November Wrap Up: Instant Pot Turkey a la King

This may have been the fastest November known to man.   I swear it was Halloween yesterday, and this weekend it's already Chanukah!

It's funny, compared to October, November was a lot more low-key.  October we've got an event every weekend day.  December is going to be the same.  But November?  November had weekends with nothing planned at all. 

We started and ended the month with Thanksgiving celebrations.   And between the two, there were birthday parties and school breaks.  Lots of school breaks this month.

Which is fine, because it meant Thatkid and I got to go on a great adventure.  

You see, one of my friends was due with her second child mid-October.  When she first told me she was pregnant I told her I'd be there right after the baby was born.  The issue?  She lives in New York.  And when Thatkid found out I was going to New York, he begged me to take him along.  Our original plan was to go over his break in October, but that was the week she was due, and we didn't want to show up mere days after she gave birth.

So, November it was.  We took the red-eye on a Friday night and found ourselves in New York at 4:30am on a Saturday morning.   We waited around for our luggage, changed clothes in the bathroom, then caught a car out to our hotel.  It was too early to check in, but we dropped off our luggage at the hotel and grabbed a train out to Brooklyn to visit my friend and her kids.

It was Thatkid's first subway ride and he was beyond excited.

Until he fell asleep.  He slept almost the whole way to Brooklyn, and I was glad - it had been an early morning for us!  We visited with my friend who had breakfast all ready for us, and Thatkid got his first taste of New York bagels - still warm from the oven.

Then it was back on the train and into the city.  And another little nap for Thatkid.  We had thought about trying to check into the hotel, but it was getting toward lunchtime, so instead we went and grabbed a slice.  Thatkid was VERY impressed with New York pizza.

One of the things Thatkid really wanted to do while we were in New York was to see the Statue of Liberty.  I was a little worried about tying us down to a timed ferry ride, since I wasn't exactly sure what we were going to be doing, but I knew we could get a really awesome view from the Staten Island Ferry, which left every 30 minutes.  So after lunch, we headed downtown.

The views from the ferry do not disappoint.

Right next to the Staten Island Ferry is Battery Park, which houses a "new to me" attraction.  The Seaglass Carousel.

The Seaglass Carousel is, as it sounds, a carousel comprising of glass sea creatures.

This is my new favorite ride ever.  And my new "Must Do" in NYC.  The music is fantastic, the glass lights up and is beautiful, and even the movement of the ride is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

Another thing Thatkid wanted to do in New York was see some Hamilton sights.  Hamilton's homestead, The Grange, was farther north than  I was planning on taking him, but I knew that Hamilton's grave was just a hop skip and a jump from Battery Park.  So we walked up to take a look.  

We found Alexander, Philip, and Eliza Hamilton, Hercules Mulligan, and Angelica Schuyler.  We also found a tour group.  Thatkid hasn't quite figured out all social niceties, so he joined right in, listening to the stories, until I gently guided him away.

Our next stop was dinner - a surprise for Thatkid.  I'd heard word about a special theme restaurant, called Ninja, that was a big hit with kids.  And so I made us reservations without telling him.   We got in and were ushered into a dark elevator.   At the bottom, a ninja jumped out at us and pointed us down a dark hallway.  At the end, another ninja showed us to our table.  This was pretty much the tone of the restaurant.  Ninjas, ninjas, everywhere.

Thatkid was sold.  From the light up drinks,

To the tableside magicians,

To the smoking entrees.  It was a good choice for a young boy.

Even the bathrooms were over the top - covered in cherry blossoms.

Our final stop for the evening was the thing that had driven Thatkid to want to come on this trip to begin with - Broadway shows.  I told him we could see two, and let him pick from everything out there.  And his first choice was King Kong.

I have SO many thoughts on this show, and I could write an entire essay about it, but the condensed version is that it was wonderful.  So much more than I was expecting.  Christiani Pitts, who played Ann Darrow, was a phenom, and she brought so much life to the character that I honestly feel the show was about Ann, not the giant ape.   And that giant ape?  A wonder of puppetry.  The show was everything that's amazing about Broadway shows, and Thatkid couldn't have agreed more.  Despite having been up since 1:30am California time, he sat spellbound and entranced the entire show.  It currently ties for first place for his favorite musical.  

