Food Glorious Food

Good morning, my friends. Is everyone appreciating what the turkey feels like when it's stuffed? I certainly am. It was a busy day yesterday, but it ended well when we enjoyed our Thanksgiving feast with our family. As you might guess, Smitty was the life of the party.

I spent a little time on my slow stitching. It's my favorite way to gird up my loins. There were two more book spines to stitch, and now I'm caught up to the fabrics I've purchased for the Shop Hop quilt.

In the kitchen, I still needed to make our turkey stuffing and I mixed up our green bean casserole. Mike smoked our turkey, and so I just needed to keep track of heating the vegetables in the oven and making some mashed potatoes and gravy. Oh yes, and I needed to set the table. We used Mike's grandmother's china and the silverware I inherited from my great aunt.

Erik and Mae arrived early afternoon. Mae brought one of her beautiful cheese boards.

She also made dessert...this beautiful apple tart. Isn't that a work of art?

And this beautiful pumpkin cheesecake. It was delicious...light, for a cheesecake. She used ricotta cheese in the mix.

And I completely forgot to take any more pictures of food. It's too bad because the turkey was beautiful when Mike brought it from the Traeger. It was a lovely and low-key evening. I love that about having a small gathering. There's plenty of time for just being together with quiet conversation.

The next couple of days will be slow days. I haven't given myself anything to do today or tomorrow. I am planning a very short trip into town. It's my day to deck the halls, and I want to pick up a wreath at our local grocery store. We haven't put up a Christmas tree in a few years, and we even donated our Christmas tree ornaments to Goodwill while we were downsizing after our plumbing disaster. That doesn't mean we don't decorate, however. Over the course of many years, I've accumulated plenty of hand-made Christmas quilts and other festive decor to spread around the Christmas cheer. You can see everything at last year's blog post right here.

And you might think I'd want to stay out of the kitchen, but I've been in the mood for some Jammers for quite a while. Here are some I've made in the past. They're like a thumbprint cookie, only they're actually biscuits. 

Several years ago, I made made some apple pie jam. It set up too hard, and it's barely spreadable. I still have one half-pint jar left, and it occurred to me it would be excellent in the jammers. With its hard set, it probably will be resistant to running while it bakes. And if you want to see how this is done, I wrote a whole post about it several years ago. You can find the method and the recipe right here.

There will probably be some time to spend in the sewing room today, and so I'll get started on the next block for "When Quilters Gather." This one:

The pattern was enlarged at Staples, but I still need to make a freezer paper template. Also, this is the last enlarged block I have, and so I'll need to pick three more from the book for future sewing.

The only other sewing I expect to do today is to take the first stitches on the Bumble Sampler. My floss is here, and I'm ready to go.

We're approaching the home stretch of 2023. Let's end the year with plenty of sewing and good food to go along with it. The shortest day of the year is approaching, and we'll be able to look forward to more daylight ahead.