Canadian Thanksgiving is over and done. The only thing left to do is throw out the dead flowers & check between the sofa cushions for anything weird.
For our friends in America, Thanksgiving is still a month away. With gravy in retrograde this week that confirms North America is currently in turkey transition.
This kind of thing has happened before. Just last year as a matter of fact we had Thanksgiving. And the year before that there was a different one, and many more different ones before that. Both in Canada and the US, over and over again.
Each Thanksgiving dinner is different from our own but the same in so many ways. Today I share my recipe for Thanksgiving day.
Table of Contents
Ingredients
- Floret zinnia - Victorian Wedding
- Floret celosia - Limonata
- Green Hairy Balls
- Hot Biscuits Amaranth
Thanksgiving day begins a couple of days before the dinner takes place with the gathering of the flowers. Then take a picture.
Instructions
- Mix ingredients together, set aside.
- Harvest all the apples from the 2 espalier trees. Author doesn't wish to discuss this year's apple harvest because author is snarly about it.
- Make up a game to give away flowers to guests. I used scratch off stickers and cards for a pick a card giveaway scenario. Your game might be different. Your game might involve picking a straw or knife throwing.
Recipe Tip: You're going to want to put a hat and spider protection suit on before you try and drag any extra chairs or tables out of whatever hole you store them in for the rest of the year.
- Set the table to 360°.
If I joined a dating site the only information I'd enter is a photo of my bookcases.
5. Take a pic.
6. Spend the next 14 hours looking at your pretty plates.
- Then step back and look at the big picture. Make the stuffing, cook the turkey, peel potatoes, check toilet paper levels, empty garbage, fling butter, spill cream - whatever it is that needs to get done.
You are now 100% and completely prepared for Thanksgiving dinner.
TIP: I took a class and lathed my own pepper grinder and the result is above.
Leftovers
Turkey broth, tv dinners and dog treats were this years leftover choices. Previous years have seen turkey pot pies and leftover mashed potato gnocchi in the leftover lineup.
I made the turkey broth the next day exactly like I show you in this post, and got 31 cups of broth.
The next day I used leftover turkey meat to make dog treats. The saliva dropping to the floor is barely noticeable.
If you've ever hosted Thanksgiving dinner you probably know a lot of the fun facts about it. For instance, instead of choosing one, all guests will ask for small pieces of every dessert you offer them. Someone will always be the first to say, Mmm everything is delicious, followed by a spattering of approval and agreement from everyone else who do not get any points because they weren't the first to say it.
And of course everyone will mention that one time someone put the turkey on their head, set their fingernails on fire, dropped the cake, or ate so much they barfed.
We holiday hosters know the general food ratios like: 1 potato per person, get a turkey that is about twice the weight of your number of guests (12 guests = a 24lb turkey). To reiterate, that's twice the number of your guests, not twice the weight of your guests.
If you have access to a pterodactyl and a cartoon sized big oven it could be an option for you.
But in my experience the most unique fun fact about Thanksgiving day is that it lasts 56 hours.
I am totally going to put the napkins between the charger and the plate this year like you've done. I like the clean look rather than folded up and stuck in a napkin ring.
(Then you have to deal with a napkin ring just sitting there on the table taking up space waiting for someone to set a gravy boat on it which, naturally, overturns. And you're having to stop your meal to mop it up, all the while saying it's okay when it's really NOT OKAY. All that good gravy wasted 😳🤣)
Spilled gravy is a punishable offence. And yes the napkins work great like that. If I'm not using chargers, I just stick the folded napkin under the plate. Works great. ~ karen!
When does the crying and sneaking of booze happen?
I'm thinking intermittently?
56 hours doesn't sound quite long enough, 3-4 days is longer than that. Unless we are subtracting time spent hiding, crying, and boozing? 😆
I must say....You are the Master at mixing antiques (some very old) with new style/modern touches. Not everyone can pull that off. I love everything you've done to your home....
Pure perfection !!!! Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for saying that Addie. It has taken me a very long time to really figure out what my style is. ~ karen!
Karen,
After you get organized for Christmas and have nothing to do on December 2nd, go down this rabbit hole. My gift to you.
Peace
https://nicenews.com/environment/incredible-floral-artists-brightening-the-world/
I would date you just for your bookcases, LOL! I have some book suggestions for you, just because you need more books: The Women by Kristin Hannah, historical fiction about the women who served in Vietnam; The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, a retelling of the Iliad, the story of Achilles and the Trojan War; The God of the Woods by Liz Moore, a pair of linked mysteries with a dual timeline and plenty of family secrets; and Forgotten on Sunday, literary fiction by one of France’s best known authors, with family secrets and wonderful characters.
I am also going to try making your dog treats, I think the foster guys will love them.
I'm a couple of chapters away from finishing The Wedding People. :) ~ karen!
