Happy Thanksgiving weekend to all my Canadian friends!
We had a lovely, quiet family weekend.
For the first time, I made an entire traditional Thanksgiving feast all on my own. I had a few tense moments--such as the one where I was already running late and discovered the turkey was still frozen after thawing in the fridge for two days. Or, the moment where I found the apple pie wouldn't fit into the oven at the same time as the roasting pan! But I managed to bring it all together in time. And although the gravy was too bland, it was a pretty good meal, if I may say so myself.
Also for the first time, we used the good china I inherited from my grandmother. Kira made some cute placecards for us--each had a picture on it of something we liked. Mine of course, was a picture of a book!
Amy was just not content in her highchair--she wanted to sit at the table with all of us. She often feels that way, now. She was happy to sit on my lap and taste the squash and potatoes right from my plate.
We also let her taste a bit of the apple pie and whipped cream I made for dessert--and I was pleased to see she loved it!
Please ignore the random counter debris in that picture!
Today we went on a walk to the park to collect some bits to make a nature table--or rather, a nature corner, because I don't have an entire table I could use. It's small and humble, but I like it.
The mini Indian corn, of course we did not find at the park. :)
And I baked the remains of the squash I cooked for supper yesterday. Look how much was still left! It was a squash my parents gave me, and honestly it must have been the biggest butternut squash I'd ever seen in my life.
The squash I baked today will go towards "pumpkin" pie and "pumpkin" bars, the latter of which is an autumn favourite around here.
It felt nice to have a quiet, lazy day today. Tomorrow is back to business. I will have laundry to catch up on, shop business to do, floors to clean, bread to bake, school work to give...but technically this evening is still the long weekend, so after I set the dishwasher going I think I'm going to sit down and cuddle with the ones I love. I've been trying lately to let loose a little more often--it's not something I'm naturally good at. :)
Happy Thanksgiving, Laura! Your meal sounds wonderful. I totally love the place cards, and that amazing smile on your sweet babe's face.
Posted by: Lindsay | October 10, 2011 at 09:18 PM
Happy Thanksgiving from another Canuck in B.C. I love this time of year and all the bounty it brings.
xo Jules
Posted by: a little crafty nest | October 11, 2011 at 12:56 AM
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving from the prairies too! And congrats on pulling your meal together. The place cards are too cute!
Lovin those big acorns for your nature table!
Posted by: Leah | October 11, 2011 at 01:08 PM
The oak trees in the park across from us are loaded with acorns, but the squirrels always beat us to them. We found hundreds of acorn caps, but only those three whole acorns--and they had been nibbled. :)
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 11, 2011 at 03:31 PM
Looks wonderful Laura. What kind of squash is it?
Thanks for sharing.
Warm wishes, Tonya
Posted by: Plain and Joyful Living | October 11, 2011 at 05:10 PM
It was butternut squash, Tonya. :)
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 11, 2011 at 06:12 PM
Oh, your apple pie looks lovely! It looks so authentic to me. What kind of recipe do you use? I am so happy apple pie season has started and would love to try out a new variation :).
Posted by: Marijke - Petite Daphne | October 12, 2011 at 03:53 AM
Hi Marijke,
I make a standard lard pie crust (which I think I outlined last year if you do a search), and for the filling I used 5 cups of sliced Paula Red apples, a squeeze of lemon juice, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/4 tsp cinammon, and I think about 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornstarch. I don't know how long I baked it, but it was at 350 F. :)
Posted by: Laura Jeanne | October 12, 2011 at 08:30 AM
What luck! I noticed that Rhythm of the Home has a cute little craft this season that uses just the acorn caps:
http://rhythmofthehome.com/2011/08/wool-acorn-necklaces/
Posted by: Leah | October 12, 2011 at 10:48 AM
Thanks! This cornstarch will probably do the trick for me.. To get it so sauce-like as I can get a peek of on yours.. I recently add some clove, that's lovely to. I never tried a lard crust, I always just use butter. And then my crust doesn't really work. So I'll give this a try!
Posted by: Marijke - Petite Daphne | October 13, 2011 at 05:31 PM