If you don’t have inside jokes with your partner, are you even married?
There’s a term I use often in our house: Blowing Leaves. This is term I coined for Mr. KK, on a Thanksgiving morning about a decade ago (when I first wrote about this). It perfectly describes the different mentalities between moi and the hubs when it comes to “getting ready” for a holiday.
I saw this on social media today, and it inspired me to re-share this post, as it’s one of my favorites.
(remember this was 10 years ago. RIP Vito the Wonder Dog)
It was Thanksgiving morning, I had been up early, halving a million pounds of Brussels sprouts, slicing and baking Ina Garten’s Parmesan crackers, and assembling a veggie tray. There were still quite a few things to be done – not to mention me showering and drying my hair, which could take forever in itself – and with only two hours left, even if we didn’t stop to pee or drink something, we’d be cutting it close.
I was piling raw broccoli onto the glass platter when my husband walked by me dressed in windy pants, wool socks, a flannel coat and a winter hat. He was carrying gloves and headed towards the door to the garage.
“Where are you going?” I asked him. He was clearly dressed for the outdoors.
Was he running out to get something we forgot to buy?
Are the stores even open today?
“I’m going outside to blow leaves. The yard and patio are covered,” he replied, sensing nothing wrong with this answer, while we were T minus 2 hours until our guests arrived. “I should only be a half hour or so.” And with that, he was gone. Minutes later, I heard the blower start up and saw leaves swirling in a million directions as he made his way across the patio. Vito was on his feet immediately, barking at what he thought was a crazy stranger on our property. Because who else would be outside doing yard work on a holiday mere hours before 12 people were coming over?
Only a madman, obviously.
The definition of Blowing Leaves is this: starting a task that bears no relevance whatsoever on the situation at hand, and having said task take up WAY too much time and energy, both of which you do not have.
Maybe your husband’s ‘blowing leaves’ is just onemore quick video game before you’re due at a friend’s wedding. Or maybe it’s trying to fix that leaky pipe under the sink that he needs just 10 minutes for as you’re walking out the door to meet your parents for dinner. Or maybe, he’s scrolling Instagram while you’re multi-tasking like a bad ass.
No matter what the activity, every husband blows leaves.
And that’s why we love them.
May your week be easy, and the leaves stay on the trees.
We bought our Little Mister a kid-friendly “smart” watch for his birthday, in an effort to help him become more aware of time (and the passage of time, and how 30 minutes on an iPad feels different than 30 minutes of folding laundry), and his daily activity level.
Last night, he asked to wear his watch to bed so he could “track his sleep”. When he emerged from his shower this morning, he popped his watch on the charger.
“So….” I said, eyeing him expectantly, “how did you sleep?”
He deftly hit a few buttons. “Eight hours and forty four minutes!”
Almost nine hours! Oh, to be a kid again. The last time I slept for that long was…probably never? But we have been training Little Mister to be a champion sleeper and apparently it has paid off.
Somewhere, under this pile of stuffed animals, is Little Mister and our dog Rocco and potentially our dog Bruno as well.
Way back when, as I was gently placing Little Mister into his crib on the last night of my maternity leave, I whispered into his ear, “You need to sleep through the entire night”, then I kissed his head and backed out of his room.
Guess what? He slept through the night from that day forward. I believe it was because I willed it to be true, because I could not even begin to think about waking up for work every day after having been up multiple times during the night.
Up until that point, Little Mister had already been a great sleeper. In his early days, newly home from the hospital, he would sleep in 5 hours stretches of time (which, ironically, sometimes now passes as a full night’s sleep for me).
It’s no wonder that he sometimes clocks 9, 10 or 12 hours of sleep (I have had to wake him up on more than one occasion on a weekend as the clock neared 11am!)
I was never a late sleeper, and Lord knows I’m a morning person and not a night owl. As a child, I would wake up on Saturday mornings WAY before the morning cartoons started, quietly playing in my room until my parents woke up. In high school, I never needed an alarm to wake up for school. In college, well, let’s just I would lie awake on my bottom bunk waiting to hear someone in our house stirring so I could pounce on them to start the day.
I know how important sleep is for my body. Because I can’t sleep late, I try and go to sleep earlier on the front end to get some quality hours in before midnight. Almost every morning, my eyes open close to 5am. (It was 4am a few weeks back when we changed the clocks because apparently I have the sleep patterns of a toddler). Every morning Mr. KK wakes up to see my face lit up by my phone or Kindle, eagerly waiting for someone to talk to.
At this point I’m so used to being away so early. I do some of my best online shopping before the sun comes up.
