Turkey Day

So because of some holiday changes. (My Dad and Brother are spending Thanksgiving in Detroit.) I am getting my very first chance to have our families over and cook Thanksgiving dinner. Well Eric's family and my Mom. I am so excited. I even Martha'd it up and made an invitation even though everyone who is coming already knows. I couldn't resist. Recipes have been checked and thought over. My Real Simple holiday issue is dog eared but I have a list of everything I want to make. 
The most important hurdle I am jumping is a turkey. I have never made one before. I have roasted plenty of chickens though. I found a recipe on Epicurious though that I tried out this week with a roasted chicken. It came out pretty good. the recipe is also from Tom Colicchio. How could it be bad. Here's the recipe for the curious.

 

It's a little bit different then the usual turkeys I've had for Thanksgiving but I think our families will like the change. Eric's dad is always playing around with new ideas and recipes for thanksgiving. He's a great cook.

Our menu for the holiday is fairly simple but with a few tweaks. This is Eric and I's first thanksgiving  so I wanted to bring some of the favorite foods from our parent's thanksgivings to our own with a few changes. Eric's Mom's sweet potato souffle is amazing and my Mom makes terrific pumpkin pies. 

I'm making some roasted vegetables, a broccoli casserole, cheesecake, raspberry gelato or chocolate I'm not sure yet. 

I can't wait for this Thanksgiving and to have our family together and give our mother's a break in the kitchen. I just hope I don't make a dry turkey. :)

Happy Paczki Day

So almost 100 years ago my great grandma came here from Poland. She eventually made it up to Detroit, where a lot of my family still live and a lot of Polish immigrants made it around the same time. So even though it is also Mardi Gras down in New Orleans. For some of my family it is also Paczki Day. Below is an article for some clarification on what a Paczki is. So I'm going to go seek out a jelly doughnut and celebrate.


Article from: Six Degrees of Inspiration as well as the photograph.
"Paczki are traditional Polish doughnuts. Pączki is the plural form of the word pączek in Polish, but Michiganians use paczki as singular and paczkis as plural.

A paczki is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with jam or other sweet filling. A traditional filling is marmalade made from fried rose buds. Fresh paczki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of fried orange zest.
So, basically, they’re jelly filled doughnuts, though there are literally tons of flavors nowadays. "

Valentine's Day

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is our 7th Valentine's Day together and our first being married.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day. 

*Eric once Gave me the card pictured above for Valentine's day. I laughed so hard. That episode of the Simpson's is one of my favorites.

Happy Dad's Day!

This is an image I found of a bride getting ready to walk down the aisle at my Chapel. Dad, I love you and I can't wait for us to make this same walk. You're the best! Happy Father's Day.

Happy Valentine's day

Source

Happy Valentine's Day. I'm not a huge fan of this holiday but I always look forward to hanging out with my sweetie. This Saturday we are going to stay inside, after a trip to Whole Foods, cook dinner, drink some wine, and enjoy each others company. It's our last Valentine's day before our wedding so we want to keep it low key and special. During the week we are usually so busy with work/school/in-transit we don't get to spend proper time together. I'm hungry now so I wonder what will inspire us at Whole Foods today.