Toast to Traditions!

Here's hoping your "Black Friday" was most frugal!. 

I spent 0.00 x 100% again this year.

Now, as for Small Business Saturday tomorrow, 

I will take this pledge again, but in a new location.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day!

 From a very stormy East Coast ... 
 (boy am I glad I decided NOT to travel this year)

No matter if your traditions include

copious amounts of Chinese food leftovers,

turkey sandwiches,

or a cornucopia of movie snacks,

may your buffet be filled with memories of home and times gone by,

and your holiday be filled with the pie of your dreams.

Be grateful,

Be hale,

Be hearty.

But above all.

Be grateful.

Happy Thanksgiving!

photos by my archives.
chocolate pie by Donna.

Holiday Addition: Sweet and Spicy Candied Nuts

Despite the rising market costs of pecans this year (which I figured out and still had Mom and Dad ship me many pounds from the Thompson Family Pecan Farm in Hurricane, UT ... please support your local small business/farmer ), I was in the mood to use up the extra nuts from my pecan pie tartlets and NOT make brittle. My friend prefers spicy over sweet in her flavor palette, so I wanted to try to make a version of  of sweet and spicy candied nuts.

I found this one on the Internet late on Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, and given how much of it I ate before I bagged it up for travel, I'd say it was a success.

I used other nuts than the recommendation, because that's what I had taking up space in the pantry. Little bags of leftover seeds and nuts take up room, so I have no specific quantities. I also used more butter than called for because of leftover stick remainder from other baking projects.

Real Simple

Sweet and Spicy Candied Nuts 

Serves 8
Hands-On Time: 10m
Total Time: 45m

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter(maybe I added a bit more)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (maybe I added a bit more) 
1/2 cup almonds*
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup pecans
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

Heat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment; set aside.

Combine the brown sugar, butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and cayenne in a large pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the almonds, pistachios, and pecans and stir to coat.

Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and spread in a single layer. Bake, tossing once, until golden brown and glazed, 17 to 22 minutes. Stir**, then let cool; break into clumps. Toss with the granulated sugar.

Tip: If you don’t want the nuts to be spicy, try substituting 1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon and ginger plus a pinch of nutmeg.

* I used pecans, sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, and leftover cinnamon&sugared whole almonds for sweet to offset the spice. 

**I forgot this step until the stuff was almost hardened. I broke it up while it was warm, and then once I LIBERALLY coated with the white sugar, I broke it up more when I mixed it. 

http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/sweet-spicy-candied-nuts-00100000110560/index.html

 Taken on Thanksgiving Day.

Holiday Repeats: Donna's Thanksgiving Fudge Pie

Forget your mince pie, or your apple pie, or even that old traditional Thanksgiving staple of pumpkin pie.

There will always and forever until the end of the universe ONLY be one pie for me on Thanksgiving. 

Donna's Chocolate, NAY-- I must name it for what it really is -- a FUDGE pie. 

That's all. I won't cheat on it's memory with another. This is the only pie for me.


Chocolate Pie

6 tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar, white
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
4 squares chocolate (unsweetened?)
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a double boiler; cream sugar, butter and flour. Mix milk and eggs together. Add to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate and vanilla. Cook until thick. Pour into a 9 inch baked pie shell. Let set. Serve with whipped cream.

Originally posted in November 2011

Holiday Repeats: Pecan Pie Muffins

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of the season, we are going to give thanks for good friends who host, do most of the cooking, and let you hang out with them over a long holiday weekend. You also give thanks for lots of blog posts, so you can mimic the television programs and mix in repeats with some limited new content.

The last two late nights I have been mixing up these seasonal favorites to take as hostess requests/gifts, bags of yumminess for all and sundry. I MAY have eaten a bunch of them myself. They always disappear before I remember to take pictures. 


Pecan Pie Muffins (really, they’re tiny tarts)

Combine:
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans, obviously!)
½ cup plain flour (all-purpose is fine)

Add:
2/3 cup butter (regular, salted)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Spray little muffin pan liberally.
Do not overfill tins. Batter will run over the side. Place a pan on a rack underneath your baking tin to prevent having to clean up bottom of oven. Scrubbing your oven the next day is no fun at all.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Let cool for about 10-15 minutes. Important to let them cool down and set so you can get them out of the muffin tin. You may have to coax them out with a knife.

If you are reusing the same pan for rest of batter, clean out tins with paper towel and respray liberally.

Depending on the size of your little muffin pan, you can get 24-48.

Like little tiny decadent bite-sized pecan pies. Good warm!

