The Pilgrims gave thanks for religious freedom and shared a meal in 1621 with the Native American Indians whom had taught them how to grow corn, fish and survive the bitter winters with warm coats made from beaver pelts. It wasn’t until George Washington was president that he made a Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1789.

Today we have much to be thankful for and can each celebrate our freedoms with family and friends as we choose.

Linda’s grandchildren are many states away in New Mexico and started their Thanksgiving weekend by going “unplugged” – no computer games, no phones, no tablets. They began yesterday doing art projects like rock painting, making holiday window clings with puffy paint, and building a 1000-piece puzzle together.

Rosemarie and Allen are celebrating in their beautiful home in the Bay Area (CA) with 18 of their family. They are thankful for every chaotic, laughter-filled and food-infused moment. And anyone who knows this family knows it is a family that can cook!

To each of you, our friends, we wish you a joy-filled day.

Ring, Ring! I hear bubbly calling. Bubbly being one of the basic food groups. (Psst…just in case there is someone who doesn’t know, we can’t call bubbly or sparkling wine “champagne” unless it is grown and bottled in the Champagne region of France.) An excellent source of information can be found at https://www.champagne.fr/en/comite-champagne/bureaus/bureaus/united-states

Today is the day to do some bubbly shopping.

Tips for bubbly selection

• If it is in the budget, we say champagne all-the-way! Visit your local wine merchant and seek out their advise. Or, ask a knowledgeable friend. Champagne drinkers love to chat up bubbly. They may even invite you to a sample glass or two.
• Know the type of champagne you like best. In order of dry to sweet: Brut, Extra Dry Brut or Extra Sec, Demi Sec, and Doux
• Chill bottles in an ice bucket. A quick chill can be done by filling a champagne bucket with ice and adding water. It will chill in 20 minutes.

Glasses and ice bucket can be found at http://www.juliska.com/new-featured/featured/pop-fizz-clink

Tips for serving

• Serve in a champagne flute or a pinot noir style glass. You choose. Flutes are elegant. A pinot noir style glass will give your nose a chance to smell the champagne better which triggers your taste buds.
• Always have cocktail napkins available. Guests, please use them. Particularly important when sitting the glass down on furniture that may become damaged from leaving a wet ring on wood or certain metals.
• An antipasto platter with olives, high butter fat cheeses or robust cheeses, nuts, dried fruits, and salamis all pair well with champagne and make an excellent an easy hors d’Oeurve. (Remember finger foods served before the meal are called hors d’Oeuvres and when served as a first course it is called an appetizer.)

Gotta run. My bubbly glass is empty.

 

 

Setting the table confounds many people. How do we know this? To borrow the slogan from Farmer’s Insurance, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.”

This beautiful table features Juliska’s line of china, flatware and napkins. We love their European influence and pure artistry of their designs so much that half of the illustrations in “Which Fork Do I Use?” are Juliska’s Berry & Thread. And don’t get us started on their elegant stemware!

Simple tips to a no-fail table setting experience for all ages:

• Beverage glasses are always placed on the right side of the place setting.
• The water glass is set at the tip of the knife and all other wine glasses are placed in the order of use. For example, if you were serving soup and wanted to pour sherry for your guests a small sherry glass would be placed closest to you, the diner.
• When using a beautiful charger in the middle of the place setting, it rests at the edge of the table. In the photo above, the charger is hanging over the table edge. Most likely it is a narrow table and it is the only way they can set both sides of the table. This is where we use a standard slogan, “As long as you know the rules, you can break them.”
• Bread and butter plates are always in the upper left side of the place setting.
• Flatware is placed in the order of use. And please don’t set a teaspoon on the table, unless you are serving soup and don’t have soup spoons. If salad is being served on your dinner plate and not as a separate course with a plate all to itself, then you don’t need to set salad forks either. Knife blades face inward to the dinner plate.
• Napkins are placed either on the charger or dinner plate, or to the left. This is good information even if you aren’t setting a table anytime soon. You don’t want to be guilty of reaching to the right and grabbing your neighbor’s napkin. Before the meal begins, you will be outed because someone is going to be missing a napkin. And don’t say we didn’t warn you!

 

 

Today is the day to make your grocery shopping list and start checking off your “to do” tasks on the master list you created a week ago. You did make a list, didn’t you? Never mind…of course you made a list.

