Our Thanksgiving Episode is Online!

"Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en: Thanksgiving Time Machine: is now online!  Here's the link:

Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en: Thanksgiving Time Machine

I'm proud of this one because it's our first time doing an interview as part of the episode.  We had a great time at Plimoth Plantation and can't thank them enough for their help!

Christmas Clothes Done!

It may seem like I have a lot of time until we need Christmas clothes, but the truth is that the holidays are upon us!  Therefore I pushed and got this year's party duds done before Thanksgiving.  Time to shift back into Thanksgiving mode!

Holiday Cocktails

I'm happy to have contributed some holiday cocktails to the Pet Life Radio Holiday Magazine & Gift Guide!  Here are the cocktails.  If you're interested to read the entire magazine, you can find it here (I'm on page 25): Pet Life Radio Holiday Magazine & Gift Guide

Turkey Platter Score

We drove to a previously unexplored (by us, anyway) section of New Jersey today, so that Paul could visit an electronics store and pick up some parts.  There just happened to be a Goodwill store nearby and we just happened to drop in, which yielded this turkey platter:

The only marking on it is "Japan," which means it's pretty darned mid-century, and in the past our Thanksgiving turkey has been served on a plain old plate, so this was $6 well spent, in my humble opinion!

Feeling Crafty!

I'm in the crafty spirit these days!  I just picked up fabric for Christmas outfits (50% off at Jo-Ann Fabrics!) and a high temperature glue gun (50% off at Jo-Ann Fabrics!) to make this wreath:

http://retrorenovation.com/2010/12/11/how-to-make-a-christmas-wreath-out-of-vintage-ornaments/

I inherited a bunch of Shiny Brite ornaments (the kind used in these wreaths) last year, so this seems like a good way to feature them.

The craft stores make like crazy with the coupons this time of year and my purse is stuffed with them!  I have tons of ideas I'll be attempting soon, involving food, drink and decorating.  Get ready for lots of photos!

Boston Episode Online and Fuzzy Navel Pie

We have a new "Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en" episode online, featuring a trip to Boston!  I'm especially proud of my recipe for Molasses Flood Baked Beans, which are not something you can decide to serve at the last minute, but are definitely worth the wait!

Velveteen Lounge Kitsch-en: A Trip to Boston

One of my latest obsessions is going through the many, many, many boxes in our attic and pulling stuff out, incorporating it into our collections, getting rid of trash, and donating the things we don't want or need.  Much of this is family stuff, since we have leavings from the homes of three of my family members, as well as Paul's mother.  One of these boxes yielded a scrapbook filled with newspaper clippings of recipes, culled from a period of about 30 years.  I made a broccoli chowder from one of these clippings the other night (Los Angeles Times, 1981) and soon I plan to try this boozy pie, straight out of the disco era:

Do you think perhaps this recipe originated with the Hiram Walker Company? ;-)

Love Boat Brunch

Sunday we hosted a "Love Boat" themed brunch, which was great fun!  We had lots of food, lots of champagne cocktails and even my tweet about it, which Gavin MacLeod retweeted and I framed!

Isaac tends bar!

New Kitsch-en Curtains From Old Fabric

Check out the curtains I made for the Kitsch-en, from vintage fabric a friend gave me years ago!

I rediscovered the fabric as I was organizing my fabric scraps in the attic, a job that took DAYS.  A couple of large bags went to the trash, as those scraps were too small to use for anything, seven bags went to a quilting friend and five boxes and two big bins remain in the attic, albeit nicely organized for the first time ever.  The fabric reappeared at a good time, since the holiday entertaining season is almost upon us and our old curtains (which I'd also made) were horribly worn and faded.  It's nice to get exactly what you want for free!

$2.15 of Thanksgiving Joy

I am so happy with the $2.15 ceramic turkey napkin holder I picked up at Michael's tonight!

The little things mean so much!

Thanksgiving

I love Halloween and we had a really nice one last night at home, handing out candy to trick-or-treaters and watching the "Paul Lynde Halloween Special" and the "CHiPs" Halloween episode, "Rock, Devil, Rock."  I pulled together a costume at the last minute, by putting on a wig, using eyeliner for lipstick and vice versa and sticking some leis in my hair.

However, I'm REALLY excited because it's Thanksgiving season!  I love Thanksgiving, both because we get to host and because it's the kickoff of the holiday season for real, which is my favorite time of the year (just as long as it doesn't snow when we have to drive anywhere).  I'm mixing up our Thanksgiving menu a little this year, adding a Waldorf salad (hold the mayo - this recipe calls for walnut oil) and another meat, since we learned at Plimoth Plantation that the menu at the first Thanksgiving was more or less "Meat, meat and more meat!"  I'm thinking salmon...