foodyness

okay, this is a super huge post on all-things foody for the month of november. i will either make you really hungry or really not hungry (depending on how many thanksgiving dinners you've had since last thursday). proceed at your own stomach's risk.

but first, let's begin with my cookbook of the month choice. having considered all the beauitfully-bound tomes on my shelf, i decided to forsake those for a month and pursue the magazine that appeared brightly shining in my mail box. november's issue of real simple had like ten or more recipes that were answering my cravings for certain random foods, and i actually made all but one! wow, you really can't do better than that in a single month. every recipe was worthy of repeating, and i actually followed the recipes, refraining from making my own additions. i won't bore you with pictures of every recipe, but here are two of my favorites from the list:

cheese and herb ravioli with toasted walnuts and lemon butter sauce

pressed-crust pear tart

trudy and i made this together in her beautiful new kitchen

now for the feast. we had an extremely pleasant thanksgiving with our parents and granma mae. you'll get to see a bit of my parents' beautiful new house from these pictures. our Feast of Thanksgiving menu:

orange and apricot glazed cornish game hens

roasted garlic and sage sausage stuffing

garlic sauteed green beans

persimmon and pomegranate fruit salad

poppy seed fruit salad

orange cranberry sauce

swedish rye bread

swedish cardamom braids

gewurtztraminer and martinelli's

fresh pumpkin pie with real whipped cream

apple crisp

(note: since this day, i have begun to be greatly persecuted by my fathers for taking pictures of food. they will, therefore, laugh heartily once again when i say that i have great remorse in not getting a picture of the swedish cardamom braids trudy and i made last week. but you can see them gleefully stacked in the corner of the picture below, ready to bestow themselves on our thanksgiving table. and, i will faithfully continue to take pictures of food and endure the revilings of my kin. ;0) at least joe and i are of one mind here and we can be persecuted together. besides, he's the one who got me into this in the first place with all his artsy close-ups!)

my roasted garlic and sausage stuffing (from Bride and Groom's First and Forever Cookbook)

donovan suprised trudy with these personally designed labels. aren't they so cute?! so shabby-chic!

gorgeous table

joe's really getting going on the guitar lately and making great progress!

granma mae was with us, after just having come out of rehab for a broken femur! she's doing so great, and it was precious to have her with us.

pomegranate! isn't it gorgeous??

my sweet moms - i love you!


cornish gamehens. or gamish cornhens, as we like to call them. or camish gornhens. or gornish camhens.

mom's fall fruit salad: clementines, persimmons, ruby grapefruit, pomegranate, watercress. i loved it!

sauteed garlic green beans

mom handmade these name placecards

dad picked the wine

mom's other fruit salad, in case people didn't like the fall-ish one

joe ate a lot. and then he slept. :)

the Lord has bestowed on us every good thing, and so we bestow our table with every good thing and give thanks. we are Christ's, he has saved us, and made our cup to overflow. we love you, Lord Jesus.