A Thanksgiving Appetizer and The Tree

 If you are looking for a simple but very good appetizer to serve early on Thanksgiving day, try this one.  I went to a local Italian store for my ingredients but you could substitute almost any cheese and thinly sliced ham or pork.  You could use a horseradish flavored cheese and thinly sliced roast beef.  I used my french bread that I showed you the other day but you could just use a store bought baguette.

 This is the Cotta and Cocolo cheese that I used.  This is a new cheese for me.  It is made from cows milk and tastes a bit like Swiss.

 Slice the baguette into thin rounds and spread with garlic butter.

 Top with some shavings of the cheese and some of the meat.

 Broil until the cheese melts and top them with a bit of cranberry relish.  Then everyone will eat too many and not be hungry for Thanksgiving dinner.

 We headed out early yesterday to get our trees.  I have to admit I am enjoying this early Christmas decorating.  I really like having my tree up for Thanksgiving day.  The Blog Tech becomes a lumber jack.

 Teddy likes to get in on the action.

 That big tree is coming into our house?

 Come on Blog Tech, that tree can't be all that heavy!  Teddy ran and tried to bite him on the ankles.  Funny puppy!

 After the tree was carried into the house, Teddy did her job guarding the open doors.

 The shame of the tree stand!  I have put up many a Christmas tree in my time and had many fall over.  This is my most trusted tree stand. It is an old table from This End Up and it is quite heavy. I screwed the tree stand into the table and then further secured it with duct tape.  We put two heavy rocks on the bottom and then we are good to go.  It all gets covered with a beautiful tree skirt so the ugliness is hidden when the tree is finished.

 I did another good job of eyeballing the exact height.  I am sort of an idiot savant spatially.

 Perfect width too.  If you want a tall tree in a narrow space, raise the tree.  You get the height you want but without it being too wide. Also. remember that it opens up when you add lights and ornaments.

The lights are on and it is ready to decorate.  As soon as I get done baking 16 pies.  Don't freak out, the pumpkin pies are small.  Though I actually think they are more work than large ones!  I sad a lot of pie swears this morning.