Homemade Kahlua Liqueur used to be one of my go-to gifts from the kitchen. For some reason it’s been years, maybe even a decade, since I’ve made it. I don’t know why, because it is good stuff!

On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Homemade Kahlua Liqueur
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

If you want to make this gift to give for Christmas, you need to get on the stick, as in making it today or tomorrow! Sorry for not giving you more notice, but it should sit for 4 weeks before drinking and Christmas is exactly four weeks from tomorrow.

If you can’t get to it until the weekend, just be sure to write on your gift tag something along the lines of, “Homemade Kahlua Liqueur. Wait to enjoy until New Year’s Eve or after.”

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Thanksgiving is over. It is time to get serious about my Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen!

With only 29 days till Christmas, I’m going to have double or triple my efforts to get you all the “days” in time for you to make them. So be prepared for an onslaught in the next couple of weeks! Here is the third installment.

On the third day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Lemon-Sugar Hand Scrub
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

I love lemon! The aroma, the color, and above all, the flavor. So it’s no surprise that the dish soap, the hand soap, and the counter spray that I use in my kitchen are the Williams-Sonoma Meyer Lemon Collection. The large refill bottles are the annual gift I ask for every Christmas from my family.

Another favorite is this lemon-scented sugar hand scrub. I use Queen Creek Meyer Lemon Olive Oil to make it.

If you don’t have lemon olive oil on hand or don’t want to go to the trouble or expense to purchase it – regular olive oil is fine and dandy.

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Since Marissa and Dave’s mom fly back home today and Connor heads back to school, Thanksgiving is officially over at the Hopkins’ home. Let’s take one last glance back before the Christmas holiday crush begins.

My 2012 Thanksgiving tablescape and buffets were a lovely mix of pumpkins, silver, and burlap, vintage and new.

To begin, I laid my burlap runner diagonally down the center of the table and placed a burlap placemat on the seat.

I hollowed out one of the blue-green Jarrahdale pumpkins and used it as the container for the central floral part of the centerpiece. Originally I planned to set it atop a Bordallo Pinheiro Cabbage Leaf pedestal plate, but it was too high and would have prevented guests from seeing each other.

It was the perfect height on an oval maroon Bordallo Pinheiro grape leaf platter.

A silver charger was set down at each place and then every other place setting received either this vintage Johnson Brothers Native American Wild Turkey dinner plate or…

… this is Johnson Brothers’ “Wild Turkeys” dinner plate.

More Johnson Brothers plates were added next – a Friendly Village bowl went atop the dinner plate and the Johnson Brothers Friendly Village square salad plate was placed at the top left as a bread plate. Mixed pattern flatware and a stag horn steak knife were set in their proper places.

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We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We upheld all our traditions and had a new guest at our table. It was the first Thanksgiving Dave’s mom had ever spent with us and it was a joy having her here!

Just a few of our many Thanksgiving day traditions: Dave and the kids hike Pinnacle Peak while I get the turkeys into the oven and onto the grill. I always make two turkeys, not that we ever feed more than six people, it is just what we do! My dad arrives to cut up the giblets for the gravy. I make two pans of gravy, one with giblets for my dad, Dave, and this year, for his mom too. And another pan without giblets (Yuck!) for me and the kids.

We play games outside in the warm Arizona sunshine.

Dad brings the Beaujolais Nouveau, our traditional Thanksgiving wine. Connor and Marissa help me serve, get everything onto the table, and clear the plates between courses. Then they cheerfully help clean up until the last dish is dried and put away. And I’m not being sarcastic when I say cheerfully, that they are the best!  To finish it all off it, at the end of the meal, my dad always says, “You done good.”

Yes, there is a lot to be thankful for and grateful for!

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Hey, Crafty Ladies (sung to the tune of Gangnam Style)

I had not planned on posting today… you know, kinda busy cooking up a storm for the big feast tomorrow. But after doing this quick paint job yesterday, I could not resist.