Since I wasn’t a late sleeprer, I needed to ensure that I was getting quality sleep over quantity. Mr. KK and I were waking up sore every morning. I was crooked when I first would stand up, hobbling to the bathroom until I could stand up straight. We knew it was our mattress.
So a few years ago, Mr. KK and I bought a Sleep Number bed. And it changed our lives. I can control the firmness of my side of the bed with my phone, AND it tracks my sleep for me. Now I wake up (pain free, I might add) and I can see how restless I was, when I was in deep sleep, and when I got out of bed. And while I’m not sleeping any later, I am sleeping better. We have a friendly competition going of who got the better sleep score the night before. We are both tied for best score ever of 95; but for me that was only after traveling 11 straight days for work, sleeping like shit in hotel rooms, and coming home while Mr. KK was traveling and having the bed all to myself (plus 2 dogs). That night I got quality AND quantity.
I am so incredibly jealous of how well my child sleeps. Not only can he sleep late, he can stay up late! On Friday nights we’ll all be on the couch watching TV and before I know it, I’m waking up and it’s 11:34pm and Little Mister is sitting there wide eyed, holding the remote, watching a show.
And now that he is older, he wants to go to bed later. Which is the opposite of me, who wants to go to bed the minute the dinner dishes are in the dishwasher. Especially because I have no problem falling asleep within 3 minutes of climbing into bed. There are nights where Mr. KK and I can’t wait to go to sleep, and we’re ready to hop in bed the minute Little Mister turns out his lights. Those are the nights that LM loses his mind, yelling, “I DON’T WANT TO GO TO BED AT THE SAME TIME!”
To which I reply, “So go to bed earlier.”
When I heard Little Mister slept for almost nine hours, I’m not ashamed to admit that I was a little jealous. What does it feel like to sleep that long? Do you wake up feeling rested? Does your back hurt because you’ve been lying down for so long? I have so many questions.
I average about 6 hours of “good” sleep a night. The other hour I’m in bed is me tossing and turning, trying to get comfortable around the two dogs who are bed hogs, and thinking. Making my mental lists of what appointments need to be made, what we need at the store, what time the holiday concert is, whether or not I need to adjust Little Mister’s dismissal plan. Not to mention what’s for dinner, what’s going into lunches and when was the last time that the little dog Lucy pooped.
All this to say: I’m incredibly jealous of Little Mister’s carefree life that enables him to sleep late. And that it’s barely 9pm right now and I can’t keep my eyes open!
We’ve all been there: you’re mindlessly scrolling on Instagram and your finger slips, accidentally clicking on a sponsored post of a dog dressed up as a newscaster, and all of a sudden your entire feed is filled with talking dogs. Or kids who swear. Or the clogs that will haunt you until you buy them. Or whatever plagues your feed.
For me, it was a ring. A gold ring that looked like an octopus. Except I didn’t click on it by accident, I clicked on it purposefully.
I’m not a big jewelry wearer. I have a ‘kk’ necklace that I’ll wear. And my wedding rings. But that’s about it. No earrings. Nothing extra.
But there was something about this ring. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And then – because I clicked (or thought about it?) – it was everywhere in my socialsphere.
image from atolea.com
I showed it to Mr. KK one day casually. Like, ‘you know me, I’m not a jewelry girl, but this ring is pretty cool’. And then life went on, as it does.
In August, Mr. KK and I celebrated our 20-year wedding anniversary. I’m using the term “celebrated” loosely, because while the three of us had a nice dinner out on the actual day, we didn’t really do it up big. In the past, we likely would have gone away somewhere. But, because 2025 was such a bitch, our anniversary came and went quietly.
A few days after our anniversary, Mr. KK handed me a box. And inside was the octopus ring! (Mr. KK is always paying attention and listening! Even after 20 years!)
I love the ring! And not only is it a cool design, what it represents is so meaningful to me. My friend ChatGPT had this to say:
The significance of the octopus lies in its remarkable intelligence, adaptability, and regenerative abilities, which symbolize a range of concepts including versatility, creativity, resilience, and transformation….in contemporary culture, they represent problem-solving and innovation.
But that’s not all!
Octopus Symbolic Meaning
Intelligence and Creativity:
As one of the most intelligent invertebrates, the octopus represents problem-solving, creative thinking, and innovation.
Adaptability and Versatility:
Its ability to change its color, shape, and texture, along with its fluid movement, makes it a symbol of adaptability and the capacity to navigate complex situations.
Resilience and Regeneration:
The octopus’s power to regrow lost limbs symbolizes renewal, healing, growth, and the ability to overcome adversity.
