled rotten.  Made lotsa yummy foods for the party.  Grandma Lynn came to visit...Aunt Kate and Uncle J came to visit...it was a big weekend.  Vienne broke out with small weird blisters on her cheek, eyelid, and finger. Thought it was chicken pox.  It was not.  Vienne also experienced her first bout of a runny nose and a fever...still not sure if it was a bug or teething.  Mark found an opportunity for a new job, in addition to real estate.  Mark took his online classes.  Mark passed his final exam.  Mark is now a certified (licensed?) mortgage loan officer...on the side.  I found hope for actually being able to move out of here some day sooner than I thought.  We sold our new car and bought an old one.  We are looking into listing our house. Simplifying.  Honored my mother on Mother's Day.  Vienne started sleeping longer...til 8:30 a.m.!  Found Vienne sleeping on her tummy for the first time in her life.  Discovered that Vienne likes puzzles and putting things away.  Continuing to attend my Bible Study even when I feel things are awkward.  Started hanging out with a new friend and her 2 kids.  Read a few books.  Got challenged to be thankful for my illnesses.  Here's some pics of things I mentioned:

Scaling the walls...

Getting caught playing with the filling...

Her new squatting position...

my front walkway finally getting spruced up...

potted flowers...

our garden bed and potential side yard...soon to be filled with grass and veggies!

playin' with my sis in a hat shop...

Aunt Kate and Uncle J's visit...

walking around in her birthday party dress...

singin' "Happy Birthday"...

other yummy treats - a rhubarb and lemon mousse tart...

considering eating her yummy organic, naturally sweetened 'Birth'-day cake...

playing with a new wooden toy...putting the balls away...

my beautiful, precious, wonderful gem of a baby

31

Yesterday was my 31st birthday and even though I was recovering from the flu, I think we made the best of it.  It was a quiet family day...with some of my most favorite people.  Mom was here visiting which made for an extra treat (and helping hand while I was sick!).  Mark bought me a beautiful bouquet of my favorite flowers - tulips, of course, along with a sweet card offering himself as my personal slave for the day (like he isn't already!).  He managed to surprise me with a new mattress topper for our bed, which has been getting a bit sunken in and old.  He convinced me and mom to take a short walk with Vienne while he pulled out the mattress topper and covered it with lovely rose petals.  So sweet.  Then we all went to a favorite restaurant in Gearhart that I haven't been to in a long time - Pacific Way Cafe.  Homemade tomato basil soup and a hot pesto chicken sandwich on their fresh baked french bread...mmmm....delish!  The sun even came out to kiss us on our cheeks for a bit.

After that we came home and Mark began to dig out an area of our yard for our upcoming garden while I read a book and V took her nap.  

After she woke up, Mark made me a lovely meal of seared salmon that had been marinated in thai spices and then drizzled with a ginger cilantro dressing, atop coconut brown rice with a fresh salad.  He's so good.

After dinner, we enjoyed some sweet time with our beautiful babe.  Once she went to bed, we pulled the mattress topper out to the living room and made up a makeshift bed and watched a movie by the firelight...while Mark gave me a back rub.  (btw, Slumdog Millionaire really is a good movie!!).

It was a sweet and quiet birthday.  Thank you dear husband.

Vienne gifted me with precious cuddle time for a solid 20 minutes...the best stuff ever!

New Tricks

They make me giggle.

Lovely Day

Despite the surprise of a 5:30am wake up call from our daughter ... I have determined that it is going to be a lovely Valentine's Day.

A scrumptious breakfast of scrambled eggs with parmesan and fresh basil, 

homemade cinnamon raisin bread, and luscious red grapefruit with a hot cup of coffee...

A lovely homemade Valentine from my daughter (with daddy's help)...

A beautiful bouquet of my favorite tulips waiting for me, in a vase...

A sweet Valentine from a friend, hanging in my window...

The bright happy sun shining down on us this morning...

A weekend with my husband home...

More fabulous bread baking in the oven...

A cute new red shirt to wear on this day of hearts...

