Christmas Dinner Then and Now

Christmas dinner at my parents’ house, 1980

When I was a child, our Christmas dinner was almost exactly the same as our Thanksgiving dinner. We opened with celery sticks stuffed with cream cheese and olives (a favorite of my mother’s) and shrimp cocktail (a relic of mess hall Thanksgivings), and then enjoyed roast turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, and a plethora of vegetables: sweet potatoes, squash, turnip, cranberry sauce, and some more everyday vegetable for the kids who were picky eaters. Creamed onions often made an appearance. Dessert was pie, and lots of it – apple, pumpkin, and mince were the three constants, with a couple of other varieties usually added. The one food, other than cookies (to be discussed later this month) which was special for Christmas was stuffed dates, the nearest to sugarplums we could devise. My father and I would make them by inserting half a walnut into a date and then rolling it in confectioners’ sugar.

Did we eat these foods because the magazines in the supermarket told us we should? Or were they really part of our heritage? As we were New Englanders of primarily English and Scotch-Irish stock, I think it was the latter. For the most part, our holiday dinners were a slightly stripped-down version of the dinner my great-great-grandfather described having for Thanksgiving in 1879: “…turkey, chicken, baked chicken pie, plumb pudding, pumpkin pie.” The plum pudding tradition seems to have died out, although one of my father’s aunts (the other side of the family) made one at least once that I can remember. The mince pie hangs on in New England, or at least in Maine, and also in Old England, although they make them much smaller there.

My Christmas table this year, as for most of the past 38 Christmases, will be quite different from my childhood feasts. Hors d’oeuvres may vary from year to year, but the entrée is always a pork roast stuffed with apples and prunes. When it’s available, we may also have medisterpølse, a Danish sausage flavored with allspice. I will need a meat-grinder and sausage-stuffer for my mixer before I can tackle making my own.

I have pretty much given up on the traditional red cabbage, since I’m the only one who will eat it and the smallest cabbage available still makes way too much for one person. Dessert will be ris à l’amande – rice cooked in milk, flavored with almond, and mixed with whipped cream. Some people use a cherry sauce with it, but we prefer raspberry.

There will be a whole blanched almond hidden in the pudding, and whoever finds the nut in his or her portion has to keep it hidden until all are finished eating, and then claim the prize.

All this is eaten on Christmas Eve. For the first twelve years of our marriage we did various things on Christmas Day; sometimes going to a relative’s house for a turkey dinner, and once I did a roast beef and Yorkshire pudding dinner in our tiny house. Our Christmas Day became even more of a festival when Sisterfilms was born that day in 1984. Our Christmas dinner still varies – often it’s been a simple chicken and rice casserole, last year it was more of a brunch with aebleskiver. There was a

brief flirtation with ice cream cakes from Dairy Queen, but for some time now Sisterfilms’ birthday cake has been a bûche de noël; now she mostly makes it herself. I’ll be sure to take a picture this Christmas.

So, this Yankee has joined the Scandinavians, very grateful that the Danes don’t eat lutefisk.

Friday Five: Pie-ola!

Songbird at RevGalBlogPals writes: “We had three pies planned for a six-person Thanksgiving dinner, and there was some anxiety on my part about the need one had for gluten-free crusts. I worried, you see, that we would have pies no one liked, or run out of the one "good" pie (you know, with gluten). There was a last-minute trip to buy more pie crust that failed (sold out!). Then early on Thanksgiving morning, the phone rang. It was my neighbor, saying she wanted to bring something over. It was a beautiful maple pumpkin pie!
Now we were all set.
Later in the day, the doorbell rang unexpectedly. Someone said, "It's a pie delivery!"
And sure enough, it was a relative stopping by, and he had a pecan pie for us. Pie-ola!!!
Please answer these five questions about pie:

1) Are pies an important part of a holiday meal?

