Turkey Day Crafts & Recipes

This year Jamie's family joined us here in Tampa for Thanksgiving and he and I hosted our first Thanksgiving dinner. It took a lot of planning and preparation but it seemed to come together pretty seamlessly.  We worked very hard to ensure that it would be a day filled with fabulous food and creative crafts in hopes that our guests would have a terrific time! Below are many pictures from dinner as well as some instructions on how to recreate some of the recipes and crafts in case you are already planning for next year!

We had eight adults and two children join us for Thanksgiving so we set our dining room table along with a spare folding table that we had. I bought a fall themed table cloth and napkins from Bed Bath and Beyond. I used the candles we already had from Halloween but replaced the candy corn with cranberries and walnuts and the centerpiece was a cornucopia filled with fresh flowers that Jamie's mom brought us. The table settings were something that I worked really hard on to make unique. I purchased clear glass plates and decoupaged fall leaves on the back in order to make beautiful fall dinner plates. Since the tablecloth and plates had the fall leaves theme in common I really wanted to tie the table setting together with some turkeys! I found a template for these place cards (please disregard the fact that I found them on a website entitled amazingmoms.com, I swear it is not a site that I frequent!) and made a couple of changes which resulted in some very cute place cards! Jamie was in charge of folding the napkins and with all things put together the table looked gorgeous!

For a while I had known that I wanted to have a turkey shaped bread bowl as an appetizer. It took a little research but finally I ended up with a pretty easy and cute one! I took a pre made bread bowl and sliced off the top. I took that top piece and sliced it in half to use as the wings on the side of the bowl and attached them with toothpicks. I then took the end of a french bread loaf and sliced off a small piece to use as the turkey's head. I created the turkey's face by using raisins for eyes, a carrot for a beak and a roasted red pepper for the wattle. I bought craft feathers from Michaels and filled the bowl with my own hot spinach dip to complete the turkey! The turkey bread bowl was a favorite of our guests on Thanksgiving.

As for dinner I kept it pretty traditional. We had turkey cooked in a bag which is still a crazy concept to me but it really keeps the turkey extremely juicy! Mashed potatoes were the side everyone was most looking forward to so I made almost 10 pounds! We also had Mac N Cheese, which is a very popular Thanksgiving side in the south so it didn't take much convincing for me to include it. My favorite side of the night was this Green Bean Casserole, it is seriously awesome-no condensed soup here! The slight changes I made were I omitted the mushrooms, we are not big mushroom people, I used good ol' french fried onions instead of the shallots (I just couldn't part with them) and I cooked it for about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I would seriously recommend trying this as a side for a non Thanksgiving dinner, it is that good! We also had two types of stuffing; one was regular that I stuffed Tom Turkey with and the other had craisins and granny smith apples in it. I also made my own cranberry sauce-the thought of the one in the can really freaks me out-plus it is super easy to make.  We had creamed corn, corn bread and semi homemade biscuits as well. I think it was safe to say no one finished dinner hungry! We had some great desserts that were brought by Jamie's mom and Jamie's cousin's girlfriend, Elisha. Dinner was followed by the usual Early Holiday Hunt and a great time was had by all!

Thanks for reading & we hope you had a nice holiday!

Love,

Jamie, Crystal & Bandit

A Few Pictures From October

So I have been totally slacking with posting on the blog. In my defense it has been super busy the past few weeks. We had visitors the past six days and this week at Kforce it is employee appreciation week and I have been helping with one of our charity events. I thought I would at least post a few pictures from October and I will definitely post about our visitors this week!

Stone Crab season opened on October 15th, our friend Eric hosted a Crab Fest at his home in Madeira Beach

Here are some s'more kits I made for the bon fire we made in the backyard

The following weekend James and I and some friends tailgated for the USF game. Afterwards we headed back to Madeira Beach for  sunset cruise on the Gulf

