Hi there and happy Sunday. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. With still being under the weather,  though getting better,  I am laying low yet one more day. It’s cold and gray, I still have a head cold and occasional cough and I am not taking any chances!  First thing I will do is get a flu shot.  I know this might sound a bit scary…………but can you believe there are only 45 days left until Christmas! Not a day feels too soon when you think of it that way.

I already feel behind the eight ball in terms of gifts, I stress so much about gift giving. This year am taking a new approach- hope I can stick with it. Not asking anyone what they want, I am going to come up with my own ideas, hopefully unique ones and if they don’t like them, then they can deal with the return:)

Here at Enchanted Home, we are knee deep into the holiday frenzy, it has actually begun!  Getting ornament orders out daily and awaiting our big gift wrap shipment next week then its “roll up your sleeves and prepare for mayhem” kind of madness, a fun madness though:)

Anywho, hope this finds you doing well and having a wonderful and relaxing weekend. Onward to my Seven on Sunday….

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1 A NEW HIGHLY RECOMMENDED NEW COFFEE TABLE BOOK! I have been a long time fan of the beautiful work of Leslie Sinclair and her eponymous company, Segreto. She is a master at what she does and is considered to be bar none in the finishing/specialty painting world. This book is loaded with a plethora of inspiring and beautiful design images.

She has a number of best selling coffee table books under her belt, all of which I own but I must say her most recent, Segreto Impressions is a feast for the eyes and my personal favorite so far! I just adore this book and it’s the kind that delivers from first page to last. This will make a wonderful holiday gift to anyone on your list who loves design and/or elegant coffee table books. Click here to order yours.

 

2 ONE SALAD RECIPE TO ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION! So I made this for my luncheon a few weeks ago and everyone raved over it. It was REALLY good. I have already made it twice since then.

One of the keys is massaging your kale:)  No,  you are not seeing things, I really mean massaging your kale:) I did not hear of this myself until a caterer who I met at a function told me this but then as I read more I understood it’s a “thing” and it works!! It softens the texture and allows for the dressing to absorb fully. Kale can be very fibrous and not at all pleasant to chew raw, so I mean it when I say this is a game changer! Here is how-

Get your washed kale and  pour a few drops of olive oil over it in the bowl. Start massaging the kale. Just lightly and gently massage and rotate the kale for about 2-3 minutes. If someone walks in wondering what the heck you are doing, tell them massaging the kale of course:) Once massaged, set it aside.

In a blender or processor you will make your dressing. In the meantime, you can put your pine nuts on a baking sheet and put into a preheated over set at about 350 degrees, bake them until they are golden (about 10-14 minutes) and set aside until right before serving.

What you need for dressing and salad-

• One large package of chopped up kale
• 2 average sized packages of pinenuts
• Small tin of anchovies
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 generous tablespoons of mayonnaise or you can do half mayo and an additional 2 tbsp of Greek yogurt
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• Juice of 2 freshly squeezed good sized lemons (if small, make it 3)
• Worcestershire sauce to taste
• 1 1/2 cups mild olive oil
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a little extra to top on salad when serving
• Salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing, place the garlic and anchovies (dump entire tin with the oil) in the food processor and blend until smooth. Then add mayo, mustard, lemon juice, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper and process until smooth. With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube and process until thick. Add 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and pulse 3 times.

Wish I had gotten a better picture of it but this will have to suffice…..it won rave reviews and many recipe requests even from people who said they never eat kale, they loved it!

 

3 INSTAGRAMS OF INTEREST So much I love this weekend, a little bit of fall, travel, comfort foods, blue and white and all around beauty! Plus always fun to discover a few new great accounts-

 

4 A PALMETTO BLUFF WEDDING I AM OBSESSING OVER! I follow Todd Events on Instagram and it turns out that, ironically I know someone who attended this iconic Palmetto Bluff wedding, and then one of my readers messaged me that that she too was there. Small world and no surprise this magnificent wedding took place in my happy place, Palmetto Bluff!  By all accounts, it lived up to the words “fairytale wedding” right down to the food, kudos to Montage Palemetto Bluff.

