Happy Thanksgiving!  While writing this blog post I am on the road with my family for a few hours; we are going to have Thanksgiving dinner with my father’s side of the family.  I’m looking forward to it because I haven’t seen most of them in a long time.  And also I don’t have to cook…I’m all for that!  Christmas is my holiday, so usually we spend Thanksgiving at someone else’s house where I might be responsible for cooking macaroni and cheese (my specialty), but that’s about it.  I think that I’ve made a turkey once or twice in my life so far.

So, I’m sort of out of my element when it comes to Thanksgiving food and none is more apparent than making a Thanksgiving pie.  I’m a very good cake baker, but Key Lime Pie is about the extent of my pie making.  That is, until last year when I got invited to Danica Kombol’s house, my husband’s business partner, for her annual Thanksgiving Pie Making Party.   Danica is a master pie maker and right before Thanksgiving she opens up her kitchen to friends.  Among laughter, stories and tons of flour, many pies are made by the skillful and novice alike.  Some friends just come for the friendship, mimosas and delicious lunch spread, but most make pies.  This year I didn’t make one because my family was traveling, but last year Danica taught me how to make an apple pie; my family was really impressed.

Me in 2008 holding the apple pie that I made.

Still, I had a good time this year taking photos, chatting with everyone and watching the pies being made.  This year apple, pumpkin and chocolate cream pie were made.

The table is ready.

Danica making pie dough.

Christine Eisner making an apple pie.

Paula Schwed; another master pie maker.

Somehow Danica manages to prepare for guests, cook lunch, make her own pies and also teach those less skilled.  Here’s a video I shot of her showing us how to roll out pie dough.

I hope that you have a very Happy Thanksgiving and lots of pie!

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

*I don’t get paid for my opinions in any way; this is just me sharing stuff that I like and I think you will too.

Shopping at Whole Foods this week I was attracted to this stand-alone cooler in the frozen food section.  It could have been that I was hungry for cookies or the big yellow sale sign got my attention, but I was intrigued enough to stop and read some more.

What I learned is that Immaculate Baking uses no trans fat, no high fructose corn syrup and only all natural ingredients in their cookie dough.   Now, although I am not a big fan of pre-made cookie dough as they all have an “fake” taste to me, and I have yet to find a tasty healthy cookie, I decided to try these cookies at home with my own cookie monsters.  I bought 2 packages for $8: Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate and Triple Chocolate.  Each package makes 24 cookies.    The dough is already scored for each individual cookie and therefore easy to bake as many or little as you want at one time.   My family wanted to taste the cookies right away (naturally), so after dinner I made 8 of the Cranberry Oatmeal White Chocolate according to the directions on the package.

14 minutes later (plus cooling time) we were enjoying some really delicious cookies!  No, FOR REALS!   They were fresh and clean-tasting (no nasty “fake” taste), the perfect consistency, and very flavorful; they were as good as (if not better than) freshly made bakery cookies.   Everyone in my family gave the cookies an enthusiastic 2 thumbs up!  I normally do not like oatmeal in my cookies, but I love these; oatmeal, cranberries and white chocolate turned out to be a winning combination.  With the holidays upon us, it is always good to have a quick snack in the freezer like this cookie dough for unexpected guests.  A fresh warm plate of cookies and some hot apple cider (also easy to keep on-hand) makes for a very welcoming house.   We can’t wait to try the Triple Chocolate cookies!

*Update: We tried the Triple Chocolate and they were just as good as the Cranberry White Chocolate–delicious!  I have also found that my oven bakes them best for 13 minutes.  They will look puffy and not all the way done when you take them out, but then they will harden upon cooling.  I transferred mine to a wire rack to cool for 3-5 minutes before eating.

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Recently I had the pleasure of attending the book release party of Christine Eisner’s new book, Comfort Living.  The party was held at the very lovely Ivy Hall, a historic Atlantan treasure recently restored to it’s glory by Savannah College of Art and Design.  Docents were on hand to talk about the house, give tours and answer questions about the restoration.  I really enjoyed the beautiful woodwork (even on the ceiling) and art through out the house.  Christine picked the perfect place to debut her book.

While this is Christine’s first book, so is no stranger to writing; she has maintained a blog on her Comfort Living website for quite sometime and has written extensively for numerous design publications.   A professional designer and owner of her own firm, Lifestyle Design, Christine draws upon her great knowledge about art and design to create an inspirational book full of tools to live a more balanced and aesthetically rich life.   It’s not only a book to read, but to experience, as Christine guides you through an 8 week journey towards a more balanced life.  There is ample space to record your thoughts and action plans and plenty of questions to get you thinking about your living space in a more intentional manner.   The book is very user-friendly and the reader will quickly understand the “Comfort Living language” and readily apply it to their life.   For instance, Christine describes  ”Campfires” as:

Easy but intentional combinations of objects and routines that draw people in for a sense of well-being, comfort and community.

