UofA vs. Ragin Cajuns

Familia all ready to watch some good ol' football.

Yesterday was the final football game for the Wildcats in the 2011 season and there were a few things I was looking for in this final game:
1. Some fire from our seniors to end their college career big
2. Bonano to show some awesome skill to win me back after missing some kicks at ASU
3. A win (duh)


So the Wildcats took the field to do their pre-game pumped up routine. Very awesome.

 

 

   

 

 Disperse!

 Now stretching...

And a final talk to get them ready... See 15? That's Bonano. He really needed to impress me to win me back. I was otherwise ignoring him. It was killing him. Can't you tell?

Now since it was our last game, our graduating seniors lined up to receive some applause and recognition. Now even though I was not paying attention, at all, to Bonano, truth of the matter is that he is a senior and I did have a slight feeling of utter despair. Yet something confusing happened....

 

He was on the sidelines! He isn't graduating! I rejoiced! But I didn't let him see. Couldn't let him realize he still had a chance with me. 


Then they got all together again and BOOM fireworks and music led to our entrance

WOO Wildcats!!

 We won the coin toss and chose to defer

 

 Nice job Bonano.

Now. I got furious real fast. If you've read anything about the game, you may have heard how the Louisiana-Lafayette coach was confused how they had 10 to our 3 penalties and otherwise complaining. But hold on. Within the first quarter alone we had 4 calls not go our way. When clearly the refs were wrong. Above is the play in which we should have received the ball on their 5 after a fumble. But they gave it to them. And they ended up getting the touchdown later on.  
Livid.

 Nonetheless we got the ball back and Bonano kicked a 46yard field goal (which he made) but it was taken away for the chance to move down the field after a penalty on the Cajuns.

I guess I should just come out and say it now. Bonano impressed me. He won me back. 

 He's seen here chatting with the ref. Probably asking how life was treating him. And making sure he didn't need some water. I assume he's pretty considerate.

 

 

 Great form.
Went into halftime with 21-13 Arizona. They then introduced our new coach for 2012 season. Rich Rodriguez. (I apologize for my pictures being ridiculously blurry and making everyone look a weird shade of red)

  

Then some marching band glory... 

  

 

 Then finally back to the game. To wrap this up, we gave away way too many points. Granted we ended up winning 45-37 but at times it was way too close for comfort.

 Shown above is not a scary moment but a "Yay touchdown!" moment.... Well it isn't a touchdown at that precise freeze frame, but he ran it in. Trust me.

 See? 
Then of course Bonano kicked.... :D

And he made it. Duh.

 

WHOO! Charge the field! We ended the season 4-8, 2-7 Pac-12. Utter last in the division. 

Now UCLA is first and Arizona State is second. And we beat UCLA and ASU. Just throwing that out there.

Foles (he's a graduating senior - #8) ended up getting 10,000+ passing yards in his career here at UofA. Quite the milestone. Bravo Foles.  (Topped 4,000 yards in passing for this season alone)
Criner (also a graduating senior - #82), our receiver, broke the school career record of TD receptions with 32! And that record stood for 36 years! 
Congrats guys!

 

Now I just need to pick up a #15 jersey...

Thanksgiving - Finale

I've just finished eating. I'll try and finish writing this before I slip into my food coma. No promises though.
Whew. Here goes.


Turkey

 All done and delicious smelling. Yum yum yum!

My dad is a Master carver. Future boyfriends, you have been warned.

Turkey carvings! All up on a platter. 


Yams
Now my family usually does the whole yams with mandarin oranges and marshmallows, well I am not a fan of this dish so I said hey let's just fry them up. And bam. They were fried.

Mashed Potatoes

Personally I could do without mashed potatoes. I'm just not a huge fan but my sister loves them. Wanna know how to make them creamy good though? Add evaporated milk. Do it. 

The rest of the gang

And finally the table 

My delicious Thanksgiving plate...

Now let's not forget about dessert!

Oh pumpkin pie. It's good to see you again old friend.

 My mother put together a very good and plentiful looking pumpkin pie slice, with a touch of whipped cream.


Now I. LOVE. Whipped Cream.
So mine looked a little different.

 Don't worry there is actually pie in there. 

 Told ya.
Overall. Delicious. Now I'll be watching football while I slip into my coma.  If you don't hear from me it's probably because I'm hibernating. I'll see you come Spring. 


Hope you are having a great Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving! - Prep

Thanksgiving time! Know what that means, turkey time! Now I, myself, am not a huge turkey fan.  In fact, I try and avoid for 364 days of the year. But for that one day, turkey and I are buddies. 


Like any family, we've got our own traditions... The first one, watching the Little Mermaid.


Silly? No. It all started when we first moved to Mesa. I was a wee child and my father informed me that if I got up early, I could help him with the turkey.  I went to bed in a state of euphoria, but then it hit me. What if my alarm doesn't go off? What if I just roll over? What if ..... ?! 
Simply terrified that my father would start the cooking of the turkey without me, I got out of bed and slept at the head of the stairs. Just to make sure. It worked and I got up to help him cook the bird and we decided to put on a movie (probably to keep me from asking silly childish questions). I put on the Little Mermaid, and every year since then, we've watched the Little Mermaid. And yup, we watched it again this year. 

Tradition Two:
After my dad and I prepare the turkey and put it in the oven, we always go out to breakfast. Just the two of us. A little treat for our hard work.  Again this year was no exception, we found ourselves at IHOP and boy did we enjoy it.

So on to the cooking. 
Stuffing
Now my dad makes delicious stuffing! First things first, roll call

Pumpkin pie is making an early appearance. BAD PIE!

Chop up your bread into squares. He usually just tears them up, but this year things got a little more precise.

Add some sliced almonds and slivered almonds.... we added about half the bag of each. It'll be a nutty Thanksgiving!

Addition of sage is required (my father did an excellent job of posing). 

Finally add a can of evaporated milk and mush together with your hands til you get something like this!
Turkey Dome
Now make sure you've got your turkey ready to stuff, should I have perhaps put this before the stuffing making? Probably. Am I going to change it? Nope.

Creator of the turkey dome getting aluminum all wrapped up and prepared

Before....

After! This turkey has been stuffed with glorious butter and stuffing. All ready to get into the oven!

Oooh YEAH. 

Pumpkin Pie
For this I wanted to make a completely from scratch pie but my mother wasn't on board. BOO. So we just used the simple pumpkin pie mix, now I know most everyone knows how to make pumpkin pie, so no need for superfluous writings on my part. So feast your eyes on a picture trail of my making...

 

Three-Bean Salad
Simple. Three beans. Italian dressing. Onions. Bowl. Chill. Success.

The rest of the family was getting ready for some Black Friday business. 

Budi wants in on the action... Or he just wants to play ball. Maybe a little of both. Or maybe he wants me to clean the glass. Guess I'll never know.

Still cooking but check in later for the feast!