I only had to go into the office three days this week--and I had little actual work to do those three days. I did have to work a few hours from home over the weekend because I got real assignments that needed a quick turnaround. I remarked how strange it is that I had to go to work to do whatever I want, then come home to do work. On Tuesday they had a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. On Wednesday, the office closed two hours early, so I had to use my extra daylight for one final trail run for the season. (Sigh. I don't want to rush through Christmas, but I'm already looking forward to the March day when glacier lilies mark the end of winter.)
On Thanksgiving morning, I ran a 10k. It was my first real 10k (though I did an informal trail 10k a year and a half ago). I don't do a lot of races, because I'm fairly slow, I'm not competitive, and why pay money to run a distance I can do for free? But there is a fun atmosphere at races, and I enjoy getting the holiday-themed running shirts. I placed 102 out of 306, just barely making it into the top third. The rain stopped long enough for the race, and it was perfect weather.
Over the past year, I watched my weight creeping up, and I decided that if I ever weighed in at 180, I would count calories until I weighed in at 170. Labor Day weekend, I weighed in at 180. That was an anomaly, but I decided to count calories anyway. Well, after my 10k, I weighed in at 170! I thought, "Maybe I should count calories until I'm consistently 170." But then I realized that Thanksgiving was the perfectly symbolic day to end my calorie counting. So I'm done!
My mom's family came over for dinner. I contributed a few things to the meal. I made cranberry sauce for my work lunch, and I had plenty of leftovers. I don't know why you would ever buy canned cranberry sauce. The homemade stuff is super easy, and it's so much better!
I made the filling for mincemeat pie. My grandparents like mincemeat pie, and my mom used to make it for them from a jar. I didn't like it then. But then three years ago, I found a recipe that I like, and I've been making mincemeat for Thanksgiving ever since.
On Monday night, I had a dream that I was making stuffing using Cap'n Crunch. I thought it would be funny to try it in real life. I mean, stuffing is made of stale bread, and cereal is basically stale bread with sugar. My mom made real stuffing for the turkeys, but I made boxed stuffing on the stove and threw in some Cap'n Crunch. (I used Christmas Crunch so I would enjoy the cereal after Thanksgiving.) It did impart a strange flavor, and it's not going to become a tradition, like I had secretly hoped. But it was edible.
My cousin Peter said it could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try Cap'n Crunch stuffing, and he tried to convince my grandma to try some because of that. She said she didn't like Cap'n Crunch, and Peter asked if it even existed when she was a kid. That led to a tangent of things that are younger than my grandparents.
Dinner was nice and satisfying. After everyone left, I watched the kitschy TV special The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't from 1972 and a few random Thanksgiving reruns on TV.
The rest of the weekend was really low key and enjoyable. It maybe wasn't as fun as last year's Black Friday, but I got most of the Christmas decorations up, way earlier than usual. Sometimes I have been accused of hating Christmas, just because I don't like it before Thanksgiving and I detest certain Christmas songs. But let's face it: I probably enjoy my top five favorite holidays more than your average Christmas lover likes Christmas. Christmas is my second favorite. Would a Christmas hater own a playlist of 1,279 songs and counting?
***
The end of Thanksgiving means the final installation of pumpkinundation roundup.
I finished the last few drops of this Pumpkin Pie Torani Syrup and put it in my hot chocolate. It's OK; I can't say it really tastes like pumpkin pie. 6/10.
I kept forgetting to put Apple Pie Tic Tac on here, even though I've been eating them all month long. I got this large pack two years ago, and sadly I don't think they make these anymore, even though they're my all-time favorite Tic Tac. It was this very pack that got me my gig over at The Impulsive Buy. 7/10.
Behind my roll is a Fresh Market Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie, which is typical. 8/10.
Last month I got Lady Gaga's Joanne on vinyl, and they had put in the wrong LP at the factory, so I had to go back to Graywhale to exchange it. While I was there, I went next door and got this B&D Burgers Pumpkin Shake. It was OK; it was less flavorful than Arctic Circle or Dairy Queen. If you happen to be at B&D and want something seasonal, this is fine, but it's not worth going out of your way for it. 7/10. But I might have to go back to B&D for a meal sometime, because they have a good selection of veggie burgers, my favorite food.
This Trader Joe's Pumpkin Butternut Squash Bisque had a nice, sweet flavor, and it was very simple. It's a good meal if you've already eaten a lot that day (as I had), but it's not substantial on its own. 7/10.
My sister brought over this pumpkin roll that a coworker had made. Pumpkin rolls are so classic that I'm surprised they aren't featured in more seasonal settings. Pumpkin cheesecake is fairly popular, but I like pumpkin roll better. 9/10.
At the 10k, they had these pumpkin muffins. I had already filled up on pumpkin oatmeal and Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts before the race, so it wasn't as good as it otherwise might have been. It was a typical pumpkin muffin. 7/10.
Here's the Thanksgiving pie plate (which was the same as the dinner plate because I didn't want to dirty two dishes): homemade mincemeat pie (8/10), Costco Pumpkin Pie (9/10), Costco Pecan Pie (10/10), and homemade apple pie (10/10).
Another thing I contributed to Thanksgiving dinner was Trader Joe's Breaded Turkey-less Stuffed Roast with Gravy. It has a weird, poultry-like texture with lentils in it. For a vegan item, it's OK. If you want it to taste like turkey, it just tastes like sadness. 7/10. (In case you're wondering, no, I'm not vegetarian. I just think it's fascinating the things they can do without meat.)
My cousin also brought this pumpkin ice cream, I don't know where from. It was creamier than most ice creams. But we were already full from dinner. 8/10.
Wrong holiday, but I have to show you these because of how weird they are. I got these Peppermint Tums Chewy Bites a few weeks ago at Target. On Friday, I went on a five-mile run and had heartburn as I got home, since I had eaten lots of Thanksgiving leftovers. Then I remembered I had these in my drawer! They have the texture of candy. But it wasn't as minty as I had expected. 8/10. Now I've had pumpkin spice cough drops and candy cane antacids!
I could have had this Apple Cider Dum-Dum for Thanksgiving, but I forgot I had it. It's leftover from Christmas Dum-Dums last year. It's OK. 7/10.
I did not buy this Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie. It's squashier than most pumpkin pies, and I like the crust's texture. 9/10.
Well, that's a wrap. See you here again in September!
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