Sorry for being off the grid for so long! I came off a long stretch of night shifts and haven't been feeling well since. Nothing that some sleep & soup couldn't fix!
As I have mentioned (most certainly more than once) we are hosting Thanksgiving celebrations this year and I am super excited about it! In the two years we have been married we have entertained a fair amount, however this will be the first time in our new place as well as hosting this many people. The easiest part to the planning was the menu, Oliver makes slow roasted game hens with a homemade brine which is pretty much perfection! We are really stepping up our game here, we usually roast two to four hens at any given time but when you're hosting twelve you can easily triple that number, fingers crossed for no top chef like disasters! For sides we are sticking to family staples- maple glazed carrots, roasted potatoes, bacon sauteed brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings, and cinnamon butternut squash. It is no secret Oliver is the chef in our house, I however have become quite the sous chef and have been gaining some serious independence taking the lead on cooking a few meals thanks to a great (and super cute) teacher! For a signature cocktail I am sure you can guess, we are doing a champagne cocktail for a little something extra I am adding a gold sugar rim- the taste testing has been amazing :)
When it comes to the sweet endings to a dinner party I'm your gal! I am pretty positive I have a refined palette for desserts merely due to exposure! I look forward to the finale of every meal, and never skimp when we entertain. If you saw my previous post regarding the most amazing Pecan Pie ever, you should definitely consider adding this to your Thanksgiving menu- I promise your guests will be talking about it for a lifetime! Of course the Pecan Pie was an easy choice and no Thanksgiving is complete without the fruit of the season baked into gooey goodness also known as Apple Pie! I am also toying with the idea of some bite sized desserts- caramel apples, pumpkin whoopie pies, or salted caramels. I plan to trial some recipes and share with you all over the next few weeks so keep an eye out for those posts :)
Something I love even more than menu planning is decorating & a good theme! When planning a theme I usually plan it around one piece or idea. For example, our wedding color scheme & style was built on a pair of shoes- royal blue Manolo Blahniks with a vintage style crystal statement piece on the toe. It embodied a classic, vintage style with a flair- precisely what we had envisioned for the day.
So it will come as no surprise when my Thanksgiving vision was based upon a set of silver my Mom had recently given to me. It was a gift to my Grandparents at their 25th wedding anniversary, which they never used and chose to save for their Daughters. My Mother however never used it and gave it to me just recently. This silver is making its debut on our table on November 27th after forty years of being in my family & we could not be more excited! I am planning to use the silver as the accent metal to my gold & creme theme! How gorgeous is this place setting, no doubt the person who gifted it to them had impeccable taste!
In my search for the perfectly balanced tablescape I have been collecting a few pieces over time. I am super excited to share those with you this week so make sure to keep an eye out for that post as well! I am still deciding between edible & nature themed place cards.
What is your perfect Thanksgiving theme?
