Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Pintrest

I thought I'd show you what I took to a dinner party Saturday night.  Since it was the weekend after Thanksgiving, and I thought everyone might be looking for a fresh, lo-cal nibble, I fixed this guy.  In full disclosure, this is not a photo of my dish, as I forgot to snap before I had it in the car.  This photo is from Pintrest, but, I'm not kidding, mine looked exactly like this one!!  And I have to say that even though they were all adults, I think the guests got a giggle out of it.  Cute as it was, it couldn't hold a candle to the rest of the truly delicious meal we were treated to!

To accompany it, I made this dip that has been a family favorite for a long time.  Do NOT be afraid of the anchovies in it.  I promise you, that if you don't mention them, nobody will be frightened off.  BTW, this keeps for several days.  Enjoy!

Lemon-Anchovy Dipping Sauce

(You’ll never know there are anchovies in this!  Even those who think they hate them will love it!)

2 egg yolks

3-4 T. Dijon Mustard

2” squirt of anchovy paste(from metal tube)

Juice of 1 lemon

1 shallot

Capers to taste

1 c. (or less) vegetable oil

¼ c. sour cream

Salt and pepper

Combine 1^st 6 ingredients in food processor.

With machine running, add oil a little at

a time until thick and creamy.  You may

not need all of the oil.  Stir in sour cream and

seasonings.  Garnish with a lemon twist and

a couple of capers.

Great with pea pods, sugar snap peas, peppers, squash, tiny corn ears, green beans, or any vegetable.

I use the left over sauce as a mayonnaise on a sandwich, or thin it a bit for a salad dressing.

It will be a late entry, but I'm joining:
 Yvonne at Stonegable for On The Menu Monday:  http://www.stonegableblog.com/2012/11/on-menu-monday-week-of-nov-26-2012.html

Reality Show

 Here's a repost from last year.  I am in exactly the same place as we speak.  If your house looks like this right now, take heart.  This is reality.  I'd rather be facing this than out shopping on Black Friday!

Haven't you seen all of those millions of blogs this week showing us how perfectly DONE blogger's houses are?  Or at least we are shown a foyer here or a family room there with every stray pine needle already vacumed and the boxes put away.  Well, I thought I'd show you how far I've come with my decorating!

You've probably also seen tutorials with hints and advice about special containers and papers and cushioning for storing your decorations.  Here's the truth.........cardboard boxes work!!!!!!!

Not one surface is a pretty little vignette. 

Pointsetta are currently existing on the same table as orchids.  Artwork is on the floor.  And I'm probably not even home.  I'm probably on the way to the store to buy MORE lights!!!! 

Not to worry!  We're having a party on Sunday evening, and I can't promise that all will be done, but I can say for sure that the cardboard boxes will be out of the middle of the floor.

Anybody have advise about how to get the pine tar off of your fingers? 

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Thanksgiving Wishes

Today, I'm wishing you the blessings of enough.  In a country that celebrates abundance in everything, everywhere, everyday, we lose sight of  how lucky we are to just have enough.  

Blessings,

Linda

Thanksgiving Lunch 2012

I started the fall season with a screaming, bright, glittered tablescape here, so I decided to end it with this pale, natural colored table for our Thanksgiving.  After tomorrow, these flowers and pumpkins will be thrown into the woods, so believe me, they are living on borrowed time.  Especially the mums.  They have seen some good times, but they're about spent.

Since there are only the two of us, I decided to change it up a bit and set the table in the bar at our drop leaf table.

This is pale and cool and serene.

I added these turkeys that I gilded a couple of years ago.  I did a post on how I did it here.  And you can see how I used them on a much more formal Thanksgiving table here.  I kinda like how the gold mixed with all of this earthy stuff.

I used three candlesticks on each end.  The wooden ones hold these great birch patterned candles from World Market.

These feed my faux bois addiction, so I bought a bunch of them.

Don't you love the little squirrels on the small candlesticks?  I used them first on this table with a great squirrel centerpiece. 

Here's the placesetting.

It was when I spotted these turkey napkin rings at World Market that I decided to do this table.  Aren't they precious?

The little squirrel salt and peppers made another appearance. 

The quilted placemats are souvenirs from France.  Love. Love. Love.

I chose this light colored wooden handled flatware.  It was carried by Kmart in the Martha Stewart line years ago, and I used this cream, acorn patterned plate from Crate and Barrel. If anyone has a couple of these and you would like to sell them, I'd love to replace the ones I broke.  Seriously! 

As I was photographing this, I decided to add this wooden bowl to be used as a bread and butter dish.  You'll see them in some pictures and not in some.  Same way with the orange pillows.  Now you see them, now you don't.

Pay no attention to the empty picture hook above the pampas grass! 

Almost ready for coffee or tea.

Over the table hangs these French shelves.  The fall dessert dishes that I had up here were too busy to go with this table, so I replaced them with these bittersweet colored pheasant dishes.

I swore to myself last year that I would buy no more fall dishes, but I caved when I saw these at Z Gallerie.  I love the table I set last year with these.

I wonder how many Thanksgivings this guy has seen.  He's an antique German paper mache turkey that I've had for years and years.  Martha Stewart has these, too.  Just saying.

Although it will be just Mr. Pressed Pants and me for dinner this year, my heart is filled to overflowing with gratitude for all of my blessings.  I hope you day is filled with smiles and hugs and laughter.