Of course, being up so early Saturday meant our Sunday got a much later start as Thatkid slept until 10am for the first time in his life.  And I happily let him.  The original plan was to ice skate in the morning, but by the time we were showered and dressed, morning was almost over.  So instead, we headed out to get burgers and milkshakes.

And then we hit up the Christmas Markets at Bryant Park, which is one of my favorite things to do in the winter in New York.  

Thatkid loves ice skating, so I thought it would be fun for him to go ice skating while we were there.  We checked out the rinks at Rockefeller and Bryant Park, and I showed him pictures of the rink in Central Park.  He decided that Bryant Park was where he wanted to skate, which made me happy, because it's my favorite rink in the city.

After we did over 20 laps in the rink (he counted), we headed uptown to the American Museum of Natural History.  The plan was to check out the gem and mineral exhibit and see the giant T-Rex skeleton.  Of course, after we got there, we found that both those exhibits were closed.  

So we settled on checking out the other giant skeletons in the museum.

In December of 2005, Thatmom, Thatdad, Thatbrother and I spent Christmas in New York City.  I still have such great memories from that trip.  It was the last trip we took just the four of us; I got married the following August.  On Christmas Eve, we ate dinner at a restaurant my dad had found - Jekyll and Hyde's.  It was a theme restaurant, with animatronic wall decorations that spoke to you, and characters who wandered around performing.  The overall atmosphere was a little spooky, a lot silly.  

In December of 2008 I took Thatboy to New York for the first time.  And I thought he would get a kick out of the restaurant, so I took him there too.

So obviously, bringing Thatkid with me to New York for his first time, we had to eat at Jekyll and Hyde's.  While he didn't know about Ninja, he was really looking forward to this meal.  We got to sit right at the foot of Frankenstein's slab.  Which was really fun during the portion of the evening when Frankenstein comes to life. 

We kept up the gothic theme of the evening with Thatkid's second show choice - Phantom of the Opera.  Actually, this was technically his first show choice.  He's been asking to see it since last spring.  Long before we had even discussed New York.

Our last day in New York was a lazy one.  Thatkid slept in again, and then we went to grab bagels to bring home.

Our last stop before grabbing a train to the airport was Grand Central Station.  He was not excited at the prospect of another train station, but once we were inside, he was pretty impressed.

It was a pretty fast and packed long weekend.  We got in Monday night and he was off to school on Tuesday morning.  Luckily he only had to suffer through 4 days of school before his Thanksgiving break started.  And just like that we're here.  See what I mean about November passing quickly?

November passes so quickly, that Thanksgiving seems like just a little blip.  I've started a tradition the past two years of making my own turkey at home, so that I can stretch it out a bit.  Because turkey is delicious and shouldn't only be enjoyed on one day!  Plus this way I have leftover turkey to make sandwiches!  If you didn't get your fill of turkey, and don't want to make a whole bird for your family, I've also found this is a great time of year for stocking up on turkey breasts, or turkey cutlets.  I use them in much the same way I use chicken, but the turkey flavor just can't be beat!

Instant Pot Turkey a la King

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 Tbsp flour

1 cup chicken broth

1 lb turkey breast or cutlet, cut in bite sized pieces

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup frozen peas & carrots, thawed

1. Press "Saute" on the Instant Pot and add butter.
2. When butter is melted, add the turkey and mushrooms, cooking until mushrooms are tender, about 3 minutes.
3. Add flour and stir until smooth.
4. Slowly whisk in chicken broth.  Press "Off" on the Instant Pot and place the lid on.  Make sure the valve is turned to "Sealing."  Press "Manual" and adjust the time to 8 minutes at High pressure.  
5. When the Instant Pot beeps after pressuring cooking for 8 minutes, allow it to naturally release pressure for 13 minutes.  Press "Off" on the instant pot.
6. Add heavy cream, peas and carrots, and press "Saute" on the Instant Pot.  Cook until warmed through.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve over pasta, rice, potatoes, or even leftover stuffing!

