I'm so thankful for all my GW friends who gave me such great support during this tough year. It means more than I can put into words.

While waiting for my Honeyed Walnut Tart to cool so I can wrap it up for the evening, I snapped a few Kitchen At Work (KAW) pics.

I recovered my antique oak DR chairs after getting them back from my Dad's estate. He had bought two for me about 23 years ago along with a small antique studio table when I went off to the university, then he collected a few more for me over the next few years. I gave the chairs to him several years ago as we had planned on buying some slightly larger that matched. We never did so my Dad's widow gave these chairs back to me this summer. I finally had them re-glued along with a couple of other minor fixes.

(Mama Sophie seriously trying to get my attention.)

The walnut tart dessert along with a Stilton Tart, which will be served its cranberry chutney as an appetizer.

Experimenting with a small centerpiece.

What are y'all fixing and eating today? Pics? For what are you thankful this year? I'll put the same rule out there as I do at home on Thanksgiving--you cannot use the generic word "family". :)

Ours is not so fancy.......turkey, dressing , mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, broccolli, sweet potatoes. Our table grew from 4 to 9 when DH invited the neighbor family! They are bringing dessert.

I am thankful for those very neighbors, for a beautiful spot on the earth to live, and the opportunity to cook in a kitchen that works, and all the lovely GW family!!

Nancy

I lucked out - only have to bring salad today and mashed potatoes tomorrow, nothing really picture worthy. ;) MIL makes a mean sausage mushroom stuffing and that is what I am looking forward to. On my side I love my Mom's (grandma's recipe) cranberry relish which I will be enjoying tomorrow. Delish!

Well since you knocked out the generic family...I am thankful for my health and the general good health of my family, that we are able to live fully. Thankful for the blessings that we see each day in the seasons that change (we get all 4 of them in my parts). Thankful for my dog that keeps me company on my early morning walks and jogs - she is a great accountability partner. Thankful for my friends and my church family as well.

I'm thankful for our jobs, the meat CSA I found recently, and our pets! Also thankful that Sandy did not hit my area much at all - but thinking of the people who lost their homes or even neighborhoods due to her.

why I love my Frigidaire Twins --SO much room !

bagels boiling :

Yum !!

More later :)

Thank you Breezy and may everyone have a wonderful day and be as thankful as I am for my family and home and life that I lead. c

I'm using the probe in my Miele oven today to roast the turkey. I've also been giving the steamer a workout. I love using it to steam veggies before putting them in the oven to roast them.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my GW friends!

Bee

my chairs are like yours

thank you a2!! I hope all of you are having a wonderful day. I am snapping pics as I go about my prep. We don't eat till evening so nothing much going on till later. Had lunch by the pool...lovely out here. c

Here is the table, DH making salad, and little kitty waiting patiently for his turkey. He is 15, and he loves turkey. We are so thrilled he is with us for another year.

Ironically, our chairs are referred to as the Heywood-Wakefield "dogbone" chairs.

I made a slide show..too many pics :) DD was my main helper. DH made the dinner rolls and stir fried the brussel sprouts. He also washed ALL the dishes..such as they were. We clean as we go so only the plates and serving dishes. DD put up the leftovers. I hope everyone had a great day.

one teaser pic !

The dinner has been eaten, the kitchen is cleaned and everything put away. Just waiting for the apple pie to cool.
Hopefully, this time next year I will be cooking in my new kitchen. Looking so forward to that !

You guys!! I can't believe everyone has the same chairs!! that is amazing !!!

And all those beautiful felines...oh my, so adorable!!

Blessings to everyone once again from Orange County, Ca.
Where are y'all?

From Montana today:

Note the steam rising from the pie vents! I also did some canning today with late-season produce from the greenhouse.

In keeping with the cats-in-chairs theme, I will contribute this photo from Thanksgiving a few years ago. It was too cold to spend much time outside, so we set them up for a happy view.

Lastly, a cat photo from today:

It was a sunny day and the cats spent the day lounging in the greenhouse.

I hope everyone enjoyed something special today!

