Holiday Shopping: Your Nostalgic, Pack-rat Mom

I'll lay it out for you: the best gift for a nostalgic mom is a book full of pretty pictures. You could make a photographic family tree, including as many generations as possible. You could document your mom's life and leave blank areas where she can write down her memories. You could make a brag book of you and your siblings, of your wedding or of that new grandbaby. It doesn't matter. She'll love it. $45 at Pinhole Press.

I'm also loving this family tree necklace, with initialed leaves dangling from a branch. $59 from Etsy.

Nostalgic Mom by amberfiona featuring a feather shawl

For the nostalgic, pack-rat mom, appeal to her love of the past and that pesky desire to keep everything. The Container Store stocks cute organizing accessories, like the colorful boxes and striped basket above. If your mom has slightly anti-technology tendencies like mine, personalized monogrammed stationary from Rifle Design might be just the ticket. Lipstick Queen's Medieval Red is the perfect shade for everyone and surprisingly moisturizing. 

Your mom probably cherishes her own mom, so pick up one of Anthropologie's charms to add to her heirloom bracelet (or start one of her own!) and a bottle of her mom's perfume. My NaNa wore Lancome's Tresor. Finally, what mom doesn't love a pretty scarf? Madewell's pattern is affordable and just bright enough to add a little pep to her neutral sweaters.

Holiday Shopping: Your Main Man

Cuff-links, ties, cologne. All great man gifts, but all lacking that certain zest. The problem with men is that when they want something, they buy it. End of story. And that rarely includes necessities like clothing, so that's what we end up buying them. But we can still make it special right? Right.

Doesn't EVERY man need a Spock robe? Seriously. $59.85 

Man Gifts by amberfiona on polyvore.com

Man gifts with flare can include: Stylish Corgi socks from J.Crew; Root liquor (like root beer concentrate, but alcoholic); a Best Buy gift card for video games; Whiskey stone shot glasses; a super warm sleeping bag; Superman cuff links; an Indiana Jones-inspired cuff links box; and a super-nice tie by The Hill-Side.

New Twists on Thanksgiving Standards

I'm pretty sure I'm making a dessert as my Thanksgiving contribution this year, but in case you're still looking for something extra special to make, here are some recipes that caught my eye:

Local Kitchen's Homemade Cranberry Sauce

The Curvy Carrot's Cheddar Scallion Cornbread.

Good Life Eats' Leek and Bacon Stuffing.

Kalyn's Kitchen's Sweet Potato Hummus.

Kitchen Konfidence's Pumpkin Cider Fizz.

How bout you guys? Any new recipes you'd like to add to your family's canon? 

Sunday Best v.80

I'm not sure there's a harder sell in America than a silent French film, but I'm DYING to see this movie. It's got serious, serious buzz and that leading man looks like a cross between Gene Kelly and Clark Gable, which is to say, he's my dream man. I most especially love that John Goodman is in it, randomly.

Are you guys getting ready for Thanksgiving? Still trying to come up with recipe ideas? I'll share some of the ones that have caught my eye around the Internets tomorrow, and I also am sharing my gift ideas this week, too. If you're like me, you've already started shopping!

• Justin Timberlake's night at the Richmond Marine Ball.
• An INCREDIBLE guide to making a diamond-tufted headboard.
• Make your own labels for beer and soda.
• A DIYer's most needed gadgets.
• NPR periodically asks its interns to listen to classic albums they had somehow never heard. This one finally hears Joni Mitchell's Blue.
• No matter how you feel about protests, these videos of protests at UC Berkeley are very powerful.

Out and About in Hampton Roads

It's the most wonderful time of the year, right? It's starting to get crazy busy, especially in the Kennedy household. This week alone, I had a birthday party, celebrated my actual birthday, went to the Design Sponge book signing (see above!), out for drinks and tomorrow I'm going to continue what's become a strange, surreal tradition: walking a balloon in the Norfolk Grand Illumination Parade:

 Years ago, my friend Ashleigh invited me to walk in the parade with her company. She made it sound like we'd be riding on a float, handing out candy, so you can imagine my surprise when I got there and found out I'd be walking a balloon, just like in the Macy's parade.

If you've never done this (and I'm guessing most of you haven't), it's surprisingly strenuous and hard work. It's all about teamwork, watching out for horse poo, lowering the balloon for every overpass and power line and lifting the legs so they don't drag on the ground. Oh yeah, and you have to shout "Happy Holidays" and wave and grin for the cameras.

This was our balloon last year!

Did I say cameras? Why yes! If you're in the Hampton Roads area, you might catch me at work on Channel 13 at 7 p.m. Saturday, at 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving Day, 3 p.m. on Dec. 5 and at noon on Christmas Eve. Even better, you should come down to the parade; it really is one of the best local parades I've ever seen! Find more details here.

Spreading the Design Love

Do you guys read Design Sponge? If you don't, it's an excellent lifestyle blog about all things design. It's also one of the first blogs I ever fell head over heels in love with...I've been reading since 2006, when the blog wasn't even a dot com!

The woman behind the blog is a Hampton Roads native and is bringing her book tour to Prince Books in Norfolk today. I'm looking forward to heading down there and get my copy signed...if you haven't seen her book, it really is a great one. Very relatable, very focused on creating a home that reflects individuals. It also features several DIY projects that are actually worth doing! 

