Monthly Archives: November 2009

dad does the dishes in the bathtub

How was your holiday? Other than a waterfall in the kitchen, doing the dishes in the bathtub, my camera acting up and a tiny hangover, mine was great. I do, however, have a few thoughts for what to do differently come Christmas time.

1. Menu, menu, menu! I’m going to get the items I want to serve written down this week and no later. I promise not to force my friends to make everything this holiday! Promise, promise. I learned so much watching Aziza last year and Kate this year and if I remember it all, I know I can pull off Christmas dinner at my house handily, if not with gusto. Nigella Lawson also told me I could make chili and potato skins if I feel like it. Easing up on the traditional food is looking like a must-do for ease and simplicity.

4. The plumbing. The pipe below our kitchen sink burst just as the food was done, pushing dirty water and rusty pieces of metal onto the floor and forcing us to do dishes and wash hands in the bathtub. Fun! It’s still not fixed, but believe you me, the plumber who arrives tomorrow will do a thorough check on each and every pipe in this apartment.

3. Space. My plan to push two tables together in our library/foyer actually worked well, but I didn’t think of places to put the food that wouldn’t fit in the center of said table. I’ll make sure to have some cleared surfaces for dishes — and “prezzies” as Mama Okun calls them — on Christmas.

4. The table. I will have semi-matching dishes not borrowed from friends. Four Zara Home plates purchased at the thrift store this weekend for eighty cents a piece (they have no US stores so I feel extra lucky for the find) will go a long way when paired with my white Crate and Barrel wedding gift plates. Mix-matching is okay as long as there’s a semblance of order. Additionally, I will actually make myself some placemats and napkins with ye old sewing machine. I realize that I have given away dozens since I learned to sew and have kept not one tiny scrap for myself. Looks like my pre-holiday-to-do list just got longer.

5. Decorations. Kate laughed when I told her my Thanksgiving decorating plans: flowers in old thrifted vases. Which would have been great had I had the vases… She brought some great gourds over and I haphazardly threw them together in bowls, but I know they would have looked so much prettier and added to the festive mood with proper vessels. I’ll do much better on Christmas, KB, promise.

I think our guests had a nice time and Ok and I really enjoyed spending time with those who came over. A special, special thanks to Kate, Erick, Sydnye and Elliot for their kitchen prowess and to Papo for those delicious vegan pies from the Riverwest Co-op in Milwaukee. I promise to work harder and smarter next year.

Oops, I’m in a dilemma!

This little kitchen is going to seat and crank out Thanksgiving dinner (with the lovely help of both Chef Erick Williams and Kate Bock and the kitchen at mk) for about ten people. Where will they sit? What will they sit on? Will my mismatched thrift store plates be considered charming or cheap? Will we really need more than five wine glasses? Does it matter that half of my silverware is the good-good wedding present kind from Crate and Barrel and that the other half is Ikea crap?

Hosting Thanksgiving is no easy feat. I was all ready and excited up until exactly five minutes ago when I realized that we swapped our rectangle kitchen table with a leaf for the round one pictured above and that the chairs I bought on Craigslist are super wobbly and to be honest, pieces of junk. This was simple when we hosted a Labor Day BBQ back in September with our entire back porch and yard to use for accommodating extra bodies. But, with snow and rain on the schedule, I can’t see forcing my baby brother to sit outside.

My living room will contain a beautiful dog who is good at both begging and expelling copious amounts of drool onto the ground whenever food is near. Will everyone sneak him pieces of turkey and cornbread? Will all of our hard work on the no begging front be for naught? It took months for us to recover from the time his Aunt Aziza practically force fed him pieces of cheese.

Deep breath.

After writing this out, I feel better. I’ll grab my crafting table and our bill paying desk and shove them together. They can be covered with a nice tapestry and I can use the reserve chairs we have in the basement. If I have to, I can use the table on our porch as well. One of my friends can forget bringing pie and just supply some extra servingware. Everyone will be forced to sign a contract stating that they will not, under any circumstance, even if there is drool on their shoe, feed the dog people food.

The important thing is that our family and friends will be together in a cozy, albeit small, apartment and that I will have the leftovers of a twenty pound turkey to feed my husband with for a week. And stuffing. Lots of stuffing. Food is food and family is family. Even if that means sharing a wine glass with my dad.

Happy Thanksgiving!