Friendsgiving

This marks our third and final thanksgiving island style.

I'm a lil sad, but once we move off the rock, we will hopefully get to spend a holiday with our real families. I say that now, but you know how family holidays go, well at least my family get togethers are interesting to say the least.

Our first "married" Thanksgiving in 2009 was just Chris and I, but our second and final Thanksgiving we had a house full of good friends.

I brined my bird for a solid 36 hours, ensures it stays juicy, and slathered it in herb butter. It came out much prettier, and by that I mean more evenly golden, than last year, which was my first attempt at cooking an entire bird.

In my family, cooking the turkey is the job of the elder married women, I guess I finally joined that club. My cousin Jeff, who is a bomb chef, gave me a great tip to ensure an evenly browned bird. He told me to start the turkey on 400 degrees for like 15-20 minutes and then cover it with foil, leaving space at the top for the steam to vent, and knock it down to 325 degrees for the remaining time. It worked great! My bird was lookin' amazing. I even dressed him up a lil =)

I stressed out last year, trying to get it all done in one day. Now that I had one Thanksgiving under my belt, I applied all my lessons learned from the year prior and kicked Thanksgiving's butt this year! Yeah, I called Thanksgiving out and I won. Boo ya!

I made PW's Creamy Mashed Potatoes, PW's Sweet Potato Casserole, Paul Dean's Green Bean Casserole, my own apple (I learned a sweet trick from Chef Robert Irvine to keep the bottom crust from getting soggy: slather a layer of butter on it before adding in the filling. It worked like a charm!) and pumpkin pies (okay, I didn't make the pie doughs from scratch), my own butternut squash soup all the night before.

The day of I slathered up the bird (at 6 a.m.) and popped him in the oven, and once he was out and resting, I warmed up the soup, made the stuffing (I am only allowed to make Stove Top at our house, per the hubby's orders), reheated all the sides, made the Crescent rolls and the gravy.

I turned many of my female guests into domestic goddesses and we got the food on the buffet line like a well oiled machine.

Well, sorta. We left the gravy on high heat so it boiled over, but luckily Kerri got it under control quickly.

While the ladies slaved away in the kitchen. The men did what they do best on Thanksgiving...

Once we had gotten our eat on, it was time to digest with a Hawaii tradition; a rousing game of Catch Phrase. We played for several hours before calling it quits and playing Apples to Apples, which we played late into the night.

Catch Phrase Highlights:
Hilty's word was Montazuma. He was trying to get his team to finish the lyrics to the Marine's anthem by saying "From the walls of ..." when Matt chimed in to answer with "From the halls of MONTREAL!"

Matt's phrase was "It is what it is." His attempt to beat the buzzer was futile. He kept making references to sex, which boggled us all. He was trying to connect "it" with "Doin' it." Fail.

This was a Thanksgiving to remember for sure.

Happy Thanksgiving

First Lady

Getting to cover events like the First Lady speaking at a job fair really make me love this crazy business that is journalism. Here is a snippet of my story running in this week's Hawaii Army Weekly :

The national unemployment rate is currently hovering at around 9 percent, but veterans who have served since 9/11 have a higher unemployment rate than the rest of the country at 12 percent.

Putting them back to work inspired a yearlong, nationwide effort to help veterans and their spouses find meaningful employment. More than 500 spouses and veterans got the opportunity to meet face-to-face with 50 of America’s biggest companies at the "Hiring our Heroes" job fair, at Joint Base Pearl-Harbor Hickam's Officers Club, Nov. 14.

Since the program launched in March 2011, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has hosted 68 hiring fairs in 38 states, connecting more than 55,000 veterans and military spouses, giving them the opportunity to meet with more than 2,500 different employers. As a result, more than 3,600 veterans and military spouses have found employment.

During her three-day visit to Hawaii for the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, First lady Michelle Obama spoke at the hiring fair and offered words of encouragement and praise to those in attendance.

"Each time I speak with a veteran or military spouse, I am awed by their strength and resilience and I am struck by just how much they're contributing to our communities every single day," she said to the crowd of 250 gathered in front of her.

"They're leading the scout troop, taking night classes, running the carpool, and sending off care packages to deployed units overseas – all while shouldering the emotional costs of an empty seat at the dinner table for months at a time.

“They have packed up their families and moved to another part of the country – or the world – again and again, so they know how to quickly adapt to new environments and people. And these experiences – the ones they deal with every day – give them the perfect background to manage large-scale projects, find creative solutions to problems, and fight through anything that comes their way.

"Yet, even with all of these skills and experiences, veterans and military spouses aren't always at the top of the list for employers when it comes time to fill an open position ... And too often, a military spouse's resume – checkered with different residences and job experiences – is seen as a red flag, rather than a reflection of the variety of skills and experiences that military spouses have to offer," she continued.

Hoping to change that, Mrs. Obama and Dr. Jill Biden started an initiative called "Joining Forces" to recognize, honor, and support veterans and military families. They are joining forces with businesses, nonprofit organizations, government, communities and individuals and they are focusing on areas like education and wellness to help troops and their spouses find and keep good jobs. 

"You may not wear a uniform, but when your loved one is called to service, you are serving right beside them," she said to family members during her speech. 

"As my husband said, no one who has fought for our country abroad should have to fight for a job when they return home."

Acknowledging the fact that transitioning from a war zone to the civilian work place isn't easy, she said that American companies have pledged to hire 125,000 more veterans and their spouses by 2014. She said it's not charity, it's helping skilled people put their talents to work.

For those vets and spouses who are actively looking for work during these tough economic times, the first lady assured the crowd that America supports them.

"So if there is one thing that I want you all to know today and I want every veteran and every spouse and family to know is that America does have your back. America has your back," she said.  

She really has a presence to her and I am glad I got to hear her speak AND shake her hand! Even though it was a long day out in the hot Hawaiian sun getting to chat with Whitehouse press and secret service members, as well as local press/media, made this an experience I will soon not forget. 

Here are some of my favorite shots from the event:

Pajama Par-tay!

84th Eng. Bn. Spouse's Club!

Oh yes, Kerri and brought McDonald's chicken nuggets (complete with fancy toothpicks) and cheeseburgers (Cut into tea sandwich size) on silver platters to the battalion commander's house. Did I mention that Nina brought a box of wine!? haha!

Makin' it rain dance. Nina won Right-Left-Center.

"Dolla' dolla bills ya'll."

My blondes! This is what happens when you let three blondes go shopping for PJs at VS!

NJ represent!

This was Nina's last social =(

Happy November!

In the blink of an eye we’ll be eating turkey for Thanksgiving, wrapping holiday gifts, and kissing at midnight… that’s how fast this year is going!