A wine tour through our little town and dinner following, to look forward to...

Happy loud giggles from the most beautiful daughter ever...

Yes.

It is going to be a lovely day.

I pray your Valentine's Day is just as lovely.

My little Doll

"We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother.  It is more true, perhaps, that most

mothers are still but children with playthings."

~Francis Herbert Bradley~

Toys! Toys! Toys!

Well, the hype of Christmas is beginning to fade and new toys are beginning to mix in with the old ones, only to be soon forgotten.  Before it was too late, I wanted to share our convictions on toys and perhaps shed some light on the reasonings behind our particular choices.

My husband and I have opted to do our best to steer clear of most plastic, battery-operated toys.  We prefer beautiful wooden or plush cloth toys.  We have chosen this route for several reasons:

-Imagination & Creativity - Wooden toys do not do all the work for you.  A child must employ their creativity and imagination to bring it to life.  Where does a child's imagination go when all their toys do it for them?  A battery-operated rocking horse that whinnies, rocks, turns it's head, and swishes it's tail?  How can the child imagine and create it's own character for that horse when the horse does it all for them?  Wooden and plush toys are simpler.  They require imagination.  And imagination brews a wonderfully creative, witty, brilliant child.

-Safety & Health - The majority of mainstream plastic toys are actually made of PVC which is laden with harmful toxins like phthalates.  With a teething infant, where do most toys go?  Her mouth.  Here is one article from Mothering magazine (one of my faves!) on this very topic.  Or, just Google 'phthalates' to learn it's affects on human health.  We have even chosen to give Vienne all organic pure rubber pacifiers...these are the coolest pacifiers out there!  They are one piece so there are no crevices for bacteria to grow and every part of it is soft and chewable when she is learning to insert into her own mouth.

-Creating a Peaceful Home - This may be more of a selfish reason on our part, but we do not want our main living spaces cluttered w/piles of neon-colored, loud, plastic crap....that most likely rarely gets used.  It is sad to me when I walk into a home and their main living space is over-taken by shelves of toys, plastic pink play houses, a matchbox car race track...every corner inhabited by loud obnoxious toys.  Talk about over-stimulation!  Mark and I do not like clutter...we cannot function around it.  How does a child learn?  Focus?  With sooo many toys, sooo many options, sooo much noise and stuff going on...I just don't understand how they are able to settle down, imagine, create, and learn.

-Environment - Wooden toys last forever!  Plastic toys with batteries often break or eventually stop working.  Obviously, when a wooden toy is recycled it is safer on the environment.  We know plastics and batteries are not.  'nough said.

-Simplicity and minimalism -  We are minimalists...or we are, at least, trying to be so.  I've already learned with having just an infant so far, that babies and children do not need much to entertain themselves.  Vienne already gets bored w/her toys and would much rather prefer the tupperware in the cabinet, a small cardboard box, a scarf, her shoe...you know what I mean.  Don't you?  Haven't you found that your children are much more entertained by the things that are not toys?  So, why fill your house with extra unneeded clutter?

I've also learned that in making these rules for our home, people are more careful and thoughtful in what they buy for Vienne.  It's not just any random cheap toy from the Toys-R-Us aisles that will break in a few short months or never get used.  If a friend or family has opted to buy her a toy, it is usually just one very nice beautiful wooden piece that was thoughtfully chosen and will last forever, to be cherished as that one special toy that Grandma or Auntie bought for her.  You know what I mean?  Wooden or nice plush toys are a bit more pricey...which helps to keep the collection small, keeping the clutter and over-stimulation to a minimum.  And, that has greatly helped in keeping our goal for simplicity.

As the collection of toys inevitably will grow through the coming years, Mark and I have also established a goal for recycling toys to help keep things at a minimum and to help inspire a heart for giving.  So, our current 'goal' is to establish a rule for new toys that come into the house.  At Christmas time or birthdays, for every new toy that is received we will aim to choose a few old toys to give away to either a children's home, our church, or a resale shop. We hope to make it a 'fun' event of sharing and blessing others.  Hope is the key word.  We know that we must be realistic in our goals, but all goals are a challenge and we are determined to try and make this one work. Guess, I'll have to report back as Vienne grows and as I grow my family through the coming years!