A Haunting We Will Go: Apple Cider Sangria

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so I'm coming right in the nick of time with this Halloween post!  Next week I'll regale you with stories of turkeys, but today, let's take a hop back to the last day of October.


Thatbaby's preschool doesn't do much for Halloween - historically kids have come in costume and ruined them before the actual Trick or Treating event, so as long as my boys have been there, there's no costumes allowed.  Just a special lunch and a bag of candy to go home.

So I started the day off with my own festive touch - vampire muffins.  Good thing my kids have a ridiculous vampire teeth collection.

I also whipped together a little something for Thatkid to bring to lunch.

Thatkid does get to celebrate Halloween at school.  So he came in costume and pretty quickly found one of his friends.  Despite me not having a clue who kids were in their masks, Thatkid knew exactly who was hiding under those false faces.

The school had their Halloween parade, and then all the kids were gathered for their annual Halloween dance.  Each class practices the choreography in gym class in the weeks leading up to Halloween.

After school I picked the kids up and changed Thatbaby into his costume and put on his makeup.  Then we headed over to Stiller's house for dinner and pre-trick or treat festivities.

After dinner we rounded the boys up  and headed out into the night.

Trick or Treat!

Thatbaby is the littlest in the group and kept running after the big boys, falling and/or spilling his candy bucket.  By the end of the night, this was how he looked.

And those falls?  They found us in urgent care a couple days later.  Poor Thatbaby gave himself bursitis in his knee!

Thatkid had a more peaceful evening.  Just lots and lots of candy.

Whenever we go to someone's house for dinner, I feel bad arriving empty handed.  So despite the fact that Mrs. Stiller told me just to show up, I whipped up a batch of sangria to bring with us.  Because it's STILL fall, despite people playing Christmas music and having lights up, I went with the quintessential fall drink - apple cider.

Throw in the best fall fruits - apples, pears, and grapes, and it's the perfect accompaniment to your Thanksgiving dinner, or regular fall evening.

Apple Cider Sangria

2 1/2 cups apple cider

1 bottle of white or rose wine

1/2 cup ginger wine

3 apples, chopped

3 pears, chopped

1 cup grapes, cut in half

club soda

1.  Combine the apple cider and wines in a large pitcher.
2. Add the chopped fruit and refrigerate for at least 2 hours - the longer the better!
3.  Before serving add club soda to taste to the pitcher, or individual glasses.

Sunday Runday: Ghouls on the Run 5k

San Diego has a a ton of races, but very few locations for races.  There are usually the same four or five routes that host all of the races shorter than a half marathon.

Years ago, there was a Valentine's Day race at Kit Carson Park, and while the course was a little challenging, I really liked it.  I liked it enough that for a while I would run the course while Thatboy and Thatkid biked and skateboarded at the park.  But that race ended in 2016 and there hasn't been one in the park since.

Until...

Sometime over the summer I noticed that there was going to be a new race at Kit Carson Park - Ghouls on the Run.  I was immediately interested because of the course, but the fact that it was a Halloween race didn't hurt either.  And they had a discount for kids.  Thatkid was IN.  He couldn't wait to run the race, asking if I would dress up like a zombie with him.

Of course, just a few short weeks before the race was the ankle injury.  So there was no way I was running it.  But I figured that between his run spurts and frequent walk breaks, Thatkid usually ran a 14 minute mile, and I could handle just about that with constant hobble/running.  We also planned to meet up at the bottom of the big hill, and go up together if he did get too far ahead of me.

When we got to the race, he ran into an older friend from school.  They said hi, and as we lined up at the start, we found ourselves beside him and his mom.

I jokingly told Thatkid that if he wanted to run with his friend he could, and I wouldn't slow him down.  That joke turned into reality when his friend's mom jumped right on it and said she'd run with the boys.  When the race started, they took off.  Knowing how Thatkid run/walks, I figured I'd catch up with them somewhere along the way, so I just took the race easy.

This race was actually the reverse of the Sweetheart Course, starting us off in the dusty, hilly part of the trail.  It was a great switch, because I always find my momentum better early on.

