Sauce for Roast Beast or Ducking the Turkey

We are having Thanksgiving Roast Duck. I know I am out of step. I just do not like Turkey all that much.  The children love it, so I have dutifully served it for years. The Viper Girls have become a little less traditional now in their Terrible Thirties. So I am ducking the Turkey. I love puns.

I decided I would try a new Relish to complement the richness of Roast Duck. I went looking in some of my regional cookbooks and found the recipe below. I reproduce it here in case you want to do something NEW too.

Pickle Nut Salad

2 packets Knox Gelatin
2 cups cold Water
2 cups Sugar
1 cup Vinegar
1 and 1/2 cups cubed sweet midget Pickles
1 cup chopped English Walnuts

Dissolve Knox gelatin in cold water. Boil sugar and vinegar to 250 degrees or until it spins a thread. Pour sugar syrup into gelatin water, stir. Pour into 9 inch square container and add pickles and nuts, stir. Serve when set.

Art Deco and More at the New York Public Library

I found the New York Public Library Digital Collections. What a great resource for everyone. 

"The site is a living database with new materials added every day, featuring prints, photographs, maps, manuscripts, streaming video, and more."

The images come from the Collections for Designers - Ornament and Pattern:
Pre Victorian to Art Deco. 

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. "1. Foliage; 2. Foliage; 3. Flowers and foliage" The New York Public Library Digital Collections.

The material in the collections is a treasure chest of graphic and abstract design. I spent a long time just poking about and I have not exhausted the resource yet.

The provenance of the abstract Tulips.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. "[Multicolor tulip shapes; on purple field.]" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1930.

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Art & Architecture Collection, The New York Public Library. "Cretonne imprimée." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1926. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e2-ae3e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Scary Spiders and Chocolate Mice

Spider Queenby Mistiqarts

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love to decorate. And every year I search for inexpensive dramatic decorations that cost next to nothing. Every year I find new creations on the Net. 

Spiders are a theme. One year, chicken wire Ghosts were all the rage. I think Spiders are really scary and that, after all, is the point. 

I am making a Giant Spider Web out of trash bags for my door.
Sure you can pay $12.00 and get a web ready made but where is the fun in that? Why shop when you have the makings of giant spiders at home already.

Last but not least, make Spider Web Cupcakes. You can find a recipe for them and Chocolate Mice at Food and Wine's Halloween Desserts. Scroll down...