Thankful the Hurricane Season Is Seemingly Over... tho time will tell ... Thanksgiving Miami 2017

The cold weather has receded somewhat.

We had heavy rain today in South Florida.

I'm just not ready to say it's for sure over...

Fronts dip down. 

Trofs show up.

Time will tell.

Officially nothing going on.

Nada...

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php?basin=atlc&fdays=5

You can click the link if you don't believe me...

As for me.... I'm going to sleep or I'm going to try to go to sleep. I'm so exhausted. The weather part of this blog is over so I'm going to just explain a bit about where I've been.

I woke up late but ended up putting together a Thanksgiving Brunch for me and some of my younger kids. What is a Thanksgiving brunch you ask? 

Eggs Benedict over Turkey and Stuffing with home fried potatoes and cranberry sauce.

Donuts of all kind were for dessert from Creme Brulee to Pumpkin with cheesecake frosting to Chocolate Turkey ones with candy corn for decoration. While I usually do Paleo I did as close as I could and we start over tomorrow. Note you can adapt that with Vegan turkey or sauce made any way you want and you can if you want add cranberry over the stuffing before the egg but I chose to leave it on the side. Adaption is the joy of life... I added Fig Jam into the stuffing and it was oh my gosh so good! 

Then we hung out.... the house smelled from fresh made stuffing. We talked, we joked and the kids played some virtual bowling game while the rest of us cuddled on the sofa under covers because when you live in Miami you keep the AC really cold. Sometimes Jack Frost visits our windows on the inside...  It's always 70 degrees in this house so after dinner tonight I bought an Ugly Chanukah Sweater to wear while lying in bed enjoying the feel of winter in Miami ;)  When the heater goes on it never goes above 70 degrees. It's a Miami thing. 80 degrees is for walking on the beach....

Then we got dressed and went to my son's Mother-in-Law's sister's house where our combined families and pets hung out, ate, talked, enjoyed being together and ate the most incredible meal I did not have to cook. What do people in Miami eat? Jews... Cubans...Southern Floridians?

Incredible appetizers ...bourekas with turkey and mushroom and chicken and olive ... home made. I'm full, tired and not using grammar tonight. We drank wine... really good wine. They took 2 huge turkey breasts and marinated them over night in real hard cider and then stuffed them with incredible stuffing with dried fruit and some sort of bourbon or apple liquor and it was one of the best Turkey's I've had and I don't generally like white meat but it melted in your mouth. 

Turkey and gravy.

Stuffing.

Fingerling Roasted Potatoes.

Sweet Potato Mash..

Corn Souffle (incredible)

Cranberry Sauce home made with berries, ginger, lime, brown sugar and guava jam. Oh my gosh..

Various vegetables.

Roasted egglplant slices.

Roasted peppers.

Salad

Deli Roll

Pasta with chicken for anyone who didn't like turkey.

Things I can't remember.... 

More wine. 

Then we had coffee and dessert.

Pumpkin Pie

Flan (best I have had in ages)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Pie.

More wine was on the table.

What we had besides "oh my gosh to die for flan..." was friendship, family and sharing happy moments. My daughter-in-law's grandparents left Cuba shortly after the revolution. They have been married 55 years and I think she has more energy than me! She's so cute... she can sing in Spanish and Yiddish and languages go in and out and flow from one to another the way a Bougenvilla branch winds it's way up into a Poinciana tree. South Florida is a colorful blend of flavor and languages pero everyone understands each other or gets the general gist of the conversation. People watch football, listen to music, dance in the kitchen and try to debate when someone in the family is going to give birth (hopefully soon) and there are a few girls pregnant so the conversation on that was constant. Kids hung out... dogs barked and jumped and then came back to lean against our legs while begging to be petted.

We all want to be petted in a way. Sometimes we want conversation and other times we want love and other times we like to debate and argue or talk and share and sometimes we just want to lie down on the sofa with our daughter in law and whisper and giggle and just share the love.

I've been traveling for the last week so I have barely been able to go online let alone blog. Living on the cellphone that seems to act more and more like my link to the world. Flew into Miami last Thursday, then drove up to St. George Island where my T-Mobile didn't work at all... watched my son get married on the beach at sunset. Spent quality time with my grandson who has a new stepmom and met her parents. Hung out with part of the family and the "gang" meaning the "boyz" who have been tight since their mid teens. Drove back finally and proceeded to get ready for Thanksgiving. Didn't go back to Raleigh as my daughter is due soon and there's a baby shower for another daughter-in-law and Thanksgiving with the kids. My old Chromebook I travel with tried to run away and fell off the bed onto the floor that kills all known appliances (Cuban Tile) and barely works. So tonight I got a new one... at Target on sale. Time will tell ... it's not what I really wanted but it's filling a need so I can go back online and write, blog and be normal again. 

So I sincerely hope that you had someone to share the love with today. And, if you are a loner who doesn't like large family occasions I hope you found some time to enjoy the holiday that celebrates being thankful. It's just that plain and simple. It's not the most commercialized holiday (well except for Macys and the balloons and all) and it's a space between the Fall Holidays and the Winter Holidays. A time of memories of our childhood, memories we made over the years and memories made today. 

Something about November as it seems I'm always traveling. Then I go back to Raleigh in Winter and the leaves have fallen off the trees and litter the pavement in colorful confetti patterns. The trees show their beautiful structure and people put on coats and jackets and it's officially winter. I told you ... November is that in between time. I'm going to try to make the most of it. 

So.... thankful for the love and support of my friends both online and off and for the people who read my blog and regularly talk with me on Twitter and other places. I wish you all happiness and many things to be thankful for... and if you are wondering. Stuffing is made with bread so you stuff the turkey with it and it's "stuffing" but if you use cornbread...then it's Cornbread Dressing. Now you know.

Besos BobbiStorm

Ps ... We have a word in Yiddish for the "in laws" and it's basically "Machatunim" and when it works out well between families it means your joy expands and now includes another family that you share life with and they add richness and color to your world and vice versa. So today I spent Thankgiving with the Machatunim! What's nice is I've watched Karen's daughter Rachel grow up from a teenager to my son's wife and we are waiting for them to become parents and continue the traditions with love, laughter and Thankfullness!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/12/09/machatunim_co_in_laws_english_needs_a_word_for_the_relationship_between.html