The Fall Edit
the guest bedrooms
This is the time of year when I start noticing that I’m zhushing up the guest bedroom for the change in seasons and getting ready to have out of town friends and family here for the holidays. Sometimes it’s a linen refresh, sometimes it’s rearranging the nightstand, sometimes it’s moving around the art, but once one of these happen the rest is inevitably going to follow.
This guest bedroom has been pinned on my Pinterest board for a long time and it’s one that I always come back to as a favorite. I think I’m almost ready to take the leap and wallpaper one of our guest bedrooms and get a patterned headboard. Until then, here are some ideas for brightening your space if, like me, you’re not ready for a total redo.
the front porch
We all know I love a pumpkin filled front porch! I really do miss having my old window boxes, so I’m playing with some ideas to get the same aesthetic and will share if it ever come to fruition.
Something a little bit different this year is that I mixed some fake pumpkins in with the real ones. I actually found some really good looking ones and linked them (and some planters) below.
I switched up the planters to be a more offset asymmetrical look and added more textured antique looking planters in with the galvanized ones that have been there forever. I really like how they came out! I replaced the annuals with some fall friendly ones - viola, pansies, snapdragons (and of course mums) to what was already there. My Thyme, Creeping Jenny, and ivys are all really well rooted so I think they’ll do well through the winter and hopefully I can just keep rotating through the seasonal annuals for refreshes.
the bar cart
image by Jenner McGinn Studios
I am not the most creative drink maker, so I’ve been on the lookout for some fall cocktails with a more festive touch. Look at these beauties I found on Half Baked Harvest!
Thanksgiving Sangria
I’m also loving how many cocktail options there are now!
the turkey
And last but not least is the only recipe I’ll ever use for the Thanksgiving Turkey. It feels very fancy and the girls and Andrei gave it rave reviews.
INGREDIENTS
Yield:8 to 10 servings
112- to 14-pound turkey, giblets removed
½cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
Zest of 1 orange
2tablespoons chopped fresh sage
2cloves garlic, minced
1tablespoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
½of a 750-milliliter bottle dry white wine
2cups orange juice
10 to 12fresh sage leaves
PREPARATION
Step 1
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Pat turkey dry with paper towel and place it on a rack in a roasting pan. In a small bowl or on a clean cutting board, mash the butter together with the orange zest, sage, garlic, salt and pepper to create a paste. Lift the turkey’s skin at the neck and gently use your hand to separate skin from breast meat. Rub about half of the compound butter under the skin, covering the breast meat. Rub the rest of the butter over the skin of the turkey and season with a little more salt and pepper.
Step 2
Fold the wings of the turkey under the bird, and tie its legs together with butcher’s twine. Pour the wine and orange juice into the roasting pan, scatter the sage leaves over the liquid and carefully slide the pan into the oven.
Step 3
Roast for about 2 to 3 hours, basting bird every 30 minutes with drippings. Start checking the bird 1 hour and 45 minutes into cooking, and tent it with foil if skin is turning too dark. Cook until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh without touching bone registers 165 degrees. Transfer to a cutting board or platter and allow to rest at least 30 minutes before carving.