Multitasking:
The eight limbs of the octopus are often seen as a representation of the human ability to juggle multiple tasks and responsibilities.
This is me! Maybe I loved this ring subconsciously because of what it represents.
For my birthday this year, Mr. KK and I indulged in a long weekend in Nantucket.
“The best gift you could give me is to let me plan this entire trip,” I told Mr. KK.
Nantucket had been on my bucket list of trips for a decade, mostly thanks to me reading (and re-reading, and listening to) Elin Hildebrand novels. From the pages of her books, I fell in love with the island of Nantucket, and I just knew I would feel right at home when I finally got there.
I planned this trip for almost a full year. And by this, I mean I researched, read blogs, followed restaurant Instagram accounts and referencing Elin’s “The Blue Book” she put together in her book The Hotel Nantucket.
Me and Elin Hildebrand at her book signing, just a few days before I headed to Nantucket!
Planning 3 Days in Nantucket
I planned our trip for the third week in June, before the summer crowds but when it was warm enough that we could have a beach day. My list of places I wanted to go, restaurants I wanted to eat at and things to see was so long, I may as well should have been planning a month-long sojourn.
The excitement I felt seeing that lighthouse from the ferry (after reading about it in so many books) was incredible. NOTE: Elin Hildebrand’s “Swan Song” in my bag!
The Best Hotel in Nantucket
If you’ve ever looked at hotels in Nantucket, you know that it can cost a small fortune for lodging. I knew we wanted to be close to town so we could walk everywhere, and while I was willing to splurge a bit, I wasn’t White Elephant splurging.
I booked a room at The Salt Hotel in June of 2023 for the following year. When I went to share the website with a friend, the website no longer existed and redirected to a hotel called The Brant. After a quick panic attack I found that the hotel was under new management and had a new name. And after a quick phone call I discovered that they did indeed have our room reservation for the following June. PHEW.
I cannot even begin to describe how amazing The Brant Hotel is. First, it’s an easy walk from the ferry (even dragging a rolling suitcase). Second, it’s an easy walk from the hotel to Jetties Beach. Third, it’s a quick walk to town. Basically, the location is perfect.
Everything was new. They had just built this gorgeous barn that served as a front desk/bar/breakfast/gathering place. Just the craftmanship of the building, and the attention to detail was pure Nantucket. They had copper gutters!
The Brant’s signature color was orange (my favorite!) so it felt like a perfect match! They had these cute bikes you could use, however I didn’t think riding around on cobblestone streets was the best way to reintroduce my body to a bike after 25 years.
We arrived around 10am from our ferry – way before check in time – and not only was our room ready, they upgraded us! The hotel wasn’t very busy, so we had the opportunity to spend a bit of time chatting with the staff and enjoying the beautiful quad area with lounge chairs, corn hole and fire pit.
After our stay, I noticed that The Brant started to get quite popular, even winning a Michelin Key! It is likely out of our price range now, but I’m so happy we had a chance to stay with them when they were just starting out. The staff was superb.
Day 1 in Nantucket
Because we arrived so early, we had a full day ahead of us. Once we were checked into the hotel, we changed into bathing suits and borrowed chairs from the hotel and walked the 3/4 of a mile down to Jetties Beach. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but a little windy.
We spent a few hours on the beach then headed up to The Sandbar for lunch. The Sandbar is the quintessential beach bar. I loved everything about this place – from the retro 1970s logo to the frosé to the amazing spicy swordfish sandwich. They had me at homemade potato chips. Seriously, I could have gone here every day of our trip. There is just something about hanging out in a cover up, skin salty from the sea air, sand on your feet, drinking the day away.
The drink menu at The Sandbar
Three cocktails and one t-shirt later, we were on our way back to the hotel to relax on the comfy lounge chairs. I think I even took a quick nap in the sun, it was glorious.
Dinner our first night was at the coveted Nautilus. We had eaten at the Nautilus in Boston, but knew we had to try and snag a table at the one in Nantucket. We luckily had an 8:30 reservation. Before dinner we did a little cocktail hopping, first at or, The Whale on their beautiful back patio. Then we scored two bar seats in the dark and cozy Pearl, where I had the most delicious martini called the Ooh Mami Tini, which was made with vodka, fine sherry, umami bitters, olive brine and blue cheese olives. FANTASTIC.
Our cocktails at The Pearl. Check out my fancy coupe glass for my martini.
We arrived at Nautilus starving, only to find they were running behind and our table wasn’t ready. We grabbed (another) drink while we waited, which turned out to be about 45 minutes (!) – did I mention how hungry we were?