In a shameless plug, last holiday season Better Homes and Garden featured the Check-off List and Timeline from “Which Fork Do I Use?” in their Holiday Entertaining issue that was on the shelves from September – December. Can’t read the small print? Please visit our website to order your full copy of our award-winning book. We’ll personalize it if you leave us a note.

There are some key tasks you can do early to reduce stress on Thanksgiving day. Don’t be that host who is frantically looking for a special bowl or platter, and then not be able to remember which closet or special hiding spot (under the bed) that you placed it. Get those servings pieces out now, along with serving spoons and forks. Put stickie notes inside the bowls and include which food you want to go in that dish. This is especially helpful if you have others helping you. If guests are bringing side dishes, pull out extra serving spoons and have them readily available in case you need them for your dinner.

Take your carving knives and paring knives to have them sharpened. Once you have sharp knives to work with you’ll wonder why you don’t have them sharpened more often.

Begin to do the shopping for extra ice, cocktail napkins, cocktail fixings and set up your bar area now.  Set out cocktail glasses, arrange the napkins, get out the equipment necessary to mix cocktails, and call one of your guests to ask them to be your mixologist. One more task checked off your list! If you’ve been watching the Food Network chefs this past week, they been busy creating turkey day cocktails. One in particular made with pumpkin puree stands out. Did you know you can buy pumpkin pie spice vodka? Time to go try out that recipe. We’ll be back later.

 

 

 

We live in a time when families have not passed on the traditions of a polite society to our younger generation. This is not to say, that polite young adults don’t exist. They do. We, at Manners Simply, endeavor to encourage and inform others about everything pertaining to dining. In this Part Two of guest responsibilities when being invited for dinner at the home of another we will address table manners.

Often times in the hectic season of the holidays, hosts will invite guests outside of the family. With family a host generally, but not always, knows of specific food allergies. It is the host’s duty to inquire if a guest has any dietary restrictions such as seafood allergies, medical diet restrictions or gluten intolerance. With that in mind, when you are a guest at someone’s home, you eat what you are being served. If it isn’t to your liking, make an attempt to eat a small portion of it, or at least move it around on your plate to make it look as though you have some interest in it. The host should not say to you “oh, don’t you like the ______” as that is insensitive.

Parents should prep their children in advance of going to dinner at the home of someone else. Explain what the expectations are and what the decorum of the day will look like. Perhaps you don’t say grace before you begin a meal at your home, but the host does. A host may make a toast after saying grace to welcome everyone. Throughout the meal, others may make a toast. It’s wonderful to teach your children a toast to make. They’ll steal the show!

It’s important for all guests to follow the lead of the host. So, this means don’t begin serving yourself food until the host indicates the meal is beginning. She’ll do this by starting to pass the first item around the table if the meal is served family style or encourage everyone to serve themselves from the nearest serving bowl.

Some basic dining tips for everyone

• Place your table napkin on your lap after the host has placed the napkin in their lap. Providing the table has been set correctly, your napkin will be placed either on the left of the dinner plate, or on top of the empty dinner plate or charger.
• Pass foods to the right, and not across the table and don’t have some foods being passed to the left and some to the right.
• Pass salt and pepper sets together. They are married.

A beautiful seasonal salt and pepper set sold by Williams Sonoma.

• Don’t serve yourself a second serving of food unless the host indicates for everyone to eat more if they would like.
• Butter your dinner rolls on the plate. Don’t break it apart mid-air to butter it. Break off a bite-sized piece at a time, butter it and then eat it. Leaving it on the plate to butter and break apart prevents breadcrumbs from soiling the table linens.
• Talk to the persons on both sides of you throughout the meal.
• Don’t be the first person to finish eating. Pace yourself to the speed of the other diners.

You can’t practice table manners only at a holiday dinner. As humans, we don’t function like that. To have good table manners, to hold your flatware correctly and to cut your food effortlessly, put your knowledge into action daily. Then you never have to worry about your dining skills or those of your children when invited to anyone’s home.

 

 

Picture this. You are invited to Thanksgiving dinner at the home of someone you have never met before. In other words, you are a guest. Just as a host has responsibilities, so does a guest.

Do you arrive on time? And when is that? If dinner is at 5, do you arrive at 4:50, 5:00, 5:15 or 5:30?

