Thanksgiving Meal For a Small Group

Grandiose Thanksgiving dinners are great, but take so much time to prepare. What if it's only you or two, maybe three people celebrating it together? Sure, it's nice to have a lot of leftovers, but I think that after five days of having nothing but different Turkey meat-based meals (or most probably, different versions of a turkey sandwich) you can't really blame a person for swearing off of eating turkey for a month or more. Which brings us to the topic of this post: a scaled-down Thanksgiving meal that won't eat up your precious, hard-earned holiday, but delicious enough to satisfy your binge-eating tendencies. Let me ask you this: how often have you regretted eating five plates of bland food from a buffet as compared to eating pricier, smaller-portioned yet perfectly-seasoned meal from a nice restaurant? Exactly. I've scoured the good ol' internet to bring you satisfying and easy-to-prepare recipes for a nice Thanksgiving meal. Prep these while watching a movie on your phone via Crackle or Netflix and sipping a nice glass of wine, or whichever way you choose that will make your short holiday memorable and enjoyable. Click on the title/link or the picture/video to get the recipe :)

Cornish Hens by Ina Garten

Cornish Game Hens with Garlic and Rosemary

Image taken from allrecipes.com

Roquefort Pear Salad

Image taken from allrecipes.com

Kale Salad with Butternut Squash And Almonds

Image taken from bonappetit.com

Braised Lamb with Roasted Squash and Onion Sauce

Image taken from bonappetit.com

Pie a la Apple

Image taken from http://domesticdilettante.com

Homemade Maple Pumpkin Pie

Image taken from tasteofhome.com

Dessert tips:

-Get the frozen tiramisu/cheesecake from Costco. Remember not to eat all of it in one sitting, ok? :)

-Go to your nearest farmer's market/local food stall. Near my area, we have Butler's Orchard, and they sell pies that you can finish baking at home. And boy, the smell wafting from the oven when you're baking it is just heaven. I think Costco sells them too.

Thanksgiving tip:

-After eating your meal and secretly burping, talk about what things/events you're thankful for :) If you're by yourself, then by all means write it down. It might help on days when you feel particularly low and need to be reminded of all the good that has happened to you.

P.S.
A funny read: 9 Thanksgiving Horror Stories

<3,

Longing for Summer / For the love of boots

As I sit freezing in front of the computer, I find my mind drifting towards memories of warm, bright Summer days in the Philippines. Floating on calm seawater (I have yet to find one with a similar temperament here in the US) with eyes closed, listening to the muffled sounds of the ocean, skin slowly bronzing from the rays peeking through clouds, and wondering how long I've been out there and how far away I'd been taken from the beach by tiny waves and gentle winds. Swiping off the cold sweat from the sides of a glass of fresh mango juice and discreetly patting it onto hot patches on my face. Opening all the windows in my room at night to let the slightly colder winds through, bringing along with it the sound of crickets and unmistakeable VROOOOM of tricycles struggling to go uphill (and the occasional Karaoke singing that goes on til the wee hours of the morning). No matter how long I stay here in the East Coast, I am perfectly sure that I will forever be an island girl at heart, and I will be fine with drastic temperature fluctuations as long as I am granted a yearly exodus to sandy beaches and the sound of waves lapping on the shore.

Winter (the temperature being at the low 30s, I think it is safe to assume that Fall has already come and gone) for me is somewhat bearable because I love layering clothes and wearing boots (the two things that get me through dreary weather). My current obsessions are pointy, buckled boots which make me feel like a cross between a character in a Spaghetti Western film, a wannabe cast member of Sons of Anarchy and an amalgam of my favorite fashion bloggers (who all love the same types of shoes as I do). The more buckles, the better (I am part-magpie, methinks). Below is a collection of boots, mostly from Sam Edelman and Jeffrey Campbell, that I will wear 'til the soles fall off if ever I get my hands on even one of them. Here you go, and here's to hoping a pair will magically appear on my doorstep without me having to pay a single cent.

boots by white-lily featuring leather boots

P.S.

One other thing I love: indoors, cocooned in a blanket, curled on the sofa with a good book, a warm cup of hot cocoa within arm's reach.

Wishfully thinking,

Grammar Tips

Two quick sketches I made eons ago concerning some grammatical pet peeves of mine. I've been meaning to polish them but never got around to it, so I'm posting them here in their hilariously ugly glory. Hahaha. As long as the message gets through, right? :)

1. Could/Should/Would HAVE (not "OF")

2. Lose vs Loose

Two things before I say adieu:

1. Yay for bed rest. I was feeling under the weather today from all the moving I've done these past few days, but I think I'm ready to go to work tomorrow :)

2. The jacket from my last post was sold for $255! A friend of mine in SFC will be donating the money plus all other donations we'll be collecting to Red Cross through her company, who'll match the amount. So it will become $510 :D And to think that three hours before the bidding ended, I was fussing so much about the top bid at that time (only $122) because it did not even hit the price I bought it for. But then I decided to just lift it to God and go to sleep since I only had 5 hours left until I needed to wake up for work the next day. Lo and behold, I checked my email the next day and saw that the bidding ended at $255. I was ecstatic, elated, joyous. That really and truly did make my day. Thank God for generous souls like the winning bidder plus the countless others who have poured their support and love for my brethren in the Philippines :) Mabuhay and salamat ng marami! <3 

P.S.

Please continue to pray for the health and safety of the survivors.

"The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’" - Matthew 25:40

<3,

Typhoon Haiyan

Hi guys, I just now put up a listing for a leather jacket that I was originally planning to sell for, well, personal profit. Instead of doing that though, I decided to donate 100% of the sale to victims of Typhoon Haiyan via a reputable organization (I'm still pondering on where it should go). It breaks my heart that yet another disaster has befallen on my dear motherland, and that even though Haiyan passed by for just a few hours it managed to leave a monstrous amount of destruction and a large death toll in its wake. I'm continuing to pray for the health and safety of the victims and of the brave volunteers from relief operations.

Here is the link to my ebay listing:

Michael Kors Black Leather XXS Jacket with Wool Lining

http://www.ebay.com/itm/171170119673?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

And links to pages where you can directly donate (please remember that every cent counts!):

http://www.rappler.com/move-ph/issues/disasters/43300-reliefph-victims-typhoon-yolanda-help

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/09/philippines-haiyan-how-to-help-_n_4247106.html

Fellow Filipinos, remain strong. In God we trust!

Pictures of the destruction caused by Haiyan: