A Top Chef Thanksgiving

What a wonderful time we had at Mom's house for Thanksgiving. It was such a blessing to be able to spend time with my mom and sister, Betty, (yes, that's Bada Bing Betty from Top Chef!). They whipped up a yummy, traditional Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, artisan rolls, etc, etc, etc. Wow! Everything was GREAT! Me, I'm lacking in the culinary skills of my sister, but did put together "Grandma's Seafood Salad", a combination of shrimp, crab, lettuce, celery, garlic, and other seasonings.

My grandparents used to host Thanksgiving dinner many, many years ago, and I remember going to their house as a child and enjoying the feast along with my cousins. My grandma would cook for hours, and one of the dishes I remembered and enjoyed most was her seafood salad. Actually, she would make one crab salad and one shrimp salad. The crab salad was truly a delicacy since crab was so expensive. So, now it is my turn to carry on the preparation of Grandma's Seafood Salad, and I happily do so.

My wonderful husband spent the whole weekend repairing my Mom's bathroom. She had to have some of her pipes replaced because they were leaking and Pete replaced her insulation, put the vanity back in place, rehung her curtains, and replaced her light fixture. He is so wonderful to do that for her and take all that stress off of my Mom. He's my hero!

Nemo and Cooper always love seeing Aunt Betty. We had a fun photo shoot before sitting down to stuff ourselves like the turkey! Usually the kids are fighting over who is sitting next to me at meals, but do you think that happened this weekend? Well, with Granny and Aunt Betty to choose from - they left me in the dust! That's ok - I know they love me.

I have set up my Google Alerts to catch blogs and websites that talk about my Top Chef Sister, but reading some of the comments on the other blogs is pretty hard. Don't get me wrong. I am really enjoying watching Top Chef and the show is fun stuff, but some people are just downright mean. But, be that as it may, Betty is a wonderful, funny, sweet, compassionate woman - but she's also outspoken, and won't put up with nonsense. Along with Betty, I really enjoy watching Chef Tom, Gail, Sam, Cliff, Elia, and Ilan. I loved the oh-so-subtle editing the producers gave us in the TGIFriday's episode. You know, the one where Betty finally got fed up with Marcel's whining. Did anyone else notice that when Elia was comforting Marcel and telling him that she always defended him when the other cheftestants were angry with him, that she was eating Betty's signature portabello mushroom and grilled cheese sandwich? That was brilliant! Hilarious!

As nerve-wracking as it is, I can't wait until the next episode. Of course, I'm rooting for Betty to win! And I'll be biting my nails along with the rest of you!