If Thanksgiving is a warm-up for Christmas or, as a friend calls it, “Christmas Junior,” then sign me up for preferring the dress rehearsal. I love the focus on food instead of gifts, hanging out instead of decorating. Yet I’m going to go against that very thing here by offering you a gift: spiced butter squash. Seriously people, this is a keeper. And... 
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Liqueur is simply sweet, flavored booze. Very sweet and highly flavored booze. If you start now, you can have this homemade coffee vanilla bean liqueur in time to give away (or entertain with) at Christmas. I’m just saying. Are you freaking about Thanksgiving? Just excited to get that menu planned? I’ll be posting all about the big feast next week, but if you... 
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I forgot to tell you all about the new addition to my home (this is a design blog, after all!): a ristra! Yes, a thread of dried red chiles now hangs from my San Francisco kitchen ceiling. I tried making one myself once – starting with fresh red New Mexico chiles and everything. It turned gross and moldy before you could say “San Francisco Giants win the World... 
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I like roasted pumpkin seeds more than candy. There, I’ve said it. My son, my best friend from high school, and my own mother will call me nutter butters, but it’s true. Scooping out the goopy guts of a giant pumpkin and separating out the slim seeds from the slime is my favorite part about Halloween (a dislike of Snickers and Reese’s Peanut Butter... 
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Sweet pears, crispy fennel, and crunchy walnuts are, to me, the trifecta of delicious fall salad ingredients. This super simple Pear Fennel Walnut Salad can be made more and less complicated – use a variety of pears, use a mandoline to slice the fennel ultra-thin, toast the walnuts (in a dry pan on the stove or in a hot oven, in any case watching carefully – they burn... 
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