Here is the the turkey that was convection roasted using the built in probe in my GE Profile. Didn't baste it once. And look house nice and golden brown it is.

This one was cooked on the weber grill using indirect method.

My Advantium worked great for making vegetariam lasagna. My slow cooker was used for garlic mashed potatoes (cooked red potatoes with garlic in there on high for 4-1/2 hours without adding any water. Mashed them up and added some cream cheese with chives) turned out great.

The best part of the day and the thing I am thankful for is my DD and her husband announcing that my DH and I will be first time grandparents in June.

Blessings to all !!

Congratulations Badgergal ! Our 1st and only grandson was 1 yr old on Nov 1 so this time last year we were up there for Thanksgiving. We are home here in AL this year. Wonderful thread and look forward to more pics. c

P.S. Congrats badgergal!

Can't wait to check out Trails slide show.

Badger- congratulations on a successful first tday and on your news!

Karin- great pie and garden!

Breezy- way to recover

GScience, trail, bee and others- thanks for sharing.

From iPhone with usual cryptic text errors!

OldBat - Even if you only got one photo, it's a beautiful one with the pie bathed in sunlight. I am envious of how smooth and even your pie crusts are. Mine get all ragged at the edges when I roll it out. Maybe I need a marble countertop? ;)

The photos are great - keep them coming please!

Now I am off to have some pie for breakfast....

Wow, Badger, two 20-lb turkeys! How did you do the turkey on the Weber grill? Do you use gas or kettle/charcoal? Does it have to be partially cooked indoors first?

Back from Black Friday shopping. I debated about going, but I got to the mall about 7 a.m. and it was empty! It was picking up when I left after 10:30. The one salesperson said people were there at midnight.

badger...my Dad and DB did indirect on the grill starting in the 60's. We had a thorough bred horse farm in Covington LA and they used to use the grill to do legs of lamb...a whole goat...eye of round...you name it. Haven't see it done in years. We may need to try this ...thanks for the details and the pics ! c

Trailrunner--I always enjoy seeing all your bread product pics. I'm still not sure I'll ever get round to trying bagels myself, but love knowing *you* do it!

Badger--Congrats on the upcoming baby! Should we start calling you Grandbadger? ;) Wish I'd snapped a pic of our turkey cooked with the probe in my Wolf. Yours look amazing!

Engineerchic--Jealous of the meat CSA. We have a veg/fruit share for summer and early fall, but never heard of a meat version. Cool!

Bee--no worries! Happy (late) Thanksgiving.

Donaleen, Bikerchic, Gsciencechick, and Karin--kitties in chairs! I love it!

Go_figure--I'm in the rainy PNW, although the rain thankfully hid from us on Thursday.

Karin--I spent a couple of years in Montana as a child, and went back regularly to visit family friends until about a decade ago. It's such stunning country. I'm amazed by the rolling yet wide open hills and beauty every time I'm there. We hope to drive the kids to Yellowstone in a couple of years.

Oldbat--that's the most beautiful pie inside I've ever seen! I agree that my dough edges never look that good at that stage. Do you have a special trick?

A2--booze pie? I'm in!

Sail Away--I'm sorry abou the loss of your little kitties. I agree about spoiling the one you have left. I did the same last year.

Second course was fall greens with persimmon, toasted hazelnuts, and vinaigrette made with a tangerine reduction and chocolate balsamic vinegar. Schnikees, it was a tasty dressing!

So, I'm thankful for that.

You know, another thing I'm thankful for is Ms. Bellajourney. She and I have been working together on my layout and she's is using her computer program skills to make it 'real'. I can't tell you how helpful this has been.

breezy...YUM !!

check out the lard pics :) c

Here is a pic of Apple Pie baked in the kitchen of our new house - been here about a year. We didn't host Thanksgiving this year but I baked apple pies.

We are thankful that we survived Sandy unscathed and found some new friends in our neighbors as a result. We pray for those who were not as fortunate.

And on the Cats on Chairs theme - here is an older picture of my Rocky and Shelly from a few years back in my old, old kitchen.