The entire course was decorated to fit into the Halloween theme.

The race organizers are trying to get the big hill on the course known as "Gummy Bear Hill" by having gummy bears for all the racers at the top.  Talk about a trick or treat!

And while I was planning on meeting Thatkid at the bottom of the hill, I was unsurprised to see him far enough ahead of me on the course, running with his friend.  The other mom told me it was adorable to tag along and listen to their conversations.  I was surprised to find that Thatkid didn't stop or walk once on the course.  The other mom was surprised too.  Her son usually runs similarly.  I guess having a friend to push you along works pretty well.

After the hill, we headed in to my favorite part of the trail - the tree-lined part!  

Thatkid and his buddy finished enough before me that they came to see me finish.

I didn't take any pictures of the post-race festivities, but there were little cakes, fruits, and bagels as breakfast for everyone.  We didn't stay long because Thatbaby had an art class, and Thatkid had a soccer game, so we snapped a quick medal picture and we were off.

What I didn't realize or expect is that my super speedy son was so super speedy that he placed 3rd in his age division!  So once the results came out, I ran over to the race offices and picked up his award while he was in school.

It was a great course, and a really fun race.  I can't wait to do it next year on 2 good ankles!

A Haunting We Will Sail: Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie

The other new activity we did this Halloween season was the Haunted Tales aboard the Maritime Museum.  I wanted to do a little write up about this because I could find NOTHING about it online, so we went in not knowing what to expect.

To begin with, I wasn't sure if the kids should wear costumes or not, so I gave them the option.  When we arrived, it seemed that it was pretty evenly split between people in costumes and people in street clothes. Thatbaby wanted to wear a costume, but not his Halloween costume.  Thatkid chose to go as he was.  Until he found some glow in the dark vampire teeth in the car.  Which he left in line.

And lets talk about that line.  The event is 2 nights during the month of October from 6-9 pm.  Which I thought meant you could show up any time between those hours and just walk right in.  But that's not how it works.  The event takes in 20 people at a time, every 20 minutes.  So if you don't show up at 6pm, you're waiting in line.  Which can take a while.  It ended up taking us an hour to get through the line and on to the ship.  During that time, your party can split up and some wait in line while others tour the rest of the ships that make up the maritime museum, but they close at 8pm, so if you get there too late, there's not much to do but stand around.

So what exactly is the Haunted Tales event?  Well, it's a bunch of spooky stories involving the Star of India, the world's oldest active sailing ship.  She was originally built in 1863 and served as a trading ship and a passenger ship transporting immigrants from Europe to New Zealand. 

We're introduced to the evening by a sailor, telling us the story of a sea monster he saw with his own eyes, and narrowly escaped from.  As he finished he told us that his story was real, but not true - it was The Foghorn by Ray Bradbury.  He cautioned us that the rest of the stories we were going to hear were real AND true.

We continued through the ship, with two more stops to hear about accidents that had happened aboard, and the paranormal activities related to them.  Not having any information about it, I was worried these stories would be too scary for my kids - mostly Thatbaby who doesn't even like "bad guys" in movies.  (But who, ironically, only wants to BE the bad guy when playing pretend.)  Our group had a fair number of kids, and the story tellers seemed to cater the telling of the story to the youngest members of our group.  So Thatbaby felt it wasn't too scary an evening.

Overall it was a pretty fun evening, and I would definitely recommend the experience to anyone who wants to make their Halloween a little spookier, but still kid-friendly.

We did our own spooky kid friendly Halloween with another fun Halloween dish - spinning off the first sailor's story, I turned our regular old pot pies into Sea Monster pot pies.  Maybe Bradbury's, or maybe Lovecraft's Cthulhu, whom my children lovingly call "Spot," which is his name in the Howard Lovecraft cartoons.  Whichever you prefer, it's such an easy way to Halloween up a classic recipe by cutting shapes in the pastry.  For the upcoming holiday you could even do a turkey!  Although I would highly recommend using leftover turkey in your pot pie in place of chicken if you do that.  But even if you don't choose to create monsters or birds from your pie crust topping, pot pie is definitely a great way to use up leftovers in these colder months.  It's just so warm and comforting.  Even if it is staring back at you.

