Have a happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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Ever since I attended a party at my sister's a couple weeks ago, I've been trying to figure out what I want to tell you about it, exactly, and how what I learned relates to this little holiday coming up in a few days which you might have heard of called Thanksgiving, a holiday that at this very moment may well be causing a number of us a fair bit of stress.

And so I think the first thing that must be shared is this: as we were sitting around my sister's airy living room on Saturday morning deciding what to make, her husband (hi David!) breezed in and announced from the doorway, "Just keep it simple. No one comes for the food, anyway."

No one comes for the food?! Is completely insane?

Anyone who loves to cook and invite people over to share a meal places great care and forethought into the planning of a menu, and yet here is my brother-in-law unilaterally declaring that it doesn't even matter? What does he know?

Turns out, he knows, and when I stopped feeling indignant, I knew the very same thing, of course. Think of the very best dinner party you've ever been to. The food is fun, and it certainly helps if it's good, but an atmosphere of good talk and revelry is worth infinitely more than a perfectly tuned and calibrated succession of courses.

Yet despite the fact this had been demonstrated to me in spades just a couple weeks before at Katy's delightful dinner party, I lost my cool this weekend thinking about the upcoming holiday. During an otherwise perfectly relaxing brunch of chicken chilaquiles and café con leche, I was in a panic about how there must be mashed potatoes and there must be a pumpkin pie and there must be a perfect turkey, and if there's not, there will be mutiny! And then the brilliant fellow sitting across from me reminded me of the very thing I had learned and too-quickly forgotten: people come to be together, to drink too much champagne, to have an impromptu game of football, and to get fierce during Trivial Pursuit. If there's no turkey, no one cares.

I know all to well that when the kitchen is getting hot from the oven being on for seven hours and there are people buzzing around asking what they can do to help and you want to say -- get out of my hair! -- that it can be hard to remember that the food doesn't matter. But listen: the gravy doesn't matter, the stuffing doesn't matter. You could probably order kung pao chicken and pork dumplings if things really got out of control and people would still happily play football and Trivial Pursuit. I promise. And if they freak out, well, they're assholes.

And this is what I learned at my sister's simple fall dinner party: buy paté and olives for snacking. Serve a festive cocktail when people arrive. Dessert can be butter cookies, fudge, grapes, and blue cheese, that you've assembled on a pretty tray beforehand right next to everything you need for coffee. Roast two beautiful chickens, resolve to have fun, and remember the food doesn't matter, whether it's a Saturday night dinner party, or a Thursday Thanksgiving.

Brandy Bacon Chicken
from Nigella Express
Serves 4

1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) chicken
2 strips bacon
1/4 cup brandy

Heat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small frying pan, cook the bacon over medium heat until it's crisp and the pan full of gorgeous bacony fat, about 4 minutes. Take the pan off the heat, the bacon out of the pan and straight into the cavity of the chicken, sitting the chicken breast side up in a roasting pan as you do so. Pour the brandy into the still hot frying pan and let bubble for a minute. Pour the brandy mixture over the chicken. Place the roasting pan into the hot oven and roast for 45 minutes, making sure juices run clear between leg and body. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.

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I know my posts have been a little McRandom this week, but if you, like me, find tremendous inspiration in images from the past, then you'll be thrilled to hear LIFE Magazine has digitized its image archive, all of which is available now through Google image search. You can search for your favorite movie stars, images of your city, and fascinatingly mundane photos of everyday life. A selection of my favorites proves that headbands are hot, mixing by hand can be glamorous, black and white clothes always looks chic, and cool girls have always knit.

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I couldn't sleep last night. I had that little kid feeling, which I get entirely too often, of not wanting the day to be over yet, of not wanting to miss anything. So I did what I often do when the sheep aren't lolling me into dreamland and trolled etsy. This vintage Betty Crocker recipe box made me smile in the dark, early morning hours, in part because of the rainbow-colored tabs, but also because of what those tabs say: "Walk-About Parties," "Fresh Air Favorites," "The In-Betweeners." Makes you long for simpler times, doesn't it?

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I already had a big ole blog crush on Victoria of sfgirlbybay for her unfailing eye for approachable, vintagey, design finds. Just look at her apartment (featured in the new Apartment Therapy book) and tell me you aren't in love, too:

But then I realize that in her etsy shop she sells the poster I've been coveting for months and whose slogan I've been sharing with the stressed out people in my life (particularly apropos for this time of year). Naysayers will call it this year's design cliche; I call it lovely.

How fabulous is it when two great worlds collide?

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11. rotary phones
12. dutch doors
13. farmhouse tables
14. schoolhouse desks
15. college towns
16. fingerless gloves
17. the library
18. bicycles
19. babies
20. pitchers
21. sundresses
22. liquid eyeliner
23. mechanical pencils
24. cowboy boots
25. postcards
26. bath oil
27. france
28. coffee
29. eyebrows
30. roast chicken
31. paint chips
32. polaroids
33. photobooths
34. embroidery
35. small businesses
36. magazines
37. etsy
38. ice cream cones
39. bangs
40. beat up rugs
41. peacock feathers
42. dahlias
43. old movies
44. sisters
45. redheads
46. scarves
47. honeycrisp apples
48. homemade graham crackers
49. roadtrips
50. cobblestones
51. yoga class
52. ribbon
53. calenders
54. steel guitar
55. typewriters
56. cheese
57. astrology
58. champagne
59. catalogs
60. picnic baskets
61. flea markets
62. handkerchiefs
63. western shirts
64. hotels
65. window seats
66. notes
67. trails
68. fireplaces
69. dinner parties
70. rosy cheeks
71. nightgowns
72. headbands
73. churches
74. reality tv
75. cookbooks
76. snow
77. lipstick
78. twinkle lights
79. chocolate chip cookies
80. letterpress
81. the farmer's market
82. wallpaper
83. drawer liners
84. karaoke
85. pockets
86. swings
87. buttons
88. stripes
89. junk stores
90. vegetable gardens
91. dairy cows
92. hot chocolate
93. mobiles
94. tomatoes
95. farms
96. kneesocks
97. tiny spoons
98. cafe au lait bowls
99. invitations
100. wood shutters

your turn.