Now, I must make one disclaimer before I post this:  All of this does not mean that our home is completely free of plastic toys.  No.  We still will receive gifts and let Vienne play with them for a short while.  We are not completely radically unrealistic!  

Here are a few more sources that I've randomly selected that offer great info on natural toys:

Mothering Magazine - Wonderful articles for natural mothering

Babies Online - One of many found articles on natural toys

Three Sisters Toys

Willow Tree Toys

Happy 'Ducken' Day

Herb roasted duck.  Cinnamon and spice roasted chicken. Mashed fingerling potatoes with creme fraische and chives. Roasted beet salad.  "Ducken" gravy (duck and chicken - for those who have not caught onto our lame sense of humor). Pomegranate Cranberry sauce.  Pumpkin Gingersnap Tiramisu. Wine, home brewed beer, home brewed kombucha. Happiness. Love.  Fun.  Frustrating cooking moments.  Laughing. Snorting. Geeky boys and their pipes.  'Nourishing' obsessed girls in the kitchen.  A True "Piscibert-Holbelli" (another reference to our geeky humor) Family Event.

  

We celebrated a Pre-Thanksgiving Feast with our good friends, the Holberts, this past weekend.  They are family to us.  Lacey and I share the same passions in the kitchen (and for the home) and so we attempted to create a gourmet feast, 'Nourishing-Style' - but mainly focused on fresh, organic, local and seasonal foods.

Here's some of the stuff we did:

I tried to prepare some fermented gingered carrots, as instructed in Nourishing Traditions...unfortunately, we found that the carrots were just not ready for our 

meal on Saturday night so we will enjoy (hopefully) them another time.  Supposedly, this recipe is one of the best for introducing fermented foods into your diet.  Check out this site to learn more about implementing fermented foods into your diet.  I'm assuming these turn out like a carrot sauerkraut.  It was super easy to make....here's the recipe:

4 cps.  grated carrots, tightly packed

1 TB fresh grated ginger root

1 TB sea salt

4 TB whey (if not available, use an additional 1 TB salt)

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and pound with a wooden pounder or meat hammer to release the juices.  Place in a quart-sized jar and press down firmly until juices cover the carrots. The top of the carrots should be at least 1" below the top of the jar.  Cover tightly and leave at room temp. about 3 days before transferring to cold storage.

For the chicken, I used this recipe.

The roasted beet salad was my favorite dish.  Here's what we did:

About 6 small red beets

2 crushed garlic cloves

Dash of olive oil, S&P

Bunch of rainbow chard - enough to fill your salad bowl

About a cup+ of candied walnuts or pecans

About a cup of goat cheese

Dressing:

3 TB olive oil

1 TB honey

S&P

Mix dressing ingredients together. Scrub and peel the beets.   

Slice them thin.  Toss them in the olive oil, garlic, and S&P. Lay them out on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes, checking to see that they are getting soft.  When you can pierce a fork through, remove them and let cool for a few minutes.  Toss the rest of the ingredients together in salad bowl, along with the dressing and top off w/the beets.

I found the Pomegranate Cranberry Sauce in 'Food & Wine' magazine.

1 1/2 lbs. fresh or frozen cranberries

2 cups sugar (I used Rapadura)

1 cup pomegranate juice

2 cups fresh pomegranate seeds

In a medium saucepan, combine the cranberries, sugar, and juice.  Bring to a simmer and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until most of the cranberries have burst (10 min). Scrape the sauce into a bowl and let cool.  Fold in pomegranate seeds and serve.

And, finally, for dessert!  Pumpkin Gingersnap Tiramisu.  For the gingersnaps, I made my secret family recipe...so I cannot share that part! ;)  We replaced the sugar with Rapadura and topped it with eggnog whipped cream. This was a creative alternative to pumpkin pie.

We had a grand time and enjoyed every morsel.  Now for the real Thanksgiving....just a few short days away!