Cheddar Chicken Pot Pie

6 Tbsp butter

6 Tbsp flour

2 cups milk

salt and pepper

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

4 cups chopped cooked chicken

1 onion, diced

10 oz frozen peas

3 carrots, sliced

 1 pie crust, unbaked

1. Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the flour for 2 minutes until it's a thick paste. 
2. Slowly pour in the milk, salt and pepper, stirring as you add them in. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring till thick and smooth.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the cheddar cheese.
4. Stir in chicken, onion, peas, and carrots. 
5. Pour into pie tin, casserole dish, or individual oven-proof bowls.
6. Cut the pie crust into any shape you want, or just to fit the cooking dish.  Put the pie crust over the top of the chicken and veggies and crimp the edges.
7. Cut vents in the top of the crust and bake for 45 minutes.

A Haunting We Will Build: Candy Corn

It will come as no surprise to you that we filled our month of October with lots of Halloween activities, so get ready for a November filled with Halloween tricks and treats.

When I asked my kids what their favorite Halloween activity was, they both responded that it was making haunted gingerbread houses, so I thought I would start with that!

I was flipping through Facebook one day when I saw that Cute Cakes Bakery was running a special on their Spooky Gingerbread workshop - it was half off for the next week.  A quick check with the kids and a look at our schedule and I signed them up.

Neither of my kids has ever done a decorating workshop, but it seemed like something that would be right up their alley.  They both love to help me in the kitchen, Thatkid makes dinner every week, and as a family, we have made our fair share of gingerbread houses.

When we arrived, the bakery was closing up for the day, but they stayed open long enough for the adults to grab a mimosa or beer.  Each station was set up with a hat, apron, frosting bags, and the gingerbread walls.  Black gingerbread walls. Because it's a haunted house!

Our kids were actually did really well at listening to instructions and taking it step by step.  Thatboy and I did the divide and conquer routine, each helping one of the kids with the frosting bag and putting the pieces together.

The highlight for the kids, and what really made it all worth it, was the extensive candy bar.  If you've ever made a packaged gingerbread house before, you know they're a little stingy with the decorations.  Here the kids got free reign to take and use as much candy as they'd like.  And my boys definitely took advantage of that.

While Thatboy and I helped a lot with the construction of the house, the decorating was all them.

Thtboy went with a vision - to make it look like an actual haunted house, complete with a graveyard in the front yard, and candy corn gateposts for the front door.

Thatbaby's goal was to get as much candy on that house as humanly possible.

The boys had so much fun, and bonus, we had fun table decorations for the rest of the month!  They're already asking to go back for the Christmas Gingerbread House Workshop.

In addition to this new Halloween activity, we tried a new Halloween treat this year - making our own candy corn.  I should warn, this is not for the faint of heart.  The warm dough doesn't love to hold its shape when rolling into strands, and it took me forever to figure out how to form them into a wedge for cutting.  There were some really ugly ones in the bunch.

I should also warn that these don't taste like store bought candy corn.  They have a flavor all their own, aided by that vanilla extract.  They're SUPER sugary, so a bigger hit with the kids than me, but I find them way more appealing than store bought candy corn!  

Candy Corn (From Alton Brown)

1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar

6 1/2 tsp powdered nonfat milk

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup light corn syrup

2 1/2 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

yellow and orange gel paste food coloring

1. Combine the confectioners sugar, dry milk, and salt in a food processor.  Pulse until combined.
2. Combine the granulated sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 2 quart pot.  Place over medium heat, cover, and cook for 4 minutes.
3. Add butter and bring the syrup to 230 degrees.  Remove from the heat.
4. Add the vanilla and the confectioners sugar mixture and stir until combined.  Pour on a sheet pan lined with a baking mat and cool until it is cool enough to handle. Divide the dough into 3 pieces.  
5. Add 2 drops of yellow food coloring to one piece and knead the color in.  
6. Add 2 drops of orange food coloring to a second piece and knead the color in.  Leave the third piece white. Roll each piece of dough into an 18 inch long strand.  Cut each strand in half and roll into a strand that is 22 inches long and 1/2 inch thick.
7. Lay the strands side by side - orange, yellow, then white, and press them together.  Cut into 4 inch pieces.  Then press each piece into a wedge, with the orange on bottom and the white part on top coming to a tip.
8. Cut each wedge into individual candies.  Let dry for at least 1 hour on parchment paper.

