Five on Friday: Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I am so looking forward to celebrating with my family next week and getting to meet our new niece and nephew. I haven't been home since March and I know this is going to be an extra emotional visit for us because it will be the last holiday we celebrate in the house I grew up in. (I got kind of weepy just typing that out.) And since we won't be spending Christmas with my family, we're having a little family Christmas celebration the night before Thanksgiving. My mom even bought a fake tree so that we can help decorate :)

1. Isn't this the most stunning Thanksgiving centerpiece you've ever seen? I would be tempted to add in a few pheasant feathers, but wow. I can't stop looking at it. And it looks like it would be pretty easy to assemble, which is a bonus because I do not have a gift for floral arrangements.

2. When we do Thanksgiving with my family, the libations menu typically consists of beer, wine, and maybe a batch of our wedding cocktails (which, admittedly are the perfect festive fall beverage). The Kitchn posted this recipe for a pitcher of Amber Rush cocktails last week and it just looks so fun! I love the way the star anise looks floating in the pitcher and the combination of rye, citrus, and spiced honey syrup (with the suggested addition of a little ginger beer) sounds pretty spot on.

3. As a rule, I don't think the Thanksgiving menu should be messed with. This meal is not the time to trot out newfangled recipes. It is all about the humble classics. With that said, I am making something a little bit different for dessert this year. There will still be pumpkin and apple pies (duh) and I got my pecan pie fix at our Worksgiving celebration yesterday (pictured above), but I'm trying out a recipe for Buche de Thanksgiving. I typically make a Buche de Noel log for Christmas every year and when I saw this recipe in my 'Cold Weather Cooking' cookbook, I knew I had to try it. Pumpkin cake + cream cheese and toffee filling? Hello, yes please! I'll be sure to snap some pictures and if it's any good, I'll share the recipe. (I've looked everywhere online for it with no luck.)

 

4. I am in love with the idea of hosting Thanksgiving one day. It's one of those things that I dreamed of as a little girl (is that weird?) and I feel like I still won't really be a grown-up until I've hosted a Thanksgiving of my very own. While our current situation doesn't make that likely to happen anytime soon, I can still dream. Right now those dreams pretty much take the form of setting the table (again, probably weird). I have a thing for china and serveware and my current dream table setting includes this pheasant gravy boat, the turkey platter that goes with my beloved Spode Woodland china, and these rustic glam servers.

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5. Stuffing or dressing? This is a hot debate in our house. I come from a family of people who are decidedly dressing only. My grandmama makes the most amazing dressing from old biscuits, rolls, and Saltine crackers. I cannot wait to dig in next week! M's family is dedicated to stuffing. (M does make an exception for oyster dressing.) I'm normally not very squirmish when it comes to food, but I am completely scared of and grossed out by stuffing and absolutely will not touch it. So what side of the aisle do you fall on?

Five on Friday

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1. I had big plans last Sunday for doing some fall decorating at our place, but ended up spending the day watching a 7 hour marathon of 'The Killing' and nursing a painful hangover. That little project has been moved to this weekend and I'm kind of leaning towards a white vibe. White mums (although I am majorly digging the dahlias here) in the window box planter and white pumpkins flanking the door. I will probably chicken out at the last minute and stick with the more traditional autumnal palette. Martha makes this look tres chic, but I'm afraid it will just look tres boring and uninspired.



2.  We are just few hours away from Quebec City and I am DYING to stay at the Hôtel de Glace. There's something very James Bond-meets-Dr. Zhivago chic about ice hotels. They just seem so cool (har dee har har).

3.  I once read an interview with Ina Garten where she mentioned her favorite cookbooks and immediately added them to my never-ending Amazon wishlist. I am a bit of a cookbook collector (my husband would probably use the term 'hoarder') so I'm always curious to see what is on other people's shelves. My sister-in-law gave me this particular tome for my birthday this year and it is delightful. As the weather has started to get cooler here, I've been cozying up with it on the couch the past few evenings. I have yet to cook anything from it, but Sarah Chase's tone is kind of hilarious. She's endearing and quirky, but also a bit of a snob. Somehow it just works, like she's one of those friends who is a bit ridiculous and you roll your eyes at, but love anyways because they're just so genuine and darn likeable. Also, I can see why Ina is a fan. Girlfriend is not afraid of butter and cream.

4. I bought all of the materials necessary to try my hand (again with the puns) at galaxy nails this weekend. I am thinking this is going to be a disaster of epic proportions.

