vintage dresses

I have a secret desire to own about 100 vintage (-style) dresses. I think if I can start with one, solid, stunning, quality dress I can move miles. 

Some dresses I love (all courtesty of modcloth):

Blumengarten Dress

Double-Date Dress

The Archaeologist's Daugher

After all these lovely dresses, I decided on this one to be the beginning of a collection:

 

 

 

Afternoon Company Dress

I already know exactly "where" I will wear this.  Thanks, mom & dad, for the Christmas money!

christmas dinner

The Christmas tradition for the last 28 years of my life was to have Christmas dinner at either of my Grandparents house - sometimes both! Over the last few years, with everyone growing older - that tradition has fell to the wayside. My grandfather on my mother's side passed away quite a few years ago, and now my grandmother is in a nursing home, my other grandparents are getting older. Everyone's getting older, and there are no little kids running around (which I believe to be a big pre-requisite for Christmas traditions).

Last year, we still had dinner at my grandparents & visited my grandmother. This year, we're not having any sort of dinner - just snacks (which generally means shrimp cocktail and vegetable trays- blech! & boring). It's pretty sad - but my grandfather has trouble eating due to medications his doctor has him on. So to make things easier on him - snacks it is! We'll then go out to visit my grandmother & a few other family members. But there will be no conversation around the table, no passing of the mashed potatoes, failed dishes, second helpings.

If I had it my way - I'd cook dinner for everyone! This would be the menu:

Grandma's Deviled Eggs

Fruit & Cheese Tray

Hazlenut Cranberry Field Roast
Field Roast covered in puff pastry
stuffed with cranberrys, nuts, and
field roast sausage - the YUM!

Grilled Asparagus

Garlic Mashed Red Skin Potatoes

Bread Pudding

Maybe I'll have to try to make this dinner next week as a New Year's dinner - I have 3 days off! Perhaps this could also be a new tradition. I've got to figure something out because I expect last year was the last year.

Are you skipping any family traditions this year?

handmade promenade!

 

The Handmade Promenade: Last Minute Market is next Saturday! Come support local artists & your community and find fabulous gifts for those loved ones you haven't yet bought for.  Check out the Handmade Promenade blog to get a sneak peek at the artists participating & their wares. You'll be able to find anything for unique christmas ornaments to plush toys to ceramics.

I'll have knit goods & christmas ornaments, some photos from our nom nom nom! show, calendars from pinups for pets, some sweet treats (maybe), and mamus, of course.

twenty-second

On December 27th, we finally made our Christmas Dinner!

It was too bad we didn't have any gifts left-over to unwrap after such a wonderful meal.

I couldn't find a field roast to cook, so I opted for a quorn turk'y roast. I've always had good experience with other quorn products, so I figured it was a pretty safe bet.

& I figured right. James said something to the effect that the quorn roast was the closest to the "real thing" that he has ever had.



Unfortunately, I didn't read the directions very well, and failed to notice I should get a roast bag so I could get all the delicious flavors in there. So, instead I just mixed up herbs & olive oil and poured it over top, after poking lots and lots of holes in the outer wrapping. It didn't turn out half bad!



We baked sweet potatoes!




& the best part: apple-cranberry-"sausage" stuffing & vegetarian gravy! The gravy even started getting that little film over top of it like the real stuff!




Easy 4-Ingredient Vegetarian Gravy (from vegweb.com)

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp flour
1 cup homemade (if possible) vegetable stock
whole herbs- sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, rosemary

Directions:

1. Heat oil over medium high heat. Sift in your flour evenly and stir. Cook the flour until a light tan color.
2. When your roux is a nice tan color, add your broth and spices. Cook, stirring constantly for 5-10 minutes or until thickened.
3. Remove your spices and season with salt and pepper.






Apple, Cranberry, Sausage Stuffing


Ingredients

3 cups cubed sourdough bread
10 ounces ground fake sausage (or, you can use real sausage?)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp chopped onion
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp chopped celery
Fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme (enough for your liking)
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree F (175 degree C). Spread the bread cubes in a single layer on a large baking sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes in the preheated oven, or until evenly toasted. Transfer toasted bread cubes to a large bowl.
2. In a large skillet, cook the sausage and onions over medium heat, stirring until evenly browned. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme; cook, stirring, for 2 minutes to blend flavors.
3. Pour sausage mixture over bread in bowl. Mix in chopped apples & dried cranberries.
4. Pack dressing loosely in buttered baking dish. Drizzle with stock & melted butter. Bake for 40 minutes.
5. Take stuffing out and drizzle with a little more butter. Cook about 20 minutes more, until top is is crisp & golden.


Food is awesome!

twentieth

I'm feeling more holiday spirit this year than I have, well, ever.

I enjoyed searching out gifts, i enjoyed purchasing gifts, i enjoyed wrapping gifts! (much thanks to etsy for making this part most enjoyable! - although now I am hopelessly addicted to constantly checking the site to see what new things I can find.)

I wrote Christmas cards.

I'm excited to have a Christmas eve dinner planned with James including homemade apple stuffing, roasted veggies of some sort, and (hopefully) a field roast - which I keep hearing is the perfect thing for Christmas dinner.

I have a "tree" of sorts.

I even bought a Christmas ornament!

Are you feeling more holiday spirit this year than usual?