(inspired by the thoroughly awesome Hula Seventy)

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Saturday, November 15, marks the official grand opening on Flirt's design studio, class space, and retail shop filled with unique home finds, Home Ec. If you head down to the space on Saturday from 12-6pm, you'll be treated to free craft tutorials for kids and adults alike, snacks, 15% off purchases and class sign-ups, and a trapeze performance (whoa). The Flirt ladies are super great and just look how cheery this place is!

I love the idea of this space, not least of all because I'm particularly fond of the notion of home economics, especially in its modern incarnation (and one of the many reasons why I love Jean Railla's Get Crafty: Hip Home Ec). But maybe most importantly, I also love the feeling that comes from a community of people engaged in creativity together. It's amazing what a sense of connection you can feel for the person cutting out a pattern next to you while the two of you discuss the finer points of  Rock of Love. That is, after all, what the real magic of quilting circles was all about: bringing women together under the auspice of practical creativity, when the end result, of course, was so much more meaningful than a warm blanket.

If you're in the nabe, go!

Home Ec
303 3rd Avenue
between Carroll and 1st Street
718 852 2889

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Making the food blog rounds the other day, I came across an incredulous comment about brownies. (Yes, brownies can, if you were wondering, incite incredulity.) The commenter marveled, to paraphrase, that she reads so many cookbooks, food blogs, and epicurean magazines, and yet does not have a single go-to recipe for brownies when the occasion for those dark fudgy squares arises.

And it suddenly occurred to me: I bounce from one random recipe to another, but what are my basics? My mom used to joke that her dinner menus were on a six week rotation; those recipes made up the foundation of her repertoire (with certain recipes, of course, trotted out for holidays and others tried on a whim). And so what will, I wondered, make up the Sarah McColl basics? The foods that friends request when they come over, the ones that give my fiancé a dreamy, far-away look in his eye; the recipes, in short, that I like best and return to again and again.

What do you consider the basics, the building blocks in your recipe repertoire? So far I'm thinking chocolate chip cookies, roast chicken, banana bread, a knock-their-socks off appetizer, a couple killer gratins, a savory tart, cinnamon rolls, chili, pasta e fagiole, chicken and dumplings, a wicked chocolate cake, killer scones...what else?

And in the search for a go-to mushroom barley soup recipe, I have to tell you, this is not it. I'm looking for more mushrooms and less barley, a soup with a wilder, but also more sophisticated, less bacony flavor. Also, does barley always bloat up so much? Maybe I should just lay off the barley all together and stick with just mushrooms (porcini next time). And so the search begins...maybe this one? Or this one? This one?

Mushroom Barley Soup
Everyday Food
Serves 4

3 strips bacon (3 to 4 ounces), cut into 1/4-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound button or cremini mushrooms, trimmed and halved
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium beef broth
1 cup quick-cooking barley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red-wine vinegar
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

In a large pot (6 to 8 quarts), cook bacon over medium-high heat, stirring often, until crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium.

Add onion and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is starting to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms; cook, stirring often, until they are tender and pot is almost dry, 5 to 10 minutes (depending on type of mushrooms). Stir in tomato paste, and cook 1 minute more.

Add broth, barley, oregano, and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, partially covered, until barley is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add more water to thin soup, as needed. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in vinegar. Ladle into bowls; sprinkle with parsley.

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I remember quite clearly the episode of Barefoot Contessa in which Ina makes these. She is there, as always, in her rambling white kitchen with her oh-so shiny bob and sharp button down with a gleaming All-Clad sauté pan going on about these caramelized shallots. All though, to be fair, Ina doesn't really go on, she simply declares something "fabulous" in that calming voice of hers and instantly I want it, even before Jeffrey or her natty florist can concur.

But I go through life collecting recipes, imagining the ideal scenario in which this delight will be cooked, and in reality, eating a lot of beans and rice. Sometimes it takes a second push for a recipe to edge its nose into my sightline. This time, I have Deb to thank, who made Ina's caramelized shallots and deemed them a "frighteningly good recipe."

All I have to show for the weekend are these shallots. They are, indeed, frighteningly good. And as I was peeling one purple skin after another, I channeled my best happily relaxed Ina impression, listening to my new favorite "music to cook to" record. The best days of reality are when fantasy shows up, totally unexpectedly.


Caramelized Shallots
Ina Garten
Serves 4

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound fresh shallots, peeled, with roots intact
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons good red wine vinegar
1 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
salt & pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a 12-inch ovenproof saute pan, add the shallots and sugar, and toss to coat. Cook over medium heat for 10 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the shallots start to brown. Add the vinegar, salt, and pepper and toss well.

Place the saute pan in the oven and roast for 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the shallots, until they are tender. Season, to taste, sprinkle with parsley, and serve hot.

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