party | SCISSORS & SAGE

Anne and I hosted our first-ever Friendsgiving this past weekend. It’s something we’ve been wanting to do for a few years, and being in Chicago and close to good friends felt like the right time to give it a try.

I made a centerpiece for our table from white pumpkins and strawberry corn that we grew at the farm in Wisconsin this summer, as well as silver dollar eucalyptus I found at Trader Joe’s ($2.99 for the bunch!). Working on this arrangement had me feeling like I was back at terrain again.

We squeezed 10 people around our dinner table — a very hyggeligt time.

Everybody contributed a dish to our Friendsgiving, making for a delicious meal indeed. I made my Grandma Anne’s pecan tassies (or, as we call them, “little shits”) and my Grandpa Augie’s pumpkin pie. Anne focused on the turkey and mashed potatoes.

Our meal:

Roast turkey breast (following this recipe loosely)
Mashed potatoes (following this recipe, again loosely)
Cranberry-citrus sauce
Sausage and mushroom stuffing
Roasted squash
Roasted Brussel sprouts
Carrots provencal
Rice and arugula salad (recipe from Ottolenghi’s Plenty More)
Pecan tassies
Pumpkin pie

It was a beautiful time with great friends, and I can’t wait to keep making special memories like this. What are you cooking up for Thanksgiving this year?

Happy Thanksgiving from us to you!

When Anne and I took our Southern U.S. road trip in March, we ate a whole slew of fantastic foods. Southern comfort seriously lived up to its name in all four of our destinations (Durham, NC; Charleston, SC; Savannah, GA; and Asheville, NC). One of our favorite eats that kept popping up was pimento cheese.

Pimento, we learned, is a sweet, heart-shaped chili pepper. This cheese spread is popularly known as “the caviar of the South.” The beauty of pimento cheese is its versatility. It can be served on crackers, with celery, deviled eggs, grits, or even hamburgers. Mmm, hamburgers.

Last weekend, Anne and I hosted a cocktail party for some of our friends. I decided to make pimento cheese for the occasion, and served it with honey-wheat pretzel sticks. Boy, was it delicious! This recipe, via Plain Chicken, was quick and simple — just what I needed during our party preparations!

Pimento Cheese (via Plain Chicken)

Prep time: 10 minutes | Chill time: 30+ minutes | Yields: 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp minced dried onion
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 cup diced pimentos

In a medium bowl, whip cream cheese with a fork until smooth (i.e. no clumps). Add in mayonnaise, sour cream, salt, and minced dried onion. Whip again with a fork until smooth. Fold in shredded cheeses and diced pimentos, and stir until fully blended in.

Transfer pimento cheese to an appropriately-sized serving bowl. Cover and refrigerate for 30+ minutes, or until ready to serve.

It’s that simple! And while you may seem skeptical of this odd-sounding or odd-looking cheese, you’ve got to try it before you knock it. It might just be the wow factor you’ve been looking for! My pimento cheese was a big success at our cocktail party. I only wish I doubled the batch so that it didn’t vanish so quickly!

From Scissors & Sage