How Could I Dance with Another???

Sorry this post-Thanksgiving Friday dance is so late. I'm still recovering from my Turkey Day, which was not so great. But it reminded me of the the very first Thanksgiving A.P. and I ever spent together, which was horrible. I was nannying at the time and the parents knew the girl had been sick and still had me watch her anyway (something I would NEVER do to ANYONE). I ended up getting the stomach flu and throwing up all day Thursday. A.P.'s plans were to go my mom's house for Thanksgiving since he wasn't going home. Since I got sick, he ended up spending it alone, popping in on me once to deliver some Gatorade and medicine and then heading back home to spend the holiday by his lonesome. It was terrible and last night after spending the night at my mother's house with some other family members, we were reminiscing about it.

Truth be told, yesterday was a close second in terms of bad Thanksgivings. First of all, I was supposed to host Thanksgiving. I sent out an invitation at the beginning of November stating that fact. Nobody replied. I assumed that everyone was okay with it. Then, about four days before the big day, the one brother who was attending started in on how nobody was coming and there was no point in me making all that food. Then, my mother called me the next day and "mommed" me. In other words, somehow she decided she was hosting Thanksgiving and I agreed, but I have no idea how that happened. It was probably some awesome form of guilt and mommified reasoning and me not wanting to argue about it. Anyway, it soon became clear that my mother didn't want me to host Thanksgiving because she and her boyfriend and my brother were all on this diet and they couldn't eat a ton of stuff I would assumedly make. And so their plan was for the rest of us to suffer with their bland, crappy diet food so that they could stick to the stupid diet they chose to go on right before Thanksgiving. LAME!

And it was lame...the turkey was great, but there was no stuffing and no traditional cranberry sauce, both of which are my favorites. Initially my mother had talked some crap about making baked pumpkin that we could eat with syrup and crushed nuts (I hate nuts). Thank God that didn't make an appearance (she opted instead for store bought pie). However, about two thirds of the way into the evening, I got sick and spent a good portion in the bathroom. I was also exhausted, still recovering from my long (even though it was short) work week. I got sick between dinner and dessert, so I didn't even get the pumpkin pie I had coveted so much. The end of the evening resulted with us getting lost in the northern suburbs after dropping off my brother-in-law and me guzzling ginger ale from a one liter bottle. Fun. Oh, and besides the meal/evening itself, one of my siblings is in the hospital and I got into a fight with my dad that made me say, "Happy Thanksgiving, assh***!" and hang up on him. Awesome. So maybe not as bad as our first Thanksgiving, but definitely not great.

That's why I needed a good Friday dance. A really good one. And I found it. I love this wedding because A. I love the Beatles and B. I love the Half-breed Swede, who this made me think of. Secretly, I hope that one day when she marries, she'll let me help her plan a wedding just like this one! Wouldn't it be rad?? Carmen and Pete love The Beatles so, so much that they made their music and the band the theme of the wedding. Such a neat idea and executed so well. Jesi Haack Design, a favorite of mine (they also did the Johnny Cash themed wedding I featured a few weeks ago), designed the awesome wedding and the whimsical photos were done by Ashley Rose. Check it out!

Don't you love it? Doesn't it make you hum your favorite Beatles tune?? (Mine is "Here Comes the Sun"! What's yours?) Le sigh.

So, this is a nice long weekend for us. We were off yesterday, again today, and of course the regular weekend. That's four days, baby! I have a lot of work to do, though. But if I can get it done, I'll be halfway through my long term workload through mid-February. Then, I can tackle the other half, so that I can focus more on day to day stuff. Exciting! We also want to go see The new Muppet movie and I'm having dinner and drinks with Rev/Rach tonight! Fun filled weekend, indeed! What are you up to this weekend? Did you do any Black Friday shopping?

In the mean time, here are your dance moves for the week:

Imagine a beautiful English garden wedding

25 ways to wear a scarf

The true cost of a wedding. Yikes!

DIY Shift Dress from Martha

The perfect winter wedding palette

Secret message bananas

You make me hot

I should so do this for my godmother when she turns 90 next year!

File this away for next year: Chow's Best Thanksgiving recipes

A cradle for grownups

Imagine sleeping and dreaming in this!

