Thanksgiving with the animals

Today, we went to the National Aviary and The Pittsburgh Zoo. We opted to skip the penguin encounter at the aviary and stopped at the Waterworks Giant Eagle for lunch (it was the only place open) which consisted of pita and hummus and cheese for me, beef jerky and cheese and chocolate milk for my husband and a pizza Lunchable and Cheese Sun Chips for my daughter. The aviary and zoo were relatively empty of people since this is Thanksgiving and most people tend to stay home. We got to see the new Polar Bear Exhibit at the zoo without much jockeying for view. My daughter used up 5 rolls of film taking pictures with her Nikon SLR. It was a beautiful sunny day that got up to about 58 degrees F. We had a great time! I can't think of a better way to spend the day with my family. I'll try to put some of the digital pictures up on my Flickr site after dinner.

Dinner post mortem or rigor mortis?

Since we didn't have turkey, we aren't falling asleep because of the tryptophan but we are tired from our aviary and zoo outings. I've uploaded the pictures (as many as I can anyway). Only a few of my aviary pictures turned out because those darn birds won't stay still! LOL! I got alot more pictures that turned out well at the zoo and aquarium, though. I was only able to upload a few until I ran into my limit for uploads (It's a free account). I'll have to upload more in December. Dinner was vertical roasted chicken rubbed with a spice mixture I found on the Food Network website, walnut green beans and bread machine Swedish rye bread from recipes on the Recipesource website, sweet potatoes, canned cranberry jelly, and Stovetop stuffing. (Some traditions never die.) Accompanied by white wine from the Heritage winery. Pumpkin pie for dessert with refrigerated whipped topping. I tried three new recipes --the chicken, green beans and rye bread. I still haven't found a Swedish rye bread/Limpa recipe for the bread machine that comes close to the labor intensive one my mother-in-law makes. I suspect I won't find one that doesn't break a home bread maker. I set the table with electric candles since real ones bother my husband. He did the dishes afterward. We don't have much in the way of leftovers and I made a lunch for my daughter with some of them. I don't have to go to work tomorrow but both my daughter and husband do. I'll just be getting up before both of them to go buy electronics at Best Buy! LOL!