The LIfe Journey of a Turkey...Day.

This is the third Sanchez Thanksgiving we've celebrated in Portland. The first one was actually before I was even legally a Sanchez. This year we were joined by Andy and Anne and a dignified sense of progress from year one's turkey breast and year two's slighty frozen turkey. Here's what happened:

Andy grew up on a ranch, so we elected him as chief butcherer. Though our turkey isn't pictured, using Anderson colloquial use, the turkey is looking right at you.

Ever since we started cooking little chickens in our roasting pan, it's been a Sanchez ritual to dance a bit with the bird after it has had a bath. It gets the juicies flowing for cooking.

Seasoning is an art form in the Sanchez household and garlic an essential ingredient in all cooking. Having made sure the turkey was evenly sprinkled both outside and in its cavity, he's ready for the 325degree oven we've prepared for him.

Sufficiently tanned the turkey is ready for his aluminum oven fort.

This is as hip as our dining room will ever be, thanks to Andy and Anne's looks of indifference as they wait for the food to cook.
After we finished eating we gather enough strength to move from the dining room to the couches, where we watch Batman Begins. Halfway through the movie we were ready for dessert.


This is one of the most beautiful moments of Thanksgiving, Jon and Andy cleaning up while Anne and I sat on the couch watching the screen saver on the dvd player. It was so good. As long lost children living in Portland, we made sure to call our families for a thanksgiving hello. In the end we were happy to spend the day at home with no lingering stress of airports and travel. Thanks.

Food Service Feast

The warmth and bustle of the holidays are approaching. Tomorrow I'll prepare for our Thanksgiving feast by cleaning our bathrooms, doing some laundry and shopping for those last few items. Jon and I are sort of pioneering Sanchez Holidays in Portland. Our first Thanksgiving here was a month before our wedding. I cooked turkey breast using the ragamuffin appliances and cookware at 2nd base and if I'm not mistaken Eric Mora joined us. Last year we had the Albertson crew, who have since migrated to the East Coast. This year we are joined by Andy and Anne and a peach pie and cheesy Christmas music. And we've got a bottle of fine red wine.

In preparation for this year's Thanksgiving my mind has been mulling over the holiday meal we got at Drake, hosted by the cafeteria staff. It was a food service oddity, the holiday meal. All the staff would smile, slicing roast beef and setting up the tables of pie. I remember live music and Christmas lights. By my junior year every meal I ate in the school cafeteria gave me some sort of stomach ache, but those holiday meals are good, warm, well-fed memories. It seems that at the cusp of a homemade Sanchez feast, what I really want is to use my meal card for a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving.

Huzzah.

I'm lame. I'll be the first to admit it. I have a couple excuses I could throw your way. First, I nearly maimed myself in a bread cutting incident that involved a sharp serrated knife and my left index finger. Second, my typing skills are slowly declining making this harder to do. Did I mention I'm lame. Moving on though I just wanted to share a small triumph of mine. I recently discovered this Web site where you can sell and buy things in what they call an "online auction." It is called Ebay. I discovered the site shortly after discovering how amazing my feet feel while wearing very expensive hippie, negative heel shoes made by the company Earth. I wanted a pair to ease those long hours micromanaging people at work and Ebay was my means. So I've been spending the past few weeks passively viewing every pair of Earth shoes in my size, comparing styles, sellers, ending times, over and over and over again. Finally I took the first step and placed a bid on a pair. Then I waited patiently yet excitedly by the computer, clicking refresh every 19 seconds to make sure I was not outbid or "snipped" in the last few seconds. Jon's brother and sister-in-law are Ebay participants of legend status. In a way my own victorious shopping today made me just a little more of a Sanchez and less of an Anderson.

As an extreme sidenote: If you want to come to our home for Thanksgiving, you are invited.