21 signs you grew up in the 90's

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(Friday dance photo via here; Carmen and Pete's Beatles Themed Wedding Photographed by Ashley Rose Photography via Green Wedding Shoes here and here)

Happy Turducken Day!

Not really, but wouldn't that be more interesting than the same old bird? I was supposed to do the cooking this year, but now we're going to my mother's. One day, I'll tell you the story of how I got mommed and ended up going tover to her house instead of her coming to my place and watched as my Thanksgiving plans were saboutaged. But until then, I wish you a happy, halthy holiday!

(Photo via How To Photography)

Cooking for Thanksgiving: Dessert

In keeping with the Thanksgiving recipe series, this week, we're talking side dishes (and later, dessert!). After all, the countdown to Turkey Day is on! For appetizer recipes and ideas or to see the rest of the series, click here.

Thanksgiving equals pumpkin. There's no arguing it. If it's Turkey Day, I'm gonna have me some type of pumpkin dessert. My mother used to make this pumpkin spice cake. It was delicious and moist. I made that a few times, too. However, by far my favorite dessert to make was the one I made three Thanksgivings ago and another Real Simple recipe. I love Real Simple, can't you tell? Their recipes are, after all, really simple. And not only is it an easy recipe, but getting it to look *just* like the magazine photo is easy, too! Plus, it was a total hit! Everyone loved it. I give you...pumpkin cheesecake!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

TO MAKE THE CRUST, YOU NEED:

2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from 14 graham crackers or you can buy graham cracker crumbs, which is what I did. Yes. I am that lazy.)

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

TO MAKE THE FILLING, YOU NEED:

1 .25-ounce envelope unflavored gelatin

1 8-ounce bar cream cheese, at room temperature

1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree1 cup sour cream

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. First, preheat your oven to 400° F.

2. Then, in a medium bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and melted butter. Stir using a spatula to coat crumbs.

3. Transfer to a 9-inch springform pan. Using a straight-sided dry measuring cup, press the crumbs into the pan and 2 inches up the side. When it gets tough, you can also use a spoon.

4. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes and let cool.

5. To make the filling, sprinkle the gelatin over 1/4 cup boiling water. Stir occasionally, until dissolved (about 5 minutes).

6. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the pumpkin, sour cream, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla.

7. Mix in the gelatin mixture until incorporated.

8. Pour the mixture into the crust and refrigerate, covered, until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.

Damn close to the magazine photo above, eh?

(Pumpkin Cheesecake Photo #1 by John Kernick via Real Simple; Pumpkin Cheesecake Photos #2 and 3 by me!)

Cooking for Thanksgiving: Side Dishes

In keeping with the Thanksgiving recipe series, this week, we're talking side dishes (and later, dessert!). After all, the countdown to Turkey Day is on! For appetizer recipes and ideas or to see the rest of the series, click here.

My mother has always prepared sweet potatoes for our Thanksgiving table. She never did anything fancy with them, usually just boiling or roasting them and serving them as is. I love my mom's sweet potatoes, but have always thought there was something fancier that could be done with them. Enter Real Simple magazine.

Last year, when I made the theme of our Thanksgiving holiday gluttony, I was looking for simple ways to fancy up my sweet potatoes. I perused my back copies of Real Simple and found this super simple recipe. Plus, the awesome thing is that you can actually make the syrup up to two days ahead of time, so that on the big day, all you have to do is clean your potatoes and throw them in the oven for an hour. Nice, huh?

Vanilla Sweet Potatoes

• 10 small sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups maple syrup
• 1 6-inch vanilla bean
• 1 teaspoon whole cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 
  
• 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (you can also cook the potatoes with the turkey by placing them directly on the rack).
• 
  
• 2. Clean the sweet potatoes, piercing each one with a fork.
• 
  
• 3. Bake the potatoes 45 minutes to 1 hour or until fork-tender.
• 
  
• 4. Combine the maple syrup, vanilla bean, and cloves in a glass measuring cup or microwave safe bowl for 5 minutes. You can also heat the syrup, vanilla bean, and cloves in a small saucepan, letting the ingredients simmer for 5 minutes. (Again, this syrup can be made up to 2 days ahead.) Strain out the vanilla bean and cloves.

