Thanksgiving 2013

OK, so I have some catching up to do... 

Thanksgiving was SUPERB. I must say, I blew my own socks off with how good the food was!!

I had roasted and pureed and frozen a pumpkin earlier this fall from our garden bust since I was making two pumpkin desserts, I knew I had to get more pumpkin. Since they don't sell convenient canned pumpkin here... the process is always the same. This time I used a "red kuri squash" or "Hokkaido pumpkin" as they call it in Finnish.

It was the most vibrant orange that I had to take pictures. 

I saved some seeds in case we can grow some of our own...

The table was festive. Thanks to my sister for lending her tablecloth! 

 

Green bean casserole. The mushroom sauce was delicious and the crispy onion topping even more so!

The recipe can be found here from smitten kitchen

 

Whole turkeys here cost more than anyone was willing to spend so I opted for a turkey roulade (recipe here from the cozy apron.

I was unpleasantly surprised at the grocery store when the turkey filet section was cleared out. So we went with good ol' chicken breast. I think because I wasn't able to buy skin on breasts, the chicken was a little dry. I could have and should have not had them in the oven for the full time. But hey, hubby and I didn't care as we prefer dry chicken. I know, weird. 

Anywho, the recipe made a really delicious main course and I would eat this and make it a 100x again.

(Didn't hubby do a good job of rolling those up?)

 

This got a little torched in the hub-bub of the last 30 minutes. But this is a sweet potato sage butter casserole. My sister and her husband went nuts for this and it's the one casserole I made two of because I knew it'd be popular. We love our starchy carbs in this family. 

Martha's recipe here. 

By the time everything was ready, we all charged at it ravenously so I forgot the picture of the stuffing but you can see it in the corner on the left of the plate there. And the cranberry sauce was orange scented and super yummy and fruity. I used frozen lingonberries since they were cheaper than cranberries and it turned out just fine. I also reduced the sugar somewhat. 

Martha's orange cranberry sauce here.

Martha's cornbread stuffing here

(I omitted the chestnuts and instead of baking a cornbread, I bought a nice loaf of gluten-free bread)

Dessert was the traditional pumpkin pie. My nephew has said many times that it's his favorite so I took it seriously. I don't think I mentioned it before in this post, but everything you've seen has been gluten-free because of my dad's celiac disease. 

Hence the pie crust looking so dark. I didn't burn it! It is made with half buckwheat flour and half gluten free flour mix. Gluten free pastry doughs have been my downfall many a time baking for my dad, so I was pleased to make a half way decent one! 

Finns can see the recipe I used here at pirkka.

It's tough to find a recipe without evaporated milk and canned pumpkin! (things we don't have here)

 

The grown-up dessert was a pumpkin creme brulee. I'm really into them right now since I splurged on a set of ramekins and a brulee torch a couple months ago. 

These were a SUCCESS and we all practically licked the ramekins clean. 

Recipe here at love and olive oil

All of these recipes and the ideas for the pie and table setting can be found here on my thankgiving pinterest board. 

 

And because no post is complete without a flower picture, here is my amaryllis that was in perfect bloom for the occasion. It's already wilted now. But it was glorious while it lasted!!!

 

Ah, now on to Christmas feast plans...

Fall flowers,crochet, and the cutest baby alive!

A friend brought by a pretty bouquet that I added some red roses to. It lasted for about a week and made me smile every time I looked that way. :)

I've been crocheting a lot lately. Some things are gifts so they will have to wait till after Christmas. ;)

This is what Elisabeth will be wearing in her Christmas photos.

Pattern here: http://www.bustingstitches.com/2012/11/santas-little-elf-hat.html

A bonnet for my first ever niece's newborn photos (if it fits!). It looked pretty small though ;)

Pattern here: http://crochetlatte.com/2012/07/06/apricot-baby-bonnet-free-pattern/

 

Turkey leg hat for my friend's son's first Thanksgiving! Hope it gets to him on time through the mail! :) (He was born yesterday!!) :) :) :)

Turkey leg pattern here: http://www.nyanpon.com/2012/11/tiny-turkey-leg.html

 

And a fall door hanging (or potholder) using this pattern for the mushroom. First time I've ever understood a diagram!!

Pattern: http://extras.ex.funpic.de/Fliegenpilz%20Kristina%20Lehne.pdf

For that little niece, I also made a mermaid tail and headband for the newborn photos. I hope this fits as well!!

 (Thanks De!) :)

 

I've also taken up knitting as well... Yeah, I know. I can't believe it myself.

Have I mentioned it on the blog before? If I have, sorry for the repetition. I can barely remember my name these days. :D 

Finnish mittens pattern here: http://www.yhteishyva.fi/viihde-ja-vapaa-aika/neuleohjeet-ja-askartelu/neulotut-lapaset--kolme-perusohjetta/0218010-208740

How's Elisabeth I hear you possibly ask? ;)

She's a ridiculous 5 months old (!) and I'm still in shock that I had a kid to begin with some days. Time is flying! 

She's so busy and interested in everything. She's really calm. And has a great sense of humor. She is sitting pretty well now. And is teething! 

My muffin!

These little long hairs crack me up. The rest of her head is a light reddish blond and pretty much just fuzz. 

 

I know I'm biased but she's still the most beautiful baby ever. :)

 

Christmas card outtake ;) 

Love it!

Well, that's it for me. Again.

See ya around!!

Happy Halloween!

It's my little muffin's first halloween. Oddly enough, she is not going as a muffin.