Every single sublime detail makes my heart beat a little faster, the color scheme, that elegant tent, the latticework detailing, the hydrangeas and gorgeous flowers, the accents of the pale blue, need I go on! Plus I was told the weather that day was picture perfect, always the icing on the cake.  Take a look……

 

 

5 WATCH YOUR ALEXA! I am not sure if you have heard the reports that came in this past week but this is very alarming. I do not have an Alexa, so this does not apply to me. Let me take that back, my husband was given an Alexa but I believe it’s still in his closet in the original packaging from two Christmas’s ago:) It is an amazing little device, I gave my parents one a few years ago and it’s been a game changer for them, remarkable really.

However be very careful where you place it. The study has shown that if placed near a window, hijackers can easily using a laser pointer, and can basically hijack and take over your device.They have found that these devices respond to light. They have successfully tested this using laser pointers,  a telephoto lens even a souped up flashlight!

That could mean turning an alarm off, opening a door, gaining access to your credit cards, banking,etc…..in other words it could be very dangerous and incredibly invasive. The researchers spent 7 months testing devices from Alexa, Siri, Fire Cube, Echo Dot and others. Google and Amazon were notified immediately.

Bottom line keep your device away from windows and you are safe. So, just something to think about! This is important information to know and share with friends and family.  Click here to read more about it over at The Washington Post.

Watch this video to see how it works, not meant to scare you but to inform, everyone needs to know about this!

 

6  CUSTOMER PHOTOS You know how much I love seeing my products in your beautiful homes. This is a new round up and inspires me to keep on creating! Love getting these, the ultimate validation as to why I do what I do:)

This customer emailed us to tell us how excited she was after unboxing all her porcelain pieces from the presale, they look gorgeous even without having placed them in their proper spot!

How beautiful do our cherry blossom Staffordshire dogs look here!

And our darling dark green foo dogs look right at home in this elegant space

This customer has her trip up already as she is expecting a baby and wants things done…..LOVE how she used our blue/white ornaments

How pretty is this pop of orange on the lacquer tray holding our porcelain pumpkin trio!

A sneak peek at a Holiday House tour from a well known designer who will be featuring several of our blue and whites, ornaments and blue/white plates

Lovely fall vignette with our elegant blue/white gold tipped cache pot

How fabulous is our gorgeous new pale blue village scene jar set up for this elegant party by Chez Vignette!

Would you feast your eyes on this most gorgeous sorority house over at the Kansas State University featuring our beautiful chinoiserie mirrors and blue and white porcelains!

Stunning! I love hte idea of helping these young women appreciate the finer things like chinoiserie mirrors and porcelain at a young age…brilliant!

 

7  SUNDAY’S SURVEY OK this Sunday, I am talking about holiday cards. Do you send them? Every year? Occasionally? Never? I must admit when my kids were younger, without fail, I always sent a family photo card and so. many (especially those from afar) looked forward to it.I spent days obsessing over who would wear waht sweater and always tried to coax my boys into wearing matching (yes we had epic battles but I normally won).  I kind of fell off the wagon as they got older, started going to college, in their own direction,etc…..

They fought me on it whenever I brought it up saying they were too old. Now, they are a little more “flexible” but getting the five of us together is ridiculous! One weekend I had planned for a family photo, one was away and now this Sunday was the backup date and I forgot my son is going to New Zealand so I have penciled in yet a third date, fingers are crossed. I have not sent them in a few years but really want to this year. I hope I can get it done. Curious how many send them,so what’s your relationship like with holiday cards?

 

 

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And that friends, is a wrap for this Sunday. Hope you enjoyed the post. I have to admit I really enjoy putting these together, it’s a fun way to put together various random things on my radar and share with you. Plus it’s kind of like a virtual coffee hour for all of us from wherever we may be:) Are you experiencing beautiful fall weather? Here it’s getting COLD.

We may get some snow on Tues, it is kind of exciting yet a little unnerving to think we could get it this early, is this a prelude as to what’s to come? Winters in NY can be loooooong and dismal. I am hoping to escape for a bit to Palmetto Bluff after the hectic holiday season.Thanks for stopping in, wishing you a wonderful Sunday and close to your weekend.