Nautilus has one of those menus where everything sounds amazing, and you usually just start ordering and dishes just start appearing at the table. We ate many delicious things, but the stand out dish for us were the Romano beans. Sounds silly, but these beans were prepared in a sauce that was so tasty, here we are 5 months later and Mr. KK and still talk about them. They were that good. We ate them so fast we didn’t even get a picture of them! But I did get a photo of the blue crab fried rice, which was also delicious.
Day 2 in Nantucket
Well, Day 1 was pretty damn near perfect, it was going to be hard to top it on Day 2. We woke up to sunshine and blue skies, and still talking about those Romano beans (seriously, so delicious!). We grabbed a quick breakfast at the barn (did I mention that they offer a complimentary continental breakfast that is actually good?) and we hopped on a bus to ‘Sconset to do the Bluff Walk.
Nantucket has a pretty robust bus system that can take you all over the island that is free during the summer months. The ride out to ‘Sconset was about 30 minutes. From drop off it was a short walk over to the start of the Bluff Walk, which is a path that runs a few miles along the ocean and basically in the backyards of waterfront homes. You are literally walking behind houses and waving to people on their back porches. They are, of course, used to people all up in their privacy, as it comes with living along the bluff. We walked all the way to the Sankaty Head Lighthouse in the blazing sun, but it felt good exercising and working off those Romano beans and 27 cocktails.
Us, sweating along the Bluff Walk.
After we got back, showered and cooled off, we headed to Cisco Brewers. There’s a convenient free shuttle right from town that was a 5 minute walk from our hotel. If you go to Nantucket, a visit to Cisco is a must. The place has a vibe. If you don’t drink beer, there’s no need to worry, because they also have wine (and frosé!) and Triple 8 distillery with mixed cocktails. Plus, multiple food trucks. There is literally something for everyone. The place was jamming on a late Friday afternoon; the crowd was bachelorette parties, locals, Chads after their rounds of golf, tourists, couples, and everyone in between. We hadn’t eaten since breakfast, so once we secured our first drink (beer for Mr. KK and – you guessed it! – frosé for me), we shared a lobster roll from one of the food trucks. There was live music and OH MY GOODNESS the people watching. That was probably my favorite part.
That night, we had reservations at Dune (which I just now learned has permanently closed, which is so unfortunate because the food was delicious!). We were able to walk to dinner (again, GREAT hotel location) and we were ready to eat! We shared a few appetizers, and I ordered the chicken and Mr. KK ordered the pork tenderloin. Once again, everything was delicious, and the presentation was beautiful. We were seated inside, but it looked like the restaurant had a pretty lively patio as well.
Food coma!
Day 3 in Nantucket
We woke up excited for the day, but also with a little sadness that this was our last full day. We grabbed iced coffees in town and walked to breakfast at Island Kitchen, which was a decent walk to mid-island. We sat outside and enjoyed a few bloodies.
We also walked back to burn off our breakfast burrito and avocado toast, and then spent the day wandering the cobblestone streets, popping into stores, and being tourists. Mr. KK bought more souvenirs for himself on this trip than he has on every other trip we’ve gone on together over the last 25 years.
My favorite photo from our trip. If you don’t see hydrangeas did you even go to Nantucket?
We were booked on The Endeavor sail boat that afternoon, for a two-hour tour of the harbor. The day was overcast for the most part, but when we sailed out we say some hints of a blue sky. We enjoyed relaxing on the boat as we cruised around Nantucket, dodging yachts and ferries.
Us, chilling on The Endeavor. I’ve never met a boat I didn’t like. If there’s a sailing excursion where I am, I will be on that boat.
We had some time to kill, so we headed back to Jetties Beach for buck-a-shuck oysters from 3-5pm. Talk about a good deal!
Our last dinner was at The Proprietors Bar and Table, or “Props” as the locals call it. The restaurant is in what looks like an old house, and we were seated upstairs. We had a delicious meal (once again) and were talking about how we wish we could just teleport back to the hotel, when the waitress came over to see if we wanted dessert. We said no, and then she reminded me that we were there celebrating my birthday, and I had to have dessert. “I’ll bring you a dessert!” she told me.
Dessert came with a candle, and Mr. KK captured the moment for me.
The dessert was…fine. I’m not a big dessert person, and none of the desserts were really jumping out at me to begin with. We ate a few bites, took this momentous photos, and then both threw in the towel. The biggest surprise was when the bill came. The birthday dessert that the waitress insisted I have and that she “bring me”, was charged to us for $20! No dessert is worth $20, especially one I didn’t really want in the first place.
