grace.

i've recently downloaded a new app. 1000 gifts - based on the book 1000 gifts, by ann voskamp, which i'm currently listening to and LOVING. a great[ful] way to list daily thanks, on the go and with your phone. love it.

and so here's mine from today.

how she's always been right beside me.

candlelight illuminating humble (homemade) table.

pillows from old jumpers, now a cozy corner.

new wool waiting for fingers to fly. 

woollens wet on the line - waiting to warm.

a thoughtful gift from my most recent visitor.

 as we enter advent, remembering who HE is! (printable here)

get the app here. 

eleven::newlywed::food

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i have just finished the most delicious brownie. dense and moist, with a slight crumb. we are finishing leftovers from thanksgiving, and to be honest, it'll be sad day when these are no longer available.

from: nigella.com

i did not take the photo above, but i did, i did make these brownies for sunday lunch. a member of the table is a gluten-free kind of person, and so it seemed cruel to exclude her from dessert. plus these are currently battling it out with the hummingbird brownies for top spot in the house. i've determined that maybe, just maybe, one of the single best things, is having frozen brownies waiting in the freezer. because you don't necessarily want a brownie everyday, but some nights, are brownie nights.

oh, and if you're serving these after a meal, make the sauce, it's a little chocolaty, a little coffee-ish, a little taste of heaven. le boy has been sneaking it from the fridge for the last two days...

i find these are great to make the day before, allow to fully cool and then cut, otherwise, they don't quite hold together 

flourless chocolate brownies
adapted from nigella express (one of my favourite cookbooks!)
and if you'd like some conversion assistance see here.

i find these are great to make the day before, allow to fully cool and then cut, otherwise, they don't quite hold together...but they still taste the same. le boy would like to remind everyone the measuring is an essential part of the baking process...we're loving our most recently arrived wedding present!

jospehjoseph kitchen scale.

FOR THE BROWNIE:

• 225g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
• 225g butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 150g ground almonds
• 100g chopped walnuts

FOR THE SAUCE:

• 75g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids
• 125ml double cream
• 2 x 15ml tablespoons
• Camp coffee or 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 1 x 15ml tablespoon golden syrup

Method

Serves: Makes 16 squares

1. For the brownie:
2. Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 3. Melt the chocolate and butter gently over a low heat in a heavy-based saucepan.
3. Take the pan off the heat, mix in the vanilla and sugar, and let it cool a little.
4. Beat the eggs into the pan along with the ground almonds and chopped walnuts. Turn into a 24cm square baking tin or, most sensibly, use a foil one.
5. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, by which time the top will have set but the mixture will still be gooey. Once cooler, cut carefully, four down, four across, into 16 squidgybellied squares.
6. For the sauce:
7. Break up the chocolate and put into a heavy-based saucepan.
8. Add the remaining ingredients, then place the pan over a gentle heat and let everything melt together.
9. Once everything has melted, stir well, take off the heat and pour into a jug to serve.

nine::newlywed::faith

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thanksgiving you say? in october? well seeing as i'm canadian, yes indeed! i choose to live abroad, i didn't choose to leave all my customs behind, and honestly, any custom that involves enormous amounts of food, gathering the people you love, and the beginning of autumn, is pretty great. so we did thanksgiving, uk-style. which means we had chicken instead because turkeys aren't ready until december - but poultry is poultry right? and we used our teeny-tiny kitchen to feed 5,000 - ok 8, but it was a learning experience! 
 

i've hosted thanksgiving before, but this time was definitely different, because we were hosting thanksgiving. it was a team effort - as i write le boy is cleaning up the teensy but fairly messy kitchen! (now that's something to be thankful for!!!!) and because it was new for us, i changed things up a bit, dishes which were stars around my parents' table were switched  for slightly less involved items. i found great inspiration from this easy how-to guide, complete with downloadable timeline for a trouble-free thanksgiving from real simple. 

 

the menu included:

• chicken, stuffed with a lemon, rosemary and thyme (the single best way to roast a chicken!)  
• garlicky green beans
• easy (make-ahead) stuffing
• mashed potatoes
• crispy sweet potatoes
• salad (contributed by a lovely guest) 
• gravy (of course)
• flourless brownies (recipe coming later in the week) 
• apple crisp (another contribution)

i had a fantastic time placing little touches around the house - as seen yesterday. the centrepieces were candles and some squash with acorns we collected last weekend while in richmond park (i filled le boy's pockets!) and berries from a tree that grows in our garden. 

printables for the place cards and wine glass markers can be found here.  clairebella has some lovely printables! so much of my thanksgiving inspiration can be found on my thanksgiving pinterest board. 

and here is my list of thanks - i'll never be able to list it all. his grace is enough, his mercy new every morning.

• a messy kitchen - i have friends to cook for and food to eat
• a husband who cleans up after everyone's left so i can post this
  
• friends gathered around a dinner table
• welcoming compatriots into our home 
• candles filling the space with warm, soft light 
• using the silver set that used to grace grandma's table, now feeding my family 
• signs of autumn all around 
• weather good enough to sit in the garden before the mid-afternoon meal 
• the warm bath that's waiting for me 
• good books 
• a home to open to others 
• telephone calls and text messages across oceans 
• a dishwasher 
• a saviour who has rescued this mess of a girl, called her by name and promised a future.

amen. 

eight::newlywed::homemaking

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it's thanksgiving weekend around our house. so this will be brief. just a quick peek into how we've decorated for the holiday, and a link to the printables - loving what can be found online these days...

 

we are abundantly blessed. 

1 thessalonians scripture  

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