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...

Cuteness overload alert!

I'm the mama so I'm allowed to say that they're the cutest I've ever seen. :) 

Most adorable lady bug outfit. 

Manta being so sweet. 

 

Those are the cutest "shoes" ever. And the cutest leg rolls.

 

And this is the sweeeeeeeetest bear who ever lived. 

 

Awwwwww...!

I'm a MOM!

Well, technically I'm an Äiti (which is mother in Finnish) but that is why I haven't been around to blog! Newborns are work! ;)

But I never have I ever been rendered as speechless and unable to express myself as I am now. This little one has just taken my breath away and turned my brain to mush. :D Parenthood! ;)

Elisabeth Louise was born June 9th at 1.14 a.m. and weighed a teeny weeny 3085g.

The last picture was from my 25th birthday just 3 days after bringing her home. I assure you, the bags under my eyes have almost gone away. She's an incredibly peaceful baby (and every time I say it I must knock on wood, lol!). We are just so blessed! :)

I have more pictures to share from my birthday, midsummer as well as a garden update (!) but I'm running out of time so it will have to wait! 

Until next time! :)

♥ Home again ♥

 MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We are finally home again and boy, does it feel it good!! 

I loved our three weeks in Florida and we got to do and see and eat a lot of good stuff in addition to much wanted family time... but home is home. Ain't no getting around it. :)

So basically I've slept almost the entire day... not really jet lag per say, just happy to be in my own bed and enjoying cuddling with my big Koda bear and sleeping off three weeks of being on the go. 

I guess now that I've come clean to all my friends and family, I can post it here as well... 

This family is growing by one little girl as of June!! :)

.........so not sure if that explains why I was a HORRIBLE blogger last fall... talk about all day every day  "morning" sickness!!! Luckily that went away just in time for our trip and I was able to enjoy the time there to the fullest! :)

We had such an eventful trip (mainly shopping, lol!) but here are some highlights. 

Honestly, I didn't take many pictures. What can I say, I've seen it all a million times before so not much there seems special to me. Therefore, I passed on plenty of touristy shots. :D 

We celebrated Christmas Eve in South Florida Finnish style at my sister's with her family and my brother and his family. :)

Before the evening's festivities, hubby and I got up early and went to the beach to watch the sunrise. 

 

We celebrated Christmas morning in Northern Florida with my in-law's. It was our Baby Nephew's first Christmas and everyone outdid themselves with the presents! I think we all got pretty spoiled! :D 

After Christmas hubby headed for a mini trip to Maine to see relatives and I met my sister in Upstate New York to see my godmother. Here are a couple snapshots from where we stayed as well as the granny square blanket completed!!!

This picture doesn't do the colors and justice, but as you can see, it was a gray day. She loved the blanket as well and I think as a sometime crocheter, she understood what I meant when I said I crocheted it with her in mind and love and well wishes put into every stitch. 

 

After our respective trips, we continued spending time with my in-laws in Orlando.

I took lots of pictures of my nephews, including the furry one, Harley. :)

And I was amazed by this crazy huge flock of birds at my mother-in-law's house. They were some kind of little bird and there were soooo many of them swooping around in a cloud! Here they just look like little black specks, go figure. :D

And that's it. All the photos I took that weren't people pictures. I guess it was just one of those vacations. Like I said, it's hard to take pictures of things that are so ordinary to you. Especially when Florida is not a naturally beautiful state (besides the beach of course!). 

Ah, so back to daily life. 

I've graduated. Should probably get a job. Ick! ;)

I'm pregnant. Should probably start crocheting some girly stuff! (YAYYY!)

And I'm home... which means things are as they should be. :)

Hope your new year is off to a great start and only good things are to come!!

I think 2013 has a lot of good in store for me!! :)

It runs in the family...

The love of yarn runs deep in this family...

I've spent the day at my parent's house enjoying the company of my mom and aunt. My aunt is an avid knitter and has helped me build my yarn stash quite generously since I started crocheting in 2010. 

(WOW! Has it really been two years already?!) 

Her favorite thing to knit is socks. And believe you me, this woman is a sock knitting MACHINE! 

She knits a lot for different local charities for all ages and reasons. 

These are the socks she's worked on/finished while at my parent's house this week. 

Amazing, eh? :)

These are little girl socks. Cute!! 

I spent my time crocheting a few squares, helping my mom remember how to work pinterest (lol), and making and early dinner (roasted chicken with roasted sweet potato chunks and brussels sprouts). 

Hello weekend!!

...oh and guess what...

I RETURNED MY THESIS!! 

☺☺☺

hope your weekend's off to as good of a start as mine! ;)