Originally posted in May 2010

  Taken on Thanksgiving Day 2013

Thanksgiving = Donna's Fudge Pie

I was flipping through my photo albums in the hunt for photos of the family Thanksgivings, to find ... exactly one year's worth and only five shots at that. Unlike Christmas at our house(s), this holiday didn't have the same kind of rituals that left one the opportunity to photograph. (Plus, you stayed out of the way, or you were yelled at to stay out of Mom's way in the kitchen.)

Thanksgiving was a varied family affair. Some years we were on the road to, or in, North Carolina at Grandma Ollie's. I was so young, and film so expensive, I didn't take photos. Other years we were busy with high school activities: the boys were playing for the school bands, so were up at the football games, while I might have had to rush out later in the evening for choral activities - like the lighting of the town Christmas tree. If I was home from college, I was probably sacked out with a cold (I always got sick on vacations), off to visit friends or boyfriend(s), or my senior year - locked in my room for 5 straight days studying for my upcoming 6 hour comprehensive exams that were to be followed, in a week, by a 4 hour GRE subject exam. That year, I only came out of the room to go to the bathroom, shower, or to eat dinner and then head back to the books.

The one yearly constant (and still exists to this day) in the craziness was Mom busily preparing the various family dishes of turkey, sweet potatoes, potatoes, rolls, pies, green bean casserole, and the "Warmadorf" (Waldorf) salad - while yelling at us not to pick at the cooling turkey, or to stop snitching marshmallows out of the salad, or the "crunchies" off the casserole.

For many years, it was just the five of us celebrating and eating. As we got older, the day began to encompass other friends and family. There were the missionaries from church, the local college students - with their spouses or family in town, other church families and friends, and sundry other "specials" or "orphans." The CT house wasn't that large, but it always worked. The dining room table became the buffet spot. A few 6 or 8 foot tables were set up in the living room and piano room, with chairs of all kinds, and piano benches leaving room for folks. After the main course, there was a break for clean-up, football, walks, digestion, chats, etc. Without it being planned, the guys might end up on one floor watching football while, somehow, the ladies cleaned up, did dishes, and/or dispersed to other floors of the house. Potluck was the order of the day, with lots of extras brought for re-distribution into Tupperware, serving pans, or Ziploc containers for next-day (or next hour) leftovers.

There were always pies. Lots and lots of pie. There had to be "spare" pumpkin pies for my brother to eat for breakfast the next day. Apple and pecan pies for other traditionalists. For me though, the highlight was, and continues to be: Donna's Fudge Pie - seen below in a photo from 2010.

How fortunate I feel that I actually have photos of Donna (above left) at our house for Thanksgiving, from many years ago. Even more special was that last year, when Mom and Dad were moving West prior to Thanksgiving, she came down from MA to say goodbye, and brought the Thanksgiving Chocolate Pie along with the recipe card. I didn't get to bring the whole pie back to NYC, but I got most of it. IT.IS.DIVINE!

Even if my new Thanksgiving traditions include Chinese food for a smaller group (Auntie Nettie, Party of 1, your Beef and Broccoli, Egg Rolls, and Dim Sum are ready!), lots of time on Skype talking to friends and family rather than dealing with crowds and travel, and no pumpkin pies, I will have to learn to make this pie. It's not my Thanksgiving without it.

Chocolate Pie

6 tablespoons butter
2 cups sugar, white
1/2 cup flour
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups milk
4 squares chocolate (unsweetened?)
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a double boiler; cream sugar, butter and flour. Mix milk and eggs together. Add to sugar mixture. Stir in chocolate and vanilla. Cook until thick. Pour into a 9 inch baked pie shell. Let set. Serve with whipped cream.

This photos from 2010 don't do that pie justice. So much better than the instant chocolate pudding pies in the shells, this is decadent fudgey, sugar-coma-y, goodness.

Dang it. Now I want pie.

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Whether your holidays will include

crafts therapy, turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and stuffing,

movie watching, or feasts with an international flair,

I hope your plates and cornucopias overflow with Good and Plenty.

Happy Thankgiving from Auntie Nettie's Attic.

Retroblog November 27, 1981

Today is Sat, Nov 27, 1981 Time 1:15 p.m.


This morning started out like any other day, Get up, get dressed, have breakfast, then do some work, but because today is Sat we watch cartoon. We usally have to vacuum, but we got that done

y
e
s
t
e
r
d
a
y.

I'm going to take my nap now. I don't know what will happen this afternoon.

