Skip to main content

It's the Little Things


In all the preparations for Thanksgiving, I cherish the little things that make it special, like this turkey butter sculpture that I found in our local grocery store.


The brand is Keller's Creamery from Philadelphia. They have been around since 1906 but I can't say I've seen these adorable turkey butter sculptures before. Maybe it's taken this long to reach the West Coast? They plan on having bunny sculptures for Easter in the Spring, too. I already bought one when Lauren came over for dinner awhile ago...and we didn't even serve anything that needed butter. But that's how cute they are. You just have to have one! I've mentioned before that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday but I will admit I've started adding a little of Christmas to it now. Is it weird to have a fall floral arrangement in front of the Christmas tree?


Last year we put up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving because Nick, Sachiyo and Hana were coming the following Monday and there's hardly enough time to switch from Thanksgiving to Christmas that fast. Putting up the tree takes several days in our house because of all the ornaments we put on it. Doing it before Thanksgiving was a big relief. And now I like that jump start. So, we did it again this year but we're just putting on the lights and will do the rest next week. 


I have it easy this year because my sister is hosting Thanksgiving dinner at her house so I volunteered to bring the pies: pumpkin and pecan; our family's green gelatin salad; and the cranberry sauce. But I also volunteered to have another post Thanksgiving potluck dinner at our house on Friday so everyone can bring leftovers from Thanksgiving. We will do another turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and everything else will be whatever is leftover. We did this two years ago and I ended up also making more pies...just to be sure there was enough. Nobody seems to mind having two Thanksgiving meals in a row. And I like having our own leftover turkey and having the basics around when we don't host. You can't have too much Thanksgiving food around. I love making it all, too. Grocery shopping today and the cooking starts tonight.



I've made all these recipes so many times that I can almost make them by heart. That's why I like Thanksgiving. The food is always the same, sort of a no-brainer. I thought about changing it up and doing something different but the traditional recipes are so good. We only eat them once a year so I don't care if they aren't "healthy" or whatever. I just love the basic old traditional pies, cranberry sauce and gelatin salad. And this year I said I'd bring the butter, too. 


















Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of  meatloaf .  This must be meatloaf season.  It was surprisingly similar to the  Pioneer Woman's version  who was also recently on.   I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book,  Food Matters .  His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese!  I must be doing something wrong.  The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life.    If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health.  He tells his story in Food Matters and provides a plan for responsible eating that covers a no-nonsense rundown on

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free.  But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one.  My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations  and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends.  We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop.  She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots.  We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.)   The views are always quite lovely, too.  Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception.  I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, there was a big party go

Waking Up in Vegas

and just like that...we were Waking Up in Vegas.   Just like the Katy Perry song. We went to her 78th performance which was her second-to-last Las Vegas residency show entitled "Play".  That was perfect for us because we went to Vegas simply to play.  Her concert was a great finale for us because it was high energy and full of silliness, just the way Katy Perry is.  And we were feeling it after three nights in Las Vegas. "Get up, and shake the gutter off your clothes now, That's what you get for waking up in Vegas".    Here's what she said about her show: "I created this show after the birth of my daughter, Daisy Dove. When I met her, it was like all the love I was ever searching for finally showed up. This show is for everyone’s inner child and for the hope that maybe if we could all see life through the eyes of a child, we would be free. Because never forget, love is and will always be the key,” she said. We went to Vegas spur of the moment because Br