"I LOVE JACQUES COUSTEAU!"

I've managed to go 26 years without having to contribute to Thanksgiving dinner.

I've always felt like I'd pull a Rachel Greene with the Traditional English Trifle. "Wait! I wasn't supposed to put beef in the trifle?!?!?"

Normally, I take on the responsibility to make the place cards. Here's one from a couple years ago, but this year I felt the urge to actually bake something.  Never the less, I still made place cards which I'll post soon!

Right: A Macy's Thanksgiving Day Float illustration that I did while I worked for Versimark. We were trying to do the google holiday concept for the company that we were promoting at the time.
I don't think he ever saw the light of day.
The colourful turkey at the bottom of the post was another attempt.

Here's my attempt at a Mixed Berry Pie.

"What's there not to like?"

Raspberries...Good.

Blueberries....Good.

Blackberries....Gooooood.

It was alright, if I do say so myself.  I just really had my mind made up and wanted to make the basket top. That urge could have been satisfied with taking a basket weaving class, but I chose to channel that desire into this pie. Maybe next year, I'll take a stab at making a trifle though.

Here are a few pages from a little Hallmark book I discovered at the library. I found the illustrations by Asterio Pascolini quite similar to the illustrations in the Little House on the Prairie series. Don't you agree? The book is filmed with meaningful quotes from the likes of Ralph Waldo Emerson & Abraham Lincoln.

I love that it even includes Psalm 8

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!  Who hast set thy glory above the heavens.

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

I hope my readers had a joyous Thanksgiving.

Jana

Julia Child, Eat your heart out!

I couldn't be more sarcastic. Baking is definitely not my forte. I really don't belong in the kitchen. Really. That phrase, "Too many cooks in the kitchen" came to mind several times while I attempted my latest disaster, especially when my mom was breathing down my neck. 

Better yet, do you know that scene in Sleeping Beauty when the fairies decide to make Aurora a birthday cake and one fairy (Fauna? Flora?) folds the eggs with the shell still intact into the cake batter? Well, I feel like that is exactly how I would have followed those directions. (I reference Disney movies too often, don't I?)

Anyways, all the hype around this Royal Wedding has led me to plan a Royal Wedding Viewing Party with my friend, Makayla. (Hi, Makayla!) And it was decided that we would serve traditional British desserts and hors d'œuvres...and tea, of course. Yes, and it's definitely one of those parties where fancy hats are required.
A Battenberg cake.  I thought, "Sounds British. And even if I screw it up, it will probably fall into the the "tastes British" catagory." (Don't judge me. They are notorious for having terrible food and you know it.) To find out it was created in honor for a wedding in 1884 when Queen Victoria's granddaughter wed Prince Louis of Battenberg. The four checkered squares represent the four princes of Battenberg.

Yes! Challenge accepted. Here's the link to the recipe.

So this is what it was supposed to look like:

She couldn't understand why I was in the kitchen. Abnormal behaviour alarms her.

 
 Too many lumps!
Mmm. Definitely does NOT look appetizing. Who is going to eat this?

Now this painting portion was tolerable. I could get used to this.

She was so concerned. I wasn't making coffee, so why was I still in the kitchen?!?

 Haha. So droopy. Ugh. The perfectionist in me was tempted to photoshop this to make the pink more brilliant. I should have added the entire bottle of food colouring. Ah, maybe next time...hahaha who am I kidding? This is not my territory.  Let's just hope it doesn't make anyone sick. ;)

2 hours to go until this wedding! The anticipation is killing me!