What a lovely day after a crazy week. Here’s a picture of my poor kitchen the day after still bearing the battle scars of a successful Thanksgiving dinner.

And this is after a full dance with the dishwasher and properly putting away the leftovers.

So much to be thankful for.

For food poisoning that cleared itself out of my system in time to enjoy a bit of my week’s cooking labors.

For my fever-free Peach and the nice folks at Children’s Hospital.

And of course for family, friends and a warm plate of leftovers the next morning.

I hope all you had a wonderful day full of special people that make it all so worthwhile in the long run.

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Unfortunately, the Peach is down with a high fever right now, but so forgive me if posting is light for the rest of the week between my sick baby and Thanksgiving.

I think I need to do some knitting to get my mind off of my sick little Peach.

I’ve been most remiss in my baby knitting. I’ve made her a hat or two out of scrap yarn and re-purposed other sweaters for her.

But when the Peach’s daycare provider said she needed a hat for her afternoon strolls, I knew the knitting needles were going to have to come out.

Afterall, it is Fall and it wouldn’t be Autumn without a bit of knitting. My arms can handle a bit of knitting.

And something special to keep her little head warm.

Like this utterly gorgeous silk from Debbie Bliss matched with this sweet vintage style pattern for a stella pixie hat.

The colors I think will match her new little magenta fleece nicely, don’t you think?

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Well, we are days away from Thanksgiving and even though I’m not making a tons of dishes, I always like to push the envelope cooking-wise.

So this year, I decided to make the cornbread from scratch for the cornbread stuffing. Soo good! I liked this recipe because I had to soak the polenta in buttermilk overnight to break down the cornmeal–an easy version of nixation and it was utterly divine in taste. Of course I had to try some–you know, just to make sure it wasn’t poison…

And I had to make my own broth! Bien sur!

But I’m most proud of making mayonaise. THIRD times a charm. I must thank Karen Solomon for her brilliant breakdown of the basic recipe. This cookbook of hers is pure genius. The exact cookbook I’ve been looking for for the past twenty years.  The secret was taking thirty second breaks in between teaspoons of oil. Brilliant. The perfect ending for turkey sandwiches for Friday.

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I can’t believe it’s been three years since we said I do, sweetie!

Don’t we look fancy?

Not so fancy this morning when I was nursing our Peach and you reached over and kissed my brow and wished me a happy anniversary.

But still just as much love. In fact, more. Much more.

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I can’t believe that I’m getting ready to cook Thanksgiving dinner already!

Where did this year go?

This will be my fifth year of cooking Thanksgiving and I think I have it down… kinda. I have favorites that continue to show up every year, but always try one new recipe a year.

Here is my menu:

- Bacon and carmelized onions on puff pastry appetizer and endive with figs, blue cheese and pecans

• CHOW’s bacon wrapped turkey with cider gravy This is insane–I made it last year and it is now the standard that all other birds are measured. I know bacon is the food trend of the moment and showing up everywhere from cookies to caramel but guess what–BACON NEVER GOES OUT OF STYLE!
• Butternut Squash Gratin with goat cheese: Not only is this dish insanely good, but easy to make ahead. And it includes hazelnuts. Who doesn’t love hazelnuts?
• Chestnut, bacon, dried apple and cornbread stuffing: This recipe is so tasty that even my husband, who hates dressing loves this dressing. And it’s a bit of a nod to my own family traditions of a cornbread stuffing. This year, I plan to make my own corn bread from scratch to kick it up a notch! I can’t wait!
• Mash potatoes: It’s my husband’s thing. But I’m making them according to this amazing video.
• Cranberry sauce: Once again—Mr. Sweetie is taking the reins on this one.
• Winter Greens with Stiitake mushrooms: This is the new recipe of the year. I love winter greens and mushrooms, so I’m sure it will be a success

Normally I farm out dessert, although I do love making a good apple pie.

And I really want to try this out: tiramisu dip. I know. Right?

What are you planning to serve?

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I am a huge Wes Anderson fan and found the best fan page of his! It’s called Rushmore Academy and it is worth spending a lunch hour perusing and falling into that delicious corduroy lined world of Wes Anderson and his movies that always make me smile.

Not only does the blog feature the latest news on Mr. Anderson, but also show pictures of his fans–like this great wedding which has touches of Anderson wonder about it and even people’s Halloween costumes based on Wes Anderson characters. I’m going to knit Georgia a Team Zissou hat tonight!

And hopefully, I’ll have a chance to see his newest movie,  The Fantastic Mr. Fox sometime soon too!

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Well!

Although it’s been awhile since I’ve officially zipped up the ole go-go boots, I’m still very much a Devil-Ette in my heart.

And I’m so excited to see my ole gal pals in horns hoof it up big time this weekend at the Go Go Spectacular!

If you live in the Bay Area, please think about shaking a tail feather with the Devil-Ettes this weekend. You’ll be happy you did!

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You get rocking stuff like THIS:

I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a big ole crush on Polish pottery for more than 10 years. Although it is rather spendy, I find a nice piece every now and then at TJ Maxx. The famous pottery pattern is so charming and lively that it shouldn’t surprise me that Hannah would find some nifty fashion inspiration in those beautiful bowls.

I am totally crushing on Hannah’s charming folkloric woodland creature creations.  Maybe you should be too!

Check out all of her fun creations on her site: Made with Love by Hannah!

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Over the past month, the Peach has become quite the explorer.  She actually explored herself right off our big tall bed one morning while I turned my back.

It was AWFUL.

In fact it was so awful that my little brain couldn’t take the image of her falling off the bed and instead whenever I remember that wretched moment, I see a  baby doll with molded plastic hair fall off the bed in the Peach’s place.

What a thoughtful brain I have!

But I loved our morning rituals of playing with the baby as I get ready in the morning before work. So, Mr. Sweetie brought this toy we just started using into the bedroom.

A lot of my friends have raved about the Baby Einstein playcenter, I must add my kudos to it as well.  And all of my friends have nicknamed this whirling dervish of baby fun.

One friend called it Mission Control. Very futuristic! Another friend called it “putting the baby in the office” which I loved too. But I call it the casino. What with all of its bells and lights and a very similar spinning toy that reminds me a slot machine that took $20 of my money, how could I not think of Vegas?

The Peach loves it. So, while I’m in the midst of my daily ablutions, Miss Peach is honing her skills at the baby blackjack table and I give a big sigh of relief knowing she’s safe and happy.

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Oh Sweetie, I’m so glad you are in my life.

I’m so glad I see so much of you in our little Peach.

Sorry I’m sniffly today, but Zachary’s pizza for a birthday treat isn’t too shabby!

xo,

- Wifey

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