Breezy- please post recipe for the chocolate balsamic vinegar dressing. It sounds WONDERFUL!

Teresa--Your pie has a uniquely beautiful crust. Wow! Your kitties are sweet. What breed are they? They look like Mexican hairless cats only...well...with hair! ;)

Oldbat--thanks for the confession! Now I don't feel so inadequate. I always make my pastry crusts, but never thought I could achieve the uniform thickness of your pic. Your secret is safe with me. :)

Here's the recipe for the vinaigrette. I had some dark chocolate balsamic from a cute, new little hole in the wall oil and vinegar shop. I never thought I'd be able to buy such specialty flavored olive oils and balsamics here in my small town. It's a real treat! I also bought an organic Persian lime olive oil at the same time, which combines well with the chocolate balsamic to a great, simple vinaigrette also. I'm almost afraid to go back to the store for fear of all the new flavors I'm going to HAVE to buy! Peach balsamic?!? To die for!

3/4 cup fresh tangerine juice
1 tablespoon tangerine zest
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons hazelnut oil or walnut oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar (I used the dark chocolate balsamic this time)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Freshly ground pepper

Boil tangerine juice and zest until reduced to 1/4 cup, anywhere from 5-8 minutes. Whisk in remaining ingredients.

haha,,old bat I am going to tell ! :)

breezy that sounds so yum. I have never heard of all the flavors you mention. Will have to do some investigating. c

I was working with some einkorn flour to make piecrusts this year (note to self: don't experiment on T-day pies) and I used this recipe and worked it TO DEATH. Added flour on top of flour to be able to roll it. Any run of the mill crust would have been like drywall but this... flaky, delicate, crispy edges... wonderful.

Apparently as the vodka evaporates (leaving no trace of vodka-ey flavor) while the pie bakes it leaves air pockets behind. Like the cold butter or lard does in the mainstream recipes. So, no matter how much you work it and no matter if your butter or lard gets too worked in, that good old vodka is in there to insure a perfect result. And it does.

Breezy, thank you for the recipe! I will try it out. Both kids are used to salads with dinner and DS really likes balsamic vinegar (makes me buy buffalo mozz and slices it and then flavors with BV, salt,olive oil and basil. Your recipe sounds irresistable.

trailrunner - ack!! I'll go straight from now on, promise!

Your DS sounds very adventuresome just like mine. Poor kid never grew up on standard fare like PB sandwiches so now I have trouble coming up with lunches for him to take to school. He's too used to warmed up leftovers, fresh saut�ed zucchini, stir fried broccoli, etc for lunch. Can't do that now that he's in school all day!

Deedles--I've seen that recipe some other place and ignored it for my standard ATK recipe. The reviews are so good on the vodka crust that I'm going to give it a try next time. I almost hate to use vodka as its so expensive now that my state privatized liquor sales, but I'll go for it since I bought some gonzo bottles of vodka out of state to make vanilla extract for gifts this year and have some leftover. It's either that or drink the stuff, right? ;)

Thank you Deedles for the vodka recipe. I too have always heard good things about that method, and I like Cook's Illustrated recipes. I have it bookmarked for use on a pumpkin pie. (DH favors Costco pumpkin pie over my version, so I am determined to make one that he falls for.)

Teresa - what beautiful cats! Abssynians?

I did my PP with coconut milk instead of evaporated milk. Added a subtle niceness, I think.

I got the idea for the Pie crust from a very old cookbook. After you make the crust, you cut it into 8 slices (like a pie) and then cut out the triangles to make it look like a flower. You use the cut triangles around the outside crust for decoration. Then I brush on some egg and sugar before baking. It always gets great reviews. I've done this with pillsbury (gasp) and with homemade crusts. Both come out amazying.

The cats are Abyssinians (a Blue and a Fawn) although I lost the Blue to my ex husband in the divorce.

I will post some pics of the kitchen in the new house. It in no way measures up to my TKO kitchen but I'm dealing. It is twice the size though. We've made some improvements to spruce it up but could use some ideas on how I can make it my own. I can't afford to re-do it and it is fairly nice.