An arrangement of amaranth and pin oak leaves held in a Paris Porcelain confiturier adds an autumnal note to the drawing room
Photo: Chronica Domus
My favorite holiday is upon us once again, Thanksgiving. I just adore the concept of setting aside a day each year to count one's blessings and revel in the companionship of friends and family over a feast of tasty home-cooked fare and flowing libations. As a Brit now living in California, I've wholeheartedly embraced this very American of holidays and wish that all nations would dedicate such a day of thanks and reflection. It really is rather grounding.
Last year, we did not get an opportunity to host our annual Thanksgiving dinner, which we share with our closest friends and family. We jokingly refer to this as our 'Annual Thanksgiving Dinner Party for Waifs and Strays'. This year, we are back in the saddle and raring to go.
I finally found the perfect receptacle to hold the homemade port and fig cranberry sauce, a nineteenth century Anglo-Irish cut glass sauce tureen
Photo: Chronica Domus
Shortly, my husband will be placing the brined turkey into a hot oven. I'll be filling my recently acquired old sauce tureen with the delectable port and fig cranberry sauce I wrote about last year, and fussing over the other small details of the table before our guests arrive.
Two arrangements of hypericum berries, pin oak leaves, and persimmons still attached to their boughs decorate the Thanksgiving table this year
Photo: Chronica Domus
I wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving holiday wherever you might find yourselves today. I have much for which to be thankful, and hope you do too. Now, I'd better get my
Happy Thanksgiving dear readers.
Dear CD,
ReplyDeleteThis seems like an appropriate time to say thank you for sharing your musings. It's always a pleasure to visit your blog.
Wishing you, your family, waifs and strays a Very Happy Thanksgiving.
Spud.
Dearest Spud,
DeleteThank you so much for you kind comment. It pleases me to know you have continued to enjoy my amateurish scribblings.
We very much enjoyed our Thanksgiving yesterday but I now need to work off all the calories I injested so a very long walk is in order.
CD
Hello CD, Your sparkling cut-crystal and gleaming silver will add a lot to your traditional Thanksgiving table. Your waifs and strays are luckier than they could have guessed. This year in Taiwan I had no special plans; Thanksgiving was quiet, although I was lucky enough to have houseguests earlier in the week.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim,
DeleteA very happy (late) Thanksgiving to you. It must be more difficult to celebrate such an American holiday in Taiwan but glad to read you at least had some houseguests to indulge in their company earlier this week.
We had an excellent time but I'm paying for it today as I'm still feeling rather (uncomfortably) full.
What a lovely glimpse of your hospitality! Just the first picture would have been enough---I simply looked my eyes full of that graceful symmetrical display, with amaranth, oh, my. That always sounds to me as the most elegant talisman or nostrum---can't ever decide which. And I don't think I've ever known anyone with an actual confiturier---what a gleaming, welcoming sight, even without the glorious dinner.
ReplyDeleteOurs will come tomorrow, when all the had-to-work and other-commitments folks gather with us for the turkey and dressing, thankfulness and fun.
I wish you a continuingly-festive weekend at the beginning of this wonderful season.
r
Hello racheld,
DeleteI love using amaranth to decorate the house at this time of year as the color lends itself perfectly to autumnal floral arrangements. As for the confiturier, I'm fortunate to have another (all white Paris Porcelain). Unlike the one in my photograph, the white one's lid is intact and we like to use it for its intended purpose, to old our homemade marmalade.
I wish you and your family all the very best for a wonderful post-Thanksgiving gathering today. I'm sure you'll all have a swell time.
Oh this is all so beautiful. I too would like to thank you for your inspiring aesthetic and generous spirit. xox.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Lisa. Such kind words. I hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving as much as we did ours.
DeleteI made again this year the cranberry sauce you recommended and it was yet again a HIT; now known as "Stefan's sauce" and I'm afraid I'm stuck making it for the new few years! Luckily it could not be easier.
ReplyDeleteHello AD,
DeleteThank you for letting me know that "Stefan's Sauce" is now a staple at your Thanksgiving table. There's no turning back once you've tasted it is there? Other cranberry sauce recipes pale in comparison. I caught my daughter lathering up her toast with it on Friday and asked her what she was doing. "Mum, it tastes like jam so why not?". Can't argue with that!
To Clarify the transition between "rich Thanksgiving fare" and the burgers last night: Our idea of a burger like that is a gently-charcoal-grilled 95% lean patty on a toasted bun with a slather of tangy mustard (ketchup for him). A whole thinly-sliced sweet onion, with some on the burger, and the other pile of crispy shards divided between our plates, to munch along like chips. A salad of sorts, sorta.
ReplyDeleteThe RICH was all in the memories.
r
I love the minimal discipline with which you set a lovely and crisp table. The beauty of the objects really sing. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, too.
ReplyDeleteHello Stephen Andrew,
DeleteThank you so much for your kind comment. Although the table decorations were sparse, I can assure you the variety and quantity of food was not. Our guests happily rolled out the front door around midnight, satiated and lubricated to the gills.
No doubt, your Thanksgiving preparations and celebration was a force to be reckoned with.