Giving Thanks

This year I have many things to be thankful for.  First being that NOBODY spilled anything on my tablecloth!  Others...are too many to list.  Suffice it to say that though at times I feel anxious, stressed, and downright worried about the future, just knowing that I have so many things I currently have, including a home, loving family and friends, my health and the joy in life make me realize I am truly, truly blessed.

Hope your Thanksgiving was equally as happy.  Peace, love and blessings to you all!

Turkey Day

Today I began preparing my Thanksgiving menu. Well, I sort of already knew what I planned to have, but I sat down this morning with a cup of coffee and pen and pad and wrote down each thing I plan to cook; and made sure I had all the ingredients. I will never forget one holiday many years ago that I did not have any celery and my mother swore the turkey 'wouldn't be fit to eat'. Well, fit or not, we ate it. God forbid!

Anyway, we are having turkey (unbrined, but seasoned under the skin) with meat stuffing (yep, stuffing - which means inside the bird; dressing is the same food but cooked separately in a pan), rice & giblet gravy, Italian broccoli with garlic and lemon (this stuff will make you want to slap someone; if you wanted to do that anyway, you have a legit excuse), steamed green beans with almonds, pan sauteed' brussel sprouts; ginger glazed baby carrots; sweet potato souffle (sort of) with maple syrup infused right into the whipped baked potatoes, along with creamy butter & miniature marshmallows, then baked in a casserole dish; fresh cranberry-orange relish (and the canned jellied variety, my mother in law's special recipe!!), potato rolls, and my desserts that I spent most of today making. They are (in no particular order): creamy chocolate pie, gingerbread, maple pumpkin pie, and spiced almond wafers. There will (naturally) be fruit salad of some type, prosecco, white & red wine, water, iced tea, and coffee!

Later in the afternoon, we have a couple coming over for Thanksgiving cocktails. So, more prosecco, wine and beer will be served, along with Italian Antipasti items (you know, cheeses, salame, proscuitto, cheeses, olives, etc.).

I would like to hear what everyone else has planned. Turkey is not my favorite thing, but once a year I can handle it. This is why my food preparations are taking 3 days; I want to be able to do something on Thanksgiving besides COOK, EAT, and CLEAN UP!!

I have a lot to be thankful for this year. Given that this year has been a rough one, we've made it virtually unscathed. I hope that continues. My mom will be here too - and at age 96, I'm truly thankful for that above all else.

So, tell me - what's on your menu for Turkey Day?

Baking Biscotti

I'm still learning from my culinary catering class. This morning's class was all about learning how to plan events and select a theme and match the food to the chosen theme. Piece of cake, right?

Speaking of cake - well, sort of .... yesterday I decided to try out a new recipe I found. Cherry Almond biscotti! I've baked many a biscotti in all flavors, but never cherry. So why not try something new? Yep, a new recipe. I gather everything I think I will need - the standard eggs, flour, butter, all the usual stuff. Now, according to the ingredients, I needed amaretto - which I had none of. So, off I went to the local red dot store (you know what those are, right? Maybe in some areas they are package stores, or just plain LIQUOR STORES). I bought the amaretto in a big 750 ML bottle, then two stocking-stuffer tiny bottles to be consumed at yet another time, then had to stop for dried cherries, which I could not find in the first store (that's GROCERY, not liquor). After TWO more stops, we finally found them. It took me several hours to make this, as biscotti (which means twice-baked in Italian) has to be baked twice. Duh.

There was much mixing, blending, chopping, reconstituting, and finally baking done. With parchment paper, and later without. Without baking racks, but at the end WITH. My oven was fired up all afternoon long.

They look great - and I have not yet tasted them, but biscotti lovers would be proud. This Southern Girl can hang with the Italian mama-mias anytime and bake with the best of 'em! What do you think?

Here they are - if there WAS espresso in that cup, they'd be dunked but this was just for effect and photographic purposes (and the biscotti jar is just for fun - they ususally do not hold flowers, in case you're wondering, but I still had beautiful mums and some sugar maple leaves that were begging to be part of a fall arrangement...and one lone rose)!!

Mangia!!

They Are Finished!!!

OK, at long last - renovations are all finished.....except for backsplashes that we have yet to decide on. Check out the before-and-after pictures and let me know what you think. Also, I'd like to hear from you on what YOU would put in for a backsplash. The choices are seemingly endless....which is why we have such a hard time deciding.

This is the kitchen BEFORE:

And this is the kitchen AFTER:

This is the Hallway Bathroom AFTER (it had white laminate before):

This is the Master Bath BEFORE and AFTER: (it, too, had white laminate)

This is my favorite part - my shampoo GROTTO! Everyone should have one of these....