Oh, I love Thanksgiving!
Even missing the two newlywed couples, it's just so nice to have everyone else home, cozily gathered in the den, a laptop for every lap. After all the intense family get-togethers this year — two weddings and a funeral — it's so nice to be low key.
Football with the monks, a little quilting (yes! I managed to sit down and sew! That's how relaxed I was! However, I also did not decorate for Thanksgiving at all. I got things cleaned up and I cooked. That's it!), turkey, napping, The Scarlet Pimpernel with Anthony Andrews (most enjoyable), and a rousing game of telephone pictionary.
Have you ever played that game? It's so fun, and all you need is pen and paper. The idea is that you start out with a statement of some kind, and the next person draws a picture of the statement, folding down the paper on the original statement.
The next person writes a caption for the drawing…folding down the paper over the picture. This continues until the last caption, which is then compared with the first.
At first everyone is fairly quiet and works hard, but at the end, it's so funny that it's hard to remain upright.
The Chief has been known to break down in tears of laughter!
In fact, Deirdre's fellow resident assistants at college call it “the game that made Deirdre's family almost throw up”!!
Ah, the dignity!
I didn't take any pictures of the dinner itself, but I have some random thoughts for you.
My pumpkin pie was made from sugar pumpkins from Berlin Orchards, which is a beautiful farm near us.
There is enough left over for another big pie.
I'm not always good about making my own stuffing, but this year I stockpiled enough stale homemade bread in the freezer to get the job done. Isn't it funny how, just before Thanksgiving, the grocery stores' aisles smell overwhelmingly of sage and onion? I find it hard to resist buying a couple packages, but mine came out wonderfully, sans MSG and HFCS.
My herb mix consisted of dried onion, salt, pepper, thyme, and plenty of dried sage from the garden. That's easy!
I'm ridiculously excited about the microwave I got to replace the old one, which started to give off that “I'm going to die soon, probably on Thanksgiving morning” smell…
This one lists for about $160 on Amazon…I found it on Craigslist for $25!
I just didn't like the old one's looks, although its price ($10 off of Ebay, local, so no shipping) was right. You can tell I hated it, because I'm careful never to take a picture with it in the background, so the only “before” I have to show you is this fuzzy one which Sukie took of herself. Sorry, Sukie. (Note it's also before the cabinets were painted!)
See? This one is so much better! Thanks, old one, for dying…
By the way, I have a plan about those bricks. See what you think. I'm not a fan of how dark and cold they are, but I don't want to paint them. For one thing, the mortar doesn't come out to the edge or even near…which means that there would be one heck of a lot of painting to get the job done. Think about it: five sides for each brick, plus the mortar deep down in there…
But I had the idea of re-mortaring it with whiter mortar, going right to the face of the brick and even a little on the brick, making it whiter overall. Would that work?
So, anyway, what do you think? Was four pies enough for eight people? Again, classy with the plastic wrap…
Pippajo says
AAHHH so MUCH to comment on! Where to begin???1. We will have to try telephone pictionary. Any game that leaves one completely out of control of oneself is one I want to try.2. Making a pie from an actual pumpkin (as opposed to from canned) is now my next goal. I made my own pie crust this year (have to say you inspired me and it was FABU!) so now I need even loftier goals.3. Stuffing. Sigh. Usually make my own but due to Operation Simplification I had to buy a bag of already dried bread cubes. The stuffing was dry. I like using my own cubes better.4. Congrats on the new microwave. I rarely use mine but I'm glad it's there when I need it (like for reheating dry stuffing for breakfast this morning)!5. We had five pies for nine people. We're bigger gluttons than you. And also, YES to plastic wrap!Glad you had a great Thanksgiving! I'm so glad you shared photos!
Leila says
Umm…Pippajo…hello? Bricks?
Sara says
I vote for the new, lighter mortar on the bricks! The messy mortar look seems to be in, so it could by a diy project.We had 3 pies for 8 people. One who ran a marathon, so she probably counts for two.
Sophie says
At our grandmother's house, everybody brought an extra pie because there were 38 people supposed to show up. Then 8 of them backed out at the last minute due to sickness. We wound up with 13 pies, two cakes, a carton of ice cream, and a pan of brownies, all for "only" 30 people!
Anonymous says
Coming out of lurkdom to say that I like the bricks the way they are, although I'd probably like the re-done mortar, too. But I definitely would not paint them. As I was reading I was thinking how much I loved the look of those bricks and that entire area *before* you started talking about re-doing it. lolwomanofthehouse
Leila says
womanofthehouse: Thanks! They look good from afar, I guess, but in real life they are somewhat dark and have a tendency to seem cold. My kitchen basically does not get sun in the fall and spring, due to its position :(So I have to do all I can to make it seem warm and bright. However, I won't paint them, although I'm not against painting brick in theory…I just don't want to go there!
Amber says
Can't wait to try telephone pictionary now. I think white mortar would be great. We had zero pies for 6 people, but we did have pumpkin cheesecake (Paula Dean's recipe) and I don't think I ever want to go back to plain pumpkin pie.
Stephanie says
Happy Thanksgiving (a day late)!Loved your post! I am so excited about baking and preparing for our dinner (on Sunday)! I have the ok to actually make my own stuffing this year – dh hates soggy bread so prefers stovetop. I have him convinced to let me try – we'll see – a first attempt – any good recipes???Also, I agree with the mortar on the bricks. It would brighten it up a little. Have fun! I didn't have time to sew yesterday, but am now in the mood as I have everything needed for Christmas products (due to a great sale today at Joann fabrics). Sew much to do! Can't wait. As for desserts – no pie – but pumpkin roll and cheesecake (the real cheesecake with 7 packages of cream cheese – oh my!). My dh requested that as well.Finally, telephone pictionary – fun! I can't wait to try it. We do something along the similar lines by each person writing a sentence and then folding it and passing it along. It is a hoot! I have laughed myself silly!Have a blessed weekend!
