Good THINGS FRESH IDEAS TO ELEVATE THE EVERYDAY
| CELEBRATE |
Natural Selection
THE DETAILS: Pier 1 Imports hem‑ stitch napkins, in Stone Gray, $5 each, pier1.com. West Elm gold flat‑ ware, $39 a set, westelm.com. ABC Cocina ivory dinner plates, $45 each, abchome.com.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALPHA SMOOT
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Leaves aren’t just for expanding the size of your Thanksgiving table. Take the kind piling up outdoors and make a one-of-a-kind runner. Start with a length of linen and fray the edges. Using a roller, coat fallen foliage one at a time in fabric paint and press it, paint-side down, onto the runner. Place a piece of paper on top and go over it with a brayer (available at crafts stores) to transfer all the little details. The result will be imprinted in your family’s memories. TEXT BY ELENI N. GAGE
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GOOD THINGS
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Fold a square dinner napkin in half, then in quarters. Fold the open corner’s top layer to meet the opposite corner. Turn over the napkin, fold it into thirds, and turn it back over. THE DETAILS: Pottery Barn Portland dinner plate, $58 for 4, potterybarn.com. Sferra Festival napkin, in Hazelnut, $57 for 4, sferra.com. CB2 Bryn flatware (similar to shown), $90 for a 20-piece set, cb2.com.
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Make a Pocket
Wrap It Around 3
Add a Craft
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Tie One On
THE DETAILS: IKEA Dinera plate (similar to shown), $3.50, in Light Pink, ikea.com. Martha Stewart Collection Gilded Marble salad plate, $84 for 4, macys.com. Haw‑ kins New York simple linen napkin, in Blush, $18, hawkinsnewyork.com.
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And when to wrap ’em, when to twist ’em up, and when to go for fun. We’re talking about napkins, of course. They’re the easiest, most elegant way to dress up your holiday place settings—and add a big serving of personality. Here are four sweet and simple techniques. Shuffle through them; we wager you’ll find a winner.
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A 3-D turkey and crayons keep kids occupied. Stick a honeycomb ball on hefty paper, add feathers and a face, and set the gobbler on a quarter-folded napkin. THE DETAILS: SunBeauty honeycomb balls, $20 for 40, amazon .com. Canvas Home Shell Bisque dinner plate, in Blue, $22, canvashome store.com. Project 62 Valetta salad plate, $70 for a 16-piece set, target .com. Fog Linen Work seersucker napkin, $14, shop-foglinen.com.
| PERSONALIZE IT |
Know When to Fold ’Em ...
Pair a botanical accent, like a faux or dried branch spray-painted gold, with an unfussy band. Fold a napkin in thirds, wrap it around the plate, and tuck the ends under. (Download our menu-card template at marthastewart.com/ menu-card).
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Knot a patterned napkin and set it off-center on the plate. Cut paper tags for place cards. THE DETAILS: Fishs Eddy Gilded Scal‑ loped dinner plate, $14, and Gilded salad plate, $12, westelm.com. Heather Taylor Home Amalfi nap‑ kins, $82 for 4, heather taylorhome.com.
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GOOD THINGS | SIP & REPEAT |
Three Cheers A holiday all about harmony calls for a drink that pairs well with food and smooths conversation. Our solution: sherry. The Spanish fortified wine has a lower alcohol content than liquor but a higher one than wine. Here’s a cocktail to try, plus a few great sips.
SPANISH NEGRONI Our Iberian take on the classic apéritif swaps out gin for sherry, so it’s less boozy but just as bright— and can be made in a batch before your gathering. In a large, resealable bottle, combine 8 ounces dry sherry, 6 ounces each sweet vermouth and dry vermouth, and 4 ounces Campari. Stir to combine; chill at least 30 minutes and up to 1 day. To serve, pour over ice and garnish with orange peel and Spanish olives.
Bring the Zing For a quick, unconventional preturkey bite, borrow a tradition from our associate food editor Lauryn Tyrell’s family, and serve a seafood appetizer. Think of this dish as the love child of two retro hors d’oeuvres: relish trays and shrimp cocktail. Build-your-own crostini topped with quick-pickled shrimp and vibrant fixings will tide people over and wake up their taste buds.