• 
  
• 5. Remove the potatoes from the oven. Let them cool a little bit, then cut each one lengthwise into 4 wedges. Arrange on a serving dish, sprinkle with the salt, and pour the syrup over them. Or, you can serve the syrup on the side, which is what I did last year.

Serves 10

These potatoes are so, so yummy. They almost taste like candy! And I cannot emphasize enough how EASY they are to make!

Check back later for our final recipe in the series: pumpkin cheesecake!

(Photo by Jim Franco via Real Simple)

Cooking for Thanksgiving: Side Dishes

In keeping with the Thanksgiving recipe series, this week, we're talking side dishes (and later, dessert!). After all, the countdown to Turkey Day is on! For appetizer recipes and ideas or to see the rest of the series, click here.

When it comes to Thanksgiving, of course the most famous side dish of all is stuffing. Growing up, my mother didn't call it stuffing. She's old school; we called it dressing. She also never stuffed it in the turkey. It was made with the innards that come in a little plastic baggie in the turkey. When I was super young, I hated it. As I got older, it became one of my favorite dishes.

When I started throwing my holiday parties, though, I began making my own stuffing or dressing or whatever the hell you want to call it. Who knew that stuffing was actually super easy to make? Here is my own recipe, which I adapted from this version on allrecipes.

Sage Apple Sausage Stuffing

1/2 pound sage flavored ground pork breakfast sausage

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 (4 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and roughly chopped

1 (12 ounce) package herb-seasoned dry bread stuffing mix

3 Granny Smith apples - peeled, cored and cubed

1 tablespoon chicken broth

1 tablespoon sage chopped finely

1 tablespoon ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Crumble and brown breakfast sausage. Drain and set aside.

3. Melt butter in same pan. Add celery, onion, water chestnuts, and garlic, cooking until soft. Before removing from heat completely, add chopped sage and ground pepper, cooking until fragrant.

4. Prepare stuffing mix according to package directions.

5. Mix in sausage, celery mixture, and apples. Moisten with chicken broth.

6. Bake in preheated oven for approximately 30 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

Check back later for more great (and super easy) side dishes! Plus, the grand finale: dessert!

(Photo via here)

Dancing with Tears in My Eyes

This has been a stressful, but super exciting week! A.P. and I have taken on a new endeavor, which I will report on more fully next week. And it's tiring, but so much fun. It's lifted our hearts in a way we really needed. I can't wait to share more next week. : ) Other than that, I'm having a heard time believing that November is almost over. Where is time flying to these days?

This week's wedding is from the other side of the pond. Steve and Vicky's wedding is a gorgeous affair photographed by The Barbers. Once again, it features such emotion (and goofiness) that I couldn't help but feature it this week. I love that in one moment they were crying and in the next, they were having such joyous fun. It's really how all wedding photographs should look. Enjoy!

Is that not an elegant affair? Usually I'm not a big fan of traditional weddings...I like a little oddball stuff thrown in here and there. But every once in a while, I come across a lovely wedding like that and I can't help it. Plus, I'm not gonna lie...the wedding had me at the pants down shot. Hilarious!

This weekend, A.P. and I are planning on working on our new endeavor. We're also prepping for Turkey Day and I have to go in to work on Saturday. Yuck. Other than that, we're relaxing before the holiday madness kicks off. What are you planning on doing? Something rad, I hope! Enjoy the weekend, party people!

In the mean time, here are your dance moves for the week!

Thanksgiving "cupcakes"

Succulent Pallet Table

When Parents Text

Breathtaking Japanese garden

Turn a men's shirt into a halter top and so much more! Best of all? No sewing required!

Use buttons as earring organizers and so many other nifty uses for household items

Scrabble Tile Coasters

One day, A.P. will teach our child to do this same thing

Plus...check back next week for the rest of the Thanksgiving recipe series, our newest endeavor, and a Marriage Monday post on whether you need that little piece of paper or not. : )

Do you subscribe to Not the Marrying Kind? If not, you should! It's free and fun and it means you automatically get new posts when the blog is updated. No having to check back! Click here for more details!

(Friday dance photo via here; Steve and Vicky's Wye Valley Wedding photographed by The Barbers via Rock My Wedding)