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Comfort food, books, movies and other interesting finds from this week.
Good Friday morning to you friends, how are you? Are you holding up with all of the pandemonium going on in the country? You know when you see a scary movie and you put your hands over your eyes but then you keep looking, that is what I’ve been doing with the news. I have it on and I tell myself not to look but I do. Anyway, today I have lots of things to share that will give you a little respite from everything. I hope you enjoy!
Food
If you like pumpkin bread(who doesn’t) and you like bread pudding then you might want to add this Pumpkin Bread Bread Pudding to you Fall desert line-up, it is actually made from a loaf of pumpkin bread and it is delicious!
Doesn’t this Skillet Lasagna from Sheri Silver look fabulous! I cannot wait to make it.
Rigatoni Bolognese from Foxes Love Lemons, the perfect recipe to have on hand for these upcoming cold months.
French Onion Macaroni and Cheese! Yes, please! Recipe from Chatelaine
This Roasted Sweet Potato and Acorn Squash Salad from Muy Bueno looks easy and delicious.
We made this pasta this week and it is delicious!
If you are looking for Thanksgiving Side Dishes check out my post from yesterday!
Articles
Emily in Paris is a Lie, Here is What to Watch Instead
These Bird Portraits are AMAZING!
Cookbooks Help Me Escape The Days
My 28 Favorite Hallmark Movies.
Carmen Maria Machado Reviews the Season’s Fragrances
Bookshop.org has Launched a UK Version.
Meet the Home Cook Making EVERY REcipe Ina Garten Has Ever Created
This commercial brought me to tears.
I can spend hours watching Hauser play his cello, check out his utube page and give yourself a little rest from the crazy stuff going on in the world.
Have you watched The Queen’s Gambit? I’ve not watched it yet but have had several people recommend so I think I will check it out this weekend.
Books
I don’t know about you but I am ready to escape and think about Christmas, so this week I am sharing some of my favorite Christmas books.
Charles Dickens is not feeling the Christmas spirit. His newest book is an utter flop, the critics have turned against him, relatives near and far hound him for money. While his wife plans a lavish holiday party for their ever-expanding family and circle of friends, Dickens has visions of the poor house. But when his publishers try to blackmail him into writing a Christmas book to save them all from financial ruin, he refuses. And a serious bout of writer’s block sets in.
Frazzled and filled with self-doubt, Dickens seeks solace in his great palace of thinking, the city of London itself. On one of his long night walks, in a once-beloved square, he meets the mysterious Eleanor Lovejoy, who might be just the muse he needs. As Dickens’ deadlines close in, Eleanor propels him on a Scrooge-like journey that tests everything he believes about generosity, friendship, ambition, and love. The story he writes will change Christmas forever.
Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker
Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann– the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann’s mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier– the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky’s fairy tale ballet– who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter.
The magi, as you know, were wise men – wonderfully wise men – who brought gifts to the new-born King of the Jews in the manger. They invented the art of giving Christmas presents. Being wise, their gifts were no doubt wise ones, possibly bearing the privilege of exchange in case of duplication. And here I have lamely related to you the uneventful chronicle of two foolish children in a flat who most unwisely sacrificed for each other the greatest treasures of their house.
Every December, an envelope bearing a stamp from the North Pole would arrive for J.R.R. Tolkien’s children. Inside would be a letter in strange spidery handwriting and a beautiful colored drawing or some sketches. The letters were from Father Christmas.
They told wonderful tales of life at the North Pole: how all the reindeer got loose and scattered presents all over the place; how the accident-prone Polar Bear climbed the North Pole and fell through the roof of Father Christmas’s house into the dining room; how he broke the Moon into four pieces and made the Man in it fall into the back garden; how there were wars with the troublesome horde of goblins who lived in the caves beneath the house!
Sometimes the Polar Bear would scrawl a note, and sometimes Ilbereth the Elf would write in his elegant flowing script, adding yet more life and humor to the stories. No reader, young or old, can fail to be charmed by the inventiveness and “authenticity” of Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas.
If you are looking for more books to read check out ” My Bookshop” Pinterest Board.
Finds
This is great Advent Calendar for kids is a fun alternative to classic calendars. I love the idea of playing and making a new scene every day during Advent. If you are a Harry Potter fan and who isn’t, this calendar from Lego is pretty cool too!
Isn’t this little fairy doll cute?
I love Barbour and have several of their jackets/coats, this quilted one is one of my favorites. This JCrew version is similar and is on sale!
Velvet is perfect for the holidays and all winter long, these smoking slippers are gorgeous!
For more Christmas Gift Ideas check out my Gift Ideas Pinterest Board.
Have a great weekend, stay safe.
Pandemonium is an understatement. Makes me glad to be a Canadian.
Love the Anthropologie finds! I need those plates!!
You are the sweetest!
Happy day!
KariAnne