Happy Thanksgiving

Happy happy Thanksgiving, dear friends! I'm going to sign out early this week to enjoy some much-needed time with my loved ones...and, of course, to eat a completely unreasonable amount of food. I hope your holiday is warm, lovely, and plentiful. xo, Jessica

P.S. For those of you who like to nerd out on Thanksgiving food as much as I do, I'm including my menu below. I'm attempting to "take it easy" this year- i.e. pare down the menu to the essential favorites, and spend more time enjoying my family and less time in front of the stove.

Thanksgiving 2012

Salted Roast Turkey with Chipotle Glaze

Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized Onion Gravy

Herb and Onion Stuffing

Braided Onion Bread 

(I promise I'll share this recipe soon. It might be my favorite thing on the Thanksgiving table...and it definitely should be made more than once a year.)

Mystery Brussel Sprout Dish, brought by a friend

(I'm hoping maybe it's something like this. But, really, I'll take brussels however I can get them.)

Cranberry-Peach Compote

(I'll share this one soon too.)

Deepest Dish Apple Pie

(From the new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. I've taken to calling it "Mile High Apple Pie." Has a nice ring, don't you think?)

Hot Apple Cider

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Happy Weekend

Image found here.

Happy Friday, friends! Do you have any fun weekend plans? It's supposed to rain here, so I'm looking forward to cozy-ing up inside and starting preparations for Thanksgiving (make and freeze the pie dough, mix the salt-rub for the Turkey, make lots of lists...). Hope yours is lovely!

This contact juggler is unreal.

And this piano juggler? Let's just say, if I were the kind of person who used the word "amazeballs," this is where I'd use it. Amazeballs.

A delicious holiday cocktail with an adorable name (Rosy Cheeks).

These sticky buns look RIDICULOUS.

Snow art.

Baby duffle coat. (Here's a link to the Ravelry page and the pattern.)

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Tradition

There seem to be two distinct camps regarding acceptable holiday food protocol: those who believe that tradition is sacred and would prefer to eat the familiar Thanksgiving menu they grew up with, and those who like to experiment with new dishes every year. The staunchly traditional bunch seem to be a lot more prevalent and a lot more vocal.

I'm pretty sure I fall in the second category. I love family traditions and, yes, there are a handful of holiday foods that I look forward to all year and wouldn't dream of ousting (Mom's braided onion bread anyone?), but I also recognize that much of my cooking pleasure derives from trying new things- new processes, new flavor combinations, the ever-present thrill of possible failure... The risks certainly increase when experimenting with unfamiliar dishes, but so do the chances of stumbling your way into food nirvana.

So, what do you think? Is it wise to experiment with your Thanksgiving menu on an already high-stress cooking day, or are you better off sticking to well-vetted standbys? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

P.S. The heavenly dessert pictured above is this pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust that I discovered several years ago when we decided to buck the traditional pumpkin pie. Now the cheesecake has become our new tradition. A perfect example of experimentation being oh-so worth it...

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Refraction

 

Images by Markus Reugels. Found via Twisted Sifter.

Markus Reugels, a German photographer, takes these incredible high speed photos that capture the refraction of a background image inside a falling water droplet. Isn't that absurdly awesome?

What now, rainbow! This guy just seriously showed you up.

See more here.

P.S. Yes, I did just trash-talk refracted light.

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Have A Fun Weekend

Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Found here.

I've been a terrible blogger this week- my apologies. The days fill up so fast, and I'm still working on finding a balance between the things I want to do, and the things I'm obligated to do (for the record, posting here definitely falls into the "want to" category). It's hard not to go into hibernation mode at this time of year- the sky gets dark so early, and all I want to do is snuggle and eat soup and read books in bed. Thanks for being patient with me. I hope to have lots more fun stuff to share next week.

In the meantime...

Awesome people hanging out together is such a fun Tumblr.

This made me laugh til I cried.

These pear and chocolate scones must happen this weekend. And, on that subject, I get to go meet Deb of Smitten Kitchen in Portland on Monday and buy her book. I cannot wait! I fear I'm going to be a completely starstruck little fan-girl.

This flowered and striped dress is perfection.

Don't grow up, it's a trap.

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