Happy Thanksgiving

 I've intended to make turkey cookies with my girls for years.  Turns out this was the year!  My Grandmother made these and they were my favorite!  Hers looked very different than ours.  She frosted the turkey cookies with a simple dollop of redish pink colored frosting right in the center of the cookie.  The frosting had almond extract in it.  I loved these cookies so much my Grandmother gave me her recipe and her beloved turkey cookie cutter.  I treasure this recipe card, not just for the recipe and memories but she wrote it almost like a letter to me.  I can hear her voice as I read it.  Here is the portion that is closest to my heart:

after providing me with the icing recipe she writes, " Maybe a better idea - forget the above and buy can of ready made cream cheese frosting - add almond flavoring and food coloring.  Good luck Honey Chile. "

Our cookies may not be exact replicas of hers but I know she'd approve.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

One more Thanksgiving note

The star of our Thanksgiving feast wasn't the turkey, although it was good. It was the pie. I made another salted caramel apple pie only this time I left the caramel sauce on the side. In the original recipe the caramel sauce was poured in between layers of apple. Leaving it on the side was a stroke of genius (if I do say so myself.) The salted caramel flavor was much more obvious. I served the pie room temp and the caramel sauce heated. I finished each serving with a sprinkled of sea salt. Next time I'll heat the pie as well. There will be a next time!

The pie itself also turned out surprisingly well. I'm always so delighted when this happens (so lucky it occurred on Thanksgiving.) I don't make enough pies to feel confident in my final product. Each pie I've made is always a bit different. There were 3 key elements that I believe contributed to this pie's success. 1) I cut the apples very thin 2) As per the recipe I sprinkled the apples with sugar, causing excess juice to be expressed from the apples 3) As per the recipe I sprinkled 1 T of sugar and 1T of flour on the bottom of the pie crust before adding the apples. I also used mostly Granny Smith apples this time. Maybe they really do make a great pie.

My crust, however, could really be improved upon. I used this recipe which I've used before. This time I felt like the crust wasn't as light and flaky as they could be. Any crust suggestions out there?

How were your Thanksgiving desserts? Any winners?

Thanksgiving Debrief

How was your Thanksgiving? I hope it was great! Ours was very nice. It was wonderful to have everyone in our home. The kitchen is now officially broken in! Why is it that no matter how prepared I am, no matter how much is done ahead of time, it all erupts into chaos when it is time to actually get the food on the table. Does this happen to you? Any one have any tips for getting all the food onto the table while it is still hot?

The purple cabbage, in the top picture of my table top inspiration post, stuck with me. I created a purple centerpiece and found purple napkins (1$ off of each, thank you very much) to complete the look. I was very pleased with how it turned out. Just ask my mom, she was the witness to my shameless self congratulations. It isn't very often that I have an idea and I actually like the results of it. Do you find the same thing?

I gathered some purple plants and produce and just played around with them in different arrangements. Whole Foods had plenty of purple produce! I started with a circular pedestal dish and ended up using a bamboo oval serving piece to hold my arrangement. I added candles which I stuck onto the bamboo with glue tack. My arrangement ended up looking quite traditional but was made out of non traditional items. I used an ornamental cabbage in the center surrounded by purple kale leaves. I added beets, purple kohlrabi and grapes to fill in the holes.

Do you have pictures of your Thanksgiving table? I'd love to see them. Leave a link.

Table Top Inspiration

found here

Have you figured out your table centerpiece yet? Place cards? I know I want simple with some candles thrown in. I'm also thinking produce and foliage or some of both. And spider mums, definitely spider mums. But how to put it all together, that is the question. Here is some inspiration ~found here

found here

found here

found here

Searching for Stuffing

image from Bon Apetit

I'm switching from wallpaper to Thanksgiving as the day is fast approaching. I've just about finalized the Thanksgiving menu with the exception of the stuffing. Last year I wasn't completely satisfied with the recipe. I think it was the white bread. The stuffing didn't have the texture and consistency I was looking for. This year I'm going to try something more rustic. Here are a few that look appealing to me. If you have a winning stuffing recipe please leave a link! I think personal recommendations are much better than random google searches.

Spinach, Fennel and Sausage Stuffing with toasted Brioche

Farmhouse Herbed Stuffing

Mark Bittman's Favorite Bread Stuffing - lots of great variations on this one.

How are you coming on your Thanksgiving menu?

Thinking of Thanksgiving

Bryce and I are excited to host Thanksgiving dinner this year - back in our own home and back with family. Not to say that we didn't enjoy our Thanksgiving celebrations in Luxembourg - because we did. Last year we had friends over and hosted a traditional (as much as possible) Thanksgiving dinner. It was great fun to share the Thanksgiving tradition with our English friends and a family of fellow Americans.