These Campfires can take the form of elements from nature, furnishings, activities, colors or sounds (just to name a few), but the key is to find the specific tools that help you create a welcoming and comfortable space.   In my own home office where I spend most daytime hours, my Campfires include a bright, colorful rug, photographs of my children, my toys on display, the birds outside my window and my puppy under my chair.  If you are unsure of your own Campfires, Christine provides questions for consideration.

As Christine says, “homes should be a haven for the people who live in them, not just a display for “company.” ”  Read Christine’s book to make your house a home, your home a haven in your life and your life a more balanced one.  You can purchase Comfort Living on the website ComfortlivingbyChristine.com, Amazon.com or at any major bookstore.

© 2009 – 2011, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

Yesterday I had the delicious honor of dining with food critic John Kessler at an authentic Korean restaurant.   Han Il Kwan is located on Buford Highway, which is a famous strip of ethnic restaurants here in the metro Atlanta area.  It is best experienced by someone like John Kessler, who knows the best places to eat.  Although I had met John before in a more social setting, I never had the pleasure of his epicurian expertise.  The Blogrollers Lorraine Robertson and Christie Crowder rounded out our perfect table of 4.  The team over at Everywhere arranged our lunch as the first “Eat ‘N Tweet” with Mr. Kessler and our twitter friends (tweeple, I like to call them) joined our lunch by following the hastag #eatntweet.

As soon as we sat down, the adventure began.  Since the rest of us hadn’t eaten Korean BBQ like this before, John ordered for the whole table.  Dish after dish steadily arrived and soon our table was covered with food.  Our waitress was attentive, helpful and funny, but the star of our meal was the food–very delicious!  John went easy on us and ordered interesting dishes, but nothing too wild that we would be wary of trying.   Everything was yummy–except for the tiny, whole dried fish; I was brave enough to taste one and no thank you, I won’t eat that again; that tiny fish had the flavorful punch of a very big (smelly, fishy-tasting) fish.    There were many different dishes, but my favorites were Hae Mul Pa Jun (Korean style seafood pancake), Goon Mand Doo (pot stickers), Gal Bi Gui (marinated short ribs) and Dak Bulgogi (marinated chicken).   Since the meat was grilled right at our table, it was hot and fresh.  Much of the food was spicy–which is good for me as I like spicy–and all of it was flavorful.   I have to bring my family to this restaurant; they love ethnic food and will enjoy the whole experience.   Thanks John for introducing me to a wonderful new way of eating!

© 2009, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.

I try not to make assumptions about people because my life experiences have taught me that appearances are not always what they seem.  I can’t count the number of times (unfortunately) that I have admired a couple’s seemingly happy marriage only to hear that they are getting a divorced.  And I have been shocked more than once when a white-bred suburban friend has told me about their love of hip-hop and R&B–and I’m talking back in the day when the world wasn’t as musically integrated as it is now.  Nope, you just can never tell about some people.  Take my young friend Stuart for example: looking at his photo you wouldn’t think that he knows about and celebrates African American culture, but seriously this dude is down in the most colloquial sense of the word.   And just so you don’t get it twisted by his hilarious and life observational Seinfeld-esque tweets, keep following him on Twitter and you will see that he’s a Christian always speaking the truth and standing on God’s word.  Stuart is an inspiration to know.

In this area of faith, my husband and I are an anomaly in our current environment and as such have certain assumptions made about us.  Because of where we live (intown Atlanta, not a suburb) and our kids go to a very progressive school and of course because we both have dreadlocks, it is assumed that we are a reflection of our environment (and hair).  Comments are often made to us or about us that are meant to affirm or agree with what people think our values are.  This is the problem with assumptions and not taking the time to really get to know someone versus who you think they are according to superficial criteria.

Well if you don’t know, now you know.  We are dread-lock wearing, tattoo-having, hip-hop-listening, intown-living, funki-dressing, fun-loving, Bible-believing, God-honoring, Jesus-loving Christians.   *Gasp!*–Yes, it’s true that Christians can look like us and act like us too!  ”Great” you say….until I am in a high school parent meeting with you and I say that my husband and I do not believe that our kids should drink under-age, do drugs (at any age) or have pre-marital sex (although really this is just common sense).  Or when I say that no, I don’t believe that people should get divorced just because they are “unhappy”–they should really try to honor their commitment to God and each other and work it out (again really not a Christian thing, just common sense).  Or any number of statements that I can make that are contradictory to my environment and the world at large.   Right…uh-huh, we are those kind of Christians.  See, now why are you looking at me like I have 3 heads when we were cool just a minute ago?

BUT I’ll tell you what:  If you promise to not make assumptions about me, like all dread heads smoke weed or that all Christians are home-schooling 18 member families (not that there’s anything wrong with that) then I promise not to assume that you can’t dance because you wear Dockers or that you are a heathen going to hell in a hand basket.  Deal?

© 2009 – 2010, Funkidivagirl.com. All rights reserved. Republished only with permission.