Introducing ... Thinscuits

Sometimes my cooking career feels like an episode of "I Love Lucy." On Saturday, while I was preparing for my birthday party, I decided to take on Tupelo Honey Cafe's Ginormous Biscuits, which were the best I've ever had when we ate there in October. 

What I ended up with were what my friend Travis dubbed "Thinscuits." Remember that for when I need to trademark it.

Failures like these are especially frustrating when you follow every step carefully. I started out by combining bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, sour cream and salt.

What followed was one of the most strenuous activities I've encountered in cooking. The recipe called for grating frozen sticks of butter (about 1 1/2 to be precise). It was HARD. It demanded a lot of arm strength and patience I just don't come by easily. But I managed to survive it.

And it looked like this. The recipe then says to quickly cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, just until combined. It said not to overmix, but the line between "just until combined" and "overmixed" is perilously thin.

Once I had made what looked like a cornmeal, I added buttermilk and stirred until it was mixed. I dumped the dough out on a floured surface and rolled it out.

And, um...it wasn't that easy. It also was pretty thin. I used a three-inch biscuit cutter to get several biscuits and put them in the oven, preheated to 450.

They looked pretty flat, but I thought the ginormous magic still had a chance...

It didn't. My first batch of biscuits were literally as hard as hockey pucks. My second batch was better, but still flat as crackers.

I was pretty heartbroken, and I posted about it on Facebook and received a lot of commiseration. One person pointed out my baking soda and baking powder might need to be replaced, while Sean mentioned bread flour has too much gluten. He kindly ran out and bought some Pillsbury Grands biscuits, which I quickly popped in the oven, and I put them on top of my sad little biscuits on a tray.

To my surprise, our guests ate every single one of my sad biscuits! Travis said they taste great, just flat. He declared them Thinscuits, and I hope you all remember this story when you find them on a grocery shelf near you!

Any suggestions on the secrets to ginormous biscuit-making? I could use them!

Spicy Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Things that seem intimidating: homemade pulled pork. Things that are insanely easy: homemade pulled pork.

There are so many ways to go about making pulled pork at home, but I opted to do a spice rub + pork butt + slow cooker and it was AMAZING.

For the rub, I used this recipe, which called for pepper (I used ground peppercorns), paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne, dark brown sugar and white sugar.

I maneuvered the pork butt into a big freezer bag with the spices, and then I shook the bag like crazy.

And it ended up looking basically like this. I put it in the fridge overnight and set my alarm for 7:30 a.m.

At that time, I rolled the pork butt into my slow cooker, added 1/4 cup of water, set the cooker to low for 8 hours and literally went back to bed. I turned the butt about twice over the next 8 hours, and ladled the juices over the butt.

So, being a bad blogger (but good hostess) I forgot to take a picture of the final result! But this is what it looked like right before I started going at it with two forks. It was literally falling apart, and the bone was completely clean of meat. I tried to remove any extra fat I saw, and shredded it a lot.

The resulting pork was spicy with a kick, and definitely didn't need any barbecue sauce. Not the way purists like it, but great for what I was trying to accomplish. I didn't have any leftovers, but if I had, they would have been perfect for tacos, since many of the spices are the same.

My Country-Fried Birthday Party

My birthday isn't until tomorrow, but over the weekend I threw myself a country-themed birthday party. I grew up in Appalachia and the entire time I lived there, I identified more with my family in New Jersey. I was just a Yankee, through and through. 

But somehow by the time I graduated high school, I realized I had come to identify with Appalachia (where my father's family has lived for generations). I had become a country girl, through and through. So to celebrate my roots, I decided to blast country music, serve fried food and don plaid. And for the second year in a row, I had a birthday game night.

Just a regular Lula May...

My spread, including the branch ceramic candlesticks we bought in Asheville.

We had biscuits (both homemade and the much more successful Pillsbury variety), with blackberry preserves and tupelo honey.

And for drinks, I had a selection of vintage sodas like Nehi and RC, and two punches: Cider Ginger Fizz (cider + ginger ale) and Rosemary Lemonade. I made an easy rosemary simple syrup using this recipe.

I set out some liquors to make the drinks "hard": bourbon and jack, to spice up the cider fizz and peach schnapps and Firefly vodka for the lemonade.

No Appalachian birthday would be complete without Moon Pies! Back in the day, coal miners used to take a moon pie and an RC cola with them as a "workman's lunch."

My friend Erica has started a tradition of giving me a gift to play, so this year she bought me "Balderdash," which is my new favorite board game. If you've never played, it's hilarious and fun.

And instead of birthday cake, my friend Ashleigh brought her deep fryer and made me fried Oreos! They are so bad for you, but even one is worth it. We froze the Oreos for a couple hours first, and then dipped them in Bisquick batter and fried until golden. I sprinkled confectioner's sugar to serve and they were DELICIOUS.

It was a wonderful birthday party, and I feel so lucky to have such good friends. Maybe next year I can have a Jersey-themed birthday?

Sunday Best v.79

I love this photograph of seagulls by Corey Arnold. Imagine it huuuuuuuuuge in your living room. It would be amazing. See more of Arnold's work here.

• This tumblr shares the trials and tribulations of being a journalist. (pssst...you might find an entry from me in there.)
• Do you match your music to your mood? Why not match your drink to your music?
• Muppets Nail Polish. Nuff said.
• Nobody can calm the babies like Biggie Smalls.
• Easy gifts you can give in a jar.
• I'm in love with The Architecturalist, like the Sartorialist, but for gorgeous rooms and structures.