Having the extra time between Thanksgiving and December has been such a gift.  I have been easing into holiday decorating, pulling out the easy stuff that doesn’t require 2 or 3 sets of hands. First stop, the bedrooms.

My artistic daughter has such a beautiful bedroom.  There is an unusual combination of windows that face east~~2 Palladian-style windows and a port hole one over her bed.  She has always loved the color black and was delighted when I painted her room that color.  John, our expert painter, was skeptical, but with tall white baseboards and wide trim around the doors and windows, the black is just stunning.

Playing on the color theme, I used black and white checked ribbon to hang small wreaths in the windows.

Wired ribbon is so easy to curl any way you want and it hides the push pin.

A battery operated candle is placed in each of the windows on the front of the house.  I purchased these from Frontgate and the flickering flame is rather realistic.  They also have a timer option so each night at 6:00 p.m. all the candles light up. They don’t have this exact style online but they do have something similar and it is on sale~click here.

In order to give the candle more height, my husband cut blocks of wood, which are wrapped to look like presents.

Christmas pillows, and we have many, are an easy way to quickly make a room festive. These sweet ones go on all the beds.

This colorful selection perks up the family room sofa. Most were purchased from Pottery Barn.

As with most older, historical homes, this one gets drafty and chilly in the winter.  Flannel sheets go on all the beds in the children’s rooms and holiday quilts are added on top.

I find it rather fun to change out the artwork during the year and will be hanging all these today.

This weekend the bigger decorating projects will start and wreaths will go up.

It’s been an overcast, cooler week here in Phoenix.  Perfect for taking things slowly.  Have a wonderful weekend……I’m off to make some pumpkin bread!

After a lovely Thanksgiving week of carbs and more carbs, I am craving anything green and vegetable-like.  My body seems so out of balance~~I’m sluggish and feeling a bit pudgy.

Last night, I scoured the garden picking lettuce, kale and arugula and made a huge salad topped with leftover turkey.

Today, I decided to focus on cleaning out the toxins.  After an hour of Pilates, I stopped at the grocery store and purchased lots of this.

I then made my favorite green shakes from Vani Hari, a food blogger that has literally changed how some large food giants do business. For example she was able to influence Kraft Foods to remove the harmful dyes from their Mac ‘n Cheese.  Her website is a plethora of information on food choices and loaded with fabulous recipes. Nicknamed the Food Babe, her story is here.

When I was caring for my dad and running to the hospital each day, this green shake kept me going and kept me healthy.  There are 6 simple ingredients:  Kale or spinach, celery, cucumber, grapefruit, frozen pineapple and water. I substituted frozen mango and pineapple, as I was unable to find plain, frozen pineapple.

In a blender, combine the celery, cucumber and grapefruit with 6 oz. of water.

Then add the greens and the frozen pineapple.

I’m hoping that by being thoughtful in my eating and exercising this week, that the brain fog will lift and I will restore my energy.

Here is the recipe for Food Babe’s Pineapple Grapefruit Hari Shake:

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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It was so nice having all the children home and the house filled with their friends.  Today, as I take all the Thanksgiving items and store them away until next year, here are some random musings about the holiday.

We had the biggest turkey ever~~a whopping 28 lbs, delivered by Jimmy from Personal Gourmet, a local company who specializes in restaurant grade meat and fish. Typically, we have done this to our turkey:

But this year, my foodie son suggested we dry brine the turkey for 24 hours.  Honestly, I have never heard of dry brining and was a bit skeptical but it was so easy.  After patting the turkey dry, we sprinkled the bird with a combination of salt and baking powder.  This apparently changes the pH of the skin. We refrigerated it uncovered for 15 hours (can do up to 3 days).

Instead of a roasting pan, we put the bird in a V-rack on a cookie sheet.  According to Serious Eats, this increases air flow for even cooking.  In order to have the dark meat cook at the same rate of the white breast meat, we placed the cookie sheet on a preheated pizza stone.  You can find all the details on how to do this by clicking here.

This was, hands down, the most delicious turkey we have ever had.  The dry brining was SO easy.  I did add some herb butter between the skin and the breast meat before roasting, but other than that, we hardly basted it (maybe once).  The skin was so crispy and it sealed in most of the juices. We declared this a winner and this will be the recipe of choice when we roast a turkey in the future.

Thanksgiving Day started with blood orange mimosas.  We found the oranges at Whole Foods and it was a nice alternative to regular orange juice mimosas.

Every year, my husband makes his famous pumpkin pies.

And my son, Benjamin and I make a cake from Tessa Huff‘s incredible cake book, Layered.

Presenting (drumroll)…..the Butterscotch Bourbon Cake.

With the table set and ready to go, we enjoyed a delicious meal with family and friends.

Friday was a relaxing day (thank goodness as I was pooped) and, as we do each year, watched the Wizard of Oz, which is my favorite movie.

And took our annual family photo~~it seems to be more difficult to get everyone looking somewhat normal at the same time.  Of course, the battery was low in the camera and hopefully with some editing, we will have a Christmas photo for our card.