We aren't actually going anywhere or celebrating in any way. Just thought it was important to capture the day in some way for her! 

Her BFF didn't think it was so funny!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Ponderings

Oh me oh my.

It seems this fall, I'm in a funk.

It's not a bad funk, I am actually quite happy... but I just can't seem to get anything done.

So very tired!!

Honestly, I'm looking forward to our trip to the States SO much that I am just counting down the days (41, if you were wondering). :)

I know why I am looking forward to our trip... can't wait to see special people, do special things, eat special foods etc etc. 

So, I am hoping time will pass quickly but painlessly. I can't wait for November to be over! (a sad thing to say on only the 3rd!) :D

It's stressful graduating and having to take care of all these final things and tests and such. Let alone, find a job!! We're gonna be fudged come January if things don't work out... and for some reason, I just can't find the energy or enthusiasm for job hunting. I suppose going to school for "the wrong degree" might have some effect on my mood. :P

Coulda, shoulda, woulda. 

Consequences are what they are... I just hope it all works out in the end.

So now that I have vented my frustrations and worries, I can focus on more "fun" things. :)

Like cleaning the house! Brushing the poor knotted mess of a dog! Cleaning the fish tank! Doing the dishes!

AHAHAHHAHAH!!!

It's a miracle I got out of bed before noon. ;)

I don't want to make this a pictureless post, so these are some pictures from last Sunday. I did a two year photo shoot of my friend's daughter and took some sweet family pictures of them too. :)

We went to the arboretum... which was still then covered in snow. Fortunately (?) the snow has since melted.

 I totally can relate to these roses covered in snow.

Thanks for stopping by, despite my glum mood. 

:)

Hope your weekend is a happy one!!

 

Possibly the last garden post

Funny thing happened...

My wisdom teeth appointment WASN'T today after all.

It was tomorrow. 

Tomorrow I have a big test... so I had to reschedule until NOV 6th!!!

Woohoo dodged that bullet!

Makes me wonder if I should just leave the little buggers in. ;)

So instead of being tortured, we went to the garden and took a looksies. 

My camera battery died (!) mid-visit so here's a picture of my dad planting tulips for spring and a picture of the lone sunflower. There was a bud next to it, but it's gotten colder out so who knows if it will make it.

We also walked away with the second large pumpkin. A few SMALL zucchinis and one larger one, a posy of snapdragons and a couple of roses. 

We just have to go with better time one sunny day and clean the place up a bit and build the compost properly. 

Can't believe another summer came and went.

I wish I'd have had more time, although what would it have mattered with all the rain? 

Hopefully we get a good summer next year!!

fun with friends

"Every woman should own a blowtorch" in the wise words of Julia Child. The authenticity of that quote can't be backed, as I believe I picked it up from pinterest, but it's funny anyway.

My friend's mom has a blowtorch. And she made creme brulee for my friend's birthday dinner party. SWEET!

Orange flavored. YUM!

Earlier that day, we took a morning walk in brisk fall sunshine. 

Koda bear insisted on getting in the water... cold!!

 He paddled around for a few minutes and tried looking for a stick but only found a little twig. Weirdo dog. :)

I'm in denial that the weekend is almost over. 

So not looking forward to getting my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow, a retake exam on Tuesday... 

Hopefully the rest of the week will be better! 

...and the rain could stop? 

:D 

Have a nice week!

Crochet, crochet

Ah, a crochet post. Again.

How refreshing after all this time posting about everything but. :)

I've had a crochet weekend.

I've come to find that I always get really excited and inspired to crochet in the fall. I suppose it's the cool weather combined with the rain. Nothing better than sitting back and enjoying some color therapy via yarn. 

I picked up some Novita Puro (my favoritest yarn ever!) yarn on Friday from the clearance section. I guess the color "aallokko" (=waves) is going out of production. 

Needless to say I snatched up two 50g skeins...

And then decided after my fall foliage post that I need fingerless mittens for photography purposes.

Voila!

 Pattern loosely followed from here. 

Then I decided that it's probably wise to sew the ends in for my godmother's blanket. I hate sewing in ends. I know most crocheters do, but ugh. 

I figured I'd better sew them in before I crochet another round of 12 squares.

 

I've also been a bit stumped by how I should arrange the squares. I've laid them out many times but have come to the conclusion of doing dark-light-dark patterns. It's just so hard to envision the final product without the white borders, I guess.

(yarn shopping, yay!)

Then I started another baby blanket. I seem to have more and more friends with buns in the oven. I'm loving it! :) 

 This is using the leftovers and the most boyish colors I had in my stash of the softest merino wool (Viking baby ull... or something like that).

 I'm going to make a big granny square because... I'm obsessed with granny squares. STILL.

While looking for the yarns above, I did inventory on my rainbow granny baby blanket. I have 40 squares already! Holy moly! 

I started making this blanket for whatever offspring bless us one day... but the more I look at it, I think my other prego friend would love it just as much as I do.

And hey, I can make myself another. ;)

Laying this one out and deciding on a pattern is a challenge too. I rather like this diagonal pattern.

 I should add the final row of gray and sew them together. Looks like I'm missing just a few more squares till it's complete!

♥ Colors ♥ Yarn ♥ Crochet ♥

Today, I'm trying to focus on my thesis. 

This is the fuel, along with coffee.

I'm almost out of fuel. :(

(--> ending up here!)

Hope your Monday is off to a good start. :)

Don't forget to check out my other blog 

www.projectliveandbreatheit.blogspot.com

It's hard keeping up with two blogs!!