Still looking for that kindred spirit neighbor where I currently live. In the mean time, I will dream you and I are neighbors. Hope you don't mind.
I adore your bookcases and would marry you for them in a minute if you didn't live so dang far north!
...hmmm, too late for Thanksgiving.... Oh! Happy Halloween!
Yup. The great northern bookcases of Canada. ~ karen!
I love it all! Anxiously awaiting your Christmas Pledge post so I have directions about what I'm supposed to do in November. This has become my favorite way to gloat in December. :-)
I've been working on it for the past 3 months! ~ karen
You're amazing and we love you!
Love your dining room light fixture! Can you share details?
Hellooo Miss Boots. Thanks! I love it too. It's a George Nelson lamp made by Herman Miller. ~ karen!
The best Thankgiving dinners are the ones where no one is talking--because the food is so good. I must admit I've had a couple of those.
Good turkey work Jody! ~ karen!
I've considered pouring a peanut butter glaze over everything so we can have a quiet family dinner.
(Since their mouths will be glued shut. 😉)
😁😂
Such a beautiful table and the flowers - i mean gorgeous. Great idea making turkey broth and canning it. I would need treats for cats since i don't own a pup. My cat is so dang picky, even homemade doesn't appeal to her... since she refuses to stay inside.... Birds, mice, moles etc. i can't make that flavor up.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. Love
need the turkey dog treat recipe. My dog Oliver is willing to taste test :-)
Coming up tomorrow! ~ karen
Great post with great photos and things look very lovely. Hosting a meal for 10 or 11 is a job no matter how much you enjoy the process. Your book cases are impressive, no two ways about it. Lucky guests.
I dare say you set a table with the eye of an artist in simple elegance. Well done young lady, well done. Down in these parts we first enjoy the bestest holiday of the year, Halloween, and only then make tribute to the gods of gobblers and giblets. This year, under the restrictions of my ultra low carb, low/no sugar diet regimen,Turkey Day will be far less gluttonous but no less enjoyable.
There is WAY too much food usually which obviously leads to WAY too much eating. ~ karen!
What do you consider to be weird, as far as stuff that gets trapped between the sofa cushions? A dead body? Your missing Jenga pieces covered in a suspicious red stain? Betty’s glasses? Her phone? Teeth? Just curious.
I’m gauging the guest count against the square feet of floor space in your mansion. Looking at that long and lovely table and lots of plates to be admired, my measurements come back with NOT ENOUGH ROOM! Here’s the reality- Lip the PoOdlE has one end of the sofa. He’s been hauling dead bodies in from the woods to stuff them around the house so he’s going to guard the one in the sofa. Betty insists on head measuring and your sister always brings extra wine. Wine is essential since Jenga and head measuring take lots of courage. Someone, I’m losing track, wants karaoke plus the fire needs stoking. You need more firewood. Karen, you will definitely need to build an addition that won’t interfere with your pergola, the garden and the owl house. The front porch is almost perfect but extra footage there might be nice. Do not even think of moving those fancy flat apple trees! The path out to the workshop has a beautiful mossy patina so STAY OFF THE MOSS! Obviously, the only way to expand is up. Third floor (or is it fourth?) will absolutely kill you without an extra bathroom up there. You must make the stairway wider. You simply cannot abide getting the antique bed up there without it.
The karaoke duet will be fabulously popular and the neighbor who watches your gardening will just happen to show up.
Holy shit! Did you make another pumpkin pie? Its aroma has caused a traffic jam due to its magical properties.
This upcoming year will be the best yet. Please keep us updated with the fantastic new upstairs and don’t leave out the part where you install the plumbing and finally decide on tiles that are designed to look just like your dishes with the most delicious melting chocolate colored wooden floor.
By the way, I bought pie pumpkins and two delicata squash. My puree has been made and strained. I just had to finally try your recipe for magic pies. Tomorrow is pie.
You inspired me and I hate that so much I could cry. Thank you for being you.
I expect a report back on the pie including any notes. Written as a metaphysical poet, please. ~ karen!
Ditto: "Thank you for being you."
Only 56 hours? I suppose spread out over 3 weeks that may be a close estimate.
Sounds right. When I used to host a big crowd, tg started the day after Halloween.
I rounded down by a few weeks. ;) ~ karen!
I laugh and enjoy your page so much thanks.
Thank you Kevin. I feel pressure to make you laugh right now but ... well, nothing's coming to me, lol. ~ karen!
THANK YOU FOR ALL THE TIPS, RECIPES AND PLANNING YOU SHARED.
I have been reading your articles for many, many years, by now!
And always is an excellent addition to my household.
From Canada, to Mexico and now the USA, you are at the top of the list of the friends I love!
Sofía
Thanks Sofia! I'm happy to be dragged along to all the countries with you. ~ karen!