Detail from "Rain Dance," an original quilt by Sherrie Spangler

Thursday, December 1, 2011

A Northwest Thanksgiving


I know I'm a week late on Thanksgiving, but I can't move on to Christmas decorating until I get this out.

First the color

I bought the napkins last year and then saw the same fabric at the big box store, so I bought enough to make a tablecloth. It was already the perfect width for our table, so all I did was zig-zag across the two cut ends and toss it in the washer and dryer to help the edges get fuzzy and texturey.



Sunflower napkin rings got recycled from last year (see Thanksgiving Color Feast), and the little pumpkins and squash in the centerpiece got recycled from my friend's Goodwill box.


Duane got recycled, too. Here he is a year later savoring a fresh oyster and a glass of Northwest bubbly.

There was NO TURKEY at this feast (except for Dave and Duane). We stayed true to the Northwest and had salmon and fresh oysters, fall veggies from our garden and a LOT of wine from Washington and Oregon.

Here's Dave with a beer, a steak, and two salmon filets on the cedar plank covered with rock salt before baking. The thick steak is for a guest who mainly likes steak and brownie batter (college student, female).

Dr. Dave says you can never get enough salt, steak or beer. But what does he know? He only puts people to sleep. (Intravenously, with beer.)


We tried to be fairly healthy with the appetizers. I filled endive spears with hummus and roasted red pepper strips. The other tray has rosemary crackers, brie and fig spread. Paula brought the bowls of spiced nuts -- one spicy and one sweet.


The thank-you card Paula sent goes perfectly with the Thanksgiving flowers!

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving. Now, onward to December.
Have a colorful day

5 comments:

The Idaho Beauty said...

I can't believe you didn't invite me - you know I love salmon and steak and NW wine and Dave's beer and those appetizers and and and... ;-)

Seriously, love your decorating - those are MY COLORS you know! Happy Thanksgiving and yes - now onward to Christmas...

ellen gets crafty said...

The view from your table is beautiful, the food sounds delicious and your decorations are perfect. What a great celebration!

Ladybug said...

Looks like quite the celebration! We, too, broke with tradition beginning last year, but for a different reason. I was simply tired of cooking the "usual" turkey meal 2 times only 1 month apart. We had roast beef, corn pudding, a potato dish, fresh applesauce with red huckleberries. The 2 grandkids made the pudding & potato dishes. OH! - and a pumpkin pie made totally from scratch. We were all feeling very grateful & blessed, which is what it's all about anyway. I'm sure you were all the same... love the "college kid's" menu, which you were very good to accomodate.

Sheila Schultz Mordue said...

Fall colors-a-splendor! Sherrie looks like you guys put on a terrific celebration and you have a good eye for decorating a beautiful table! I love that you served salmon; any leftovers can go into fish cakes too, yum! We had our son visiting with fun walks and games and we cooked our usual Big Bird, plus lots of veggie dishes and my lemon meringue pie and the blueberry pie from the auction desserts. Guess what, Stephen was even able to carry a large piece of turkey meat back with him on the plane to SF even though he had no checked baggage! Enjoy more holidays!

NancyD said...

it's me