Kim, Sara & Me 

Christine, Kim, Sara & Me

James & I at our friend Christine's Halloween Party

Kim, Eric, Me & James

The Corporate Support Reps at Kforce dressed as cats on Halloween

Bandit in his Pumpkin Tshirt

A Fall Dinner Party

This past Wednesday Jamie and I hosted a small dinner party for the girls on my team at work and their significant others. Again I tried to keep with the fall theme with the table settings and menu. Everyone seemed to have a great time and enjoy the food. The table was set with navy place mats and our navy plates. I used dark orange napkins which had small leaves embroidered into them. The centerpiece was 4 candles in jars filled a quarter of the way with candy corn (they were my favorite-they were so pretty all lit up). I used small white pumpkins with orange card stock tied to the stem with green paper ribbon for the place cards. The menu included baked brie with a maple syrup and walnut sauce and gorgonzola  and pear crostinis with a balsamic port glaze for the appetizers. The main dish was a pork tenderloin with cranapple stuffing, onion casserole (a delicious recipe from my Aunt) and rosemary potatoes. We finished the night with a warm apple crisp.  I of course took lots of pictures (none of any people), here are some below.

The table all set

Pumpkin place card

Baked brie with maple syrup & walnut sauce

                                                               

Gorgonzola & pear crostinis with a balsamic port glaze

Appetizer table

Pork tenderloin with cranapple stuffing

Rosemary potatoes

Cranapple stuffing

                                                            

Onion casserole

                                                                            

Sides!

Centerpiece all lit up

Happy Fall!
XOXO
Crystal, Jamie & Bandit

                                                                                                                               



 



All Things Fall

This past weekend brought in the fall weather here in Tampa, and by fall weather I do mean 75 degrees and sunny. According to many Floridians, fall is the best time to be here and I can see why they say that. There has been no humidity in the air but it is still warm enough to head to the pool or the beach on the weekend. We have shut off our AC and opened the windows and have spent a lot of time on our deck enjoying the cooler weather.

Other than the beautiful weather Jamie and I have a lot to look forward to over the next couple months. One of these is the entertaining we have planned through October and November. Next week I am having my team from work over for a small dinner party and Jamie is having his team over for a Mexican Fiesta a few weeks later. Then at the end of November Jamie and I will be hosting our first Thanksgiving! Jamie's family will be coming to Tampa to celebrate the holiday with us. With that I have begun to get things together to make sure the apartment is properly decorated. In an effort to save a little money I have been trying to find things that will last me from Halloween to Thanksgiving, I have been staying away from purchasing ghosts and turkeys and trying to stay more holiday neutral with pumpkins and all things fall.

Last night I ventured out to Home Goods and found a few things I could cross off my entertaining wish list including these cute cocktail napkins and cheese spreaders.

My next great find included this pumpkin centerpiece for our coffee table. I already had some ideas as to what I'll use as a centerpiece on the dining room table but this pumpkin was perfect for the living room. I wanted something simple but festive and this is it! I placed ember scented candles in the votive holders and it looks and smells awesome in our living room! My picture of the centerpiece isn't very good so I also included a picture of a similar centerpiece I also saw.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall too!

Exploring Tampa-Southern Tier Beer Dinner

Last night Jamie and I attended a Beer Dinner at The Pub. The Pub is located about five minutes from our apartment on Bay Street which is an area outside of International Mall. Bay Street has lots of different restaurants and bars all with outdoor patios. When I first moved to Tampa I thought it was a very strange concept to have all these great restaurants 20 steps outside of a mall, but I have warmed up to the idea and it is now one of our favorites places to go out.

The Pub itself is a British Inspired bar with a lot of craft beers on tap from the United Kingdom. About two months ago they began hosting a monthly beer dinner. The dinner is five courses paired with five different beers, and all of the courses have the beer you are tasting cooked into it somehow. Last night's beer was from a brewery called Southern Tier located in Lakewood New York.

Here is a picture of Jamie and me when we first arrived at The Pub

The restaurant had reserved the second floor for the beer dinner and there were about 50 people in attendance. The first course was a grilled flatbread with prosciutto, poached pears and blue cheese with a balsamic glaze. This was paired with their Pale Wheat Ale. The beer was not as fruity as a typical wheat beer however it was very refreshing and light. (Please excuse the pictures, I had left my camera at home so they're all taken with my phone)



The second course was a beer cheese soup with a cayenne cheese straw and it was paired with the Iniquity Imperial Black IPA. When this course was first brought out I thought for sure I would not like the beer. I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first sip. Although the beer was very dark it did not taste like a typical black beer. It was very 'light' and smooth and easy to drink. I put light in quotes because this beer is 9.0% ABV!

