From Thanksgiving break to Dead week!

So the weekend of 20-22 November was a working weekend, but for those who worry, no I have not turned into a workaholic (you know I can't, it's just not in me ;o)). I only wanted to have the project off my 'to do' list, so I could have some great fun on Thanksgiving. My American flat mate Sarah invited us to join her and her sister Karen to Tallahassee, to spend a traditional Thanksgiving meal/weekend at her grandparents' place! Van and I were very happy to accept that invitation.

Tallahassee is in the north of the state Florida, so in the south of Atlanta. On Wednesday afternoon we took off in Karen's van. It was quite a drive, 6 hours to get us there. So when we arrived it was already evening. Dalcie and Ralph, the grandparents, gave us a warm welcome with tea, homemade cookies, banana bread and pumpkin dip. We didn't have an idea then, but that was the start of a very culinary weekend! :-) Dalcie and Ralph are 80 and 79, but boy, are they still full of energy!!

A picture to introduce everybody: from left to right my American flat mate Sarah, my Vietnamese flat mate Van, Ralph, Karen, Dalcie, and me.


Thursday was Thanksgiving's day. It was good to be away from Tech and just relax. We woke up, had a good breakfast, helped a little bit in the kitchen - although we did not get a chance to do much - we puzzled, we enjoyed, we watched Ralph preparing the Turkey (they fried it!), and around 2-3pm we started a rich Thanksgiving dinner!


















On the menu (to give you an idea of how spoiled we were): turkey, stuffing, gravy, pineapple 'al gratin' (really funny how they pronounce it), green beans, sweet potatoes, some sweet green jelly thing I don't remember what exactly it was, olives, okra, pickles and cranberry relish!




But no Thanksgiving without pie. And why only bake one pie, if you can bake four of them ;-) pumpkin pie, cherry pie, blueberry pie and apple pie! :-)


So basically on Thursday, we just ate...all day long! :-)

The Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday and there are sales everywhere, starting from midnight. Yes indeed, stores open up at night or early in the morning and welcome crazy shoppers. We only went in the afternoon though. In the morning we went to Wakulla Springs where we took a boat trip to see alligators, manatees, and all kind of birds. The weather was great and the nature so pretty!




Ooh I forgot to say that we started the day with freshly baked pancakes, bacon, eggs and fruit. :-)

Unfortunately, on Saturday, we were driving back to Atlanta...but how to start the day without a good meal. ;-) We got treated one last time to grandma's great cooking and after the brunch we hit the road!



Coming back to Tech was kind of harsh. We are in the week before finals week, and that is traditionally called "Dead week". No need to explain that I guess. Anyway I'm fine because I only have one exam and I already worked on my project. But for sure, after such a great weekend, it is back to reality...