halloween hangover

I woke this morning (at quarter to six) to the sound of Oliver sorting his candy downstairs hahaha :) I adore how into Halloween the kids were this year. In fact, Pey is having a bit of trouble coming to terms with the fact that we now have to wait an entire year to do it again! She LOVEDLOVEDLOVED ringing all of our neighbors' doorbells. Not to say that she didn't love the candy, too (she once sighed this huge sigh and lamented, "Mama, I just love candy..." like it was her cross to bear in life), but she really loved going to everyone's home and ringing the bell.

We didn't go crazy with the pictures, but here are a few so you can get the gist:

Now that Halloween is over, we are transitioning full-force into Thanksgiving preparations. A few years ago, Jon and I took over hosting the family Thanksgiving, which we LOVE. And the best thing about our Thanksgiving is that we generally have just as many (if not more) friends as family come over, so it really just seems like a party.

This year, our friends Steph and Tom have graciously offered to make our dreams come true by bringing a Turducken, which- if you don't already know- is a chicken stuffed into a duck stuffed into a turkey. In England, it's known as a "Royal Roast"... because, you know, there's just something about stuffing meat into other meat that just says... class. But seriously, we've been talking about getting a Turducken for the better part of 5 years now, so we are just so excited.

I will make a separate post of all of my Thanksgiving fixin' ideas, but for now I'll leave you with a link to the Pasta e Fagioli recipe ( find it here) that I made last week- Let me just say that my Sicilian grandmother makes the best best BEST pasta e fagioli on earth, so this one wasn't quiiiiite as good, but when you're in the mood, it certainly does the trick!

As you might see from my pictures, I subbed cannellini beans for the kidney (because that's what my Gramma uses). I also doubled the pasta (to 1 1/2 cups) and I pureed the entire batch instead of 1 cup as she calls for. However you do it, it's so so good on a chilly night!

I hope your Halloween Hangover isn't as bad as mine (curse you, mini Twix!)... thankfully I was able to unload the rest of my candy (a giant bowl, thanks to the cold, rainy weather last night...) to my last group of Trick-or-Treaters, to their complete amazement and glee. So at least most of the sugar is out of this house- Not sure how I will fuel myself with all of the house projects we have planned for this weekend, though! Ha!

Happy Weekend, Friends!