Thanksgiving | 2011

                                                                 

My husband and I were in charge of hosting this years, Thanksgiving Feast. Figuring out the logistics of hosting a group of twenty three required some planning. Our dining room is fairly large, but not quite large enough to accommodate a group of this size. We decided we would need to set two adult tables, and two small children's tables to fit the group comfortably. Thanksgiving is not a time for serving buffet style.

Dinning Room

With a backdrop of putty colored plates, and linen hemstitch tablecloths, I was able to set each table with a slightly different color scheme. This was helpful as I do not have sets of twenty dishes just laying around for an occasion of this size. Blue toile salad plates, and blue stemmed water goblets adorn this table for ten.

Kitchen Nook

Red salad plates, and red water glasses nestle in against the "Philadelphia Cream" walls in my kitchen nook.  Napkins tied with raffia as I did not have enough pewter napkin rings for all. Each table had a cornucopia designed by me, using flowers that I purchased at Baystate Wholesale.

Girls Table

My daughter added her own personal touch to the children's tables, with these adorable turkey place-cards that she designed.

Boys Table

Always up for a little challenge, I attempted a Martha Stewart recipe-extravaganza, for the Thanksgiving turkey. Yes, there are four separate recipes as you will soon see, for her "Cranberry Glazed Turkey" , starting with stuffing from scratch. Oh right, the only thing that I did not do was raise the turkey myself, but I was short on time.

Luckily, it was a successful venture with only a few minor mistakes of which, no one noticed. I will not mention that when it was time to puree the glaze, the top of the blender popped off, and sent sticky red currant jelly, shooting everywhere. No Problem... That was the one moment that I hesitated, and thought that just maybe this was a bit too much to undertake on Thanksgiving Day. The gravy was absolutely outstanding as was the bird! I will definitely make this again, but will adjust the recipe as I will not be cooking a 22 lb. bird anytime soon, I hope. My only regret is that I did not take a picture of the beautiful red glazed bird, to prove that I indeed had conquered this recipe, on Thanksgiving Day.  I can tell you, that the smell drifting through the house that morning was so amazing, that even the kids noticed.

A Thanksgiving Day game was in order, to test our knowledge about the history of this great American holiday. Prizes were awarded to the winners, and Wii "Just Dance" competitions took place in the lower level. To end the day, an evening snack of lobster rolls, pickles and chips was in keeping with our own Thanksgiving Day family tradition.

Until next time...L.

                                                                     

Arrangements by the Sea

I was recently asked to design table arrangements for my sister Alison and her husband Jeff's wedding celebration. I was excited that I would be able to give my creative input to the ambience of the event. In adhering to a more modest budget, the challenge will be to keep the cost of materials down without compromising the original design. To do this, I will start by using the materials right outside my door.

The best place to begin in designing this kind of arrangement is in choosing the appropriate container. Like they say in real estate: location, location, location! The fit has to be right. I happened to have some fun galvanized buckets that I had used for my son's high school graduation party. They will be an ideal choice, as I believe they will be suited to the outside, tented event by the sea. Additionally, I feel good about any opportunity to repurposing or recycle previous materials for new designs.

This past Saturday, two weeks before the event, I decided to test my ideas. I went to Jacobson in Boston and Bay State Wholesale, in Wilmington to see if I was happy with my container choice and to see what options were available for plant materials. I purchased a large box of Oasis that will last me a long time. [fillers used, hydrangea, hosta, grasses, sand dollar, raffia, fern, purple cone flower, etc.)]…I will need to find a filler that will better hide the mechanics of the arrangement as the fern from my yard did not hold up well. One good reason for a dry run before any event.

Until next time...  L.