Thanksgiving Weekend (yes, I know it was three weeks ago)

This Thanksgiving we had the awesome opportunity to see Steve Bell play with the Calgary Philharmonic. It was wonderful. I love to see Steve play live and the Orchestra was an added bonus. Definitely different than his normal performance as in this format, he didn't have the freedom he normally does.

A brief visit from my good friend Rachel just in town for the weekend and we were off to Saskatoon.


We also had a delightful evening with friends Rob and Lisa Braun and Tim and Erica Baerwald. We had a Vietnamese Cookoff. Gord and Rob made this spicy chicken dish. (I've never heard two males talk more in the kitchen, but all the talk seemed not to hurt the flavour).

Erica and I made this pork dish, the best one I might add. (not biased)

Tim and Lisa made a DEElishous Shrimp fried rice (Sorry I lost this picture guys)

Overall, we had ourselves one good meal. The only hiccup of the evening came when our group effort to make our first ever vermicelli ended up like this.

That's right people, I said vermicelli, not mashed potatoes, as hard as that is to believe. So, if you're out there, and have cooked vermicelli successfully, please leave comments and tips because apparently following the instructions does not work.

There was also the inevitable complete Turkey dinner at the Bushman household where many interesting times are always had. My brother brought his girlfriend, Tania and her mom, so it was wonderful getting to know them a bit better. I could tell my mom is really doing better because she cooked the entire Turkey dinner herself and still ended up with a smile on her face. And all this after we'd stuffed ourselves and my parent's church's "Super Simple Sandwich Sunday", a regular occurence, apparently. I was cruel and made my parents say the name multiple times and tried to refrain from giggling each time.

We capped off the weekend with a huge Jerry's breakfast with the ever exciting Sandra and Steve. Such fun!

And now, today's baking: Gingerbread Biscotti

Okay you Stampede hating smart alecs

So, after receiving much flack about my lack of updates. Here goes. It has been a very difficult and challenging summer for Gord and I with my Mom's illness and the death of Nate. I have been up and down emotionally and very difficult to live with but Gord has persevered. Even when I cry after he asks me what's for dinner. Women. For those of you wondering, my Mom is doing wonderfully well and we are looking forward to seeing my family again this Thanksgiving. Nathan's life and death has seriously impacted our lives, as I know it has for many of your. Amidst the heartache of losing a friend and example, we (just as many of you) have been pushed head first into a more serious look at our faith, our love for Jesus and how are lives are an example of that love. Through this refining in our lives, God is giving us new passion for reaching out to the lost. New and exciting ideas that seem to be inching closer to reality. Friends, God has chosen us to be his vessels. He has a plan for us even when we can only see today's step. We are excited about the possibilities of what God will do when we step aside and let Him work through us.
In other, less serious and thought provoking news, I did the Run for the Cure on Sunday alone and found it a rather pleasurable experience. I did also help that this year's run was not hampered by the torrential rains of last year.

At SEMA we had our 3rd birthday party on Sunday which I made the following cupcake cake for.

Here's what it was supposed to look like.

I'm only human people. I'm not a pastry chef.


P.S. I'm noticing that much of my blogging centres around food. Hmmm...