5. Totally reasonable to spend $800 on this guy, right? I mean, he is just so charming and fun, I'm sure Sallie Mae won't mind if we skip a month of payments to buy an impractical, yet adorable home accessory.

Burlington Farmers' Market

Every Saturday morning from May - October, the Burlington Farmers' Market is held in a park downtown. It has become one of our favorite things to do here. When we first moved to Burlington, M had to hit the road 2 days later for work and I went to the farmers' market all by my lonesome a few times. I kept telling him how great it was and how I couldn't wait for him to go with me. He was skeptical at first, but once he went, there was no turning back.

To start, there is a hot sauce stand right as you enter the market. M is a hot sauce fanatic. At any given time, we have at least a half-dozen different hot sauces in the fridge.

Then there's all of the delicious food. 

These gorditas are probably our favorite thing to get. The butternut squash hot sauce just adds something really groovy to the flavor. So yum.

If you had told me 3 years ago that I would ever hear my husband say the words, "Let's go get a kale juice!", I would've laughed in your face. Joke's on me. This is M's favorite stand at the farmers' market.

There's an adorable lady next to the juice bar who sells amazing Greek food. This was a spinach and feta borek with tzatziki and some ridiculously amazing red pepper yogurt sauce that I need to find a recipe for and recreate at home ASAP.

 

SO. MUCH. CHEESE.

 

Yes, those Von Trapps. The Oma is one of my favorite local cheeses.

 I really dig this wood nettle cheese.  

Their gorgonzola is ridiculous. I just want to eat it with a spoon.

I could go broke buying flowers...

And of course, all of the gorgeous seasonal produce.

Half Pint farm is my favorite stand. Their radishes and tomatoes are divine and they are so sweet and knowledgeable.

The farmers' market moves indoors in the winter and while it's still nice to be able to go and get local produce and foodstuffs, it's just not the same. The summer farmers' market is always on the list of places we take out-of-town visitors. Easy to see why, right?



Hiking and Picnicking

Last Sunday was the first real spring day we've had, so we packed up the dogs and headed for the nearest state park.  It turns out that hiking with two extremely curious dogs makes for very full hands, so the above pictures were the only ones I managed to get. 

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But fortunately some people on the interwebs were kind enough to share their photos, so you can see how beautiful it was! We want to go back without the pups so we can tour that gorgeous historic home on the property.  That view made the burning I felt in my legs all day yesterday totally worth it.

We also packed a picnic, but we were too busy scarfing down our lunch to be bothered with pictures.  I made these sandwiches

{they were just OK}

and brought these chips {the best chips EVER and made not too far from where we live!}

{BBQ for him, Chesapeake Crab for her}

and packed it all up in this nifty picnic cooler set.  My mother-in-law gave us one of these Picnic Time Malibu coolers at one of my showers with our monogram on it.  We used it for the first time on Sunday and I'm kind of obsessed with it. It has everything you could ever need, including a handy compartment for wine bottles, plates, napkins, utensils, wine glasses, a cutting board, a cheese knife, and a bottle opener.  GENIUS. At the time, I wasn't sure we would ever use this, but now I'm dreaming up all the different picnic opportunities this baby will afford. Love it. 

It felt so great to be outdoors again and to do something active {read: something other than watch DVR'd reruns of 'The Americans'} on a Sunday afternoon.  I can't wait to go back again, especially since all this hiking will come in handy for quickly approaching bikini season!

Friday Favorites

Did you watch Westminster? I try to watch every year, since I am a major dog person.  We always root for the sporting and hound groups {I grew up with bird dogs and now own 2 coonhounds}, but I have to say, Swagger, the Old English Sheepdog stole my heart last night. What a cutie!  And all of those Purina commercials left me a blubbering mess.  As one of the commentators said, the real Best in Show is the dog curled up next to you on the couch.

 I'm making two things this weekend from scratch that I never have before: pizza dough and marshmallows.  I'll be using this recipe for the pizza dough and this recipe for the marshmallows. I'm a little nervous, but excited for the results.  Any tips or tricks for me?

I am getting super antsy for spring to get here and one thing I always look forward to is magnolia blooms. It's theeeee most heavenly fragrance.  Until then, I'm dying to get my hands on one of these Magnolia + Rosewood candles from Sydney Hale Company. They got a nod from Garden and Gun AND they donate 10% of their profits to animal rescue. Sign me up!

How sweet are these prints from The First Snow?  They'd be a great wedding gift, but I also think they would look darling in a nursery.

Now through Sunday you get an extra 30% off EVERYTHING at J.Crew Factory with code XOFACTORY, which means this darling silk tee is just $45!

Happy weekend!