Yes, especially at Thanksgiving. In my childhood, pie was also an important part of Christmas and Easter, but lacking my mother’s skill with piecrust and for other reasons, here’s what we have at Christmas: ris à l’amande with raspberry sauce, and later cookies, on Christmas Eve; and bûche de Noël for Sisterfilms’ birthday on Christmas day. And at Easter, if I’m at home, citronfromage (a very fluffy dessert with lemon, egg white and whipped cream.) By the way, it appears that Songbird’s family started out the day somewhat under-pied, as my grandmother’s rule was one pie for each person at the table. Yesterday at my aunt’s house we had: pumpkin, apple, mince, chocolate cream, coconut cream, butterscotch cream, maple walnut, pecan (for the seven diners) and when two more friends arrived they brought a “scrumpkin” pie (I was too full to try it) and a sweet potato/orange pie.

2) Men prefer pie; women prefer cake. Discuss.

My father used to say, “Cookies are for children. Cake is for ladies. Pie is for men.” I certainly like all three far too much, but given my druthers I’d choose pie.

3) Cherries--do they belong in a pie?

Why not? Especially in February. I’ve also had and enjoyed date pie and pineapple pie and just yesterday heard about Jell0 pie. I guess there’s not much that can’t be improved by putting it in a piecrust.
4) Meringue--if you have to choose, is it best on lemon or chocolate?

Lemon. Both because I will choose lemon anything over chocolate anything on any given day, and because to me, whipped cream is what goes on chocolate pie.
5) In a chicken pie, what are the most compatible vegetables? Anything you don't like to find in a chicken pie?

It depends on the season. In fall and winter, I usually go with carrots and potatoes. But in spring I make “chicken pie primavera” with asparagus, new peas, little carrots, new potatoes – whatever looks good. I would not like to find beets in my chicken pie. Or anywhere.

Triflin’, Part 2

The trifle was a success, but I would do it a little differently next time. If you get a chance to look at the recipe, you will see that it calls for a 9x13 pan of gingerbread and a mousse made with one can of pumpkin and a cup of whipped cream. I wound up with extra gingerbread, but a very skimpy amount of the pumpkin mousse. I would double the mousse next time. I'm also thinking that I could double the pumpkin, brown sugar and spices and use the same amount of whipped cream -- the pumpkin flavor would be stronger that way. Also, the recipe called for a two-quart bowl; I felt it would overfill either of the bowls I had so I divided it into two.

Here’s a photo of the trifle, but it’s not a very good one because I neglected to tell the photographer to scooch down and photograph the bowl from the side. There is candied ginger scattered on top of the whipped cream.

Other guests brought whoopie pies (homemade!), bars, and pumpkin and apple pies; and I also made the lime bars from the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook, which are always delicious but never look the way they are supposed to (and specifically, they are messy!) They are one of those bars where you mix butter, flour and sugar and press it into a pan, then bake that for 20 minutes before adding the filling and baking some more. It’s the first part I have trouble with; I suspect today it was because I softened the butter in the microwave. Also, I knew the clementines would be a hit, but I put the candy canes out more as decoration -- and many of them were eaten as well!

Can you tell that I really like the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook? It has lots of good recipes, somewhat on the Midwestern/Scandinavian side but not exclusively so, and many of which are good for any time of year. I highly recommend it. This is the one I have:

and I think it’s from the early to mid-1980s. There have been several new editions since then, so I hope that it’s still got most of the same recipes.

Tomorrow I’ll be busy recording some more stories, and preparing for my Advent Calendar of Songs and Stories on the blog, which will begin December 1 – Tuesday! This year I’ll be highlighting the stories I recorded for Sisterfilms back in 2007, which included some that were more suitable for adults as well as some old children’s favorites.

Triflin’

Well, my best intentions didn’t quite work out and I’ve missed a couple of days. I’m currently in the midst of preparing a Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle from the very last issue of Gourmet magazine. (November) It’s not available online yet; they say their website will remain up for a little while, perhaps long enough to put up the November issue. If you perform a G**gle search for this, the first one that comes up is Paula Deen’s, which relies heavily on packaged things. Not for me. The recipe I’m using has homemade gingerbread, a simple pumpkin mousse, and real whipped cream.