Sunday Runday: The Fit Foodie 5k

So a fun little story for you guys.

A couple days after the Grape Day 5k, I was on my daily run when I hit a crumbly piece of road and went down.  I didn't even need to look or stand up to know that I had sprained my ankle.  I've been there before. I called Thatboy and told him it was time to come home ,while I used adrenaline to limp home, where I finally took a look as I gingerly unlaced my shoes.  It was a sprain all right.  My ankle was the size of a softball, which distracted me enough to not notice my other knee was torn up and dripping blood onto the couch. 

My fall running season ended before it had even truly began.

I'm not going to lie, it's been really hard on me being injured.  Running has always been a bit of a mental health release for me, not to mention it helps keep the disordered behavior at bay.  I've finally gotten to a good place where I control the running, it doesn't control me, and being thrown into a sedentary lifestyle has been very depressing.  The house became a mess, as I gave myself permission to sit with my foot up instead of daily maintenance, which both has fueled and been fueled by this depression.   Sitting around with my foot up has also left me feeling not at my most attractive- not aided by the fact that I can no longer stand to shave, and can only do so if I take a bath, and I haven't wanted to do extra standing to actually do my hair so it's been in a rough ponytail for weeks.   I'm working my way out of it slowly but surely, I got the house back in order (although Halloween week has wrecked more havoc to be addressed) and last week I even blew dry my hair! 

Of course just 1 week after the sprain was the Fit Foodie 5k.  Perfect timing right?  I knew there was no way I was going to be running this race, but I couldn't miss it.  And since I was walking it anyway, what the the harm in pushing a stroller?  I brought some company with me - Thatbaby!

I wrapped my ankle, threw on my aircast, and we got down early enough to snag some close parking.  Then we took advantage of all the race has to offer.

Like a fun photo booth.

Thatbaby has met me at the finish line for this race before, and the first year I ran it, he was just a teeny little thing inside me - we hadn't even announced my pregnancy at the time I ran - but this was the first year he was going to take part that he'd remember.  I promised him lots of good snacks and swag, and the race did not disappoint. 

The bonus of having a stroller, is that we could load up on all the goodies before the race instead of after!  We lined up at the back of the pack and ended up being in the 8th wave to start the race. 

The beginning of the race is narrow and bottle-necky, so to be honest, walking it wasn't that big a deal.  Although to continue with my honestly, I am not a good race walker.  I was itching to go faster - and I'm not an especially fast runner to begin with!  It felt like forever before we go to the first mile!

One of the great things about the Fit Foodie Race is that each mile has a little foodie treat!  Mile 1 was mini-doughnuts!

Mile 2 was the hardest and easiest to walk.  I know, that makes a lot of sense.  But the second mile is all about that bridge.  And while it was easy to walk up the bridge, it took all my restraint not to run down it! 

Our Mile 2 treat was gummy vitamins. 

The last mile was nice and flat and wide.  It would have been so perfect to run.  I didn't.  But being so far back always has its disadvantages.  By the time we got to the Mile 3 marker, they were all out of their special treat - which was brownies.  We saw the last one getting taken!

But that 3 mile marker means that the race is almost over anyway, and with so many other goodies awaiting just on the other side of the finish line it's hard to be mad about missing out on that last one!

The problem with running with a 3 year old is that after the race they're not willing to take a cute photo of you with your matching medals.  Or even a cute photo with their medal.

Luckily I found a friend who is ALWAYS willing to take a cute medal photo with me. 

The final swag haul:

My ankle was fairly angry with me later that day.  Because, in keeping with my honesty theme, I definitely pushed it too much.  But it's a race you just don't want to miss!  Hopefully you'll join me next year in my redemption run - I'll be there!