 

Legendary football coach Vince Lombardi is often quoted as having said, “If you are five minutes early, you are already ten minutes late.” It is out of respect for the work your host has done in advance to prepare your meal and their home that you arrive on time. We subscribe to arriving at the stated time and it is acceptable to arrive as much as 15 minutes late. If for some reason you are going to be later than 15 minutes, call your host. Just sending a text probably won’t get read in a timely manner.  If you send a text, call as well. A host is going to be busy with last minute details, including greeting guests at the front door, taking coats,  and may not know you have sent a text. They will hear their phone ring, however.

Do you arrive with a host gift? You should. Again we are talking about respecting the work and effort your host has done to prepare for your dining pleasure and to say thank you. It doesn’t have to be an expensive gift. You could bake a batch of cookies for them to enjoy at a later time. You could bring a bottle of wine and if you do, please attach a tag with your name on it so your host will know who gave it to them. (Hint to host – have a specialty pen on hand so you can write the guest’s name on the wine bottle and maybe the date you received it. Then when you consume it, because you are not obligated to serve the wine that day, you can send a thank you note to the guest saying how much you enjoyed it!) A host gift could be a seasonal kitchen towel. A cook can never have too  many towels! It can be a small box of chocolates, or a thank you note of appreciation for including you in the festivities and enclose a gift card to a coffee house. Flowers are always a safe gift, but please do the host a favor and buy flowers in a vase! Lastly remember to put a card or tag on your host gift. When the party is over the host is not going to remember who gave them what and they’ll want to know. Whatever you bring, just remember it is part of your responsibility as a guest.

Tomorrow, we’ll address table manners a guest must heed. Until then, start looking for that special host gift to take to your next dinner party!

Wine lovers delight in a big holiday to bring out big wines! The beverages you serve take as much planning as any other part of a Thanksgiving celebration. Before we dive into the wine menu, don’t you wonder what the Pilgrims and the natives consumed in Plymouth at the first Thanksgiving that lasted for three days? It’s hard to imagine that they sailed from England, taking some sixty plus days to arrive and had any wine left. Rumor has it the ship had more beer aboard than wine.

Wine experts recommend pairing a lighter red wine such as Pinot Noir or Gamay with turkey. White wine drinkers will select Riesling or a Gewürztraminer, perhaps even a Pinot Gris.  Bubbly drinkers wave a white flag asking others to surrender alongside them and just pour champagne. It pairs well with everything! Salty, sweet, sour, bitter and savory. Because the menu has so many different flavors you should drink the wine you like best. It’s that simple.

Microbrew beer is reaching lofty levels of satisfaction among beer consumers.  Gone are the casual days of serving beers as pedestrian as Budweiser or Corona. You have a wide array of microbrew beers to choose from. Higgins Restaurant & Bar veteran Jason Button suggests you “Get little glasses to taste a lot of things. I’ll have a bunch of beers with a big long dinner and put out 5-6 beers to have sips with a lot of different things and, of course, share with everyone.” For further help to narrow down what to serve Button has compiled a specific pairing of beers to your Thanksgiving favorite foods.

Don’t forget the kiddos or those who aren’t going to drink an alcoholic beverage. A fruity punch that isn’t too sweet served in a classic crystal punch bowl adds beauty and ease of self-service before a dinner begins. While others are dining with beer or wine, select a nice sparkling water and serve in the same style glass as the other diners have so a non-alcoholic drinking guest’s place setting looks the same as the others.

The Oregonian newspaper’s Samantha Bakall wrote “For after dinner drinking, Shift Drinks co-owner and advanced sommelier Anthony Garcia recommends pairing beer and whiskey. Mix Northwest-style IPAs and bourbon and Scottish malt whiskey with porters, stouts and low-hopped Belgians.”

Wine and beers taste better when served in the appropriate glass. Below is page 65 from “Which Fork Do I Use?” and a quick reference guide.

So many beverages to choose from and only one day of celebration. Maybe we should be like the Pilgrims and eat for three days. And simplify the drink menu – serve hard apple cider! The Pilgrims did.

Bakers start your ovens! (Thank you Bake from Scratch for the catchy phrase.) But it’s so true. Now is the time to save yourself stress over Thanksgiving dinner and do as much baking in advance as you can.