The next course included an arugula salad with grilled corn, bacon, goat cheese and a cornbread crouton. A 2x IPA was served with the salad. The 2x IPA was made with 4 different types of hops and although it is an IPA the hops didn't consume your taste buds.



The main course was a braised short rib over a white cheddar grit cake and succotash paired with an Unearthly Imperial IPA. This IPA was quite hoppier! You could smell the hops while the beer was sitting on the table. This was also the first time I had ever had grits and they were quite interesting!

The dinner finished with a ppumpkin creme brule with cinnamon whipped cream and a Pumking Imperial Pumpkin Ale. I would have liked more of a Pumpkin flavor in this ale, but it was still nice for fall. 

All in all the night was a lot of fun and we got to try some different beers that we may not have typically ordered. Rumor has it that next month's beer dinner is being hosted by Cigar City Brewing, a brewing company about 10 minutes from our apartment. We have also heard that they are brewing two beers specifically for the dinner so we will definitely be checking it out!



We're Back!

Jamie and I recently traveled to the Outer Banks in North Carolina for 8 days. My Aunt and Uncle rent a beach house in the OBX annually and they invited us to join them with my cousins and their families. We had a week filled with sun, sand, cocktails and dance parties!

Jamie and I began our 14 hour drive to the Outer Banks after we got out of work the Friday before Labor Day Weekend. The drive wasn't as bad as we thought it would be so we decided to drive straight through the night instead of stopping and staying somewhere overnight. We made a few stops along the way to stretch our legs and rest and we couldn't pass up a trip to South of the Border, even though we arrived at 4am! We made it to the Outer Banks bright and early where we met our Tampa neighbor, Andrew, who was also in the OBX for vacation.

Once Aunt Dawn and Uncle Grig arrived we met them for lunch and then headed to the beach house. There were some signs of Irene; a few boats were misplaced and some waterside restaurants were missing their decks but all in all most of the houses and business survived Irene. We arrived at the house around 3pm and headed to the beach until the house was ready for us!

Most mornings were spent at the beach soaking up the sun. The ocean was still pretty rough so we didn't venture in much. Afternoons were usually spent by the pool where we would relax and play floating beer pong and in the pool flip cup. Once we had had enough sun for the day we headed inside to carrying on a beach house tradition-the dinner teams! Each year that we had attended the beach house our family has split into teams to make dinner each night. This may sound quite simple but we take it very seriously! Each team has a name and is responsible for making an appetizer, dinner, dessert and signature cocktail for their assigned night. The result is 5 nights of very tasty and elaborate meals and everyone has a great time creating their menu and cooking together with their team.

Another highlight of the trip was celebrating Uncle Doug's 50th birthday, otherwise known as The Day of Doug! The Day of Doug was a surprise and began with a breakfast of Jane's coffee cake, cheese strata and hash brown casserole cooked by Jamie and I (and a few helpers!). Then we all watched a slide show of Doug through the years made by Farrell, David and Aunt Dawn. Doug was then escorted to the spa at the Sanderling for a massage and we later picked him up for some drinks at the infamous tiki bar. The afternoon was spent by the pool playing beer Olympics and relaxing.  The night ended with a wine tasting of 9 Virginian wines and a fabulous southern dinner cooked by Aunt Dawn and Uncle Grig.

Our week of vacation ended too soon, as it always does, and on Saturday morning we packed up our cars and headed home. It was sad to say goodbye to everyone but we know that we will be home soon for the holidays! Below are some pictures for the week at the beach.

Here is a picture of the view from the deck on the first night

Charlie on the beach, looking like a Walrus with Cheese Puffs in his mouth

The boys on the second night enjoying some pre dinner cocktails

Jamie and I after a day at the beach

The first dance party of the beach house 2011!

Cousins! You can tell we are related by our skin tones

Uncle Doug and baby Charlie on the Day of Doug

Cheese strata, Jane's coffee cake and hash brown casserole-breakfast for the Day of Doug

The girl cousins floating on the Port O Pong after some in the pool flip cup

Here is a picture of the group, minus Kirk

This is a great shot of the group with half of the house in the background 

All ready for the first Pack game of the season

Charlie enjoying his very own 'shot'

Jamie and I enjoying pre dinner wine tasting

XOXO,

Crystal, Jamie & Bandit