Things I Love Thursday, Thanksgiving Edition: Nov. 25, 2010

Fall Fruits by am1no

It's Thanksgiving and there's lots to be thankful for, especially in the food world. I am stoked about all of the things I'm making and will be eating and the fact that I get to share it with family and friends (especially friends that travel from Seattle just to see me and eat food. Best.)

I hope you all are having a fantastic Thanksgiving, wherever you are and whoever you're with. Enjoy it!

YALSA's Not so Silent Auction: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: The Young Adult Library Services Association of the ALA is having an auction (not so silent) and this item I think is my favorite so far - YALSAtinis. Libraries and drinks? Yes and yes!

Tie Tea Cup: Best design idea ever. My tea bags are constantly falling into the cup. Simple solutions for small problems.

Guy Fieri's Thanksgiving Tips. Seriously, I can't stop laughing!

Fancy Napkin Folds: I remember doing fun stuff like this as a kid while my parents were cooking dinner. It looks cool and makes everything just a little fancier.

And more from Serious Eats (yeah, I love them because they just tell me everything I've ever wanted to know about current food stuff ever), apparently November is Peanut Butter Lover's Month. I don't really think I need to say anything else about this other than I'm sorry I waited until the end of the month to post it.

Spiced Butter Squash by Victoria Smith

  

A Brief History of Apple Pie: Cakespy does it again! I love everything about Cakespy. Seriously, everything. And since it's Thanskgiving, I love reading about apple pie. After all, I am making one. Reading about it, eating it, apple pie just screams hey, it's fall and that's awesome!

Speaking of baking, this is something everyone should learn: Five Ways to Bake Like a Grown-Up. I guess I'm a grown up now (I think that's what my driver's license says anyway), so these tips are very handy. Can you guess which one's my favorite? I might make it for you if you do get it right.

 

Tentacle Pot Pie by JWZ

I'm behind the times on this one, but The Oregonian downgraded again with their Food Guide for Non-Foodies. Now I don't love this, but what I love is the response from food bloggers and people who care about food. Sure the word foodie is obnoxious and it does conjure up a certain image, but really, this guide was insulting and people made that very clear to The Oregonian. Liking your food to taste good and come from somewhere responsible is not a bad thing. Yeesh.

Ninjabread Men Cookie Cutters?: Yes and also yes. Imagine decorating these! I love it!

Watch this. It’s 15 minutes, but so worth it. Food in film has always been something that has interested me and it was really nice to see some of my favorite food scenes included (esp. Goodfellas, The Godfather, and Big Night). Watch the abridged version if you don’t know which scene is from where. I’ve found a few films to add to my queue because of this. There’s a bunch of Thanksgiving scenes too.

I'm also loving: Amy coming to visit me for Thanksgiving (because she loves my food and copious amounts of wine); mashed potatoes; roasted brussels sprouts; herbed green beans; turkey; honey roasted sweet potatoes; creamy artichoke dip; biscuits; gravy; roasted pumpkin pie; apple pie; caramel swirl brownies with sea salt; vanilla roasted pears; family and friends chowing down together; getting in as many runs possible to make the food taste that much better; reliving a great, early moment in food creativity with Renai ("we were so ahead of our time"); hot toddies and other warm drinks; skipping the gym to watch food TV with Kirsten; food comas.

What are you loving this week? 

Thanksgiving Plans

Strutting Turkey by E Scott Wheaton

Thanksgiving is upon us! I've been plotting and planning for over a month now and did most of my shopping on Saturday at the farmer's market and Trader Joe's. Shopping locally is important to me in general, but I think it's especially important for Thanksgiving when purchasing large amounts of food. My apples and pears (for stuffing, pie, and another dessert) are from Hood River, my pie pumpkin is from Square Peg Farm in Forest Grove, my green beans and sweet potatoes are from Rick Steffen Farm in Salem, my potatoes are from Ridgefield, WA (19 miles north of the PSU Saturday Farmer's Market), my brussels sprouts are from Junction City (near Eugene), my celery and carrots are from Philomath, my onions are from Spring Hill Farm in Albany, and my cranberries are from Eagle Organic Cranberries in Bandon (my mom and dad's favorite place to go on the Oregon Coast). The turkey, from Nicky Farms, we purchased at Sheridan Fruit Company yesterday because it was killed Monday after being raised in Southern Oregon. Talk about fresh!

As always, I'm planning to make far too much food. I made challah on Saturday and cubed it for stuffing and I also made maple-orange cranberry sauce. Monday morning I made an apple-cranberry chutney. Yesterday I made two different pie doughs and vanilla bean ice cream.Today I'm making stuffing, the pies, and possibly one other dessert. And of course, Thursday, I've got a lot of stuff to do. I'm excited though. I do enjoy hosting Thanksgiving dinner and I think it's going to be great.

What are you all doing for Thanksgiving? Tell me your plans!

Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest or: How You Can Help Me Graduate

As you might be aware from all of my excuses when I'm not posting, I'm currently in semester 4 of 6 of a Master's of Library Science program. I love food, but I also love libraries. Anyway, I'm really enjoying it, even if it stresses me out. One thing that's really cool about being in this distance program is the ability we have to plan our own graduation...but that also means we have to pay for it.

Enter the Tattooed Librarians of the Pacific Northwest Calender! Most of the photos were taken by my friend Lisa at the Pacific Northwest College of Art library and even though we do look amazing, we are looking amazing for a purpose. Proceeds from calendar purchases help fund our graduation. With shopping season upon us, don't you want your money to go somewhere useful and give your friends and family an awesome present?

Yeah, you should. And spread the word! My friend Turner wrote a post about this as well, which has more details, or just check out the calendar page.

Thank you all so much and I promise the next post will be about food.

PS: I'm August.

Amazing find!

Okay, so I've been busy. I have been thinking about this blog a lot. However, I'm finishing up my fourth semester of my master's of library science program and if it's not about community needs analysis or management theory, I haven't really been doing much more than thinking about it. (and Thanksgiving too. But you know.)

Part of me being into the library world is volunteering at Title Wave, Multnomah County Library's used book store. Check out what I found what I was in there a couple of weeks ago:

I got this bad boy for NINE dollars. Retail it's FORTY. I've been staring at the pictures in this book for such a long time. I remember when my mom got it and we both marveled at the Martha Stewart wedding cake with its marzipan fruit. And now it's mine.

And hopefully soon I'll actually be able to use it.