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SHRIMP TRAY Whisk together ¼ cup each fresh lemon juice and extra‑virgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and ¼ teaspoon each freshly ground pepper and sugar. Stir in 1½ pounds cooked medium shrimp and ¼ cup sliced caper berries. Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, at least 1 hour. Stir together ⅓ cup mayonnaise and ¼ teaspoon grated garlic. Serve shrimp with garlic mayo, shaved celery, crostini (see our recipe at martha stewart.com/simple-crostini), and more caper berries.
Light & Crisp
Medium & Complex
Dark & Nutty
EDITORS’ PICKS (from left): La Guita Manzanilla, $11 for 375 ml, despana�inewines.com. Marqués de Poley Amon‑ tillado, $37 for 500 ml, �latiron-wines.com. Tomás García Oloroso, $26 for 750 ml, at Whole Foods Market Wine.
P E T E R A R D I TO ( S H E R R I E S )
| PARTY STARTER |
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GOOD THINGS
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| DIY DÉCOR |
Boho Stripes
Foreign Accents
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Free-Spirit Fringe
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THE DETAILS (from left): West Elm silk hand-loomed pillow covers, in Nightshade and Platinum, $39 each, westelm .com. Pottery Barn Linen Seed Stitch lumbar-pillow cover, in Sailor Blue, $49.50, potterybarn.com.
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TO MAKE STRIPES Thread 6 to 10 pieces of alpaca yarn through a tapestry needle. Work it over and under a row of existing stitches. Stop every few inches to tease the ends into tufts or change color.
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Forgot to bring handcrafted throw pillows back from Tangiers? No need to spend the price of a plane ticket on a designer version. Instead, buy a few affordable wideweave cushions and commission your favorite artisan— here’s looking at you, kid— to trick them out, simply by working yarn right into the weave with a tapestry needle. We added the bows on the left-hand pillow by threading the needle with 6 to 10 pieces of alpaca yarn and pulling it through an existing stitch in the pillow. Trim the ends to the same length (about three inches total), repeat, and admire your savvy “souvenir.”
TO MAKE TASSELS Thread 10 pieces of alpaca yarn through a tapestry needle. Pull it through a stitch in the side of the pillow, then tie the two ends of yarn in a knot to form a tassel, and trim the ends.
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GOOD THINGS
Bay Leaf
| INSTANT UPGRADE |
United Plates Everyone comes together at the holidays, and so do their pies, in all assorted forms and tins. Here’s our big idea for a cohesive dessert buffet: Wrap those flaky-crusted contributions in pie collars, little wreaths of greenery that hide diverse dishes and lend your spread immediate sophistication. Bay and olive leaves offer full coverage; eucalyptus makes a fragrant frame. Use floral wire to twist them into mini garlands, then wind them around for a finishing touch that’ll make your last course look even sweeter.
Olive
Eucalyptus
| RECIPE REMIX |
More Than a Filling What to do with that unfinished can of pumpkin purée? Use it as a rich and creamy way to take a grilled cheese from good to gourmet. 36
PUMPKIN GRILLED CHEESE Stir together ¼ cup pumpkin purée (the plain kind, not pie �illing) and ¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard; season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Spread 2 slices of country white bread with pumpkin mixture. Top each with ¼ cup grated white cheddar and 2 fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced. Cover with 2 more bread slices and brush both sides with softened butter. Cook in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat, �lipping once, until golden and crisp, 8 to 10 minutes total. Serve, sprinkled with flaky sea salt.
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|   CELEBRATE   |
LEAVE IT TO YOU
GUTTER CREDIT
Take the Thanksgiving table up a notch, style-wise, with a one-of-a kind runner. Just coat fallen leaves in fabric paint using a foam roller, then sandwich the painted leaf between the cloth and a piece of paper, and roll over it with a brayer, so that all the little details come through. We cut a length of linen and frayed the edges, but a store-bought runner gets the job done, too. The end result is chic, seasonal, and surprisingly simple to make.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY NAMETK NAME
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