Pippajo says
Well, now, don't I feel foolish…Seriously, the prospect of what to do with the brick just overwhelmed me so much I think I just blocked it out of my memory. We're trying to choose brick…or stone…or tile…or ANYTHING–SHEESH–to go around the woodstove we're installing in the living room. I've had it with decisions involving brick.I'm sorry. I'm being selfish and you are in need. I guess I would prefer to paint it, but I AGREE that is an insane task. Lighter mortar just might do the trick.
Barb says
My vote is for the lighter colored mortar! Not too light since we're talking about an entire wall, I think. Are the cabinets also lighter in color? And, the stove is dark, too. I would just think of lightening the wall rather than painting it white or a light color. Subtlety, rather than wacking one over the head, as it were.We had only ourselves for Thanksgiving this year, though the kids kept complaining about the lack of company. My husband did ALL the cooking, even the pie, while I spent the afternoon sewing felt food and listening to CSN in my craft room with the kids.Yes, we used homegrown pumpkin for the pie and dh made his crust from Martha Stewart's Pie and Pastry book.Unfortunately we are heavy microwave users. With four little ones clamoring for breakfast in the morning, 30 seconds on high for a frozen flapjack is so much better than 2 minutes in the toaster oven. Ours is a microwave/convection oven combination which is great for extra dishes during entertaining.I love the Scarlet Pimpernel! Oh, my, I can still see Anthony Andrews playing the fop! Whatever happened to him?
Mrs. Pickles says
ohmigosh I love when my family plays that game too!! (except we call it "Line Picture Line" — your name is much better!) Yes, hysterics seems to be an essential part of the game — it's traditional that at least one player must be laughing so hard that they can't even read the page at the end.
Pippajo says
Oh, and one more thing:Sink me!
Carrien says
The first thing I thought when I saw the photos of that brick was something like, "I wonder if she loves it like that or if she would paint it."I also think that it may be very interesting to do a white wash on the surface of the bricks and leave the inside and mortar as is. IT could be a very neat effect.I will now have to initiate telephone pictionary at our next family dinner. That looks like a fun game.
Alice says
So, your mortar plan may have showed up in my dreams (after reading an article about scientific studies of dreams before bed last night, it seems my brain was primed to throw everything I had read at me!) I think it sounds great, and I envy your microwave. I have no microwave. Or toaster. And no counter space on which to put them. Oh, I can't wait to move…On Thanksgiving:We're going to our fourth Thanksiving this afternoon. The first was Canadian Thanksgiving, in October. The second was a fancy dinner with my parents on Thursday, at a restaurant we will no longer be patronizing because it is too loud for my father to hear the conversation. The third was a Friday night Thanksgiving-style dinner cooked by Tristan and I, with modifications for lack of time and space (crisp instead of pie; no creamed onions or stuffing, alas!). This fourth is a potluck of expat Grad Students watching the Grey Cup to try to pretend they are at home. I think I shall waddle my way into advent…
Leila says
The Chief can't hear in restaurants either…I always feel like Miss Bates: "PORK, Phil!"
Suki says
Alice:First, that's a lot of Thanksgiving-ing! I'm amazed. I just drove back to VA; when I dropped Jojo off, his roommates offered us leftover turkey. I just couldn't handle it anymore!Second, I don't have a microwave either. I mostly find it a problem when it comes to being efficient with leftovers…
50s Housewife says
I love the pictures of your kitchen! It looks pretty as is in the picture, but I can certainly understand wanting to lighten it up. In our previous house the kitchen was very dark and I ended up painting all the cabinets "country white" and painting the knobs and vent-a-hood red. I loved it!Telephone pictionary sounds like a game that we would like. We have been playing "apples to apples" this week and we have laughed and laughed.
Kari says
Leila,I say yes to morter, no to painting! I really don't like painted brick and your bricks to me look warm and cozy not dark and cold. Also, my parents just recently drywall-ed right over their brick above their fireplace (from the mantle up) so you could try that.I feel your pain with a dark kitchen. My kitchen gets no sunlight ever since it doesn't have a single solitary window in it (YICK!). I take that back…it gets sun for about 20 minutes in the evening on 2 days of the year, in the spring and fall as the sun is setting in our westish facing living room window which comes weakly through the doorway to the kitchen. Anything to bring a little sunshine in!!Kari
Sue says
I am inspired by your pumpkin pie! I cooked our decorative pumpkin, skinned it and pureed it. I now have five bags in just the right portion size waiting in the freezer. When I got out the cook book to make my pie for Thanksgiving I read that one should use a sweeter type of pumpkin, not the decorative kind, for pies. I totally chickened out, and pulled out the can. I am determined to do a practice run before Christmas, and see how it turns out.
Kimberlee says
It looks like you had a lovely Thanksgiving! I am de-lurking as well to say thanks for posting the picture game – it looks like grand fun. We play a game of writing Limericks by Committee – everyone writes the first line of a limerick and then passes it on to the next person to add a line, and so on. At the end someone reads all the limericks aloud and an astute judge declares the winner. So this looks right up our alley – can't wait to try it!