Obligatory Shots of Food

And praises of thanks. Well, I'll spare you the praises of thanks {of course it's there, who do you think this is?}, but here is where I'm showing off all my Martha Stewartishness and pictures of glorified mashed potatoes and candied yams.

Let's start with a table setting. I used some kickass 1920s pink depression glass divided plates for our plates du jour, a variety of silver candlesticks I had {some old, some new}, a picture-perfect pumpkin atop a milk-glass pedestal bowl thingymajigger, and voila! perfect start for dinner for two.
And then I went and added Ryan's Grandma Marshall's crystal glasses. I think they're beautiful, old-school wheat pattern and all, and I will cherish them forever.

And then placed the champagne flutes that his parents gave us {they were in this awesome basket for our wedding night that we took to the condo we were staying at - it was jam-packed with snacks for 3 days!} in front of that

Then added in one handsomer-than-handsome red-bearded husband...
...and his requested cornish game hen {which he said tasted like arse. wait, no, scratch that-he said it was bland}

and ham, sides, etc.
and you get a lovely picture of my dinner plate!
Are you full yet?

You can have seconds. We have enough food for 4 Thanksgivings.

But WAIT! Don't go until you've had some pie.

French Silk Double-stack Pie {I kind of just made that name up. It's cool, no? Double the filling recipe, ditch the pie dish in favor of a springform pan, use a single recipe for the crust}

And Pecan. With stars added for good measure.
They are so so SO good! Must stop gorging. on. pie.

So to make this long post even longer, I'm going to share my family's French Silk Pie recipe. It's a staple at all Watkins' Thanksgiving and Christmas meals and it's delicious. Sinfully so. But sinfully easy to make.

French Silk Pie
1 cup real butter {margarine not an option-spring for the good stuff}
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled, but still warm
4 eggs
Cream butter and sugar together, add vanilla. Add in warm chocolate and mix thoroughly. Add in 2 eggs and beat on HIGH for 5 minutes. THIS IS A MUST. Add last 2 eggs and beat another 5 minutes.
Pour into prepared pie crust and refrigerate for 6 hours. Frost with Whipped Cream and chocolate shavings.

We use a butter-nut crust. Always have, always will. It's far superior than pastry dough crust for this pie.

Butter-Nut Crust
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Cut* butter into flour until a dough forms. Add in nuts and press into pie dish.

Bake 15-20 minutes at 350^o F. Let cool before filling

*I tried it with my food processor this time and it was so fast and so easy. I did half the butter first, mixed it all the way in, then added the rest of the butter and then the nuts. Easy peasy.

Let me know if you make one and what you think!

Unless you think it's gross. Because I don't want to hear that.