{a thanksgiving holiday tablescape}

Chris and I decided not to travel home for Thanksgiving this year (flights are insane and we have been traveling like crazy this past year), but instead of spending the holiday alone in Chicago both of our families decided to travel to us!  Both our parents and siblings rented an old victorian house together in Lincoln Park and the best part of the place was the super old school dining room (complete with cheesy teal tufted chairs!) where we got to serve Thanksgiving dinner.

I really wanted to make the dinner special for our families since they traveled so far to be with us and BBJ Linen helped me bring my vision to life by giving us access to their amazing catalogue of designer rental linens and chargers.  I would have loved to go super modern and use this striped linen or use some punchy colored chargers, but I decided to keep it classic with a luxe navy blue damask topped with their gold braided glass chargers and some simple texture of with these marquis napkins.  I finished the look of the table using my own white dinnerware and gold flatware (is anyone tired of seeing this flatware yet?!?! because I'm certainly not. ok good).   For the centerpieces I made one large arrangement surrounded by five smaller arrangements then mixed in gold taper candles and gold votives.

 {check. out. those. chairs.  pretty sure they have been there since 1886 when this rental home was built}

 {the federal damask linen looks even better in person than it does in photos if you can believe it!}

 {we pre-ordered some flowers including decorative cabbage, garden roses, mums, thistle, hypernicum berry and eucalyptus from Whole Foods then arranged them as a family the night before}

 {gold vase from Target}

 {in addition to the linens BBJ gave us, we rented some luxe Murano glassware from Hall's.  Renting linens or glassware for special occasions really takes the entire event up a notch and its surprisingly resonable- it only cost $55 for us to rent 13 place settings of this Murano glassware which included red wine, water and a champagne flute!}

{I know that Crackers like this are traditionally used for Christmas, but I just love the lighthearted-ness they add to the beginning of dinner and they come with a prize (like mini playing cards, a yo-yo or pocket mirror), a joke AND a paper crown- who's going to turn that down!?}}

 {garden roses are some of my all-time favorite flowers I just can't resist them when they are available}

{we were having so much fun at dinner that I forgot to take any photos of us all together at the table- but my sister in law did capture this one of a portion of the guests near the end of the night- wearing the paper crowns from our crackers of course!}

{thanksgiving menu}

We will be hosting 13 of our family and friends here in Chicago for Thanksgiving dinner next week which gave me a mild panic attack when it came to starting to devise a delicious menu!  This past weekend, armed with the latest issues of our favorite food magazines and pinterest, we worked out our entire menu and the subsequent shopping list of over a 100 items!  So to save you a little time with your menu planning or selecting the dish to bring for your Thanksgiving pot luck, I gathered our entire menu and links to the recipes (with some modifications) right here:

Charcuterie & Cheese Tray: after enjoying a morning with this decadent french toast and a dozen mimosas we will put a big spread of charcuterie and cheese for guests to graze on during the cooking.

Batch Cocktails:  I'll whip up a batch each of The Bee's Pajamas & The Brown Derby for our guests to sip on along with the appetizers.

Kale Caesar Salad:  This is a classic salad in our house.

Shaved Brussels Sprouts: This will serve almost as another "salad" option and we will be adding a few cups of brown rice and pancetta to this recipe.

Simple Green Beans: because not everything can be drowning in cream or butter.

Braised Short Ribs on a bed of sweet potatoes:  I love turkey, but I love red meat more and so does most of my family so we will be braising a big batch of short ribs and serving them over sweet potatoes.

Classic Stuffing: most of our guests are coming from out of town, but the one couple coming locally will be bringing their favorite stuffing recipe.

Pioneer Woman Mashed Potatoes:  We have made this recipe a few times in the past and the best part of it besides the fact that its super tasty is that you can make them the day before!

Gulliver's Corn:  This dish is definitely more cream and cheese than corn which seems perectly appropriate for Thanksgiving- plus it's a recipe we have made for the past 20 years of Thanksgivings in my family.

Alton Browns Turkey: because Chris is obsessed with anything Alton Brown does.

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Sour Cream Marshmallow topping:  this sounds like the fancier more decadent version of pumpkin pie. I'm in!

{scenes from thanksgiving}

This year we hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner at our place in Chicago.  My parents and one of my girlfriends flew out from California to spend the holiday with us which made it extra special.  Here are a few snapshots from the dinner:

 {banner made from this Rifle Paper garland kit}

 {the floral arrangements- see the breakdown in this post}

 {extra letters from the banner kit doubled as "placecards" on the back of each seat}

 {simple printed menu- we ended up making the most amazing pumpkin souffles for dessert instead}

{my parents sent along a case of Benziger's best wine to enjoy with dinner}

{floral guide: thanksgiving table arrangement}

Not having access to the flower mart in downtown LA has been a big adjustment for me, but luckily I was able to find a cute flower shop around the corner from our new place that was able to order some amazing cut flowers for me this Thanksgiving.  Here is the flower guide for the two arrangements I put together for our Thanksgiving table this Thursday.  Note that I did end up adding some craspedia to the arrangements that I already had at the house so it didn't end up getting photographed above.

{amaryllis & paperwhite bulbs for the holidays}

Growing up I always remember my mother putting together amaryllis and paper white bulbs around late October/early November to display around our house for the holiday season.   When I moved out into my first place in San Francisco, my mother sent me care package filled with bulbs and all the supplies needed to plant some for my new home.  Every year since then, she sends along all the supplies for what has grown to become a long time holiday tradition.  Today I wanted to share with you the very simple yet rewarding process of planting these bulbs for the upcoming holidays.  The cost of these bulbs is low and you should be able to find them at your local garden supply or Home Depot- I have also spotted them in "kits" at Target or Trader Joes.  The ease of putting these together makes them a great hostess gift throughout the holiday season as well!

