Month: November 2020

Lots of skiing and turkey this week. On Thanksgiving day, we went exploring in the woods near Swampy.

I spent most of the time making the Bigs follow my zig-zaggy tracks and finding things to jump off. Sometimes over and over again.

After skiing, it was time to get cooking. Here I am making the mushroom soup for my world-famous green bean casserole (yes, The Bigs made me make mushroom soup and french onions from scratch. Don’t they know they sell these things in the store?):

The finished product:

We also had a spatchcocked heritage breed turkey, cooked on the grill. Hey, who you callin’ turkey?

We also had truffle mashed potatoes and white wine giblet gravy:

And, cranberry walnut bread:

I provided the table decorations:

I was happy:

and so was my belly:

Desert was pumpkin cashew ‘cheese’cake:

Lots more skiing this weekend:

And, lots more snacking:

Sometimes, I even get to go downhill:

And, occasionally, I hitch a ride back up (and Pop was worried about Dad getting enough exercise now that he doesn’t have to pull the Chariot!):

A video of a tow ride:

Looking sharp for my after-ski mini-van lunch:

In addition to being Ski Man, I am also Long-John Man. I have worn my long johns and my buff for four straight days now. The Bigs said I have to wear regular clothes to school tomorrow. On top of all that, I am also Christmas Man. We decorated our house the day after Thanksgiving:

Christmas Man’s room:

Yes, it is much too bright to sleep, but Christmas Man does not care. Christmas Man wrote his list for Santa:

I will send it with this letter:

We did some more cross country skiing this weekend.

Okay, enough with the pictures already. Let’s go ski.

Nothing like an ice cold beer after a hard ski.

I made dinner again this week. The Bigs didn’t like what I made, so I had to make them a special meal. I don’t understand why they can’t eat pasta without mushrooms. What are they? Five?

Some of the things we ate. Burrito bowls:

and pad thai:

Dad made bread:

because Mom made soup. Curried cauliflower:

and Turkish tomato, bulgur, and red pepper.

No meal is complete without dessert. Like purple turkey-shaped butter cookies:

and French apple tart.

Is it live or is it Memorex?

Helping with the fall yard clean up:

Another big LEGO week. Uncle Chris sent me a cool Star Wars Lego kit:

and Mom borrowed a simple machines kit – so I built a race car with a working transmission.

Dad built a box for the minivan. Why?

For us to sit in the car and have lunch after a hard ski (no COVID lodges for us, thank you).

Good thing he finished it. I worked up a big hunger this weekend. Look at all this snow!

There has been lots of moaning about aches and pains from The Bigs. I guess working from home without proper office chairs (among other things) has hurt them. Getting old must be rough. Anyway, I solved the problem. Here I am assembling their new office chairs.

I am so much more productive now!

Despite doing almost all the work around the house and solving The Bigs problems, I still had time to create. This is art.

You saw some of the prep for a few of this week’s meals last weekend. Here are the finished products. Tofu noodle soup:

and Indian mulligatwany stew:

I also made

broccoli and cheese risotto and pan-seared tempeh steaks with a chimichurri sauce

And Dad made a multigrain bread

and a super greens soup with lemon tarragon cream.

Guess who I am. Not sure? Some hints. 1. That’s a mustache. 2. Börk börk börk. Give up? The Swedish Chef, of course.

I volunteered to make dinner on Friday. Perhaps so we would have something I like…

I made truffle salt shrimp pasta, of course.

This week, I gave The Bigs a shopping list.

They ACTUALLY bought the stuff. I used those apples, potatoes, butter, salt, and raisins to make a salad – I made up the recipe.

It was, much to The Bigs’ surprise, quite good. How could they doubt me?

I also prepped several meals for the coming week. I got a broth started for tofu noodle soup,

made an Indian mulligatawny soup,

and prepared the topping for an apple cranberry crisp.

I still had time to do multiple costume changes and some light cleaning.

I’m never tired, but when The Bigs make me go to bed, at least I have cool new Peanuts sheets – just like Ryan. Thanks Nan and Pop!

On Saturday we went on a hike at Paulina Lake. It was 26 degrees out.

I AM FREEZING. WHERE ARE THE HOT SPRINGS?!?!

Ahhhhhhh.

Big week this week. I finished construction of my AT-ST walker:

Got a new Hess truck from Pop:

And, I also had my last bike class. Bummer. I’ll be back for more in the spring. Jack-o-lantern bike this week:

Very exciting pumpkin and ghost cookies arrived in the mail this week. Thank you, Nana!

Everyone got into the Halloween spirit this week, even my stuffies. Kermit was a skier:

Moose was an astronaut, Papa Dog was an engineer, Puppy an EMT, and Elephant was a firefighter:

The Bigs show their Halloween spirit by drinking pumpkin beer:

Prepping candy bags for the Halloween scavenger hunt:

No trick-or-treating this year, so Meera and Om came over for some Halloween fun. I was a Jedi:

Meera was a princess. Om was the Hulk, but he wasn’t in a picture-taking sort of mood.

We played Pin the Face on the Jack-o-Lantern,

did a candy scavenger hunt,

had burrito bowls and Halloween cupcakes,

and we watched It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Sunday, we enjoyed the beautiful weather with ride at Phil’s:

We ended our ride at the pump track:

Here’s a little video of me pumping the pumpkin:

Some food from the week. Delicious wraps:

Tofu Banh Mi: