Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from Wisconsin!

And from the most nontraditional celebration I've ever experienced. And yet quite possibly one of the yummiest. But don't I feel that way every year? Yes. Yes, I do.

This year, Thanksgiving is split into two celebrations because my dad is currently on the road (in Iowa as we speak, on his way back from a nearly two-month visit to the west coast) and won't be with us until tomorrow. Our second and all-inclusive turkey dinner will be on Sunday. But tonight my youngest sister is visiting on holiday break from college, and my other sister stopped by with her fiance and his daughter. My grandparents dropped in with the all-important bottle of wine. And one thing we were not short of this year was wine!

My contribution was the putting-together of sangria, which one could say came from a recipe, but was mostly my own throw-stuff-in concoction. As follows, the way I made it, with ideas:

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Fruit:

About 2-3ish cups of fresh cranberries (or one of those little mesh bags)

2 large crispy apples, such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, diced

1 cup Patron Citronage

2/3 cup granulated sugar

Sangria:

1 750ml bottle wine, chilled (red, white, blush, whatever you want!) -- I split a sweet red and a rose blush.

1/2 cup Patron Citronage

1/2 cup cranberry juice

(Optional: Would be AWESOME with a little fizz: substitute part of the wine with champagne, or add club soda and more wine)

Mix all of the ingredients for the fruit mixture together in a bowl or container, then seal and refrigerate for 4-6 hours, or overnight if you've got the time. Pour the fruit into a large pitcher or dispenser and add wine (and/or champagne if you choose) and the last of the Citronage. Stir. Serve chilled over ice.

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The best thing about sangria is that it can be made pretty much however you want to make it. This was a fall inspiration from Toasts & Tastes, the first recipe listed there with many other ingredients. What I made was based partly on what we already had available, so we cut out the port and used sugar instead of the syrup. The sugar could be adjusted however you'd like to accommodate varying tastes for sweetness -- this does turn out quite sweet. But then again, that's the way I love my sangria!

Aside from this yummy drinky, mom put together olives and tapenade, bacon-wrapped chicken thighs, asparagus, corn, sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie with homemade whip. My sister contributed some Martha Stewart-inspired homemade cookies that rivaled Pepperidge Farm's Brussels cookies.

A nontraditional dinner as far as Thanksgivings go -- but what a dinner! I'm so thankful to have been able to spend some time with family today. And then we went to see Lincoln at the theatre. (Go see it!)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Next time I'll post a little something about my recent trip to Chicago. 

Cheers, lovelies!

dran at p.o.w. // food. :)

via art of the state (where there are a TON more fantastic images from this show).

french street artist dran is featured in the new pictures on walls shop show, "marks and stencils." let's just say that i keep coming back to this website for all things amazing, and when i get to london, one of my first stops is going to be p.o.w.

dran is great. his attention to detail is immaculate, and his sense of humor and wit is sharp as a knife. art of the state shows a few pieces in which he repurposed cardboard boxes and played with their printed labels and warnings. i think this "marks and stencils" show would be well worth the stop.



and just for the heckuvit, my aunt karen's delicious vegetable pan at thanksgiving. potatoes, onions, zucchini, carrots, garlic, and so on. thanksgiving dinner this year was spectacular as usual -- bigger than usual, even. but who EVER complains about a thanksgiving meal that is MORE grandiose than last?

...another thing i like? avoiding the shopping hoards on black friday. ! hooray.

beaton in the sixties // you've got mail // thanksgiving

i'm going to expound on yet another bookstore find: beaton in the sixties (link to amazon) with introduction by hugo vickers (knopf, 2004). i've been on a rad mid-century art kick lately. and woe is me, i had never really considered cecil beaton worth reading about until he was mentioned -- very briefly -- in the book pop: the genius of andy warhol by tony scherman and david dalton (my entry here). the mention? one of warhol's factoryites kicked beaton out of one of their parties because she didn't recognize him. ha!

beaton is one of those names i've always heard, but never really learned much about. he was an extremely prolific photographer, artist, and designer, and he wrote the greatest diaries! he did the most spectacular portraits of socialites, celebrities, an royalty at the time. one of my favorites is a photograph of pablo picasso with some of his work in 1965. like most artists, his personality is that of someone who wanted so much to become famous. those people are sometimes the most fun, because their ambitions are so large.

and, for the girl in me...


enough said. every year i watch this at some point. i've finally gotten my hands on my own copy. maybe what makes it so brilliant is that it's sleepless in seattle, but a few years later, with AOL. not that AOL actually exists like it did then, with dial-up and the whole shebang. there's something nostalgic about it -- nostalgia! for the internet! -- something about that short wait to get online, to see if the mailbox opens, to see if anyone wants to AIM. ;) not to mention it's the best rom-com duo in the world, plus their wonderful director, nora ephron. can i say enough good things about nora ephron? no. and parker posey! and dave chappelle! and greg kinnear!

this movie is corny. but it's hilarious. and most of all, it's sentimental EXACTLY the way i want it to be sentimental. this is the only movie of its kind where i've ever really really REALLY wanted to be the protagonist. i work in a bookstore; maybe twelve years after this movie was released, i'm unwittingly trying to become kathleen kelly. this is the movie that made me want to go to new york city for the first time; new york is magical for me in this movie. i don't care; it's because i was 14 years old when i first saw it and in you've got mail, love is perfect, and life is magical. and vice versa.

it might be just another silly rom-com to most people. but this is the singular movie that on the worst day of my life, could make me smile -- through the entire thing.

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happy thanksgiving! full of family and friends, and a drive to southern wisconsin this year. oh, the food. you bet i will have plenty to report on the food. :)