Thankful

We all have so much to be thankful for. I hope that your day was filled with family and friends...and a yummy, over-indulgent dinner of course.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

If you like pumpkin pie and cheesecake you are going to thank me for this one. It is like the two got together and had a love child! It's g-o-o-d!!!
I don't have a lot of down time these days, with my workload, but I've got to take a little to keep myself sane. During these times you can find me either watching some mindless reality TV show or cooking/ baking something. These are the times when I am truly relaxed. Sunday, it was overcast and cool and so I took a little time for myself and baked.
If you are interested in whipping this up yourself, which would be perfect for Thanksgiving, here is what you are going to need:
10 graham crackers - finely crushed
1/4 c. finely chopped pecans
1/4 c. melted butter
4 pkg. (8 oz. ea.) Philadelphia cream cheese, at room temperature
1 c. sugar
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
cool whip and ground nutmeg for serving
9" springform pan
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, pecans and butter and press into the pan and about 1" up the side like below. Bake for about 7 mins, remove and cool. Beat the cream cheese and sugar with mixer until blended and fluffy. Add pumpkin, spice, and vanilla and mix well. Add the eggs, one at a time, with the mixer on medium.
Pour into cooled pan and bake for 1 hour and 20 mins, until the center is almost set. Turn the oven off and let it sit in the oven with the door open for about 20 mins, then move to a place to cool completely. Once it is cooled completely, move it to the fridge for at least 4 hours.

A little trick with cheesecake - put a water bath below during baking and this will keep the cake moist. Something I learned from the food network ;-)

After you remove it from the fridge, use a hot knife to run around the edges before you remove the springform sides.
It makes the prettiest variation of oranges and light browns, perfect for your Thanksgiving spread.

Serve with a dollop of cool whip and a dusting of ground nutmeg.

If you try this out, let me know how it goes and if you love it as much as I do :-)

Enjoy!

Tablescapes and a Design Icon

I took a very short break at lunch today to join some lovely new friends at Kappa Tablescapes. Tablescapes is a wonderful fundraising event that is put together by the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumnae Association and is a well orchestrated collaboration of designers, boutiques, sponsors, fine table and floral designers and the like, all coming together to create beautiful, themed designer tablescapes. Kappa is the tribe that I belonged to in college ;-) so it is an organization that is especially dear to me. Here are a few of my favs...

Black and white stripes :-)

I wish the colors relayed better in this photo. This table was the most gorgeous peacock blue!

One of my favorite flowers, dendrobium orchids!

The featured speaker this year was Jan Showers. I simply adore her style! She is truly one of my designer style icons and I was thrilled I got to meet her! I've previously gushed about her here, here, and here.

Here she is signing my copy of Glamorous Rooms. This is one of my favorite cocktail books, not only for the content but the book itself is really beautiful.

I was so darn nervous that my hands were shaking and resulted in this blurry picture with my camera phone. I didn't have the heart to ask to retake it :-/

It was a fabulous event, a delicious luncheon, and a lovely time spent with some new girlfriends.

I hope you are having a great start to the week!

What I'm Loving...

My new mini schoolhouse pendants over the bar in the kitchen, installed courtesy of my amazingly handy husband.
Happy Hump Day!

Project Sneak Peek

I checked in on one of my kitchen remodel projects this afternoon and it is looking lovely if I may say so myself. Just needs a few more tweaks and she'll be ready for her close-up, Mr. Demille.
In the meantime, check out a few glimpses.

I hope you are having a great start to the week!

Happy Monday!