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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

The Joys of Entertaining and of Being Entertained

December 4, 2016 by Mary 11 Comments

So many people wrote to me that they were making my pecan pie recipe or my cranberry sauce or dressing for Thanksgiving! It’s so nice they let me know and it gives me such great joy to know that people are making my food all over the country and loving it! Actually, all over the world as our son, Zach and his fiancée, Agata, were in touch with me often from Warsaw, (thank goodness for Facetime!), as they made my whole Thanksgiving dinner from my book and entertained 11 people for dinner with only one guest being an American.

Zach, Agata and I chatted at length last Saturday, on my birthday, and they told me how much joy it gave them to see all their friends truly relishing every bite. Everyone just loved every part of their dinner, with even one of their guests getting up and sneaking the crumbs left in the pecan pie plate! How very happy it made them to see all of that!

Dining room table set for Thanksgiving dinner.Roasted turkey on a cutting board.That, to me, is the joy of entertaining and feeding people. That is what gives me so much pleasure.

Here are pictures of their table in Poland and their turkey.

Zach and Agata also said they didn’t know how I cooked Thanksgiving dinner every year, that it was SO much work. They remarked that the two of them were working together and that I did it pretty much by myself. Isn’t that so sweet? I do get help from my husband and honestly, I haven’t made it the last two years.

I wanted to share with you my big birthday celebration. Our oldest son, his wife, and my husband made a beautiful dinner and our friends, Anne and Frank, joined us. But before dinner, they sat me down on the sofa in front of the fire and played a video that they had made of my friends and family from all over the world, singing or wishing me a happy birthday!!! It was incredible and literally brought me to tears. Such an amazing, fun and super sweet gift!

Homemade pici pasta.For the dinner, they made homemade pici pasta with a parsley, sage, Parmagiano pesto, a beautiful half-leg of lamb on the grill with Julia Child’s mustard, garlic, soy marinade, and a delicious chocolate cake. That recipe was from Home Cooking with Jean-Georges cookbook, which I will share with you later.Pici pasta with a parsley, sage and Parmigiano pesto sauce.

Woman carving a medium rare half-leg of lamb.

Here I am, carving the lamb.

Awedge of chocolate cake with strawberries, a dallop of whipped cream and a dusting of cocoa powder.

A beautiful birthday cake!

I know I am so lucky!!

As you get ready for the holidays, you may want to check out and download my holiday cookbook of small plates, savory and sweet. It’s free and yours for the taking.

Enjoy!!

Our holiday winter MARY’s secret ingredients box starts shipping tomorrow – Monday! Makes a great gift that will arrive in time for the holidays. And every purchase contributes to our partnership with Feed The Children. Maybe this can be the year we eradicate hunger. Wouldn’t that be nice?

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Filed Under: Dinner, Products for sale Tagged With: holiday cookbooks, holiday small plates, Julia Child, lamb, pici pasta

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Comments

  1. The Healthy Epicurean says

    December 4, 2016 at 3:39 PM

    WOW! what an amazing feast. I especially love the look of the homemade pasta dish. Happy Birthday! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Anne Maxfield says

    December 4, 2016 at 4:46 PM

    Being one of the lucky guests for Mary’s birthday dinner, I have to say it was by far the best meal we ate all of Thanksgiving weekend! She forgot to say that not only did they make all that delicious food, her son, made a couple of loaves of sourdough bread that were reduced to crumbs in minutes!

    Reply
  3. Sues says

    December 4, 2016 at 5:34 PM

    What a lovely post!! Your son’s Thanksgiving looked so nice and it must be so good to hear how much he appreciates all of the hard work you’ve always put in 🙂 Looks like you had an amazing birthday, too!!
    Sues recently posted…Cranberry-Lime PieMy Profile

    Reply
  4. Angie@Angie's Recipes says

    December 6, 2016 at 5:08 AM

    What a wonderful birthday meal! Really impressed with the homemade pasta and it must be very delicious.
    Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted…Kefir Einkorn Scones with Cranberries and HazelnutsMy Profile

    Reply
  5. Carly says

    December 6, 2016 at 10:27 AM

    What a cute story, glad everyone is doing well! Thanksgiving is work! I put my children to work!!! lol

    Reply
  6. Anne says

    December 6, 2016 at 10:32 AM

    Dinner looks delicious!

    Reply
  7. John/Kitchen Riffs says

    December 6, 2016 at 9:13 PM

    Great meal! And fun time too, I’ll bet. We always love entertaining. Or visiting friends to be entertained. Different kinds of fun, but both good.
    John/Kitchen Riffs recently posted…Italian Sesame CookiesMy Profile

    Reply
  8. Bam's Kitchen says

    December 7, 2016 at 8:10 PM

    Happy Belated birthday! Now this looks like a delicious holiday feast and look at you carving the the family roast beast… Wishing you a super holiday season.

    Reply
  9. Tandy | Lavender and Lime says

    December 8, 2016 at 4:08 AM

    Birthday blessings and thanks for sharing all these photographs 🙂

    Reply
  10. Kelly says

    December 8, 2016 at 6:54 AM

    What a wonderful meal! So sweet of your son and I’m sure made your birthday that much more special! Everything looks amazing!

    Reply
  11. Amira says

    December 9, 2016 at 12:42 AM

    Doesn’t this make you proud of yourself? 🙂 really, I am at the peak when someone email me or leave a comment that they have tried a recipe and it was a great success, makes me feel I can help someone. Great post Mary so emotional. Happy birthday, wishing you all the best.
    Amira recently posted…Let’s try this classic; Strawberry Pretzel SaladMy Profile

    Reply

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