Happy Thanksgiving to all our American readers!
We generally don't celebrate this holiday because our family tradition is to go to Michael's parents...which is rather a commute from Italy! A few years ago, Jim and Sharon were here for Thanksgiving, so we did the traditional spread (thanks to Sharon, who by now is an expert!), but that was the only time.
This year was a different story. Although Michael was traveling, we were going to have a guest! Trey, son of my dear friend Tricia, is studying this semester in Rome; he came to spend the night with us prior to getting ready for his final exams.
As always, it was a treat to see him; he's visited us several times now, and swears that it only ever rains in Todi. Given his experience, it's a fair comment, so I was delighted that we had great weather today!
In any case, I'd decided to cook a more traditional meal rather than just an "everyday" dinner. When Ashley and I went to the States in early November, I brought back (legally! I checked) a few bags of cranberries for the cranberry sauce. I bought the pumpkins last week, cooked them up, and Ashley and I made the pie last night.
Since a turkey is a little large for our oven (and is difficult to get this time of year, since they're being fattened for Christmas), I punked out and decided to do roast chicken pieces. Stuffing, gravy, salad, and potatoes were done today. We also had a new-to-me vegetable: purple cauliflower, dubbed "colorflower" by James! It's the most marvelous stuff: it starts this delightful lilac/magenta, then as it cooks moves through amethyst and into indigo. However, the steaming water turns a beautiful turquoise or emerald green, depending.
As we sat down, I realized that this is my first time ever cooking a Thanksgiving meal! Thanks to Sharon's example over the years, though, I knew what to do and won the highest praise: completely silent chewing punctuated only by "mmmm" for several minutes!
After dinner, we played sjoelbak (a Dutch bar game) and the kids played with the Spirographs. And then pie! I was pleased with how the color turned out, because it still had a good bit of yellow to it rather than its turning brown. I whipped the cream with brown sugar, which gave a nice complex flavor that worked well with the pie.
All in all a success! And the best thing? Having my sweet kids (a portion of them, anyway!) with me and getting to see Trey.
With thanks for all our blessings,
Alexandra
We generally don't celebrate this holiday because our family tradition is to go to Michael's parents...which is rather a commute from Italy! A few years ago, Jim and Sharon were here for Thanksgiving, so we did the traditional spread (thanks to Sharon, who by now is an expert!), but that was the only time.
This year was a different story. Although Michael was traveling, we were going to have a guest! Trey, son of my dear friend Tricia, is studying this semester in Rome; he came to spend the night with us prior to getting ready for his final exams.
As always, it was a treat to see him; he's visited us several times now, and swears that it only ever rains in Todi. Given his experience, it's a fair comment, so I was delighted that we had great weather today!
In any case, I'd decided to cook a more traditional meal rather than just an "everyday" dinner. When Ashley and I went to the States in early November, I brought back (legally! I checked) a few bags of cranberries for the cranberry sauce. I bought the pumpkins last week, cooked them up, and Ashley and I made the pie last night.
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| Foreground:colorflower (brighter than in the photo because of steam). The green in the background is Umbrian mashed potatoes: cooked with greens! |
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| Umbrian mash plus the stuffing |
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| The pink is where I added lemon-juice; it turned fluorescent! |
As we sat down, I realized that this is my first time ever cooking a Thanksgiving meal! Thanks to Sharon's example over the years, though, I knew what to do and won the highest praise: completely silent chewing punctuated only by "mmmm" for several minutes! |
| Grand finale! |
All in all a success! And the best thing? Having my sweet kids (a portion of them, anyway!) with me and getting to see Trey.
With thanks for all our blessings,
Alexandra
Trey says it's the best meal he's ever had. Not just Thanksgiving.....but ever.
ReplyDeleteLove the purple!