Day 4 in Nantucket
We were on the 12:30 ferry home, so we had enough time to head out for one last delicious meal on island before heading back to reality.
We chose to eat at Black Eyed Susans and it was delicious! We sat at the counter and were mesmerized watching the cook handle the volume of breakfast orders. With full bellies we headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and check out.
We were going to miss The Brant so much! I’m not bougie but I can slip into that lifestyle like it was my job.
I give our Nantucket weekend 10/10 stars. Each thing we did or experienced was so much better than I had imagined it would be. It’s the kind of place you visit once, and you never want to leave…or you can’t wait to come back.
It’s easy to see how so many people come for a short period of time and never end up leaving. I can’t wait to plan a second trip and come back.
Mr. KK and I both come from Italian families. On both our mothers’ and fathers’ sides, all Italian.
When we started dating approximately one million years ago, we would compare the Italian traditions our families had. While some were the same – fish only on Christmas Eve and ham pie on Easter – we discovered that while both families were Italian, there were different recipes and traditions each followed.
First, Mr. KK’s grandmother would put hard boiled eggs in her meatloaf and top it with bacon, while our meatloaf was unstuffed and naked on top. My grandmother would put pepperoni in her escarole and beans, and Mr. KK’s family made a no-meat version. Mr. KK’s family enjoyed basket cheese on Easter (eaten sliced with salt and pepper?), while my family put the basket cheese in the Pizza chiena (aka: Italian ham pie).
In sharing our families’ traditions, Mr. KK told me how his grandmother would make pasta with anchovies. Prior to this courtship, anchovies were not part of my food repertoire (unless you count the ones in caesar dressing).
Fast forward a bunch of decades, and I’m listening to Ina Garten’s podcast “Be My Guest”, and she has Bobby Flay coming to visit her in the barn to chat and cook. And what does he make for Ina after they talk, pasta with anchovy butter!
It just so happened that I found myself with an open can of anchovies with two missing (that I had used for a salad dressing); what better way to use them up than in a delicious pasta.
Bobby Flay’s recipe was a little more complicated, involved a food processor that would be caked with butter and impossible to clean, and used fettuccini. I used his recipe as a guide, but modified it to be less labor intensive, and to use fresh pappardelle pasta, one of my personal favorites.
Pasta with Anchovies Recipe
This pasta dish is easy to make with just a few ingredients. Serves 2.
Ingredients:
1 stick of unsalted butter 8 anchovy fillets (removed from oil) 9 oz fresh wide pasta (I used pappardelle, but fettuccini works too) Lemony breadcrumbs (recipe below)
Lemony breadcrumbs:
1 Tbsp unsalted butter 1 Tbsp olive oil 1 clove of garlic, minced to a paste 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs Zest of one lemon Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Make the lemony breadcrumbs. Melt the butter and oil in a small frying pan together. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant (don’t let it burn!), then add the breadcrumbs and stir until coated. Continue stirring and toasting until golden brown. Add lemon zest and stir. Let cool.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. Once water is boiling, start melting the butter.
Melt the butter in a large frying pan and add the anchovies. As the butter melts, break up the anchovies with a wooden spoon or spatula. Add the pasta to the water. Fresh pasta usually only takes minutes to cook. Once cooked add pasta to the butter and anchovies and reserve a cup of pasta water.
Toss the pasta with the butter until evenly coated. Add a small amount of pasta water to help coat the pasta. Divide pasta into two shallow bowls. Top with breadcrumbs.
***
If you’ve never had anchovies I suggest you try this. It’s not fishy and has more of a rich, salty taste.
This post is always meant to be one you can “read” with mindless scrolling through photos to experience our Thanksgiving. For those keeping track at home, the day started at 6:30am and ended at 10pm when the last guest left. A full day of food, laughs and drinks.
This photo diary includes recipes from our Thanksgiving meal! So here we go!
Today started before the sun came up. This is me, Black Friday shopping and simultaneously planning out the day’s timeline while lying in bed.
If you look closely you can see the reflection of the phone in my glasses.
I shared this tip last year, but here it is again. Your 2 best friends on Thanksgiving Day are: chicken stock and your phone – the alarms on your phone that is. I plan my whole day out and set alarms to keep me honest.
Next, you should be sure to taste taste everything to see if it needs more salt, or more bourbon.
Crazy hair, no makeup and full-on prep mode. Taste-testing the punch at 10:39am.
Our first step in making Thanksgiving a little easier (besides my phone alarm trick) was to make a punch ahead of time so we could eliminate the need for Mr KK to make 1,000,000 drinks before he could get a sip of his own cocktail. This punch was a crowd pleaser! Highly recommend – here’s the recipe for Bourbon Rosemary punch.
