Well, it is Thanksgiving week!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Even if one is not in the USA we send happy thoughts about life!
TUESDAY- November 20,1212
This week has been amazing for this time of year. The days are clear, with cloudless blue skies. The leaves underfoot are scrunchy when walked in, giving off that smell that just brings up other fall days. And the air has a tinge of smoke in it. The days have been starting out around 18 degrees F. and moving up to 40! Pretty perfect!
NEW FABRIC BLOG
In order to make fabric information more easily found, we have broken it out into a new blog. It is on the front page, on the right hand side. This will be the fastest way to get any fabric information. The normal ramblings about this and that will be to the left of it. Both are accessible on the top right, under Blog.
FABRIC SALES
For the next month we will be having sales on specific things. Last week was horse toiles, this week it is fabrics from the Ethnic Fabric category that are on sale. This will be noted on the front page at the top, as well as in the new fabric blog. Next week might be kitchen fabrics… I don’t know yet, so keep an eye out for things you would like!
THANKSGIVING RAMBLINGS
Thanksgiving has always been a major holiday here. Starting with the Pilgrims and the Indians getting together to share food, the tradition continues. While it is basically families and friends getting together for a meal, it has always encompassed more than the big bird. There has been a feeling of good will, of reaching out to others, even though one is at home with one’s own. No presents are involved, just good will.
That said, there is a certain amount of stress involved with it. Many are working up to or on that day now. How will they get the house cleaned, the food ready? And now, the day seems to be taking a back seat to Black Friday…’nough said about that!
Here the preparations start the week before with a long grocery list. At the moment everything one could possibly need for a Thanksgiving dinner is here, except for the bird.
A SLIGHT DIGRESSION
I am a vegetarian. When the children were growing up, they did not have the turkey. There was everything BUT the turkey. But, the turkey, for many is the center piece of an American Thanksgiving… what to do?
Enter the Tin Turkey
The tin turkey? you say? What is heck is that?
The tin turkey was my invention. Without a real turkey one is basically sitting down to a bunch of vegetables. One needs a centerpiece. And ours was the tin turkey. Others have ridiculed it, but it was part of our tradition. Even today people will ask “Did you make a tin turkey this year?”
How to make a Tin Turkey
To make a tin turkey one needs a pie pumpkin. They are round, about 12″ in diameter. They are slightly sweet, and less stringy than pumpkins one carves for Halloween. One starts as if one were carving a pumpkin for Halloween, by cutting a lid. One then scrapes out the seeds and strings, saving the seeds for roasted pumpkin seeds.
This gets stuffed with stuffing, just as if it were a turkey. Put two short layers of tin foil on a baking sheet. Put the pumpkin, lid back on, on it, and roast for about 1 1/2-2 hours at 350 degrees F. One wants the stuffing cooked through.
When the pumpkin is done, put down two fairly long sheets of tin foil on the plate one will be using to serve from. Lift the cooked pumpkin, using a spatula underneath the tin foil. If the tin foil is too long, rip it off. And place on the new clean foil, slightly more to one end of the foil.
Now take the short sides of the foil, and push up against the sides of the pumpkin. Take the longer ends of foil and push up long the side of the pumpkin, gathering it together. Fan the end out to make a full turkey tail. Take the shorter front end, and scrunch together, twist gently, and form into a head. Voila! A tin turkey!
I was given a small white pumpkin this year.
I just dressed it like the tin turkey…
A mini tin turkey
The mini white pumpkin is definitely not as good as a large round orange pumpkin,
but you get the idea!
WEDNESDAY- Things Get Under Way
As we all know, the preparation for Turkey Day starts well before hand, getting everything one needs. As a child everything was closed that day, if one was short something, one borrowed from a neighbor. How things have changed!
On Wednesday the first thing to do is to make a large pitcher of iced coffee. The next is to clean all counters off. Every space over the next day and a half gets used, so I start by removing clutter, and really cleaning the counters and sink.
After coffee, the first thing that is worked on is the pie dough. Using a standard recipe I make up 1 1/2 times the amount for a two crust pie. More about the pie later. Then it is on to the cream sauce.
