Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

A blog in pictures....enjoy!

What I am thankful for: A husband who when asked to get me the calculator brings me one bearing a message that he loves me. :)

Our fruit basket full of Cox apples, dessert pears, clementines, and a lemon.

Our cranberry sauce cooking.....it always makes the house smell amazing!

Snapping green beans. Nothing beats fresh green beans, the snap as you bite into fresh ones.

My first attempt at the pecan pie since being given the recipe as part of a wedding gift a year and a half ago. I had been after the recipe for about a decade!

I had some time to kill while the turkey was cooking, so I amused myself.

The finished product!

Our wonderful table for two.

My very happy plate.

The whole day was wonderful. Garret helped up to the point until the turkey went in the oven, then he crashed on the couch for a much needed nap. I cooked the rest, woke him up to tell him dinner was almost ready. He walked in thinking he would get to help with finishing it, to discover all I needed him to do was stir the gravy while I ran upstairs to change and pretty myself up a bit more. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, remembering all we have to be Thankful for.

Yes!

So after doing research into the beautiful simplicity that is a Gerard Darel bag I became determined to buy one. However, being frugal and somewhat smart I decided to check on ebay first. I know I clean out my closets (including shoes and handbags) often enough so I decided someone out there might do so too. And I hit the jackpot. For less than half of half of what I would have paid brand new I got a black 24 hour Charlotte bag! And the best part is that it is in pretty much brand new condition.....she only carried it a couple times.

Now, I am a remorse shopper.....as soon as I buy something I regret it, worrying it was too much or I won't like it. Quite frankly I was concerned it wouldn't be big enough but told myself that if it wasn't I would upgrade to a 36 heure one. So this past week I have been waiting for it to arrive, terrified I would hate it, when the wonderful British postal worker arrived today bearing my bag.

Oh my god......it is so soft and buttery like that I was astounded by the feel before I had even pulled it from the dust bag. I took it out, and I knew that I had found it. The simple styled, well made, soft as a baby's skin handbag I had been searching for. Handbags and shoes are my great loves, because no matter what size I am, or how big I get when we eventually decide to have kids, they will always fit me.

I'm in the middle of cooking our Thanksgiving feast, but I promise to post a pic later!

It Snowed!!!

It snowed yesterday! Yay! It melted before I could take any pictures, but my husband just e-mailed me from work to let me know it is supposed to snow again today! I love the crispness of snow, the soft crunch as you walk. Time to really break out all the coats and scarfs and cute little hats of mine! I hate being cold, but I have to say, I look pretty damn cute in cold weather clothing.

As a side note, my husband made my year this week. When I was filling out a survey for a friend it asked me to describe myself in one word, and I was having difficulty, because everything I came up with consisted of 2 words. So I turned to Garret and asked him, and without missing a beat he said, "Brilliant." I asked him why he said that and his response? "Because it describes both your intelligence and beauty." Aww. I really do have the most amazing husband!

A Butcher, A Baker, and a Cheese Monger

Today we headed to breakfast at the Cafe, where we devoured a basket of mini croissants, pain au chocolat, and pain au raisin.......the last was surprisingly my favorite! There was also some good french bread, and cafe au lait. Since it's England, the Christmas season has begun, and it was bustling outside. At one point we stopped to listen to a group on men in kilts playing bagpipes and drums...they were collecting for something, although I am not quite sure what.

We picked up some fresh pears at my favorite stall. Then we headed to the cheese monger I prefer and picked up some French Brie, and then a nice size chunk of Tomme de Chevre. I had read about the latter on a blog, and we decided to get some to try.....I will post pics when we do. Then we headed to the butcher to pick up some sausages, settling on pork and leek ones. With left over potatoes, I figured it would make a simple meal. We stopped in to get a campagne loaf on the way home, some Green and Black dark chocolate, and we even ate a slice of Organic Ratatouille tart while we walked the mile or so back to the car. The tart was divine, and we will be repeating the experience.

At home I fried up the sausages, adding what we had left of chicken stock from the other day, and sprinkling in a few thyme sprigs. It boiled down completely (I was winging it, and will have to watch it a bit more next time) but the sausages turned out to be very good. We drank some bordeaux, ate some brie I had sat out on crusty bread and then Garret headed to work. I, exhausted headed to bed.

