Category Archives: Holiday

The Day After

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The kitchen bathed in glorious Fall light.

Did you have an enjoyable Thanksgiving Feast? I hope so! We certainly did. As you can see, the “dry run” flowers I bought over a week ago from the Farmer’s market lasted beautifully. Gerber daisies might not be the chicest bloom on the block but they’re like the good, steady husband of the flower kingdom-long lasting, reliable and always there when you need them. No flaky boyfriend type flowers to be found in mid November anyway-unless of course one is willing to pay dearly-but what else is new with flaky boyfriends??

We cooked a massive ham, scalloped potatoes, steamed brussel sprouts and candied bacon sautéed in lashings of butter, and my husband & younger son made a banana cream pie from scratch. In between the 700 games of football on yesterday. It was awfully sweet, in more ways than one. They made a crust my husband described as thicker than a deck of cards, but seriously, how bad can graham crackers, sugar and butter taste?!

We also had gorgeous heirloom tomatoes from the market that needed to be eaten quickly so I thought this delicious, Hawaiian inspired tomato, fresh pineapple & garlic chip salad would be nice with the ham.

Recipe from Food & Wine magazine HERE

Tomatoes the size of steaks. yum.

I concocted a glaze for the ham by heating Hediard’s Red Currant  fine jelly until it melted, then adding freshly (and this is a must) squeezed orange juice and Cointreau to taste.

OMG. I can’t begin to tell you how good this is, especially for being so ridiculously simple. I’m sure Martha would sieve those bits of orange out before serving, but whatever. This would be divine with Cornish game hens & duck as well.

If you cannot find “Hediard’s” red currant jelly, I’m sure Wilkin & Sons would be good too.

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After dinner and dessert, there was a rousing game of “Scrabble” in which my father took umbrage at me using the letters “H” & “O” to spell “Ho” (to make two words for 15pts)

Dude, it’s a word;

 Merriam-Websters Dictionary; Ho (used as a call to attract attention, sometimes specially used after a word denoting a destination): Westward ho! Land ho!
2.
(used as an exclamation of surprise or delight.)
or, according to;

A word Santa Clause says three times when he sees your wife, mother and sister together in the same room.

Ahhnnd we laughed…well, I did. Dad was not so amused.

So another Thanksgiving has come and gone and we all know what that means…

Are you partaking of “Black Friday”??   I can’t imagine anything I’d rather do less, but I will definitely be supporting “Small Shop Saturday” again this year. If we don’t all do the same,  I fear every main street in every city and town across America will soon look exactly the same. It’s starting to get that way already. More importantly, small, local shops are owned and run by our friends and neighbours- let’s do everything we can in this tough economic climate to help them stay open.

Christmas gift ideas coming soon.

You don’t actually expect to see them more than a month out do you?!

PS.   Please check out my piece in the December issue of “C” Magazine this month :)

Ho Ho Ho!

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A Rainy Saturday Before Thanksgiving

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Happy Weekend to you!

 It’s been pouring rain here the last couple of days and feeling utterly Autumnal. As I look out my window through the rain I can barely see the tops of the trees shrouded in deep fog. Santa Barbara is doing a great impression of the Pacific Northwest right now I must say.  Although Fall is not my favourite time (sorry but I’m a Summer Gal and get a tad sad cranky when we turn the clocks back) Autumn might be my favourite season in terms of appreciating the coziness of my home. Built well over a hundred years ago, it harkens back to a time when fireplaces were included in many more rooms than we would ever dream of indulging in now. Especially for Southern California.

So I’ve been enjoying the outdoorsy, I might even say ‘East Coast’ scent of burning wood inside and out. The giant oak we lost last year in the huge rain storm is giving us one more gift.

I’m all about Fall leaves at the moment, but more on that in an upcoming post.

I’ve already completed a dry run on my Thanksgiving table because I got excited about using deep garnet coloured depression glass plates instead of my usual green and amber theme. Roses didn’t seem appropriate, and though there were bountiful fruits and veggies at the Farmer’s Market this week, flowers are getting scarce. I chose long lasting gerbers in warm colours with a burgundy base and, yes, again with the leaves.

Fresh walnuts from the market, leaves & the last of our apples for the season

As much as I adore doing all the decorating and the table by myself, I’m not that revved up about cooking the entire turkey throw down on Thursday, only to have a repeat performance a scant few weeks hence-so… I asked for suggestions and inspiration over on my FB page and I’m happy to share a few of them here;

-Turkey for Thanksgiving and Prime rib for Christmas (though I’d flip this around as I have a larger group for Christmas than Thanksgiving)

-Chinese food on Christmas Day

-a pot luck dinner with an Indian Feast Theme for either holiday (love this idea)

-Turkey chilli on Thanksgiving which is so easy to make ahead and only improves with age (within reason of course)

-Go vegetarian. In fact, to quote; Go vegetarian every day.   Hmmmmm.

-Apparently Gelson’s does a delicious  full bells & whistles take-out Thanksgiving dinner. Who knew?

-Cornish game hens, red currant glaze, wild rice & mushrooms

-The secret is in the planning

-The secret is in the sharing- Make a timeline; each prep task is written out on a separate card marked with a start time & posted in order on the fridge. Everyone can grab a card and jump in to help. Frankly I can imagine this working much better in some households than others. Just saying.

-The secret is in the drinking. Serve enough fun libations and no one cares about the food.

and finally, this ingenious suggestion

-Go to someone else’s house!

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Do you have any suggestions or inspiration you’d like to share??

After all, it is Thanksgiving :)

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Happy Easter!