When the Tin Turkey reigned as the main event of the meal we had all the normal things people do on Thanksgiving… stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce. But, something was needed to use like gravy. Enter the creamed onion. I used to make a small amount of creamed onion- one or two for the children, and more for adults. But, no one really cared about the onions. All they wanted was the cream sauce!
Peoples traditions are rooted in childhood. Passed on through families… what you did at your grandparent’s house during holidays becomes what you do for your own children. Thus traditions are created and continued. And so it is with the cream sauce. A day or two before the big day a child will call, or now email,… “Make enough cream sauce!”
Even though there is now a turkey and gravy, the cream sauce remains an all important part of our Thanksgiving. It is served in a pitcher, the gravy in a gravy boat.
The cream sauce is started mid-day, cooled, and placed in a cool place to rest until it needs to be gently reheated.
I will post the cream sauce recipe later today. But, for those that cook, it is not anything out of the ordinary.
See the Cream Sauce Recipe
in Sewing Notions, Recipes
After the cream sauce comes roasting pecans for the stuffing, and cutting up the bread for it. I have been making the same stuffing for ever. It has a lot of tarragon in it. I used to alternate it with one that was a sage stuffing, but everyone prefers this. So it has become the standard for Thanksgiving.
See the Thanksgiving Stuffing Recipe
in Sewing Notions, Recipes
FRIDAY- November 23, 2012
Well, Thanksgiving is over. But, not forgotten! I get up on the big day early. All serving platters and utensils are assemble, silverware and dishes counted out. Things such as gravy boats, which are not used often, are washed and dried. This helps me organized thoughts. As meals such as a Thanksgiving dinner are all about timing. Dinner was planned for around 2:00 pm, so people could get home early.
I like days like this… they seem homey! Dishes being cleaned, a little laundry getting done, and smells of cooking filling the house.
The first thing in the cooking department that need to be done was finishing the stuffing, as the bird had to go into the oven first. That done, potatoes and sweet potatoes were washed. And then the pie needed to be made and baked. Pumpkin pie, being a custard, can not sit out indefinitely.
After that a bit of vacuuming around, and voila… time to set the table!
I went to change clothes at this point, while waiting for a child to show up. He always makes the cranberry sauce, and it is easier for him to make it here then cart it from home. It is always served in my Grandmother’s cut glass bowl.
While I cleaned up my husband was organizing a little baked brie… He decided it needed not only the traditional almonds, but also a drizzle of maple syrup! While most people enjoyed it, I felt the maple syrup was guilding the lily!
Through out the next few hours potatoes were cooked and mashed, sweet potatoes cooked, the stuffing in casseroles cooked, stock made for the gravy, cream sauce reheated, strained, and then put aside for a final reheat. The bird was basted and cared for by my husband and son, as the pie cooled!
The turkey came out of the oven and was set aside to rest, while gravy was made from the stock. The cream sauce went into the empty turkey oven to reheat, rolls were also added to the oven. People were getting impatient!
Dinner was wonderful. I ate my stuffing, mashed potato, and sweet potato, with a small amount of cream sauce, and lots of cranberry sauce, and enjoyed champagne that a child brought! Others said the turkey and gravy were great. One child took his first bite of stuffing and said, “Ah, stuffing!” One guest thought the idea of cream sauce was strange, but has now been converted!
Pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream completed the meal. But before having desert, we all got up to help with dishes! After one last glass of wine, people departed, and the day was done.
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A BIT ABOUT PIE
For years I made the same pie. The recipe came from a woman, who had gotten it from another lady, whose family had handed it down. It is very different than a standard pie, in that the egg whites are beaten, and folded into the custard, thus making it a baked pumpkin chiffon pie. For over 25 years I made that pie. Now in this family, people really critique food. No one gets offended, we just offer opinions, and suggestions. Many find this shocking… but, that is what we do. So, imagine my chagrin, when about five years ago husband and child announced they had never liked the pie!!!
They preferred a traditional pumpkin pie!
The first year I tried a new recipe I used one from the Libby pumpkin recipe. It is what I would call a blond pumpkin pie. It did NOT meet with applause… to light. The next year I used a recipe that had too much molasses in it… last year a guest brought a pumple pie, which was a huge hit, and got me off of the hook about the dratted pumpkin pie! But, this year we had success! A plain Jane New England pumpkin pie!
For those that want to try the
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
I will post the recipe tomorrow!