Why is it that bread is universally a must-have on any Thanksgiving table? We love bread. That’s it. End of this blog for today.

If you are searching for a perfect dinner roll, you can’t go wrong with Parkerhouse Dinner Rolls. To quote King Arthur Flour “These feather-light, buttery rolls were a 19th-century staple of the Parker House, a famous Boston hotel — the same hotel that in 1855 created the first Boston Cream Pie, serving both rolls and pie to the likes of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. So what makes a Parker House roll special? Butter.”

Let’s talk about how to serve these delightful rolls at your Thanksgiving table. One of the easiest ways, is to set each place setting with a bread and butter plate on the left side of the place setting above the forks. If you have butter spreaders, set a butter spreader on each bread and butter plate along with a pat of butter.

Specialty stores have butter pat molds. Buy one in the shape of a maple leaf or an acorn. Fill the mold with room temperature butter and then freeze the mold. After the butter has hardened, remove the butter and layer with wax paper in between. Refreeze. Create as many pats as you have guests, plus a few more in case someone wants an additional pat. It’s just one more way for your Thanksgiving experience to create a feast for the eyes of your guests. And who could resist butter in the shape of a cute little acorn? Now, get to baking!

 

 

 

 

 

The 5 P’s…Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance! This holds true in business and in planning a festive and successful Thanksgiving dinner with those you care about most.

Photo from Real Cajun Recipes

With nine days out, there is still plenty of time to design a menu. Most families do a potluck style dinner where everyone brings a favorite dish. Not “potluck” in the sense that you leave everyone to their own creation and neglect assigning specific dishes to specific people. It’s important to have a varied menu, no matter what size of dinner you are having.

Instead of roasting a turkey, maybe this year is the year you want to smoke a turkey, or better yet deep-fry one in peanut oil. If you haven’t eaten deep fried turkey, this is a year round treat. We guarantee that you’ll have to call 911 to get guests away from the turkey while it “rests.” People can’t seem to resist picking at the skin and grabbing a juicy piece of meat that has been deep fried.

Some families would disown you if the menu didn’t include green bean casserole, but consider stepping out of the box and use fresh green beans, fresh mushrooms and make a white sauce with heavy cream. It is a fresh approach to an old standby.

Cranberry sauce falls in the “love it or hate it” category. Some find the cooked version too sweet. Try an uncooked version, with fresh chopped cranberries, shallots, Fresno chilies and more. It’s a relish, rather than a sauce. You may just convert some haters.

Make sure your menu includes some lighter foods. A fresh green salad with apple slices and fennel, garnished with pomegranate seeds. Something that is pretty and extraordinary to delight your guest’s palate.

Traditions are the fabric of great memories. And the menu is a big part of those Thanksgiving memories gathered by all who attend. The time spent creating a menu of old favorites and some new adventurous side dishes will reward you with happy guests and happy thoughts!

 

Such a happy time of year! A time for families to travel across the miles to share memories, traditions and of course, scrumptious food. To create a beautiful table and menu, advance preparation and thought is key to getting everything done you want to accomplish. And as a host, you enjoy your day even more!

1950s vintage candles – original price: 10 cents each

Getting started…

Do you want a new tablescape look this year?

•  Create a theme. Your theme may be as simple as coordinated colors and textures. Look at seasonal magazines for ideas if your creative juices aren’t flowing. Or, look to nature. Shop early while the best tablecloths, the size(s) you may need, and decorative pieces are readily available in the stores. Purchase an autumn colored tablecloth and add bright red maple leaves or sunshine yellow Gingko leaves that have fallen in the neighborhood. Or, arrange flowers with aging rosehips mixed with branches and flowers such as dahlia, asters or chrysanthemums. The fall flower colors available are mind-blowingly beautiful. You can never go wrong with burning taper candles or lots of votive candles as part of your tablescape. Candles are one area where you don’t want to scrimp in the quality of candles you purchase. You do get what you pay for. Inexpensive candles burn quickly and leave candle wax dripping down onto your tabletop.
• If you don’t have all the dinner, salad and dessert plates necessary for your menu ask to borrow from family or friends. Or, you can purchase additional accent plates that will add interest and meet your needs. And don’t be afraid to mix and match patterns.
• If you haven’t already done so, start inviting guests. Invite friends as well as family. According to Bon Appetit’s Thanksgiving issue … your family will behave better!