Aren’t they beautiful?
When we prep for hosting, I’m usually in charge of the inside of the house – which includes watching the dogs and entertaining Little Mister – while Mr. KK handles the outside. Yesterday was a little over 50 degrees, so we were able to set up our patio heater and chairs on our new deck in case anyone wanted to get some fresh air.
Mr. KK in his signature party day move: blowing leaves.Two minutes before everyone arrived…let’s hope this all goes well! (Little did I know the fried turkey fiasco that was to follow!)
No one wanted to enjoy the deck…but we found 5 minutes to take a breather out there.
Let’s talk turkey…and everything else!
We did 2 turkeys again this year: a full turkey in the fryer (house in still intact) and a turkey breast in the oven. Both turkeys came out amazingly juicy! My mother-in-law preps the turkeys, and my father-in-law drives the birds over the morning of Thanksgiving and enjoys a drink with Mr. KK (and me!). Our turkey breast had a garlic and herb marinade and the fryer turkey had a rub on it.
Everyone makes jokes about my mother-in-laws breasts (we are nothing if not inappropriate) as part of tradition.
Another punch for me!
Thanksgiving Menu 2022
Appetizers
Butternut Squash Soup Shooters with Creme Fresh. I used this recipe for the soup and it was delicious. The sage and ginger really added a depth of flavor.
Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Rugelach
Every Christmas I make cinnamon and sugar rugelach, but this is a savory take on one of my favorite cookies. I used this savory rugelach recipe, but substituted gruyere for the cheddar, and candied pecans for the candied walnuts, just to put my own spin on it.
Interestingly, I found the recipe in a magazine – yes, a paper magazine – and I didn’t even look it up. Well, if you click on the recipe link, you’ll see that this recipe only got 1.5 stars from 2 reviewers. From personal experience, this recipe got 5 stars across the board from our family! Perhaps it was the subtle changes I made (nuttier cheese vs boring cheddar). But I highly recommend. Plus, you make it with pre made pie dough so it’s super easy.
Getting ready to cut and roll the rugelach.Here they are! The can brown quite a bit on the bottom when the sugar from the pecans oozes out, but that just adds flavor!
The last appetizer I made was the Spicy Whipped Fetafrom this blog post. Somehow, I didn’t get a pick of it, but it was also really good; I served it with baby naans.
Soup Course
Our cousin (cousin in law?) made a delicious, light soup. I’m going from memory, but it was a veal stock with chicken and mortadella meatballs, with escarole and ditallini. It was the perfect first course!
Main Meal
The turkeys were the real stars of the show, and TBH, I don’t even really love turkey. But I loved picking off the crispy skin and dark meat that fell off the fried turkey!
That is one nice looking breast (well, two actually).Dueling carvers! And a very messy kitchen!
This is happiest Mr. KK looked after an hour of stress when the new turkey fryer pan set up DID NOT WORK and he put the turkey in the oil and it barely covered the turkey. This was after the oil wasn’t hot enough and we had to heat it for another half hour. This was all going on while we were serving up the soup course, so thankfully no one heard all the swearing going on in the front yard. But it all worked out and we ended up with one golden brown bird. The best part about the fried turkey is that a 16 pound bird cooks in about 45 minutes!
For sides, we had stuffing (made with sourdough, apples, pancetta and apricots), mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing and Ina’s Cacio e Pepe Asparagus.
All assembled, it looked like this:
Little Mister was not a fan of any of the food we were serving (aren’t 8 year olds fun??) but he agreed to try some foods (which was a win). Here is his plate, which could easy be called “Deconstructed Thanksgiving” and be served in a Michelin Star restaurant for $50.
After he finished “eating” the plate looked the exact same except a small piece of turkey was gone (he gave turkey a “Maybe”), the tip of the asparagus was missing (10 minutes of chewing with a weird look on his face) and all of the sweet potatoes were gone (“this tastes like pumpkin pie filling”).
Dessert
Pecan pie, pumpkin pie and cheesecake!
I am done fighting with WordPress and why it keeps adding this photo upside down. I have tried to fix this about 4 times. You get the idea.
I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving with loved ones!
8:04am…time to start changing this house into Christmas!
I think we can all agree that when November rolls around, summer is officially over. (I tend to hold onto summer for as long as possible, and will consider 65 degree October days basically an extensions of summertime). However, global warming is starting to mess with my logic, considering it was 75 degrees and sunny this past November 12th. The next day it was 20 degrees cooler, but that’s New England for ya.