The process for planting either paper white or amaryllis bulbs is basically the same.  You can use practically any ceramic pot or glass vase you might have around so long as the bulb/bulbs can fit their width in it.  The key with bulb success is making sure not to completely submerge the bulb in water or dirt, but to plant it so that the majority of the bulb is visible above the moss in your container.  If need be place rocks or pebbles in the bottom of your container to get the bulb as high as you would like.  Use moss to anchor the bulb in your container.  Fill the entire container with water, let it sit for a few minutes and then drain all the water out by holding the bulb/moss/pebbles while tipping the container to its side.  This should be the extent of watering your bulb will require.  These potted bulbs can be placed anywhere in your home- they do not require a specific amount of sunlight!  You may want to add water and drain it once more in a few weeks if your home is very dry from air conditioning or weather.

Paperwhites and amaryllis make for great hostess gifts since they are pretty and require little effort on the part of the person you are gifting them to!  Simply plant the bulb into a nice ceramic container following the directions above and attach a cute tag like this sticker tag from Rifle Paper I recently picked up on a trip to Paper Source:

While normally I would show you the end result of planting these bulbs, if I waited that long to share it with you then you wouldn't have time to plant some for yourself!  So here are some photos of what you can hope to achieve.  While the amaryllis is my favorite because it is so dramatically beautiful, I also thoroughly enjoy the strong scent that paperwhites will fill your rooms with:

 {amaryllis}

{paperwhites}

{friday cocktail: pumpkin fizz}

Even though the month of October ended yesterday, pumpkin is still very much a viable ingredient all the way through November so I figured...let's make some cocktails with a little pumpkin!  I discovered this recipe, along with a ton of other great cocktail recipes, on the Kitchen Konfidence blog.   This is one of the few vodka recipes I have made on this blog and you could easily switch out the spirit on this recipe for a spiced rum or even a bourbon.  I love the seasonal taste of the pumpkin in literally everything and while i enjoyed this cocktail, it definitely lends itself to more of a carbonated smoothie taste than a stiff drink!  I added a few dashes of cardamom bitters to give this drink a little interesting spice.  I would also recommend a tiny punch of pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon to garnish!

The two lucky winners from last Friday's Julibox giveaway are:

**Rachel Jass**

**Leigh Kozak**

Congrats you guys! You will be contacted via email shortly!


Cheers!

{pumpkin mousse}

This past weekend we took a little trip to a cute town a bit north of us to check out the Highwood Pumpkin Festival which is basically a celebration of all things pumpkin-most notably the over 30,000 carved pumpkins on display!  After the festival we headed back to a friend's place to carve our own pumpkins and eat some authentic Texas queso cooked by the hosts (a first for me!).   I offered to bring over the dessert which would give me an excuse to make up a batch of this amazing looking Pumpkin Mousse recipe.  This recipe delivered on all my expectations: it's got that wonderful seasonal flavor of pumpkin mixed with an incredibly decadent creamy consistency yet light texture.  On top of all that, this recipe is very quick to make, requires a short ingredient list and very little technical ability (unless folding whipped cream into the mousse intimidates you like it does for me- it shouldn't, but it does. everyone has fears. this is mine.)  Plus, you can make this mousse up a day or two before your event and simply place the whipped cream and cookie topping directly before serving.  And don't forget about the other great pumpkin dessert option I cooked up last year around Halloween right here. 

 {ginger cookies for the crumbled cookie topping- make sure to sprinkle plenty of this on the top of the dessert as it adds a wonderful crunch and interesting flavor component}

Here are a few photos from our pumpkin related activities this weekend:

 {at the highwood pumpkin festival}

{our entry into the pumpkin carving contest which was 100% chris' idea for a big

 pumpkin with a really little face which turned out pretty hilarious looking}

{thanksgiving ideas}

I am pretty much an equal opportunity lover of all holidays, but Thanksgiving definitely ranks up near the top.  I always love how its more of a casual and cozy holiday without the pressure of gifts or costumes.  With Thanksgiving only a week away, I started searching around for some fun ideas to use this year....

These napkins are available on Etsy, but could be a really easy and fun DIY project for this coming weekend.  Plus, they arent Thanksgiving specific so we could get use out of them year round!

Although its a little late this year to send out invites to Thanksgiving, I think it would fun to save this idea for next years get together.  Even though most people already know they are invited to Thanksgiving, it is still fun to receive a physical invite in the mail.  These postcard invites are also available on Etsy.

Chris and I are always put in charge of the cocktails for Thanksgiving, last year we made up a big batches of these.  My brother is obsessed with all things bacon and requested a cocktail that lives up to his expectations this year.  We have decided on making bacon infused bourbon which will be used to make a bacon old fashioned.

As much as I love mini sized desserts, Thanksgiving just isn't the holiday for that type of sizing.  These individual pumpkin mousse desserts from Spoon Fork Bacon are the perfect compromise since they are an appropriate proportion for Thanksgiving, but still have all the charm of "mini" since they are served individually. 

I love these simple placecards from Etsy that do double-duty on Thanksgiving by having everyone write down something they are thankful for.  These would be a very quick weekend DIY project.  The best part would be saving them to bring out the following year and reminiscing about what everyone wrote down.