I did have to amend it a bit since some of the eaters are vegetarians and would not appreciate being served something including gelatin from animal parts. So, I went to the natural food store at the end of the block for some vegan gelatin substitute. (No vegans coming, but the gel is OK for them.) The directions were so alarming that I almost decided to wing it and just whip the cream in the mousse really stiffly, because I was afraid of winding up with a mousse that had lumps of flavorless gel scattered through it. However, I was brave and followed directions and it seems to have worked. This is a really good thing because it also means I can make the Ris a l’Amande for Christmas Eve the way I’ve always done it (from the Betty Crocker Christmas Cookbook) – a couple of years ago I used a different, gelatinless method and wasn’t as pleased with the results.

The trifle will not be complete until tomorrow, and at that point I’ll take a picture and post it.

Since Thanksgiving is over, I can now play Christmas music. I am easing into it with a playlist of all instrumental – everything from Celtic to big band to Windham Hill to solo piano to bluegrass to classical pieces. With the shuffle feature, it’s a nice variety of sounds, familiar and unfamiliar. I put together a playlist for Advent but it’s sure going to be heavy on Es ist ein Ros’ entsprungen and Veni, Veni Emmanuel! Now I need to retrieve the Christmas linens (especially tablecloths, guest towels and kitchen things) from the upstairs closet.

A Real Maine Pumpkin Pie

Even though Libby is a fine old Maine name, I don’t think much of their pumpkin pie recipe – too pale and bland. I also like to buy local products when I can, so since we’ve moved to Maine I get One-Pie canned pumpkin (they also have canned squash), from West Paris, Maine. In Minnesota, we used Festal pumpkin from Owatonna, Minnesota. I like the recipe on the One-Pie pumpkin can, so here is my rewriting of it.

“One-Pie” Pumpkin Pie

1 Tbsp. Cornstarch
1 cup sugar
½ tsp. Cinnamon
½ tsp. Nutmeg
½ tsp. Ginger
scant ½ tsp. Salt
1 can One-Pie pumpkin (or your favorite local brand, or whatever)
2 eggs, beaten
1 ½ Tbsp. Butter, melted
2 Tbsp. Molasses (I like Crosby’s, which comes in a paper carton like milk, but other kinds would be fine too)
1 12-oz. Can evaporated milk, or 1/12 cups milk (I’m dubious about using regular milk, never have. However, you can use evaporated skim milk with no problem)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Mix in the can of pumpkin (a wire whisk works fine). Add eggs, melted butter, molasses and mix together; add milk and mix until evenly mixed. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pie crust, pour in the pumpkin mixture, and bake 15 minutes. (You may want to cover the edges of the crust to prevent over-browning.) Turn oven down to 350 degrees and bake 50 more minutes, or until a knife inserted in the middle of the pie comes out clean.

And here’s a picture of the pie I made today:

For a nod to Minnesota, here’s the great recipe for Festal Pumpkin Bars. “Bars” are a fixture at almost every Minnesota social event and there are many delicious ones, but you can’t go wrong with these.

Festal Pumpkin Bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease and flour a 12 x 18 x 1 inch pan (jelly roll pan)

4 eggs
1 c. salad oil
2 c. sugar
1 15 oz. can pumpkin

Mix above ingredients in a large bowl. Sift the following and add to above, then stir:

2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 cups flour

Mix well and pour into pan. Bake 25-30 minutes.

Frost with:

1 6 oz pkg cream cheese (Neufchatel or low-fat cream cheese would be fine, but don’t bother with the fat-free stuff)
3/4 stick butter
1 tbsp. cream or milk
1 tsp vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar

Beat cheese, butter, vanilla and cream together until soft. Add powdered sugar until correct consistency to spread. Cut the bars into 2 x 3 inch bars. Makes 36. Can be frozen.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

A Recipe for Thanksgiving

As a make-up for missing yesterday’s blog, here’s a recipe I mentioned earlier today that some people asked for. It comes from, I think, the 1975 edition of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, with a few alterations.

SWEET POTATO-CASHEW BAKE

2 lbs. sweet potatoes (recipe says “2 medium,” whatever “medium” means)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup broken cashews (a little more wouldn’t hurt, you’re just going to buy a can and use the rest for snacks, right?)