November is a tricky time of year for me. We host Thanksgiving each year, so naturally I look forward to having everyone over, curating a menu and signature cocktail and eating, eating eating! Our house is decorated for fall, with leaves and pumpkins and oranges and browns. This is the first year I really got into fall decorating; and since orange is an accent color of our family room, the decor fits in seamlessly.
I love little houses! I have them out all year round, and decorate around them with the theme of the season.
But the problem with November, is that it’s not December.
While I like Thanksgiving, I LOVE Christmas. Like, LOVE LOVE. It is my most favorite time of the year (even better than birthday week), and each year I am itching to get started early. I am, however, shamed for these thoughts by Mr. KK and Little Mister. In fact, I took Little Mister to Target with me in October, and I happened to find some Christmas decor items in my cart (not sure how they got there?). When we got home, the little tattletale went right up to Mr. KK and yelled, “MOM BOUGHT CHRISTMAS STUFF!”
Thanks, a lot, dude. After I took you to Target for toys.
I also made the mistake of putting on Christmas music one morning while I was driving Little Mister around, and he ratted me out again! Where is this kid’s allegiance?
I’ve had our fall decor up two months now and I’m getting tired of it. I ran the idea of switching to Christmas BEFORE Thanksgiving, however Mr. KK was not too keen on the idea of eating turkey next to a tree.
So, the fall decor will stay up until the clock strikes midnight on Thanksgiving night and then it’s all Christmas, all the time.
When we were first married, Black Friday used to mean a fun day of shopping and lunch. Then we had Little Mister and after a two years of Black Friday fun when he could be in a stroller, we realized that crowded shopping and lunch we not as fun with a toddler. After that, Black Friday became Christmas decorating day!
So this year, the seasonal switcheroo will start early on the Friday after Thanksgiving, and go all day until it’s done. It takes hours to transform the house, and even longer with Little Mister wanting to “play” with my decorations. I’m not particular about much, but the Christmas decorating, that is MY project. Everything has a place, and I use photos from previous years to ensure the decor is where it should be.
And, of course, I have already been secretly purchasing new holiday decor items.
I loved this item at Target from last year, but it sold out quickly. I was so happy to see it back this year! I won’t be using it as a stocking holder; instead, it will fit nice on a shelf in my built in bookcase. And it lights up! How cute is that!
My decor color scheme tends to be in the cream, silver and gold family, so this tree will fit right in. It’s pretty tall, too, so will add some great height on the tops of our built ins. Also comes in green with colorful ornaments.
The key to a successful Christmas is having a strong wrapping paper game early on the season. I have already identified my wrapping color scheme for the season, and am up to my armpits in new wrapping paper, ribbons and gift tags.
T-minus one week until Operation: Christmas here at the house. Just have to get through turkeys and pumpkin pie, but my eye is on the prize. I’ll even be able to share photos before the end of November!
What’s your POV: Christmas decor before or after Thanksgiving?
Gift giving is especially interesting this year. But based on the last 8 months, I feel you can’t go wrong with alcohol. And if you have friends who enjoy fancy libations, this will be their favorite gift.
For Father’s Day, I got Mr. KK a 3-month subscription to Shaker & Spoon Cocktail Club. Our date night’s out had turned to date night’s in, so why not kick off the night with craft cocktails?
The idea behind this subscription box is simple: each month you receive a box of 3 recipes and everything you need to make 12 drinks (4 from each recipe) of cocktail goodness. The only thing you need to purchase is the spirit: one bottle makes cocktails for the entire box (and then some).
The recipes are crafted from mixologists across the country, with little-known ingredients such as fancy bitters or aromatics, hard-to-find sodas and garnishes.
For our subscription, we enjoyed the tequila, Japanese whiskey and mezcal boxes. It was fun trying new cocktails, and pairing foods and snacks to match.
Tonight we sampled the El Palenque, made with Mezcal, pineapple shrub, lime ginger beer.
Each drink comes printed on it’s own recipe card with full directions, method and glass type.
This was my first mezcal drink, and it was…smoky. Not offensive, but you can definitely taste the smoke. When we make our second drinks (each kit makes 4 of each kind of cocktail!) we substituted tequila for the mezcal, and I got stronger notes of pineapple. Both versions were good, and were a drink I would never think up on my own (let alone have pineapple shrub lying around!)
We had so much fun with our subscription box, and helped us try new cocktails and break us out of our “old standbys”.
I love this gift!
Past subscription boxes have included vodka, aperol, elderberry liquor and more. Each cocktail is unique. You can skip any box you’re not interested in (how cool is that?) And the best part of the gift is the active social community on Facebook for members: people who post photos of drinks, their at-home bar set ups and glassware – these are my spirit (animals).