Joining:

Tabletop Tuesday

A Stroll Through Life

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Open House Thursday

No Minimalist Here

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps On the Porch

Inspiration Friday

At The Picket Fence

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Cottage

Fridays Unfold

Stuff and Nonsense

Seasonal Sundays

The Tablescaper

Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

Thank You, Kohl's!

 Remember this post I did this week?

Remember this glass?  (If you read this post very often, you should, because I seem to use this a lot, especially in the fall.)  Well, I mentioned that it came from Kohl's Bobby Flay line and guess what????  Kohl's was listening!

As a thank you for the exposure, they have sent me a very kind offer which I may pass on to all of my readers!  It's a 10% off code for kohl.com which may be used to stack savings with one other discount as well.

Use this:

TENBLOG

as your 10% off code

 now through December 29 

Want to see some of the Bobby Flay merchandise?  Log onto:

https://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/ourbrands/bobbyflay.jsp
I'm particularly looking at the hammered serveware and anything from the rattan line.  Hmmm???  Does anyone on my Christmas list like any of these pieces?  You know who you are.

Huh?

Why?????

Note: This is a total Opinion Editorial!

(Should you care!)

While running through my local Kroger the other day, I was stopped in my tracks by this display of orange spray painted poinsettias.      

I even asked the floral employee to be certain, and she said they were spray painted.  

Here's my thought: 

I'm guessing that the store is giving you another option for fall color, but why would you bother defacing this beautiful plant when there are sooooo many beautiful plants and flowers that will give you this color during the fall season?  You can buy a mum in almost every store during the entire autumn season and they come in a beautiful array of colors.  

To recap:

Mums: Fall

Poinsettias: Winter 

I'm just sayin' !

Brown, Green, and a Pheasant

We are expecting guests this weekend, so I set the table today, since I have plans the rest of the week.  I'm  loving the way the items came together for this semi-casual table.  The lime green and brown polyester silk runner is from the floral wholesaler, and it comes quite a bit wider than most runners.  These seem to be my go-to colors since we moved into this house.  It's a bit rustic, a bit woodsy, and still a tiny bit refined.

These plates make my little heart sing!!!!  My dearest friend from Charleston gave me these when we moved into this house.  You know me.......they're toile.......they're lime green and brown.  How I love them!  I have two set and each set has four different scenes.  I photographed this in the evening with the lights on, so I'm afraid that I'll have a bit of glare.

I also love these chargers.  They look like birds-eye maple and give a nice bit of pattern without overwhelming the toile.

Then these dark brown linen napkins with faggoting, a tortoise shell patterened napkin ring, and a bit of green hypernicum make the napkin work with this dark wooden handled flatware.

A green wine glass and an amber water glass continue the color scheme.

Can you see the etching on this?  It is from the Bobby Flay line from Kohl's.

Phil the Pheasant was the obvious choice for the centerpiece.  He's cast resin and I use him a lot.

I set him in this wonderful wreath I found at the floral wholesaler.  It is gold, green, copper, and brown.  It really makes this table sing.

See?  

These old barley twist candlesticks are work horses around our house, too.

I wasn't going to add flowers, but at Kroger this morning, I found one bunch of these Kermit mums.  I had already purchased the hypernicum berries.  I thought these tall, birch bark covered pots would look good with the similar votives.   

Here's the way the flowers turned out.  I s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d that one little bunch of mums.

Phil's black forest friend joined the table to serve the sugar for coffee.  I'll just use clear glass for cream and sugar.

I've had these chocolate brown plates from Target for years, and I pulled out this old antler-handled server for our pecan pie.

I expect this to be a cozy evening where we sit at the table for hours.

I left this woodland scene under this cloche on the chest.

Another corner holds this chalk and cement piece with a white pumpkin.

And I left the sideboard with our white and green vegetable vignette.  

Sorry, the color is very washed out in this photo.

This is better.  

Now, I'll cook on Friday and look forward to a relaxed, fun evening with special friends.  More to be thankful about!

Joining:

Tabletop Tuesday

A Stroll Through Life

Wow Us Wednesday

Savvy Southern Style

Open House Thursday

No Minimalist Here

Tablescape Thursday

Between Naps On the Porch

Inspiration Friday

At The Picket Fence

Feathered Nest Friday

French Country Cottage

Fridays Unfold

Stuff and Nonsense

Seasonal Sundays

The Tablescaper

Let's Dish

Cuisine Kathleen

Tutorials and Tips

Stonegable

Bless and Protect our Veterans

Note:  I had this post prepared for Veterans' Day, but I forgot to push "Publish".  I thought I would still post it, since I am grateful for our military men and women every single day, not just on a national holiday.

My gratitude for our men and women in uniform knows no bounds.  I'm well aware that life for me and my family would be so vastly different if they were not protecting and defending us.


Every Veteran's Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, or Memorial Day, we honor our country with red, white, and blue on our gates.  I thought I would do a recap of some of the red, white, and blue tables that I have posted in the past.


This Labor Day dinner can be seen here.

Another Labor Day, I planned this picnic on our boat posted here.

Memorial Day, 2011 was captured here.


I suggested this table for Flag Day.


And I can't resist adding this table, as I could add a touch of red and have another patriotic table.


God has blessed our country.  May it be forever worthy of the sacrifices that our Veterans and their families have made.