Martha Stewart Living Radio: The Radio Blog

Posted by Jennifer Sendrow

On yesterday's Thanksgiving edition of "Crafting with Dudes," we invited Rob Banning (right), manager for marketing and promotions and Steve Gonzalez (left), Sirius XM engineer, to join us on Whole Living to make Pomegranate Turkey placecards with help from Crafternoon author Maura Madden. Terri didn't make a craft this time, but we let her in the photo anyway since she's the host of the show.

We try to make crafts that involve no waste by recycling things we already have. All you really need to do this project Whole Living-style is the turkey template downloaded from our website, a pomegranate or other round fruit, sturdy paper in autumnal colors, scissors, and paper clips.

Rather than buying cardstock, we recycled used office folders in bright autumnal colors. You can either trace your turkey template and cut the shapes out with scissors as Steve and Rob did, or simply lay it over your paper and cut out with a craft knife.

The men worked fast, cutting out their cardboard head and tail pieces.

The turkey's head piece can tuck right into the navel of the pomegranate. The tail piece attaches to the back with toothpicks or even a bent paper clip. Just straighten one part of the paper clip to spear into the fruit, and use the curled end to prop up paper.

To use the turkey as a placecard, just write guests' names on the tail before attaching them to the fruit. The finished turkeys looked pretty good!

After the dudes made their crafts, the conversation turned to craft beers! Our guest was Jimmy Carbone, owner of Jimmy's No. 43 and a passionate advocate for fresh, seasonal food and drinks. First he shared his favorite less-traditional sides for the Thanksgiving table -- think spicy bok choy and stuffing made with navy beans with farro and spelt -- and then he taught us about pairing specialty and craft beers with the meal. He told us that lagers tend to go well with all foods, but that we can pair different beers with each course just as we would with wine.

If you're thinking of doing beer pairings, you'll definitely want to pick up a mix of lagers and ales. Here are the beers Jimmy recommended especially for Thanksgiving dinner, from left to right: the light and fruity Maredsous (a Belgian blonde ale), the creamy St. Bernardus Prior 8 (a Belgian brown ale), the nutty Six Point Brownstone (a brown ale), the smooth Köstritzer Schwarzbier (a German black lager), and the very hoppy Green Flash Brewning Company West Coast IPA.

Tags: Beer
Posted by MSLO Blogger on November 19, 2009 in Crafts, Holidays, Whole Living