Oh what a flurry of activity! Happy post-Thanksgiving Day dear readers! Ms. Jeannie hopes that your holiday was marvelous and delicious!

One of the things, Ms. Jeannie was most excited about this Thanksgiving was serving dinner on her grandmother’s 1930’s wedding china, which recently arrived via mail a few weeks ago from Ms. Jeannie’s mom.  The dishes contain the prettiest color combination: gold, cream, yellow, spring green, pale pink magenta, grey and coral. And to Ms. Jeannie’s surprise, naturally picked up all the colors in her Thanksgiving dinner!

This is what was on the menu at Ms. Jeannie’s:

• Smoked Turkey
• Sauted Brussel Sprouts with Chestnuts and Bacon
• Orange Glazed Carrot Ribbons
• Sweet Potato Souffle
• Cornbread Casserole (which was a lovely gift from a friend)
• Breadcrumb Stuffing (a traditional family recipe)
• Homemade Sweet Rolls (thank you Betty Crocker 1953 cookbook!)
• Gravy
• Cranberry Sauce
• Pumpkin Pie

Because it was such a busy month, Ms. Jeannie declined some holiday invitations and swept away notions of holiday house guests, instead just opting for a romantic holiday week for two. It was delightful! One low-key day fed in another. The feeling of “holiday” was present around every corner.

The festivities began on Monday with a trip to the market for all the necessary Thanksgiving ingredients. On Tuesday, it was cold and rainy – luckily that was the day Ms. Jeannie was slated to be a guest blogger on the Vintage Etsy Society blog where she was tasked with writing about a vintage recipe. She chose Cheese Souffle from her 1961 YWCA Cookbook which was compiled and printed in Bangkok and is written half in English and half in Thai.

 

 

On Wednesday, the Jeannie’s braved the 32 degree weather and 30 mph winds to hang Christmas lights outside. It reminded Ms. Jeannie a lot of wintertimes spent in New York when the winds pass through you and make your skin all prickly like ice underneath your clothes. Brrr…

Wreaths went up on all the windows, white lights went on five bushes in front of the house and a giant 6’x 6′ wreath decorated the pump house. That part turned out to be Ms. Jeannie’s favorite!

Then they headed indoors to warm up and cook some holiday hors d’oeuvres before settling in to begin a new marathon, which is a Wednesday-before-Thanksgiving tradition.  Last year, it was Gilmore Girls – which took them all the way through Thanksgiving into January. This year it is Parenthood – starting with season one.

The hor d ‘oeuvres menu was all new this year…

• Lemony Chickpea Bruschetta
• Focaccia with Carmelized Onions, Pears & Blue Cheese
• Antipasto plate with Hard Salami, Olives, Gruyere Cheese, Brie and Pistachios

Fun and delicious! The hors d’ouvres take the place of both lunch and dinner which makes for light snacking throughout the afternoon and evening without having to eat anything too heavy before the big turkey day.

On Thursday, Mr. Jeannie was up early tending to the turkey which was in the smoker for a total of 8 hours. And Ms. Jeannie was in the kitchen cooking by 9:00am to finish by 5:00pm.  What a spectacle! It was a full day of cooking  that topped off a full week of cooking, that was packed full of experiments, flavors and old favorites. And now there is a weekend full of leftovers. Life really is delicious isn’t it?!

If you are looking for culinary themed gifts for the holidays, Ms. Jeannie has a bunch of newly listed lovelies in her shop. Here’s a peek – click on any and all that interest you to find out more information…