Finally

I have had the cookbook The French Kitchen by Joanne Harris and Fran Warde for well over a year now. It was one of my first purchases while seeing local England. Joanne Harris is well known for writing the book Chocolat, along with many others ( I highly recommend her, very vivid writing). And as my husband loves my love for French life, he was excited to delve into the culinary aspect of my preferences. So we bought the book. We gazed at the pictures. We read all the recipes and anecdotes, and dreamed of cooking from it.

However, we live in England, and they do not use the same measurements here. Things are measured by weight instead of volume, and I did not have scales. True, I could have ordered the American version of the book, but my love of cooking has caused me to realize weight is a much more accurate way to measure. A few months ago I ordered my Salter scale. It's digital, measures in both grams and ounces, also liquid (I was quite confused on that one) and actually doesn't take up much room at all. I've used it quite often (we use the weight measurements from the Williams-Sonoma cookbooks), but had yet to use it for our favorite cookbook.

Until today. Today I made a nice dinner for us to enjoy. I made up a baby leaf salad, mixed up a Maille dijon vinaigrette, and cooked some salmon filets with lemon and sea salt. But wanting to have a carb of some sort I began looking through our cookbooks. Normally, I would roast some baby potatoes and call it a day, but inspiration struck and I opened French Kitchen.

I chose to do the Boulangere Potatoes. It called for a mandolin, an item I have yet to buy as I slice things quite thin by hand. Today was no exception, I was able to get the majority of the potatoes thin enough you could clearly see light through them, some as thin as wisps of paper. Garret stripped the sprigs of thyme and heated the stock as I sliced and layered the potatoes and onions. The only thing I think I will change next time is to use a smaller but deeper dish, since it took so long to brown the top of these that I think it slightly overcooked the inside (not that you could tell from the way we indulged!). Also, the thick layer upon layer of potatoes would have been more noticeable in a deeper dish, the potatoes cook down in volume quite a bit.

In the end it turned out how I imagined it would, the potatoes layered over each other in, as Garret described it, a fish scale pattern. The top was crispy, the insides soft with an amazing buttery onion and thyme flavor. We will be making this again.

While uploading that photo I realized I never did post the pics of the cake I made. It didn't turn out quite as I had imagined. Instead of all fondant, I ended up using the buttercream base as the real icing, and adding fondant circles. But the guest of honor at the baby shower, and everyone else for that matter, thought it was great, so mission accomplished.

Christmas Cheer

Garret and I are planning on going to a local Christmas Fayre next weekend. It will have a bunch of stalls and activities, including Christmas carols! While looking up information on the fayre, I found out about a charity run. Now, I haven't ever been a successful runner (although I can whip you in sprinting, generally). Garret has promised to teach me how to run correctly, but we'll see. However, he quite enjoys a good run. This is a run to raise money for EACH (east anglia children's hospice), and it's a Santa run. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, you enter, are given a santa outfit, and you run 2-3 km. So next weekend, I will be in Bury St. Edmunds, camera and videocamera in hand ready to document this historic event. Apparantly it will be hundreds of Santas running through the Abbey gardens, and that is a sight not to be missed!

After the run we will search for a place with mulled wine to warm him up. Then maybe catch lunch either at the market or one of the local restaurants. The Fayre is a big event, with many, many vendors. Crepes, Belgian waffles, mulled wine, coffee, suasages, cheese, chestnuts, sugared nuts, all will be available for culinary dlight, and much more. It will be a great time for the two of us to spend together, while getting ready for the Christmas season. That weekend is also when we put up our tree and decorate, but only after Thanksgiving.

Which brings me to panic point. I am still trying to decide if I want to roast a whole turkey or just a breast. We have been roasting turkey breasts more frequently, and I know it would provide plenty of food for the two of us. However, they have small, fresh turkeys in at the store too, and those look mighty tempting. I really need to get out and do the shopping. Thanksgiving lasts the whole week for us, as we make the cranberry sauce a day or two ahead, along with the pies, and this year I am going to try making the sweet potato casserole a day ahead, and just warming it up in the oven with fresh marshmallows on Thanksgiving.

Leave a comment and let me know what you have planned for Thanksgiving. Any special traditions?

