Thanksgiving dinner 4

Our fourth and final Thanksgiving dinner was held at my folks' home in Alton, IA, on Friday night. The menu sported pizzas and broasted chicken from Pizza Ranch, with pumpkin pie, the renowned "Grandma Bars" and soda pop choices. Below, Grandpa Fritz ponders a post-dinner nap.

Kelly, little brother Brent, Christian, Hannah and her dog Chocolate pose for the paparazzi. Present but not pictured: brothers Kim, nephews Kyle and Ryan, Ryan's significant other Alicia, niece Anna, Grandma Wanda, Pat, Claire, Mizuho and yours truly. I would show you more family pictures, but then I would have had to taken some.

At the beginning of Thanksgiving week, I weighed 178 pounds. My exit weight was just over 196. Now that's what I call a memorable holiday!

Thanksgiving dinner 3

For our official Thanksgiving meal, we dined with 1300 other people at the 85th annual St. Boniface Parish Thanksgiving Dinner in Elgin, NE, Pat's home town. Pat has participated in this community event since she was an infant. The menu included turkey, sausage, sauerkraut, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, cranberry salad, a cabbage and carrot salad, rolls and your choice of pie. And there were hundreds of pie choices. I chose them all ;-)

En route to Elgin, we stopped in Lincoln to give Mizuho a private tour of the Nebraska state capitol. So far, Mizuho has visited two state capitols. We can change that. Everyone should visit every state capitol.

Claire and Mizuho enjoyed the sausage and sauerkraut. A secret sausage recipe is used exclusively for this event. 600 pounds of sausage was prepared for the event, and it was mighty fine, indeed. I bought five pounds of frozen sausage to bring home, but I accidentally left it in Pat's brother Joe and sister-in-law Pam's freezer. Merry Christmas Joe and Pam.

The community feast is held in the Pope John XXIII Central Catholic's gymnasium. In the foreground is Pat's sister Joan, nephew Jon and brother Jim. You can also see Pat peaking over Claire's head. A couple hours after Thanksgiving Dinner, we returned for evening lunch with 465 other people, and for the ceremonious announcements of the 128 raffle winners. Jon won $50 in Elgin bucks. The rest of us got skunked, but we donated to a good cause. In Elgin, the word lunch means a light meal or snack. In fact, it is not uncommon to eat breakfast, morning lunch, dinner, afternoon lunch, supper and evening lunch all in the same day. If you are looking to carb-up, I recommend lunching in Elgin.

Pat and her niece Justine (Jim' daughter and Jon's sister). Relatively speaking, I think they look related.

Claire and Mizuho helped Jim combine corn on Friday. I think Mizuho found Midwest farm life to be quite different than living in her hometown Osaka, Japan.

Pat with her parents and siblings: (L to R) Shirley, Joan, Pat, Jim, Joe and Jim, Sr., aka Bud. Not pictured: little sister Lora.

National Museum of the American Indian

Meetings at Blackboard went so well yesterday that I got the opportunity to squeeze in a couple hours at the National Museum of the American Indian. This amazing building houses much more than an interactive history of American Indians. The stories of tribal challenges to preserve culture and heritage through oppression, competition and the melting pot of society are riveting and equally heart wrenching. May we learn the most from our biggest mistakes.

Thanksgiving dinner 2

Our guest of honor was Wonki Lee. Claire volunteers at the Mizzou Asian Center. Wonki is a university exchange student from Korea, and Claire's conversation partner. He has a delightful sense of humor and a misunderstood and under appreciated passion for both kimchi and green bean casserole.

Claire and Pat spent the entire day planning, shopping for and cooking Thanksgiving dinner number 2. The menu:

• Roasted chicken
• Leek and mushroom stuffing
• Cardamom and pecan sweet mashed potatoes
• Chicken and mushroom gravy
• Green bean casserole
• Cranberry and ginger chutney
• Pumpkin pie
• Apple cider
• Green tea

It was a fabulous gourmet traditional feast. Oooh, I am stuffed again.

