Bosco, Calvin, Clyde and I don’t want to keep you from your leftovers for too long—I plan to crisp up some of the Hasselback potatoes one of my magnificent guests brought as soon as I’m done writing—but I must say a Thanksgiving thank-you to you lovely humans.
I have a secret addiction to Hallmark Movies - mostly for the beautiful settings. I love how comfortable it is to have them be so predictable. I found out this Thanksgiving from my SIL - who loves cruises - that there is a Hallmark Cruise & it sold out in 1 hour!
Also I was longing for a romantic movie yesterday & watched Paris Can Wait with the beautiful Diane Lane & for my age demographic it was absolutely delicious to have this chubby charming frenchman taking her to all these fab meals in his roadster filled with roses!
As for fails - I was the side dish person this year & had two grand ones!!!
One was a great traditional dish a basque friend taught me 30 years ago who everyone used to swoon over & I thought I’d unearth it. It sounds wonderful Cauliflower with Bechamel. My recipe was a scribble & must have missed a step - note to self really write out your recipes for posterity. Essentially I made a cauliflower fritter covered in Bechamel. It was not the sum of its parts! Thankfully I had roasted a cauliflower for people who don’t like creamy & people served the sauced dish on top of the roasted - so the moral is roasted cauliflower w/bechamel is delicious!
Second grand fail was a homemade green bean casserole where I so perfectly recreated the flavor of Campbell’s Mushroom soup that it didn’t taste homemade with the exception of delicious meaty mushrooms. Moral is make simple green beans & separately make creamed mushrooms. Add French’s Onions if you must!
Glad we are having such a beautiful sunny weekend to connect with friends & family. I am calling up old friends who never call me to tell them I still love them & miss them.
Love how you turned your side dish disappointments into learning experiences. They all sound good, tho. What a great reminder to call family and friends (and cherish them)! Will now look up Paris Can Wait!
My sister and I have cooked together for over 60 years — alas she couldn't come for Thanksgiving. My son who has become a great cook and has become indispensable on Thanksgiving could not come until 7pm Thanksgiving. I was the sole cook!! I planned ahead and was able to make the dressing (out of bird) and broccoli gorgonzola the day before. I also made overnight yeast dinner rolls. The dough looked great and I divided it perfectly. After I covered the rolls and put them in the downstairs fridge for their second proof — ready to cook on Thanksgiving — I came back up to the kitchen and saw the eggs I was supposed to add!! So...one more item to cook the day of.
Marissa thank you for your great recipes and sense of humor and fun. I did not come via Joyce but I do follow her too.
Sounds like you did a magnificent job on your own. Tell me about the broccoli gorgonzola?!?! Sounds so yum.
As for cooking with your siblings, it was my brother Paul who taught me how to chop garlic and make Thanksgiving gravy, with beer. We make it together every year!
Broccoli gorgonzola is basically: a quick blanch of the broccoli, make a white sauce, stir in cream cheese and gorgonzola (can be any blue — I used Cambozola this year). The quick blanch allows for you to make ahead. I have a PDF but I think this link would be easier: https://www.sunset.com/recipe/gorgonzola-broccoli-casserole (I used the entire chunk of Cambozola and skipped the bread crumb topping). Enjoy!
Love Joyce Vance, she is a gem, and I was glad to see her recommend you! I was excited about seeing AFC Richmond beat Man City (yep, binge watching Ted Lasso one more time before my AppleTV runs out...). Have a great holiday!
Ha. We have been rewatching Ted Lasso as well. It's the happy story we need. And as for Joyce, she is truly a gem. I couldn't agree more. She is a good person, all-round.
I love pictures of Bosco, Calvin, and Clyde. Two friends cooked Thanksgiving dinner and brought it to my house for us and them. Everything was a hit. They made tiramasu for dessert. It was very good but, oh, so rich.
Thank you for all of your posts—I appreciate all of your insights, recipes, and pet photos. I'm at my computer, celebrating the second day of Pie Friday with my favorite apple pie (from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible) and look forward to making that apple cider caramel sauce soon!
Happy about the liv-mc draw considering we were behind! YNWA Now my head is allowed to focus on best way to use up all the leftover turkey 🦃. Thankful to you for delicious recipes and an all round enjoyable newsletter
I've lost my mother's Bourbon Ball cookie recipe. If you have one from about mid-fifties, I'd love it.
This Thanksgiving was our standard menu: a heritage Turkey, stuffed with orange, lemon, several sticks of Rosemary, fresh sage an onion and several garlic cloves; mashed potatoes with gravy; Baked Pineapple, Stuffing Casserole; Mushroom Casserole; cranberries; a green salad; crusty bread with butter; two pumpkin pies with whipped cream and a mixed berries pie with ice cream. This followed appetizers: marinated mushrooms; cranberry and fruit chutney over a block of cream cheese; cheese and sausages charcuterie tray; herring in wine sauce. I'm 78 yrs. old and it was a lot of work but with my daughter's help we feed ten.
I love Hallmark movies but recently cut back on my Xfinity (Comcast) bill to basic service. I think I'll live stream Hallmark, especially during the holidays. I live stream several other channels. Thanks for the reminder.
I enjoy the family and friends gathered together for the holidays. Best wishes to all.
And best wishes to you. What a gorgeous feast you made. love the idea of stuffing the turkey with orange and all those other good flavors. Yum. You make me want to have another turkey!
I have a secret addiction to Hallmark Movies - mostly for the beautiful settings. I love how comfortable it is to have them be so predictable. I found out this Thanksgiving from my SIL - who loves cruises - that there is a Hallmark Cruise & it sold out in 1 hour!
Also I was longing for a romantic movie yesterday & watched Paris Can Wait with the beautiful Diane Lane & for my age demographic it was absolutely delicious to have this chubby charming frenchman taking her to all these fab meals in his roadster filled with roses!
As for fails - I was the side dish person this year & had two grand ones!!!
One was a great traditional dish a basque friend taught me 30 years ago who everyone used to swoon over & I thought I’d unearth it. It sounds wonderful Cauliflower with Bechamel. My recipe was a scribble & must have missed a step - note to self really write out your recipes for posterity. Essentially I made a cauliflower fritter covered in Bechamel. It was not the sum of its parts! Thankfully I had roasted a cauliflower for people who don’t like creamy & people served the sauced dish on top of the roasted - so the moral is roasted cauliflower w/bechamel is delicious!
Second grand fail was a homemade green bean casserole where I so perfectly recreated the flavor of Campbell’s Mushroom soup that it didn’t taste homemade with the exception of delicious meaty mushrooms. Moral is make simple green beans & separately make creamed mushrooms. Add French’s Onions if you must!
Glad we are having such a beautiful sunny weekend to connect with friends & family. I am calling up old friends who never call me to tell them I still love them & miss them.
Cherish all your friends! 🤗
Love how you turned your side dish disappointments into learning experiences. They all sound good, tho. What a great reminder to call family and friends (and cherish them)! Will now look up Paris Can Wait!
My sister and I have cooked together for over 60 years — alas she couldn't come for Thanksgiving. My son who has become a great cook and has become indispensable on Thanksgiving could not come until 7pm Thanksgiving. I was the sole cook!! I planned ahead and was able to make the dressing (out of bird) and broccoli gorgonzola the day before. I also made overnight yeast dinner rolls. The dough looked great and I divided it perfectly. After I covered the rolls and put them in the downstairs fridge for their second proof — ready to cook on Thanksgiving — I came back up to the kitchen and saw the eggs I was supposed to add!! So...one more item to cook the day of.
Marissa thank you for your great recipes and sense of humor and fun. I did not come via Joyce but I do follow her too.
Sounds like you did a magnificent job on your own. Tell me about the broccoli gorgonzola?!?! Sounds so yum.
As for cooking with your siblings, it was my brother Paul who taught me how to chop garlic and make Thanksgiving gravy, with beer. We make it together every year!
Thank you for the kind words!!
I've never tried beer in gravy! I'll have to try that.
Broccoli gorgonzola is basically: a quick blanch of the broccoli, make a white sauce, stir in cream cheese and gorgonzola (can be any blue — I used Cambozola this year). The quick blanch allows for you to make ahead. I have a PDF but I think this link would be easier: https://www.sunset.com/recipe/gorgonzola-broccoli-casserole (I used the entire chunk of Cambozola and skipped the bread crumb topping). Enjoy!