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Wishing everyone a beautiful Easter Weekend.

 It was indeed an exquisite day here in Santa Barbara, though I’m fending off a touch of melancholy as has been my custom the past few Easters; reminiscing about egg hunts with our little boys and how those days are long gone for us now. Peculiar that this holiday more than any other affects me in this way.  I’ve one photo in particular of my little men with their Easter baskets that almost makes me weep every time I look at it. My older son’s hair is as gold as if the sun itself has bent to kiss him, and younger son is trailing along,  sporting overalls at half-mast and a look that suggests he’s not at all satisfied with the day’s gatherings just yet.

But…

As nature (and Khalil Gibran) remind us

“Life goes not backward, nor tarries with yesterday…”

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Slim Paley photos

 Columbines photographed today in the garden. I only have this colour at the moment, but I’m on the hunt for the coral and pale yellow combination as well.

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I love the little tails that shoot out behind these flowers. They are a sweet addition to a bouquet.

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Looks as if we’re going to have another bumper crop of roses this Spring and Summer!

I can barely stand how beautiful the colour of this rose is.

I could almost cry (again. Oh dear…)

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Merci to a dear friend for my delicious bonbons

 I hope you receive many treasures from your bunny(s) this Easter Morning!

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Looking back to Easters past (a post from 2010);  Peeps & Paas 


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And for newer readers;

 if you care to take a peek at the post I hold dearest in my heart  (I warned you I was emotional)

  Here; Bringing up Boys  (please do play the music)

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and once again,

Happy Easter and Passover to you all!

xoxo

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The New Year, Being 2012!!

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Happy New Year’s Eve Everyone!!

Pretend the clock says midnight please

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The ‘Best Laid Plans o’ Mice an Men’ finds me at home on New Year’s Eve with a sick husband and the Tragedy of a Totally Wasted Good Blow-dry.

   No party for Mr. & Mrs. Slim Paley.

And so, my dear friends, we meet again on the precipice of another New Year together.

Yay!!

I raise my glass to you

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We’re getting along super well, aren’t we? Who knew?! OK, one or two readers cranky over the Angel thing, but what’s Christmas without a little dust-up?!

Truly, I’ve ‘met’ so many lovely people through Slim Paley (ps. wouldn’t you think after two years of writing this, spell check would stop suggesting “Palsy” as an alternative for Paley?? but, there I go, digressing already)

  I know I’ve said it before but I’ll repeat myself;

 I simply couldn’t have done it without you

 I mean one could, hypothetically, be the blog that falls in the woods…

But somehow that singular act suits the noble tree much more than me.

I like  company :)

Part of the pleasure of friendship comes from sharing the highs and lows of challenges, successes, failures and general “life lessons” we encounter on “The Journey” (definitely one of the most over-used words of 2011, right?)

Yes, we walk our own path, but celebrating and occasionally commiserating together helps to remind us that we converge more often than not.

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 I realize that’s a ‘Very Special Oprah’ moment for me, but it’s true.

So I’m going to be completely forthright and admit that I totally sucked at keeping up my resolutions in 2011.

omg-HOPEless! but who cares, if I don’t?

 Tomorrow is another year…

So here’s to that,

with some new and some re-cycled resolutions, in utterly random order because let’s get real; why would I want to start the New Year off organized? That would be way too much pressure.

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New Resolutions

1. Don’t put pressure on myself.

2. Wear sunscreen religiously.

3. Do at least 1 creative thing EVERY DAY and keep a list so I’m accountable.

Possible Creative Activities; paint, work on Younger Son’s scrapbooks ( he graduates high school this June and it’s his present), take photos, print my photos (there’s a concept!), garden, write, cook, invent new drink recipes.

4. Learn 1 new thing EVERY DAY. Again, keep list in an effort to stay accountable.

5. Take a little time out at least a few times a week to actually enjoy all the beautiful coffee table books I’ve acquired over the years and then donate all books that no longer speak to the place I’m at now.

8. This is also going to be my year for purging not just books, but all my drawers, cupboards & closets. After 19 years in this beautiful house, it’s time for a  little residential lipo as it were.

9. Watch more movies. Dare I say for me they’re a bit like sex-takes some effort but then you think, actually, this is kind of fun. (my kids don’t read the blog)

10. Use my Clarsonic at least 2 or 3 times a week. I warned you the list was random.

11. Start running. Nah, just kidding. I did consider it though after watching “Mission Impossible 4″ the other night. Tom Cruise likes to run doesn’t he? and he does that locomotive thing with his arms crazy fast.  I thought; hmmm, some upper arm work there-could be a good thing. But then my sister told me running is super bad for your joints so, phew…dodged a bullet there.

12. I WILL practice yoga more often.

I had a few more resolutions… In fact, I thought of so many good ones as I was trying to go to sleep last night, but poof! they’re gone. That does remind me that #13 is to get more sleep. I’m getting custom fitted ear plugs and staying off screens at least an hour before bedtime starting tomorrow. I went on a site for the earplugs and somehow managed to find cute pants. I’m telling you, I have a special talent.

14. Drink Green tea, but not at night.

15. Look for some changes on Slim Paley in 2012 too, although I guess that’s not really a resolution but it does get me up to 15, which is a good place to stop for now.

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I wish you multiple blessings in the New Year-good health, happiness,  a grand adventure or two, laughter and the love of good friends and family.

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2012- Bring IT!

xoxo

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Oh wait! I almost forgot… remember my Toasted Marshmallow Martini from last week?

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Be Careful!!

Check this out; Click here

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