Butternut Squash Soup: Bribery Helps

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Soup/ Bisque

I think I mentioned this a while ago, but I flew to Florida in late October to be maid of honor in my friend Lauren's wedding. Her ceremony was held at sunset on the beach in St. Pete's, and was absolutely gorgeous, if a bit windy. The reception was a blast (nothing like dancing to Nicky Minaj's "Pound the Alarm" with your mom), and after the dancing ended, my friend Mina almost worked up the courage to go in the ocean. 

Trying to get Mina to go swimming. She has a fear of "natural bodies of water."

Unfortunately, when we woke up the next morning, we all faced the nasty reminder that the winds that had only slightly marred the ceremony the night before were a mild side effect of Super Storm Sandy. With the giant storm approaching the Northeast, many of our flights were delayed or cancelled.

Almond Scones with Orange Glaze

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In addition to slacking off when it comes to posting my recipes and food creations, I can also slack off when it comes to providing requested food items. I told my mom I would make these delicious-looking almond scones for Valentine's Day, and I failed to bake scones until today.

In my defense, I made her three kinds of homemade truffles, and these delicious chocolate cupcakes for Valentine's Day, so I thought the scones might not be fully appreciated with all of the cocoa-based competition:

Side note: Ringing endorsement from my brother- "This is the first scone I've eaten that I haven't felt like I had a mouth full of dirt. Is this how they're supposed to taste? Not like those hard-as-a-rock things from the grocery store?" (Answer to both questions: Yes!). 

Amazing Brined Turkey and Southern Cornbread Stuffing: Belated Thanksgiving Post

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I think this is pretty.

Truth: I am easily distracted, and as much as I like to cook, remembering to turn recipes and crappy iPhone photos into blog posts is not my strong suit. The whole "cooking blog" project was derailed, and I've been refinishing furniture and recently bought a staple gun to do more DIY projects. 

Anyway, I am back at it, and working forward from the oldest pictures in my phone. So, time for my Thanksgiving recipes. I made turkey that was actually delicious! I will never go back to regular turkey again- brining every Thanksgiving from now on! The stuffing ("dressing") was pretty tasty too.