Marissa! Bless you! Bless Bosco! Bless Calvin! Bless Clyde...... may the gods rain caramel sauce upon you till the end of time.
As for the THREE DESSERTS you made for Thanksgiving?
STAGGERING!!!!!!!!!!
You are sweeter than any dessert. xo
YOU are sweeter than Bosco de Gama! And have the hair of Flying Squad of Sprights!
I made your cranberry apple upside down pumpkin cake, added pecans, and it was a hit! Thank you.
pecans! yes! (those are my favorite nut. please don't tell pistachios)
I made sourdough waffles for the grandkids, but the adults raided them first.
that's because adults are smarter than kids. Mmmm.
Love Joyce Vance, she is a gem, and I was glad to see her recommend you! I was excited about seeing AFC Richmond beat Man City (yep, binge watching Ted Lasso one more time before my AppleTV runs out...). Have a great holiday!
Ha. We have been rewatching Ted Lasso as well. It's the happy story we need. And as for Joyce, she is truly a gem. I couldn't agree more. She is a good person, all-round.
Agree with the happy story. I can't find anything else that compares.
I love pictures of Bosco, Calvin, and Clyde. Two friends cooked Thanksgiving dinner and brought it to my house for us and them. Everything was a hit. They made tiramasu for dessert. It was very good but, oh, so rich.
Bosco, Calvin and Clyde thank you for the love. I personally love tiramisu. Might be just perfect for Christmas dessert!?
I didn't know you had cats! I audibly ooohed and awwed at this newsletter ❤️ thanks for sharing these cute pictures!
Clyde's fluffy self is next to me as I write this. He would say hi if he weren't asleep.
Thank you for all of your posts—I appreciate all of your insights, recipes, and pet photos. I'm at my computer, celebrating the second day of Pie Friday with my favorite apple pie (from Rose Levy Berenbaum's Pie and Pastry Bible) and look forward to making that apple cider caramel sauce soon!
Thank you for your sweet words! Rose's apple pie is supremely good...and uses the reduced apple cider syrup, just like my caramel sauce...Yum.
There were great family reviews of the sweet potato casserole, swimming in cream and lightly coated with Parmesan & Panko before baking.
Oh wow. That sounds amazing.
Best dish, Ina Garten’s Herb and Apple Stuffing, which is more like bread pudding. Yummy!
It is really called Herb and Apple Bread Pudding. Here is the recipe: https://barefootcontessa.com/recipes/herb-apple-bread-pudding
Yummy!
Hooo-boy. Yum.
Happy about the liv-mc draw considering we were behind! YNWA Now my head is allowed to focus on best way to use up all the leftover turkey 🦃. Thankful to you for delicious recipes and an all round enjoyable newsletter
Thank you for such sweet words!
So excited for the gluten free!!! And love those sappy hallmark movies.
Yes! Watch this space!
Appreciate everything you do! The holidays will give me reason to bake! I can share lots more!
Thank you! Thank you! I appreciate your support!!
How grateful I am to have met you here on Substack! ❤️
And I, thee! Loving your outfit in your latest substack. All people should subscribe to your uplifting (without medical intervention) substack.
I've lost my mother's Bourbon Ball cookie recipe. If you have one from about mid-fifties, I'd love it.
This Thanksgiving was our standard menu: a heritage Turkey, stuffed with orange, lemon, several sticks of Rosemary, fresh sage an onion and several garlic cloves; mashed potatoes with gravy; Baked Pineapple, Stuffing Casserole; Mushroom Casserole; cranberries; a green salad; crusty bread with butter; two pumpkin pies with whipped cream and a mixed berries pie with ice cream. This followed appetizers: marinated mushrooms; cranberry and fruit chutney over a block of cream cheese; cheese and sausages charcuterie tray; herring in wine sauce. I'm 78 yrs. old and it was a lot of work but with my daughter's help we feed ten.
I love Hallmark movies but recently cut back on my Xfinity (Comcast) bill to basic service. I think I'll live stream Hallmark, especially during the holidays. I live stream several other channels. Thanks for the reminder.
I enjoy the family and friends gathered together for the holidays. Best wishes to all.
And best wishes to you. What a gorgeous feast you made. love the idea of stuffing the turkey with orange and all those other good flavors. Yum. You make me want to have another turkey!
I will find you a bourbon ball recipe!
Thank you.