Thanksgiving dinner 1

Pat, Claire and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving dinner of the season at Sycamore this evening. We decided to open the feast season with a core family unit dinner. The menu?

• Sweetbreads
• Barbeque Pork Belly
• Beet Salad
• Warm Autumn Salad
• Spinach and Bacon Salad
• Crumb Encrusted Walleye
• Duck three ways is what I counted
• Beef Tenderloin Filet
• Mash Potatoes and Pork Gravy
• Potato Frittata kind of thing sans custard
• Caramelized Pears
• Bread Pudding
• Icebox Cake
• Flourless Chocolate Cake
• Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
• Chardonnay Girasole
• Shiraz
• Coffee

Oooh, I'm stuffed.

Austin

I spent the last four days at a K-12 online learning conference in Austin, Texas. But mostly I ate barbeque. Below is a Stubbs Bar-B- Que Major, which is your choice of three meats and two sides. I gorged on pork ribs, beef brisket, smoked sausage, spud salad and pinto beans. I enjoyed this meal with Donna, Chris, Cheryl and Mike from IDLA, Jay from MIVHS, and Liz from VHS. We dined in the midst of a rock and roll fundraising event. The meal, conversation and ambiance were awesome.

This is the dessert served during the roundtable discussion luncheon. I'm gonna call it an apple pie round with blue berry buttons.

This is a picture of Marilyn and Rex, the master minds of Laurel Springs School, ordering a feast in Iron Works BBQ. Actually, I did not eat dinner with them. I interrupted their meal. I ate with Brian and Annie from Wimba, and happened into Marilyn and Rex. It was a fun surprise. I hope your wing heals soon, Rex. Brian and Annie, thanks for introducing me to the world's best brisket.

Istanbul 8--Gulhane Park

At the end of August and beginning of September, Pat and I spent eight days in Istanbul. Previously called Byzantium, Augusta Antonina, New Rome, Constantinople, The City, Stamboul, Islambol, Asitane and many other names, Istanbul has almost continuously been one of the world's largest and greatest cities for over 2600 years, and it is the only metropolis in two continents. Founded on the Golden Horn and divided by the Bosphorous Strait, Istanbul served as the capital for the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, Latin Empire and Ottoman Empire. The city is a rich mixture of Roman Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Christians. Today, Istanbul boasts almost 3000 mosques and over 300 Catholic churches. Istanbul is among the most friendly and welcoming places on Earth, while also being one of the most densely populated, commerce-bustling cities. If Istanbul is not on your must visit or must return to list, then stop reading this and go revise your list.

Below is a statue of a famous sitar player, situated in the heart of Gulhane Park, which is just down the hill from Topkapi Palace in the Old City.

Gulhane Park is a remarkably peaceful juxtaposition to the frenetic tourism and local trade just outside the park's walls.

Istanbul 7--Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum, situated on the outer grounds of Topkapi Palace, was built in the 1800's to house and display the spoils of the Ottoman Empire's pilfering and plundering throughout the greater Mediterranean region. The treasures include Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Islamic tomb stones, sarcophagi, statues and sculptures. Many of the heads of sculptures were whopped off when the Turkish nationalists took control in 1922.

Guess what infamous ruler's grave site was marked with this statue, and you just might win a free trip to Istanbul.

Istanbul 6--the streets

With a city population over 12 million, metropolis population over 17 million, 3 million cars, trams, busses, hand carts, and tiny roads that are thousands of years old, the streets are packed with people all day every day. The entrance below will take you into a large indoor bazaar that connects with the spice market.

People, people, people.

Thousands of men make their living by pushing and pulling hand carts loaded with commercial goods on narrow streets where they compete with cars, busses and pedestrians for space.

No right turn. I wonder why.

This sign post is located in the heart of the Old City, near Suleymaniye Mosque. I don't know why I took the picture, and I have no clue why I am including it here, but there you go.

Istanbul 5--Suleymaniye Mosque

Frequently consider one of the four greatest mosques in Istanbul, Suleymaniye Mosque was designed to compliment Hagia Sophia, which was built a thousand years before. Below are several pictures of Suleymaniye Mosque. The interior of the mosque was closed for renovation.

Other notable mosques that we visited include Hagia Sophia, Eyup Sultan Mosque, Sultan Ahmed Mosque (Blue Mosque), and Yeni Mosque (New Mosque). I am not including pictures of all of those mosques in this blog, because it rained one day and I did not carry a camera, another day I forgot the camera, a couple Pat did not get to visit because she gave a presentation at a conference and I don't want to rub it in, and you cannot take pictures inside the mosques anyway. If you only have time to visit one mosque, visit both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. The immenseness and history of Hagia Sophia is simply amazing, and the thousands of blue tiles in the Blue Mosque are absolutely beautiful.

Istanbul 4--Topkapi Palace

Under the direction of Sultan Mehmed II, conquerer of the Constantine Empire, construction started on Topkapi Palace about 560 years ago, and continued for the next 400 years. I found this palace to be nothing like the palaces in western civilizations. There are no internal hallways. Instead, the palace consists of huge courtyards surrounded by covered walkways connecting to rooms. In later years, buildings were added in the middle of the courtyards for specific purposes, for example the library, and the throne room is actually a throne building. There are thousands of antiquities stored throughout the palace, including lining the walls of the open-air walkways.

The rooms throughout the palace are decorated with exceptionally exquisite detail, using gold, gems, beautiful tiles and delicate mosaics.

This is a view of the New City region of Istanbul from Topkapi Palace.

These are views of the Bosphorus Strait.

This is a view of the Asian section of Istanbul across the Bosphorus Strait from Topkapi Palace.

I think this was the library.

When you go there, pay the extra 15 TL to follow these people on a tour of the Topkapi Palace Harem. It's a good way to invigorate your imagination.

This is the entrance to the Ottoman congress room.

A really, really old tree that has witnessed the growth and fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The main entrance to the palace.

I also visited the Dolmabache Palace, which was built by the Ottoman Empire's 31st sultan, because the Ottoman Empire was beginning to decline in power because the development of oceanic shipping transportation was diminishing Istanbul's cross-roads trade. So the plan was to build a western-style palace to entertain European leaders. The Dolmabache Palace is absolutely the most fabulous palace I have ever seem. It makes the Palace of Versailles seem unremarkable. Anyway, the construction of the Dolmabache Palace was such a financial strain on the Ottoman Empire that instead of facilitating opportunity by reopening European trade, it accelerated the empire's spiral into economic ruin. Ironic, eh?

Istanbul 3--Bosphorus Strait

Pat's conference, ESERA, hosted a cruise on the Bosphorus Strait. Here are some pictures of Istanbul from that cruise.

Note the mixture of 19th and 20th century apartment buildings with the shining new office tower. In the foreground is the Katabus sea shuttle port. Each of those ferries can hold about 1500 passengers. Every day, more than a million people cross the Bosphorus Strait via ferry to go to work. It costs 1.5 TL (Turkish Lire) each way, which is about 95 cents.

Old Ottoman fortresses line the European side east of the New City.

A small mosque on the waterfront. I went in this one. It is bedazzled with gold, and shining blue and white tiles.

One of many mansions on the Asian waterfront.

Note the little, old fortress behind the modern mansions.

This mansion dates back to the Ottoman Empire.

This is a university...all housed in one really big building.

This was the sultans' summer home during the 19th century. It is on the Asian side of the strait.

This is a fish for a family meal Pat and I ordered and devoured at a restaurant on the lower level of the Galata Bridge, which connects Old City and New City. Eight different types of fish. All fried. Be still my heart. When it was served, there was an oil-fed, wild fire burning in the aluminum thing in the middle. We were eating outside over the water, it was breezy and the flame was high. I thought the waiter was going to catch on fire.

This is taken from the fish market, looking toward Old City. Suleymaniye Mosque is on the left. From here, we walked up hundreds of steps and zigzagged up the tiniest and curviest streets to Galata Tower.