So…

How do you go about turning something like this…

…. into something like this?

Pretty fantastic, right?!

Here is all it takes. Well, these three things, little tap water, and about 5 minutes of your precious time.

The Krylon Looking Glass spray paint is supposedly discontinued. At least according to the salespeople at Hobby Lobby, Micheal’s, and Ace Hardware.  I snapped up the last four cans at Ace. It’s not cheap either. I paid $15 a can, but I did find it for you on Amazon for $11 a can. You’re Welcome!

My advice – if you want to do this project. Either call around to the hardware and craft stores near you or place your order on Amazon, pronto!

I’ve had the glass pumpkin for years. As a matter of fact, I have three of them. I was contemplating putting them in the Goodwill pile but then I spotted this technique on Pinterest and decided to “mercury glass” or “mercury-ize” them instead.

I love how they turned out!

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The second installment of Twelve Days of Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen.

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me:
Cranberry Citrus Vodka
and a bottle of Tomato Dust

This crimson cranberry vodka is easy to make, just a little time-consuming because you must poke each cranberry to open it up so it will impart its goodness into the vodka. But it is time easily spent.  I used a wooden skewer and did the chore while I watched television. I was done in no time.

Make whatever quantity you want, but I can share with you that 3-pounds of fresh cranberries, 2 lemons, 2 limes, 3 tablespoons sugar, and a 1.75-liter bottle of vodka will make three 1-liter bottles of Cranberry Citrus Vodka.

You need to put this together at least 2 weeks before you plan to use it or give it away. When giving as a gift, it would be ever so thoughtful to include a Crantini recipe card with your gift. The recipe for the Crantini is at the end of the post.

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With Thanksgiving only a few days away, I was thinking that this might be a nontraditional but lovely way to serve a small turkey for a party of two or four. Mind you, I would not be able to bring myself to do it, I need my traditional roast turkey, but for a very savoir-faire sort of hostess.

Otherwise, it’s just a perfect winter heartwarming and hearty dish to serve at a dinner party or to your family on a special night.

When a recipe calls for a whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, the eight pieces consist of the 2 wings, 2 legs, 2 thighs, and the breast that is cut in half to make two pieces. The back is not used but is the perfect piece of chicken to use to make chicken broth.

To cut a chicken into pieces, you begin with either the wing or the leg and move it around until you locate the joint.

Cut through the skin and through the joint, which the knife slides through quite easily. If there is a lot of resistance, you’ve hit the bone, so move the knife to one side or the other until you located the joint. Easy, once you get the hang of it.

Finally, if it looks like I have a ton of chicken and a double amount of polenta in the photos below – it’s because I do. This was the main dish I taught at my first class in the three-week series at Les Gourmettes last Wednesday night. Obviously, the recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

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My mother-in-law flew in from Illinois on Friday evening to spend Thanksgiving week with us. We’re all so happy she is here. It’ll be the first Thanksgiving we’ve all celebrated together!

Yesterday, I invited my dad over for dinner, which is usually a Sunday happening. In the late afternoon, we were sitting outside playing cards and there was the strangest and most beautiful sky.

Half of the bright blue sky had scattered little fluffy clouds. The other half looked like a white out.

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When one of my two brilliant children was young, he or she thought that when someone said, “Open Sesame” they were saying, “Open Says Me.”  I won’t reveal which one of them it was, but how cute is that?!

Open Sesame is the magical phrase in the story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves” and it opens the mouth of a cave in which forty thieves have hidden treasure.

This asparagus recipe is magical and your brain will be telling your mouth, “Open Says Me” when you make it!

This was one of the recipes this past Wednesday night at the first of my 3-week series of classes at Les Gourmettes. That’s why you’ll see a photo of several plates lined up. They were still awaiting the chicken and polenta… a recipe I’ll post in a day or so.  The asparagus and accompanying mayo were a big hit. And… it’s “easy breezy” to boot!

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