The Three C's of Saturday

Saturday was an amazing day at the market! I hit up my favorite stall for some leeks, which are being made into soup. We had a wonderful breakfast at Cafe Rouge, and then I wound back up there for some Soup L'Oignon (French onion soup) and sparkling water later while Garret shopped. Then he came back and had some mussels in a white wine sauce that was out of this world. The mussels were cooked perfectly, and the sauce was wonderful! So here are the 3 c's of our day:

Croissant:
Cafe Rouge has freshly made croissants that was a wonderful accompaniment to my cafe au lait. And the cutest part of the whole thing? They have tiny little Bonne Maman jars of strawberry jam to go with the croissant. Bonne Maman jams and confitures have been favorites of mine since college, so I was very pleasantly surprised with the minis.

Croque Madame:
Well, I knew I love a good croque monsieur. But I had never experienced a croque madame until this weekend. The wonderful French bread with a slice of ham (ever so thin but flavorful) in between and then Gruyere cheese on top.....and for this breakfast delight, a poached egg on top of that. Garret ordered it, and generously allowed me a couple bites of it's heavenly yummyness.

Chestnuts:
I had never had roasted chestnuts. I had previously had water chestnuts, which for the record I am not a fan of, so I was a little wary. But it's England, and the holiday season, and so you see them out at market time a lot. Garret and I decided to give them a go, and I found them strangely okay. He ate most of them, but I was just happy to have finally tried them. Now I need a fireplace so I can roast them over an open fire..... :)

This week I am planning on getting the house ready for Christmas. And hopefully squeezing in another market trip on Wednesday.

Sipping Chardonnay

I love nights in. I sit here, sipping some Chardonnay (not my usual red wine, but it's what we opened with the roasted turkey breast last night). I lit some candles. My husband is relaxing on the couch next to me, and I get to sit here and type.

The holidays are coming up quickly, and I am very excited. I love cooking large meals, so Thanksgiving and Christmas are stressful but fun for me. We do a roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, homemade rolls, gravy, cranberry sauce (homemade, not the gelatinous stuff in a can), sweet potato casserole, pies galore, dressing.....basically a huge feast that feeds us for days on end. In addition, throughout these months we make cookies, candies, party mix, and homemade hot cocoa like it might be the end of the world tomorrow! I eat completely differently than I did a year ago, so it will be fun to just enjoy the food rather than freaking out worrying whether I should taste something or not.

Along with the food (although that is the most important part to us!) we do a big tree with lights and decorations, and we are planning on adding greenery around the house this year. It's our last Christmas in this house, so I am looking forward to doing it up right. Next year we will be in a different country, on a different continent, in a different house that I can only guess at now. We've been looking into some 1920's and 1930's homes back in the States that I would be more than happy to buy, and I can only imagine a Christmas with a fireplace to hang the stockings from.

I'm also looking forward to building a home rather than just a resting place.....which is what I consider here. Total I will have lived here 2 years and a month, and several months of that in the end will have been unpacking and re-packing. We bought furniture out of need rather than taking time to fall in love with pieces, so the idea of settling down for a few years in a place of our own is almost like a dream. The past couple weeks I have spent looking online at home stores, gazing at couches I can imagine stretching out languidly on, mirrors that would be perfect for an entryway, chandeliers for dining room tables. Basically I have become obessesed with decorating a house. My husband and I both want a home that is warm and inviting, but has an air of formality to it as well. I think that description suits us best.....we are both very friendly, welcoming people, but we are also a bit reserved at times, waiting until we get to know people to really let loose.

This coming weekend I have Garret all to myself for basically 4 days. We are going to go to breakfast/brunch at Cafe Rouge on Saturday. Garret really wants to try a Croque Madame with the egg on top, and I am looking forward to a warm, fresh croissant with a cafe au lait. Then we will head into the square to go pick out vegetables and fruit from the market.....and maybe hit up the butcher or seafood stall for part of our evening meal menu. Then, if it is sunny, a local ice cream cone and a stroll through the Abbey gardens ( I must remember to bring a book to read there) and home in time to relax and enjoy our evening. These weekends are always a nice refresher for us before his hellish 60 hour week that always follows.