Mom must have made us do our chores on Black Friday, so the usual Saturday activities were exhausted. Since she ahd originally planned for us to be in NC, we all must have been stir crazy by this point of the holiday vacation.

Too much turkey and togetherness must have made her resort to naptime for everyone in the house. Smart Mom. Sounds like a plan. I need a nap right now!

Retroblog November 26, 1981

Today is Tursday Nov. 26th 1981. Time 1:29 PM

My family was going to my grandma's for Thanksgiving, but something told dad that we shouldn't go. So we didn't I cried when he told us. I wanted to go so bad. I love my parents all they do to me.

I actually do remember this event. I did cry. We were all excited to go to Grandma's house for Thanksgiving, and were pretty much all packed for the journey. The prompting that Dad got was serious enough that we didn't go, at practically the last minute. He and Mom were really somber about it when they told us. I don't know if it was a gut feeling, a dream, foreboding, or what, they were freaked and not moved by the crying or whining of their kids.

This was back in the day when there were no cell phones, GPS devices, internet, CNN outlets, etc., plus there were no iPods, or electronic games to distract the three of us kids from the crowded conditions of the backseat. The drive from CT to NC was almost a whole day, with Mom and Dad trading off the highway driving, with napping and refereeing the three of us.

Who knows what might have happened? I don't remember there being any news of major accidents on 95. If Dad shared with Mom what might have happened if we took that trip, I've never found out. We went down plenty of times over the years -- even journeys that I undertook as a solo driver. It's a mystery I look forward to finding out the answer to. It's on my list of questions for "the other side."

Retroblog Thanksgiving 1981

Thanksgiving 1981

Here are some things that our family does to celebrate Thanksgiving.

X eats turkey dinner
__ has a family party
__ talks about what we are thankful for
__ watches the football games
__ visits relatives

Some other things our family does at Thanksgiving.

Stayes together.

I am thankful for alot of things.

The nicest thing about today was
that a parade was on.

Some many years later -- the family still eats turkey, and stays together, the parade is still on, and we're thankful for a lot of things.

We have watched football, visited relatives, had parties, and talked about what we are thankful for ... including that Dad doesn't wear Wild Turkey's Deep Woods cologne anymore.

Happy Turkey Day!

Vacation Setting

First Encounter Beach, Cape Cod c. 2008

I'm off travelling to the "wilds" of New England for the holiday.

Enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Stay tuned for more Thankgiving-related retroblog postings ...

Cape Cod on Black Friday - Part Two

As we drove north on Route 6 to P-town, the skies finally cleared up. In a true holiday miracle, the public parking on the wharf was FREE and there were spots available. I love the Cape in the off-season. Although many of the restaurants are closed down, the foot and car traffic is light and you get to see a side of the Cape that's just wonderful.

Provincetown

View from the car parking lot

This trip bouyed our spirits. See Mom grin?

P-town had the most unique holiday decorations. We strolled up the pier from the car lot and came across this art installation.
According to the rest of the sign, there are 3,400 bulbs lighting the tree, 112 lobster traps, 62 plastic lobsters, 75 buoys, an 95 bows. You can see it at www.provincetownview.com, or in person until Jan. 30, 2009.

Mom and I strolled along Commercial Street, bought saltwater taffy by the pound at Cabot's Candy Store (the only place I can find clove-flavored saltwater taffy), and poked around the various stores. We sidetracked to the beach, where we heard word of a stranded harbor seal pup, and I saw this beaut of a shell necklace.

All of the views were spectacular that afternoon ...

Can it get more New England than this?

This sign cracked me up. It was on the very end corner of a pier.

All I could think was "DUH!"

There's a huge Portugese population in P-town. I'm sure these stencils had more to do with that, rather than the whole-chicken-crossing-the-road debate.

Mutt and Jeff here decided to share a trawler -- christened the Probable Cause.

Looking north from the harbor
As we walked along the pier, we got to see more harbor seals swimming around. This one was shy, and we wondered if it was the mama to the pup that was stranded up the beach.

I got mocked by other tourists for shooting this one, but look at the patina on that anchor. It's cool!

After a sunset dinner of seafood and salad (too much turkey the day before) and yummy pumpkin bread at the Lobster Pot, we wandered back to the car. Lobsters were on the brain, if not in the belly.

As a lovely parting gift, we got to see town "trees" all lit up.

The Lobster Pot Tree

Pilgrim Monument in Lights

We drove home in the dark, but this Aquarius's soul was revived by the salt sea and winter wind. Black Friday wasn't "black" for me, but a light in the long winter darkness. Now I just have to figure out how to get back out there before another 18 months passes me by.