Frightened by the prospect of having 7 children running amok last year, I created an activity that I hoped would occupy them. I also thought it would be a nice way to help the kids focus on the meaning of Thanksgiving; thankfulness.

I drew a leafless tree on a large piece of butcher paper and affixed it to the wall with glue tack (aka poster putty, sticky putty, adhesive putty) I put out autumnal colored construction paper, leaf templates, markers and scissors. Using the templates the kids cut out leaves for the tree. On each leaf they wrote what they were thankful for. The kids then put their leaves on the tree with glue tack (you could use glue stick or tape instead.)

I was amazed and very pleased with how well this activity went over. The kids loved it! The older kids helped the younger with spelling and cutting. They were engaged and it put their mind towards thankfulness. They even colored in the tree I had drawn. Many of the adults contributed to the tree as well.

This year we'll only have 4 kids, my girls and my nieces. I'll likely do something similar. Here is a list of supplies in case you'd like to make this for your Thanksgiving celebration.

Butcher paper
Construction paper in fall leaf colors
Markers
Glue tack (or glue stick, tape or push pins)
Scissors
Leaf Templates (I just googled free leaf template printables. Look for one that is simple to cut out)

My youngest came home yesterday with a Roll a Turkey dice game. We played it last night for her "homework." She thought it was the bees knees. Think I'll print out a few for Thanksgiving this year.

Here is a link to some Thanksgiving printables I collected a few years ago.

I've heard it is great . . .

being 38!

I disappeared on you again, this time to have a birthday. Bryce and the girls made it very special. Bryce and I met for a nice lunch on Monday. That evening we all had dinner together and enjoyed the cake that Bryce and the girls made. They *totally* surprised me with a bicycle, a beautiful silvery-blue cruiser. I was the only in the family not to have a bike. Now, as Eva informed me, I can ride my bike down to the bakery anytime I want. Good thinking, my sweet girl!

To my fellow Americans I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! I think I said this last year, but enjoy the holiday chaos. You'll notice it if it's gone. xo

A Reason to be Thankful

Our Thanksgiving didn't go as planned. Not by a long shot. Eva came down with the flu on Tuesday and came down hard. We had to cancel our big Thanksgiving dinner. We let our friends know on Thursday. They completely understood and were so great about it. Yesterday Audrey got it too. It's nasty - high temperatures and an ugly cough. Poor babies. I'm happy to report that Eva was fever free today. I'm guessing Audrey has 2 more feverish days to go.
Since we had a turkey and most of the fixins we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday anyway, just the 4 of us. It was an abbreviated version of what I was planning, but festive enough for us. Eva set the table, made the place cards and "helped" with dinner as Audrey watched from her bed on the couch. Just as Bryce was carving the turkey we received a phone call. It was my sister. She had the baby. He was happy and healthy and "the most beautiful newborn" ever.

Thanksgiving

We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday. For 11 people. This will be the *first* time Bryce and I have ever done this. Yes, I'm totally freaking out. But I'm getting some help. However, instead of planning the menu, checking my linens, looking up recipes or breathing deeply, I decided to put together an activity book for the kids that will be here on Saturday. There will be 4 of them from age 3 to 7. They are all girls and they get very silly, giggly and a bit wild when they're together. I thought, maybe, just maybe an activity book would keep them calmer therefore keeping me calmer. It's a long shot, I know.

Anyhoo, here are the pages I printed. Some are a bit smaller than I'd like and some will be cut and pasted to make one page. It's off to the copy center I go. . . assuming I can find one. I'm also going to try and get our knives sharpened tomorrow. Cross your fingers on that one for me too.

here
here*
here
here* there are some cool vintage-y pictures here
here*
here*
here*
here
here

* My fav finds.

Thanksgiving?

Bryce and I are still deciding about Thanksgiving. Not sure if we're going to cook the traditional fare or not. Guess we'd better figure it out soon. The girls and I made this Thanksgiving scene on Thursday afternoon. It was quite fun. I cut out many of the pieces, especially for Audrey and the girls did the gluing. Eva's kitty acorn in my favorite. Adds some festive cheer into our kitchen.


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We bought the final season of The Wire (sur ecoute - la cinquieme saison complete) at Auchan. Bryce was very clear about only watching one episode per night. It is KILLING me! I managed to weasel another one out of him tonight. I'm on pins and needles . . . Butchie - OMG! Omar? McNulty off the wagon (again!) What about Michael and Dukie and little Bug? Someone in this darn show has to make it. Argh.

It is supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow. European snow. Oh, yeah.
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