Make Holiday Entertaining Easy This Season

This week, like many of you I am getting ready for Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to spending the day with my children.  My son, Granville, has been working in NYC and while there he claims to have learned how to cook.  This year it will be so fun to have him working with me in the kitchen.  

Traditionally each member of the family tackles a different dish.  Granville ALWAYS makes the pumpkin pie - I don't know what he does but he adds something special that makes all the difference in the taste.  My daughter, Phoebe, loves to help with whipped cream and she also helps me set the table. 

I make the turkey every year.  I once read a recipe in Martha and now I improvise but the gist of the recipe is this:

Preheat the oven to 450.  I always choose a fresh organic turkey, never frozen.  I wash the cavity and pat the bird dry and I fill the cavity with sage, rosemary, carrot, celery and onion. I  slather the luscious bird with truffle butter and then pop it into the oven to let it crisp.  When the skin is brown, I cover it, turn down the oven and roast it 375 for15 minutes a pound. The initial searing locks in the juice and keeps the meat moist and tender. 

My favorite dish is my grandmothers Spinach Madeline.  I have the recipe she wrote down for me when I was in my early 20s and I make it every year. I am sharing it here to honor her and our family traditions.

This year is different for us because we have moved to a high rise apartment building in downtown New Orleans.  We don't yet have a table but I am going to use  card table and really dress it up.  I plan to grab this table cloth from Matouk:

I added some fun hand-crocheted linen napkins and....

I will mix my family china, silver and crystal.  For flowers, I plan to use

 this beautiful arrangement we used in the downtown store yesterday 

I love the plums and blues mixed together....it really makes the table come alive!

 We actually plan to start a new tradition this year.  We will be reading through marketing guru Seth Godin's Thanksgiving Reader.  In a world that moves faster than we can keep up with, our family wants to slow down to feel grateful for everything we have in life and...more importantly....each other.  I have shared the website below in case anyone wants to download:

https://thethanksgivingreader.com

While our celebration will be small and quiet, we will be spending some quality time together and to be, it will be just perfect.  Remember not to overthink it because spending time with the people you love is why we celebrate each year!

Wishing you and yours a Happy and safe Thanksgiving,

Grace

PS - Thank you to Carolyn Fitzpatrick for the GORGEOUS arrangement which she whipped together in just 10 minutes.....that's TALENT!!!