Cottage and Broome: November 2011

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Wrapping and Rolling

Cottage and Broome were in town together over the weekend to celebrate the day of turkey! As you may or may not have noticed throughout your readings of this blog, we have a penchant for shopping when together, be it vintage, handmade or brand spankin' new. Though wont as we are to shop, patiently waiting in lines and shouldering our way through crowds isn't really our jam. So. Instead of heading out to bargain hunt on Black Friday, we decided to stay in and take care of few things we'd already purchased.

For the last few years our family has tried to bring holiday cheer to other families nearby by participating in an Adopt-A-Family, a program that enables us to provide practical gifts and fun goodies to those who may have a hard time affording to do so on their own. With a four-year-old little girl and her hardworking mom in mind, we wrapped our pre-Black Friday purchased gifts with love.

Toys and clothes for the little one!

A note from the Mom half of the blog….this family tradition is one of the highlights of the holiday season for me, what better way to spend time with my daughter than helping another family. What will you be doing this holiday season to support or help those who may need a little assistance?

You may have noticed while were together we made a few improvements to your blog, added a grab button, contact button, provided links to some fun places in NYC and a few other improvements…couldn't you hear our frustration throughout blogger land???

Linking to this week:

Metamorphosis Monday

Debbie's Newbie Party

Nifty-Thrifty-Tuesday

What's It Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Vintage Thanksgiving Postcards

Thanksgiving is almost upon us..... I'm sure most of you are busy making cranberries, cutting the bread for stuffing, pulling out your dishes and generally just going crazy. I am not hosting Thanksgiving this year but I'm still cooking my own turkey and making the Broome half of this blog's favorite things. Yes, my blogging partner and darling daughter Andrea is coming home from the big city!!!!!!!!!

Luckily there is not a lot of decorating that needs to be done for Thanksgiving but I love to pull out my vintage postcards. These cards from long ago make me smile with their greetings from Thanksgivings of old.

This one is a fan favorite!

I love to read the messages from the past, I thought this one was strange, no city listed, just City Hospital. Then I looked at the post mark and it is from Charlevoix, home of the Cottage! I really had no idea this card was from our little town. Check out the post mark, 1929.

And how sweet is the message.... Hope you have a pleasant day and enjoy your first Thanksgiving dinner. So to Richard Leroy Edwards, Happy Birthday he would be 83 this year!

Vintage turkey vase, love this guy.

These turkeys look like they are standing at attention and ready to salute you! So, as they might say gobble, gobble...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, enjoy the time with your families.

Linking to this week:

Knick of Time Tuesday

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

White Wednesday

Whatever Wednesday

Wow Us Wednesday

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Give Me a Beet!

Hee hee, I'm so clever with my titles and puns. So this past Sunday was a lovely fall day and since I love me some beets almost as much as I love me some Miss Jackson (hence my title - Nasty - check it), I decided to make a lovely fall soup. Apple and beet with horseradish cream soup, specifically. And since my efforts to make an actual meal complete with the chopping, boiling and processing of ingredients is somewhat of a rarity, I decided to document to whole thing and share it with you fine folks (I hope you're interested in it).

The recipe came from Better Homes and Gardens via one my besties, whose awesomely adorned arms are featured prominently below. No, I did not make this special soup all by my lonesome. It was a joint project that yielded some pretty delicious results, if I might brag.

We began first, with bestie chopping the the main ingredient, whole beets, down below.

So pretty and fuchsia. We loved the color of the beets so much we decided not wear gloves and stain our hands like the poor-woman's version henna...not really, it just didn't occur to us to wear gloves. Again, we're not frequent chefs.

Chop- chop for the beets, dice-dice for the yellow onion and lone potato.

Add some cayanne pepper, salt and regular pepper; dump into the stock pot to boil; then simma (not be confused with simmer) for about 25 minutes.

Set cool for five minutes then halve, and unload into the blender to process, courtesy of bestie's bejeweled arm once again. And no, that's not the blender shaking, that's my hand while snapping this photo, hence it's slightly blurry image. Sorry!

The good part: low or full fat sour cream and a bottle of horseradish. Maybe less than a bottle, but we like it spicy. Add a dollop on top or stir into the beet mixture and voila! Apple and beet soup with horseradish cream!

It looks less bloody and more beautifully fuchsia in real life.

Serve with your choice of fancy-looking loaf of bread. We choose a whole wheat, multi-seed carb concoction to be healthy and proceeded to eat an entire half. Though it did compliment the soup wonderfully. If you're interested in making the soup yourself, I highly recommend it. You can find the recipe here at Better Homes and Gardens website: http://www.bhg.com/recipe/soups/beet-and-apple-soup-with-horseradish-cream/. Yes, their photos are a bit prettier but mine had more love in it.

Now, what should I make next? Recommendations anyone?

Linking to this week:

Wow Us Wednesday

Time Travel Thursday
Potpourri Friday

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Fabulous Fall Dishes

Some women like jewelry and clothes, but me? I like dishes...

Now that fall is in full swing the pastel dishes are packed away and the subtle colors of autumn come out. This is a mismatched set; I found the plates years ago. The bowls came from a thrift shop and the bread and butter plates I found a few weeks ago.

Don't you just love these guys? They are hand carved and painted by local Michigan woodcarver and folk artist Marlene Dusbiber. Marlene carves beautiful birds, santas and other folk items. I have had these wonderful guys for several years and they are fall favorites.

The glass on left is Fostoria, a gift from my Godmother. They were the glasses she picked out when she got married in the late 1940's. I can't tell you how much it means to me that she gifted them to me.