Thanksgiving is the Best
A fail proof turkey recipe, shopping, shows tabletop & more
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and I can't pinpoint exactly why - I love the meal of course, but it's more than that. I think there's so much to look forward to (Christmas parties and traditions + the school break & New Years), but it is also just a nice long weekend with guilt free lounging and catching up on sleep and shows and movies. I am hosting this year (14 people!) and am so excited about it - I've been planning my table(s) with my mom for weeks and can't wait to have so many family members around. And then on Friday, I have a list of shows to watch, I will be decorating for Christmas and half-watching football games that will be on in every room in my house.
Here are a few things to help you prepare for a perfect Thanksgiving break - the best turkey recipe of all time, beautiful things for your table, a few fun things to wear, shows to watch (and comfortable clothes to watch them in), with a couple of Christmas odds and ends to get you in the spirit. Happy Thanksgiving!
Easy Roasted Dry Brined Turkey - I have been making this dry-brined turkey for 14 years - starting back in my little 700 square foot basement apartment on Corcoran Street in Washington, D.C. I learned how to do it by watching the Martha Stewart show (the post-prison one) and it has never failed me. You start by brining it with kosher salt and bay leaves 48 hours prior to baking it and the result is the most delicious tender turkey you've ever tasted. I also make her Simple Turkey Gravy which might be even better than the turkey. The secret is the dry white wine along with (lots) of butter. I went back and found the video and linked it below.
One departure from Martha: Because I am from the South, we don't say "stuffing" and we certainly don't put it inside the turkey - ours is made with cornbread, we serve it on the side, and we call it dressing...as the Pilgrims intended.
Video of Martha Stewart dry brined turkey - Martha is her usual bossy-self in this video but that's okay because she knows what she's doing so just do as you're told and you can thank her later.
My tiny little apartment with a tiny little kitchen (basement, on the left) on Corcoran Street in Washington - a beautiful one way street lined with Ginkgo trees that turned yellow in the Fall. I loved living here.
I've written about this show before but will remind you again because it is so good.
It took me a few episodes to get the hang of Slow Horses. In fact, I stopped watching after two episodes and didn’t start again for over a year. It was killing me because I love Kristen Scott Thomas so much so I picked it up again and this time I turned the captions on and was able to better understand the dialogue – as soon as that happened I was immediately hooked. Season 4 on Apple TV + is now streaming. Love these nutty, dysfunctional spooks.
