A Thanksgiving Celebration!

In 2 days time it will be Thanksgiving.  My family and I celebrated this past weekend since we all live in different places and couldn't be together on Thursday and we had decided on a little family get together to celebrate my brother in laws birthday.  We had a great time, with tons of delish food! and what was even better was the way that everyone chipped in to help - I wish I had taken a picture of everyone in the kitchen all hands on deck!

Of course no mormon celebration is complete without a bit of Shloer! It wasn't quite as cool as the Root Beer I was drinking last Thanksgiving, but it wasn't all bad! 

England let us down on the Turkey front.  Apparently supermarkets only bring them in fresh in December in preparation for Christmas so we had to make do with two chickens! It wasn't quite the same but they certainly were tasty thanks to Arne and my mom make the platter look pretty! 

This is the table in all it's glory, laden with food! 

There were tooo many side dishes to even take pics of, but here was the creamy corn that I whipped up...

and yes, that is purple mashed potato! By rustled up all the potato dishes...roasted, sweet and the famous purple mash! It is not artificially coloured, the potatoes used were really purple! 

Mara made a green bean and roasted onion casserole and we had mini sausages and stuffing too! 

Here's the birthday boy himself...

and some of the sisters...

and me and By...totally excited about the feast that was ahead of us! 

We rounded off the day in the only way we Jones' know how...with a dessert bar! only this was a pie bar! especially for Thanksgiving! We had Key Lime, Banana & Chocolate Cream, Apple pie pops, Mini Pumpkin pies and mini S'mores pies...quite a feast! If you want to check out some of the pies in detail you can see them here.

Chester saves the day!

Last Monday I awoke with excitement at the day that lay ahead of me!! Yes, I know, you don't usually associate that level of enthusiasm with me living in Wales but that was because I was going to be venturing back to ENGLAND...because that's where all the good stuff goes down! 

Byron had the opportunity to go to Chester Zoo to learn about Mitten Crabs (a Chinese crab that is invading our rivers and causing lots of trouble!) for an upcoming conservation project he will be taking part in...so I did what any normal person would do and traded in my classes that day in search of lots of yummy treats! 

...and it was so nice to be surrounded by actual shops, proper shops that sell things you want to buy! I started out at Liberty Bell which is one of my faves, it has tons of old skool Americana house decor and a range of yummy candles with flavours such as campfire marshmallow, key lime pie and pumpkin spice! 

 

I also found an amazing tearoom called Mad Hatters, and of course I had to go in when I saw that they had a whole counter filled with different flavoured cupcakes!! 

You will be pleased to know I FINALLY found a tasty cupcake! it's only taken me 2 months and it came as no surprise that it wasn't in Wales that I found it! This was their apple crumble cupcake and it was delish.

I also knew one of my must visits would be Sweets from Heaven, a shop that stocks American groceries and sweets...because I needed a root beer fix.

There is something really lovely about the city of Chester.  From the black and white historic buildings to the town walls that you can walk around, it just has a really nice feel to it.  They even had their Christmas lights up which made it feel a little bit more magical, and of course having been stuck in North Wales for so long with no good shops it didn't take much to get me excited! 

After By finished his course, I picked him up and we headed to Cheshire Oaks (a Jones family favourite!).  It is an outlet shopping centre just outside the city centre and you can get some great bargains there! 

It's also home to Chiquito...so after 2 months I finally got a Mexican fix! so not only did I get to indulge in  some virgin pina coladas, yum...I also got to have a PULLED PORK quesadilla.  Yes, you heard me right, a fusion of two of my favourite things - Mexican and pulled pork! It was amazing and my day in Chester was worth every minute of the lectures I missed! 

This weekend, we are England bound again as we head to my parents for a Jones Family Thanksgiving feast! I am beyond excited, and no doubt I will have tons of yummy photos to share next week! 

The Great Outdoors

A few weeks ago we went on an organised walk with the Snowdonia Society that By is a member of.  When we turned up we were the only two people there under the age of 60, it was pretty random...

but we enjoyed the walk all the same! We went along the Synchant Pass just near our house.  It was quite a clear day so the views were great.

I was not especially happy about having to wear tracksuit bottoms, anyone who knows me will know I have a hatred of tracksuit bottoms.  They make me feel like a chav...so I really need to invest in some proper walking trousers for the future I think! 

Autumn has well and truly arrived here in North Wales...and I've been desperately seeking out the most colourful trees I can find.

By took this picture for me on a field trip he went on recently with his course.  The colours are fairly impressive but I'm still on the lookout for even more impressive scenery.

I'll leave you with this sun peeking through the trees shot, yes that husband of mine is really a pretty awesome photographer...and he took me to Chester this week for a day of food filled fun which makes him even more awesome, check back in a few days for the pics!