And finally, I am making improvements on my closet, just need to bag a bunch of clothes up to donate. Getting rid of a bunch of my closet will help clear up some clutter and make our bedroom a bit tidier. Now all I need is to hang the curtains and buy some more candles, and it will be a nice retreat for us after long days.

Contemplations

So this week has been completely crazy, a whirlwind really. Which, as it is one of Garret's long weeks for work, I am glad to be kept busy. But it has also given me plenty of time that while I am working with my hands my mind wanders. So a list of things I am contemplating.

1. Wow. I offered to do the cake for a baby shower, and the only cake I have ever decorated was for Garret, and it was all one icing color. So I am a little overwhelmed, but also excited to see what I can do. I just finished the mints (in 3 different colors) so all I have left is the cake. I am terrified and excited all at once!

2. I have an amazing mother-in-law. I hear stories about them being the enemy of married women, but frankly, while I will own up to having been driven nuts a couple times by things she has said or done, mainly I just adore her!

3. I really really need to clean. I have been so busy lately that I let things get messy, and it's driving me utterly nuts.

4. I wonder how so many women out there are able to have children and still maintain their own lives? It's a facet of having kids that terrifies me.....losing myself. I know that not everyone does, so I need to find women who have managed to find the balance to talk to.

It's going to be a crazy weekend! Next week I get Garret all to myself for 5 out of the 7 days, and so I will be taking that oppurtunity to shop for Christmas. We really want to find the home store we were told about last year and get some greenery for the house. We'll see. I will update once I have made the cake with pics!

Avoiding Halloween

My mother says it's not right, our avoiding Halloween this year. Last year we carved pumpkins, handed out candy, enjoyed the fun of the night. But this year we didn't carve pumpkins. We watched as our neighbors sat their pumpkins outside, some carved, some not. We drove over the bits in the days before the holiday, as the bored teenagers (we politely call them hoodlums) had seemed to throw them in the streets, smashing them to bits. Buying a pumkin that costs more than 10 dollars and seeing it end up in the street didn't sound like any fun, so we declined.

And then the trick or treaters, how nuts! Last year I was thrilled! Our neighborhood is fairly small, so I wasn't expecting more than maybe a 100-150 kids, if others from the various neighborhoods on base came. Boy was I ever wrong! At about 7 p.m. last Halloween I got knocks. Cute little fairy princesses, witches, ninas, and animals. It started with a knock every couple minutes or so (I turned our doorbell off, my husband was desperately trying to get sleep before having to go into work). Eventually though, it became a stream so steady that I literally didn't close our front door for 2 1/2 hours straight. Except at one point when I woke my husband up to run to the store for more candy, and I hid in our house with the lights all off, terrified of the sound of a knock on the door.

We had been warned ahead of time it was crazy, but I never imagined that crazy. You see, the people who live off base bring their neighbors British kids on base to trick or treat, and that accounts for quite a few kids. Ditto for British people who work on base. And then add in the teenagers who are, in my opinion, way too old to trick or treat. In my parents house the cutoff was 13 or 14. I think nowadays it would be easier to say the cut off should be when you are old enough that you don't think it's cool to make any effort, or you make an effort but it's one to look either "sexy" or "terrifying". I had one too many teenage girls in short skirts and fishnets last year. We went through 12 bags of candy, and after that I refused to buy anymore, so I shut the lights of and waited for it to stop. There were trick or treaters still out when I closed my door.

This year we decided to avoid the holiday madness. We made reservations at Cafe Rouge, a nice little place in Bury St. Edmunds, asked for our favorite table, and left the madness as quickly as possible. We had a wonderful meal, with 3 courses, 4 if you count our coffee course at the end. I had a beautiful steak, the first time I have had a steak in months and months. My husband had an amazing meal of Toulouse sausages with new potato salad and thyme jus. It was delicious. We ordered a bottle of wine, we chatted with a neighboring table. We relaxed. And as we were finishing our coffee up (the best cafe au lait I have managed to find so far) we realized we had been there for nearly 2 1/2 hours. Quite well done, we were proud, knowing we decided to spend some great time together. And by the time we got home, for all intents and purposes, Halloween would be over.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, to whatever degree you participated! I'll leave you with a picture from our night out.