Thanksgiving!

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving! I had a very traditional Thanksgiving feast here on our first day of vacation. And just to make it feel like home, I brought along the Anderson favorites - chocolate pecan and regular pecan pie. For me, pie making is always a challenge, made so even more out here. But between the pecans I received in the mail or that people brought out here, I had enough of those . . . borrowed two pie plates . . . and used chocolate chips that were mailed from America. So, supplies assembled, now the only challenge was to actually make them.

Gladys made the crusts the day before but I had to throw them out, making a 30 minute project into much longer! Thankfully, Super Kelsey to the rescue! Kelsey and I hang out about once a week and this week's time conveniently turned into "how to save Erica's Thanksgiving." With Betty Crocker in hand we went to work cutting in shortening, all the while mumbling what instructions I could remember from the pie making demo I had last year in Charlotte.

So that picture pretty much sums it up - Kelsey proud and accomplished, me - confused. BUT all of that went ok. I didn't exactly remember to put a cookie sheet under the pies as they baked so the kitchen/house may have been filled with smoke when I came back from my run . . . but that wasn't really THAT big of a deal. And pecan pie was had by all.