‘Screen time’ is a buzzword, most often used by professionals and websites telling people how they are bad parents when their children get too much of it. Little Mister does not do a ton of screen time at home, however I question whether these experts who pooh-pooh ipads for kids have ever tried to get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour, eat a meal at a restaurant while it was still hot, or just wanted 1 hour to get the grocery shopping done without having to answer the question, “Can we get this?” 3,728 times.
Now, adults are being judged on their screen time. It was either with one of the latest iPhones or one of the millions of updates that I started getting these weekly “Screen Time” alerts, where my phone would scold me tell me how much time I spent on my phone in the past week.
(by the way, that “5:41” at the top is AM folks, not PM)
I spend a lot of time on my phone.
I am an early riser. I mean EARLY. (Don’t even get me started on Daylight Savings Time, when for the past 2 days I’ve basically woken up in the middle of the night).
And when I wake up, I need something to do to occupy my mind and time that is not loud or disruptive. Sometimes I read. But most times, I’m on my phone, scrolling, researching, planning.
Sure, I’m catching up on social media and reading articles that Facebook thinks I’ll like, and mentally shopping all of the goodies I see on Insta with the #targetdoesitagain.
But these early morning hours, these are the hours I’m most productive.
Here are some of the things I accomplish while the world still sleeps:
Catch up on all my emails that came in the night before
Check my calendar and mentally plan out the morning, and my day at work
Sign up for exercise classes for the upcoming days/week
Organize my photos and upload them to Shutterfly
During the holidays, get inspiration for gifts and make lists
Shop! I’m Amazon’s best customer before the sun comes up
Peruse family vacation houses
Make a grocery list
Research anything that Mr. KK and I have been taking about in the last few days: recipes for Thanksgiving, activities for the Little Mister, the new brewery opening up
Of course, when Mr. KK finally wakes up, it’s likely I’ve been on my phone for a few hours by that point, so he barely has an eye open when I start bombarding him with questions, showing him recipes and asking him to look at the 37 links I texted him while he was sleeping.
Hey, if I’m going to be awake, I’m going to be productive.
NaBloPoMo can be a stressful time in the KK household. The added pressure of coming up with new blog posts every day for 30 days – often at night, after we put the Little Mister to bed, when all I want to do is lay in a semi-comatose state on the couch – can wear on you.
What started out as an innocent question has turned into a bit of a joke. Every night I ask Mr. KK, “What should I write my blog post about today?” and every day he replies, “How about how much you love your husband?” He’s (mostly) kidding.
So the joke is on him, today. I’m taking him up on his blog idea. And I’m writing an entire post about some of the things I love most about Mr. KK:
He’s an amazing father to our Little Mister. Even when LM was going through his ‘mommy phase’, and he didn’t so much as want to give Mr. KK the time of day, Mr. KK was patient (for the most part!), finding special times for just the two of them to hang out (and give Mom a bit of a break). Now they’re best buds.
He’s a perfectionist. I make fun of him for this, how we can’t hang something on the wall without using 47 tools and it taking 3 hours. But his attention to detail and desire to do things the right way, say a lot about who he is as a person, his integrity, and how he approaches his job and his life in general.
He’s a good sport when I make fun of him for “blowing leaves”. We have a term in our house: blowing leaves. I actually posted about it a few years ago. Blowing leaves is described as this: starting a task that bears no relevance whatsoever on the situation at hand, and having said task take up WAY too much time and energy, both of which you do not have. For example, we’re cleaning up the house when we have people coming over, and Mr. KK pulls out 3 months of bills and receipts and starts to organize them. REALLY???
He’s my biggest fan. When I told him I wanted to change careers a few years ago? He 100% supported me. He loves all the meals I cook. He doesn’t question my crazy ideas and decisions. He takes over when I have to travel for work like it’s no big deal. And he knows I don’t mean it when I act a little crazy.
He’s humble. Mr. KK never wants to be the center of attention. Even when he’s the smartest person the in room, knows the right way to do something, or is being told he’s wrong when he’s really right, he keeps quiet. He’ll usually choose the path that makes life easier for others, and not complain. Unlike his lovely wife. 🙂
He’s a good human. He was raised well (hats off to you, mother-in-law KK!) and he genuinely cares about other people’s feelings. I tend to push him to be a little more aggressive when it comes to advocating for himself, but that’s probably why we balance each other out so well.
I’ve probably embarrassed him enough, so I’ll stop now.
Life of kk 