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 15-oz. can peach slices in juice (original recipe called for a smaller can which is now hard to find)

3 tablespoons butter

Cook the sweet potatoes (see below for instructions). Cool, remove skins, and cut crosswise into thick pieces. Combine the brown sugar, cashews, and ginger in a small bowl. Drain peaches well. In a 10x6x2 inch backing dish, layer half each of the sweet potatoes, peach slices, and brown sugar mixture. Repeat layers until done. (Since everything is already cooked, don’t worry about size of pan if you don’t have the exact one called for.)

Dot with butter. Bake, covered (aluminum foil is fine if your dish doesn’t have a cover) in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Uncover, bake 10 minutes longer. Spoon the brown sugar syrup that has formed over the potatoes and peaches before serving. Serves 6 to 8.

Cooking sweet potatoes: for some reason I’ve always boiled them for this recipe but this year I may try baking. Anyway, to boil, wash the sweet potatoes and cut off ends and any obvious woody parts. Boil in lightly salted water to cover, 25-35 minutes. If you want to bake instead, it’s 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes. In either case you’ll want to allow yourself enough time for the sweet potatoes to cool before you peel and slice them. This recipe is a fine one to prepare the day before Thanksgiving up to the point of putting it in the oven. When traveling to someone else’s house I’ve had good luck either bringing it fully baked and reheating in microwave or, if arriving just before dinner, just doing the last 10 minutes of baking at the destination.

For another sweet potato variation, I tried this recipe from the Penzey's Spices catalog recently. It was good, but it made a huge amount so you’d have to reduce the recipe unless you have a real crowd, I think. Here is the link:Orange Spice Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

Friday Five: Thanksgiving

Thanks to Jan at RevGalBlogPals for this Friday Five:

The Cure
Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.
--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?

Baking something is a pretty good cure; also cleaning out cupboards, organizing things and general tidying up.

2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?

We’re going to my aunt and uncle’s house, and their daughter and her two teenage sons will be there too. I expect much hilarity.

3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?

Turkey from a local farm, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy; I’ll probably contribute homemade cranberry sauce, and my sweet potatoes with peaches and cashews; probably one or two other vegetables at least; several different pies! My childhood Thanksgivings are memorable for the abundance of two things, vegetables and pies. We also had a turkey probably twice the size of the one we’ll be eating next week. In Minnesota we had that green bean casserole, but that is not traditional here (and I don’t really miss it, but my kids would.)

My grandmother in a photo taken November 1942, very possibly preparing Thanksgiving dinner.

4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?

I think it’s a great holiday, and even people who aren’t especially religious seem to get the spirit of gratitude on this day. I recognize that some American Indians have trouble with the historical part of it, on the other hand they have taught us much about how to be thankful for the bounty of this land and how to use it respectfully.

5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?

My family, my home, my dog, my friends, the Internet, my local public library, farmers’ markets (and farmers, and fisherfolk), hope for a partial solution to the healthcare mess…that will do for a start.

BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.

After her usual morning chores and making sure Frank was comfortably settled, with the parade on TV, Bert started preparing Thanksgiving dinner. This year they would just have a nice fat chicken roasted; even a small turkey would be too much for the two of them. She remembered the days when Frank would go out to the woods and bring back a wild turkey for Thanksgiving; sometimes he’d have time to go duck hunting and there’d be two or more birds on the table. Taking out the pan of cornbread she had prepared the day before and frying up a bit of Joe Smith’s homemade sausage for flavoring, she began preparing the stuffing, then put it aside when she remembered that she needed to bake a couple of pies first. Luckily, although he couldn’t be up and around any longer, Frank still had all his teeth so he could enjoy his favorite pecan pie with nuts from their own trees. She recalled fondly how her nieces had visited earlier in the fall with their children, and all had helped with the tree-shaking. It’s good for kids to learn that food doesn’t just come from the grocery store. She’s looking forward to their visiting at Christmas time; she told them not to try coming down from Chicago for the short Thanksgiving holiday. Now that the pie was in the oven, she could start peeling potatoes and making the creamed onions. And she mustn’t forget Frank’s favorite, the fried okra. Good thing she had plenty of okra in the freezer.

