not all who wander are lost

not all who wander are lost

Saturday, November 24, 2007

Turkey dinner in Sri Lanka

Our green bean casserole turned out great. Leo thought he'd try his hand at MAKING the fried onions. I made way for him in our skinny kitchen and jumped in the shower while he was heating oil, chopping, and dredging. By the time I came out to the kitchen, he had a perfect looking pile of fried onions on a plate. Crispy, flaky....even better than the can! Ha!

And what a night we had, a true Thanksgiving. A 7 kg turkey was perfect for our group of 15. A big deep gorgeous bowl of gravy. Melty dreamy mashed potatoes by Lynn. Different kinds of stuffing...there was even stuffing that was served from a stuffed pumpkin for vegatarians (great idea!!), sweet potatoes with juggery, plenty of veggies, cranberries (where did those come from?). In true Thanksgiving style, we just kept eating because everything was so delicious, and then came the pies! Apple, pumpkin, and pecan, and a heaping bowl of fresh cream. Little cups of steaming coffee. Ahhhh. Leo to my right, Lynn to my left, I was a blissed out bursting little bean. Thankfully I had worn a skirt with an elastic waist.

Cheryl is doing GREAT. You would never know that she had spinal surgery earlier this summer. She's goes to the gym, swims, does yoga, and walks with those around the garden everyday!

We finally met the legendary Ami, Jehan's mom, age 76, a beautiful lively Sri Lankan Gram. She has done many amazing things in her life and it's not over yet. She's lived in 11 US States and while living in California became the first female pilot underwriter for the insurance companies in the aviation field. This little story is worth telling...She started as an office manager in the underwriting office and it perturbed her to no end that only male pilots could be underwriters, not female pilots. This was something she spoke about often at the office and finally one day, she asked for a chat with the head of the company. She asked him, "why can't female pilots be underwriters?" he replied, "why, do you want to be an underwriter? you're not even a pilot." to which she replied, "what if I was?" They ended up having quite the conversation and by the end of it, he had agreed to pay for her to get her pilot's license and she went on to be the first female pilot underwriter. Leo and I were open mouthed and wide-eyed at this little story. She waved our amazement off by saying, "Oh don't get too excited, I only have about 575 hours under my belt. I didn't fly for long." Ha!

And the dogs :) April, the chocolate lab is about to burst she's so pregnant. It might even be today. You can feel the pups moving in her basketball belly. Pie, Crispy, and Dokie are the other three. I got right down on the floor with them (after dinner) and was quickly surrounded by great big swinging tails, wet noses, flying fur, and sloppy kisses. I was in allllll my glory.

Today we have absolutely nothing planned for once in a long time and that feels good. Leo is still sleeping off all that food, I am enjoying the quiet morning with my coffee. As I look out the window today I see a clear blue sky. Above one of those big sprawling Asian treetops in the distance is a flock of white birds flying. It looks like a Japanese painting....

Hope you all have a blessed day.

~Sara

1 comment:

Doug said...

Zack fried the onions for our casserole too, because I forgot to buy them in the can. The cajun deep-fried turkey was so good it was sick! Sorry we didn't call ya's...papa