Hope you had a relaxing Thanksgiving.  Today, all the autumn decorations come down and onto Christmas! I leave one Christmas related item out all year long and this sits on the mantle in the breakfast room.  I purchased this Christmas car waterless “snowglobe”from eBay.  Created by artist Alicia Reiner, each is hand signed and numbered.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Food seems to taste much better when served in a beautiful setting.  Even though I didn’t have an extravagant childhood, my mother always set a lovely table for the holidays, using her Franciscan Ware apple pattern.

This year, I took one of my English china plates, Windsor Ware by Johnson Bros. with me to select the plants from Whitfill Nursery and flowers from Safeway for the centerpiece.

I wanted to purchase items I could use again~~plants and herbs.  Of course, I needed a few flowers for additional color.

We are having 10 for Thanksgiving dinner so we extended the table.  I wonder why they are called leaves?

It was a worthwhile investment purchasing a table pad to protect the surface of the dining room table.  One side of the pad is felt and the other is a protective plastic.  This one was custom made by Guardian and it has 3 parts.

Next, I layered my table cloths, starting with a Battenburg lace one, and adding 3 smaller muslin sheets on top.  I purchased the vintage muslin sheets from one of my favorite bloggers, Miss Mustard Seed. The lighter ivory tone and texture of the muslin matches the background of the dinner plate.

For the centerpiece,  I lined a rectangular wooden tray with both plastic and foil, and then filled it with the plants, herbs, and pomegranates, pears and flowers.  The brass pumpkins were on sale at Safeway ~~and add a bit of sparkle.

Since, at the time of writing this post, I had not finalized my menu, I was experimenting with adding different plates/bowls in case we have a first course salad or soup. The wooden charger is from Pier 1 Imports, providing a great back drop for my china pattern.

The glass, gold trim salad plate is from Lesley Roy. I like that the design in the center of the plate is visible.

I love these pumpkin soup tureens from Williams-Sonoma, but I rarely use them.

The napkins were a recent purchase (on sale!) from Ballard Designs.  They are the perfect creamy color and the plaid trim complements the brown tones.

A fresh sprig of rosemary from the garden is tucked in the napkin ring.

Looking forward to spending the next few days baking and cooking. Funny how Thanksgiving dinner takes hours to prepare and such a short time to eat!

My husband, Scott announced he was making limoncello.  Okkaaaaay.  Even though we’ve been married 22 years, he still surprises me on occasion.

We were first introduced to limoncello when we traveled to one of my favorite places~~Ravello, Italy. Limoncello is lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy using Femminello St. Teresa lemons.

Limoncello is typically served chilled after dinner as a digestif.  It can also be used in cocktails since it imparts a strong lemon flavor.

Scott used Martha Stewart’s limoncello recipe.  There are four simple ingredients~~lemons, 160-proof vodka or grain alcohol, sugar and boiling water.

He peeled strips of zest from the lemons using a vegetable peeler, trying to minimize the bitter white part of the lemon.

He put the zest and vodka in an airtight container and let it sit at room temperature for 3 days (at least 2 days or up to 1 week).

Next he made simple syrup and added it to the vodka mixture, then refrigerated it in an airtight container for 1 day.

He then poured the mixture through a large sieve into a decanter; and discarded the zest.

This was a father/son effort!

Pour 2 ounces limoncello into a cordial glass.

We are so happy to have our son home from college for the Thanksgiving week!

Limoncello can be stored in the freezer in an airtight container up to 3 months.  I am already conjuring up ways to use this very lemony liqueur.

Enjoy!

I understand some of the country is having extremely cold weather.  But here in Phoenix, we are experiencing ideal fall temperatures.  The air conditioners are officially off and windows are open.  It’s time to remove the outdoor furniture covers and spend time outside for the next several months.

One of the entertaining spaces at Bella Terra is the back terrace. This was added during our extensive historical renovation, replacing a small landing and steps down to the pool.

Connected to the new kitchen addition, the back terrace can be accessed from the interior of the house through the kitchen, library and family room.  It’s the perfect place for entertaining under cover.

The area is split into two functions.  There is seating around the fireplace.  All upholstery is Sunbrella fabric. The furniture was purchased several years ago from Crate and Barrel.  We cover the furniture during the summer months and it has held up nicely over time.

The outdoor rugs are a relatively new purchase from the Rug Studio.  These indoor/outdoor rugs are so affordable and can be cleaned with a garden hose. I love the pop of color and whimsy they add to the space.

The other half of the terrace is home to a large table with 10 chairs.  The BBQ and sink is nearby.

The back terrace overlooks the pool.   Space heaters were added to the ceiling and are used frequently during the winter months.

The repeating arches is an abundant architectural feature of our 1910 historical home.

I gathered some flower clippings from the yard and used my favorite faux bois outdoor containers from the Painted Fox.

Of course, what is a photo shoot without my faithful companions.Sox is curled up on a chair below and Cooper, our Anatolian shepherd is in a few of the photos above.

I hope you are enjoying the cooler temperatures and I look forward to the start of our entertaining season!