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It’s almost time for us to submit to our yearly food coma! Among other things, this year I am thankful we are not traveling anywhere.  We are looking forward to a quiet “just us” day of binge-eating and parade/dog show watching, followed by pie with our friends The Stowells.

Today I am working on prepping everything I can in advance of tomorrow’s cookfest. I made cranberry chutney this morning using THIS RECIPE. The only thing I changed was that I swapped out the water for bourbon, beacuse, well….have you met me?

I am also making the pumpkin bread for the stuffing, which I will finish putting together tomorrow morning.  As always, I’m using Susan’s recipe, because, honestly, it’s what my dreams are made of. You can find that recipe HERE.  I can’t wait! I’m going to serve it in this adorable pumpkin serving dish I picked up at World Market.

Speaking of all things pumpkin, I tried out another recipe of Susan’s that I can’t get enough of, and I offer up here in case you need a (very) last-minute side dish idea.  STUFFED PUMPKIN

Can I just tell you, it’s the most cozy, homey, delicious ambrosial thing you have ever, ever had.  I made it last week when Paul had the kids in NY with him, and I ate at least half of it myself before they got home and finished it off.

I let it cool quite a bit before cutting it so that I could get individual pieces rather than eating it like a fondue (though that would be scrumptious as well).

Really, try it for yourselves.  I used a sugar pumpkin because I could not get my hands on a Long Island Cheese pumpkin for all the tea in China around these parts.

Incidentally, if you’re relatively local to Richmond, Va, there’s a brewery that makes a pumpkin ale that compliments this dish beautifully.

The other food advice I can give for the holiday is THESE dinner rolls from King Arthur Flour.  They are very nearly foolproof, the recipe makes plenty (quickly!) and everyone loooooooooves them.

The kids in particular are looking forward to breakfast – I got some frozen chocolate croissants from Trader Joes for us to enjoy while we watch the parade, all snuggled together in our jammies.

It’s going to be an interesting holiday season with all the new cats around here, but no one seems to care about the potential for disaster, since they’re so darn cute. And they haven’t mastered jumping up on the table yet, either, so there’s that.

As for Dilly, she’s just as adorable and naughty as ever, but she’s coming around to them. She’s even actually been playing with them. But she still won’t admit she likes them.

Happy Thanksgiving, all. Hope it’s a warm, cozy, fun, delicious one!

I’ve recently finished all of the books on my kindle. Well, all of the ones that I am going to read anyway. Sometimes a book sounds really good. It might have even won some prizes. It has good reviews and critical acclaim. And then you try to read it and they spend the first two pages talking about why their furniture at home is far superior to the furniture in this filthy place.

Good lord, I got it after the first overwrought sentence. After the second and third, I can see you are a privileged asshole. Can we please move on? No? Then we, sir are over.

Sorry, does that sound bitter?

It’s not often that I put a book down. I used to pride myself on never not finishing a book. Then I decided that I had better things to do with my life than waste it reading snooty books.

(This is where my husband cracks a joke about how many times I’ve read Poison Study in the last three months. )

Snooty books, a definition: books that are technically well-written, but are so well done they have no flavor left. The beauty of the sentences, the characters, the plot, can’t be felt for the difficulty of trudging through words.

I’m all for reading books you really have to tear into, but I’m not into books that lord their greatness over me. I want a book that engages rather than shuns.

The truth is, when I find a really good one, I read it a few times. I read it the first time for the sheer joy. The second time through, I read to break down the characters. Again to look at pacing and plot, etc. etc. Don’t look at me like that, it’s fun, but it leads to reading ruts. I get stuck. Afraid of getting burned by snooty books, or just plain bad books, I have trouble branching out.

I keep thinking I need to start some sort of book swap for high volume readers like myself. It would be something where you trade good books with awesome people, and then when you’re finished, you have someone to geek out about them with.

I have no idea what this sort of swap would look like, but I’m desperate for a bookish community that doesn’t center on reviews. So many online reviews are negative just because they can be. I want to avoid that.

Who’s with me?

Sunday we drove out to our friends’ house to celebrate their son’s 7th birthday. Thankfully the weather held,  and we were able to mingle outside and enjoy grilled bratwurst and fresh oysters.

And did I mention it’s beautiful out at their house in the fall?

Kirby, the welcoming committee.

Paul and Emily missed out on the fun, due to a bad cold that is making its rounds. Paul is actually still down with it, and home from work today. I’m trying to power through today, and make some garlic chicken soup to aid in recovery.

Neve helped with the marshmallow roasting.

Oysters! I actually got Neve to try one; she wasn’t thrilled with it, to say the least!

Lisa and Will always throw one heck of a party, and being out among the changing leaves on a mild October day with a great group of people……well, how can you go wrong?