I feel like it’s been forever since I did one of these Life of a Wallflower updates, but I thought this was the perfect time for it since I’ve been away from my blog for a few days.
I hope for those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving that you had a wonderful one filled with lots of food, family, and leftovers. And I really hope you’re enjoying the last of autumn. =)
What have I been up to? Let’s see…
Back in October, I was lucky enough to get the chance to meet Jessica Merchant, author of Seriously Delish and an amazing blogger over at How Sweet Eats, at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. If you haven’t had a chance to check out her blog, or her book, you totally should. The way she writes makes you feel like you’re talking to your friend. Very down to earth and funny.
In the last month or so, I’ve been working on my Blogging Tips series, which many of you know. =)
And I’m in love with the colors of fall, but living in San Francisco, it’s rare to see fall foliage. So I actually have to make an effort to see the gorgeous colors I’m obsessed with. Like this.
Earlier this month, I teamed up with Abby from Just a Girl and her Blog to give away a copy of her e-book, Building a Framework*. If you’re interested in buying her book, she’s having a sale this weekend until Mon, Dec 1st at 11:59 EST. You can get 20% off her ebook when you enter the code “THANKFUL” at checkout. Take advantage of it while you can. =)
And of course, there’s Thanksgiving dinner.
My photos are not the best of quality, I know. My family doesn’t understand my need to take photos of food. They wanted to eat. So there’s no time to plate or to take photos. Oh wells.
Our family Thanksgiving is not at all traditional.
We do have a few dishes that are traditional to Thanksgiving such as:
(Bacon) Mac and Cheese – For some reason, every single year, our mac and cheese never turns out perfect. It’s always dry. But this year? This year, I think we finally got it.
Turkey – We always buy the turkey rather than make it ourselves. It’s just easier for us.
Mashed Potatoes – My favorite part because how can I resist potatoes?
Chicken Pot Pie (Puff Pastries) – These were just too cute not to make.
Garlic Bread – What’s Thanksgiving dinner without garlic bread, right? Or any dinner, actually.
But some of the older members of the family prefer Asian foods. So we have both. And served dinner buffet style.
Shrimp and Lotus Rootlet Salad – you can always customize it to taste and add the vegetables and meats that you like.
Che Thai – a Vietnamese(?) dessert with cocktail fruits, lychee, grated jello, and half and half.
Banh Beo – a Vietnamese dish made of rice flour.
Hot and Sour Soup
And guess what? Afterwards, we went Black Friday shopping.
As you can probably guess, it is chaos.
But you know what? It was worth it. Because I finally got my hands on this. =)
The Canon EOS Rebel T5. An early Christmas present to myself.
The holiday bundle with the 18-55mm and 75-300mm lend is the exact one I bought for the same price, except it was from Target. 
What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you go Black Friday shopping?
I totally love your early Christmas gift… jealous much :). Love your post
Thank you so much!I’m so glad that you liked my post =)
You are welcome 🙂
I got a rebel this summer! I love it!! Merry Christmas to you!! Happy Thanksgiving 🙂
I’m definitely having fun learning how to use the Rebel. Happy holidays to you! =)
that looks yummy! and I’m sure it is. it’s great how you and your fam incorporated the western thanksgiving and you traditional food from your roots. we did that too 🙂
It’s hard not to incorporate both types of food. My parents and my grandma don’t like American food so we have to incorporate Asian food too. Our turkey is actually made Asian style. lol
That is lot of food and it make me hungry…Congrats to your new toy….Have Happy Thanksgiving day.
Thank you! I’m so excited to play with my new camera!
Your dinner looks awesome! Wish I could have joined you! We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving over here. We have a different holiday in September but it has not the background like in the US. It is a thank you to our creator for supporting our labor in order to grow food and for being gifted with food.
I think it’s fun to have a celebration and feel thankful for all the things we have. It doesn’t matter where the celebration originated from =)
Absolutely!
Quite the feast 🙂 Do you have a recipe for the hot and sour soup? Love that!
I don’t have it right now since I haven’t taken photos or measured out exact ingredients. But I’ll be sure to let you know when I do =)
I was worn out just looking at all that food and then you went shopping? Congrats on your new camera! You will have so much fun with it.
Thanks, Julie! I’m so excited to finally get one. With all the eating and shopping, I feel so behind with my blog, and reading and commenting other blogs!
It feels like that if you aren’t plugged in doesn’t it? Thanks for stopping and commenting!
Well done on getting your camera. We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Ireland, so feel this is a holiday celebration I am really missing out on.
You can always make it a celebration with your family =)
That bacon mac & cheese makes my mouth water…
And I’m sooo envious of your new camera!
Thanks, Jewels! I’m really excited over the new camera! It took a bit of saving and waiting though to finally get it.
My word! Your Thanksgiving dinner looks sublime. I wish I had been partaking of your feast. This was only my second Thanksgiving so I am still tweaking our menu and trying out traditional American foods. Our turkey and green bean casserole were delicious and perfectly cooked. However, I made mash with sour cream which my kids all rejected and the bread stuffing was so bland nobody ate it (next year I’m making my mushroom and rice stuffing and forgetting American tradition) and the corn muffins crumbled to bits. Oh dear. In my defense, our house was upside down from being painted and my oldest son had a sickness bug I was having to attend to but still it wasn’t as good a meal as I had hoped. I should start to plan next year’s menu now. I might pinch some of your menu items.
We didn’t have green bean casserole this year, but I love it. I’m not so much a fan of stuffing, but maybe I just haven’t had the right one yet. We have issues with our dishes too. It’s like when I’m trying so hard to impress, it just doesn’t turn out as impressive as when I’m serving myself lol