At last everything was ready, and at just the right time, since it was half-time of the Lions-Packers game Frank was avidly watching. Ever since his brother Earl had moved to Detroit to work on the line at General Motors, Frank had followed the Detroit sports teams along with him. Earl had died a couple of years back, and maybe it was just as well, with all the trouble his old employer was having; but Frank still rooted for the Lions, Tigers and Pistons. But, being a country music fan from childhood, Frank wasn’t too interested in the big Motown salute during half-time, so Bert could get him to turn off the TV and say grace. After the prayer, they had always gone around the table saying what they were thankful for. Frank says he’s thankful for Bert and all her care of him. Bert says she’s thankful for Frank too because he’s still good company after all these years. Then they tuck in to their Thanksgiving dinner.

Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do, or Do Without

That’s the old New England saying that I try to live by these days, with varying degrees of success. One thing we’ve certainly been better about most of the time is food wastage. I’ve fought a battle for about 40 years now with overly-optimistic buying, especially of fruits and vegetables. Since we came to Maine and live quite near the supermarket and farmers’ markets, it’s been a bit easier not to overbuy, but it still happens occasionally.

This occurred recently when pears were on sale at the supermarket – not just pears, but all varieties, so I bought a couple of each. However, they weren’t ripe, nor were the avocados I got at the same time. After a few days in our chilly kitchen had done nothing, I found a paper bag and put them in it with a slightly elderly apple. Unfortunately I’m one of those “out of sight, out of mind” people, and although I used some Comice pears in salads, some of the pears wound up unusable. At the same time a bag of apples was beginning to have the same problems. Today I decided it was time to take action, and I tinkered with a recipe for apple crisp and made this:

PEAR-APPLE CRISP

10 cups mixed pears and apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I had Cortland apples, and two each of Bosc and Red pears)
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon (today, Penzey’s Indonesia Korintje cassia; cassia is what most of us think of as cinnamon)
1/2 cup water (could have done with a bit less as pears are very juicy when ripe)

1 cup quick-cooking oats (I just had “old-fashioned” oats, no problem)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar (light brown)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
Place the sliced fruit in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. (I think it works better if you combine the dry things well first, while you’re melting the butter.) Crumble evenly over the fruit mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.

This goes very well with your favorite locally-made vanilla ice cream. I’m thinking that another time, especially if I had more pears, I would experiment a little with the spices, since I think ginger goes well with pears and would add something.

Friday Five: Trader Joe's

Sophia at RevGalBlogPals has temptation coming her way! She reports:

"Gals and pals on the West and East coasts, and a few spots in between, may know of Trader Joe's--a quirky, well-stocked, well priced semi-gourmet store that attains near cult status among some. I discovered it through my Aunt Judy, who always brought a couple of their desserts to holiday parties....The best was a chocolate ganache torte that had my four year olds begging for it (and among the only four year olds on the planet to know what ganache is, presumably).

My family has happily Trader Joe'd in southernmost California, up to the Northwest, and back down to southern Cal. And now we're really excited because today a brand new Trader Joe is opening up across the street from our apartment. Wahoo! There are sure to be lots of tasty free samples on opening day and from now on we can just walk across the street to get a lot of our shopping done. I have a new spiritual directee coming tomorrow and she has already mentioned that she'll be stopping in on the way here, leaving me to be jealous cause I'll be spending that noon hour like, praying and preparing and study-vacuuming and everything, and won't be able to stop in till the afternoon.

So in honor of the new Trader Joe's, this week's Friday Five is all about food shopping.


1. Grocery shopping--love it or hate it?
I lean toward the "love" side, mostly. I don't like to do it in a rushed manner, I like to look at all the interesting things for sale, check labels and unit pricing, and generally just appreciate it. When I travel, I enjoy seeing the different things in supermarkets in different areas of the country.

2. Who is the primary food shopper in your household?
It's hard to say because I usually write the list, whether I'm actually going along or not. Onkel Hankie Pants doesn't fit the stereotype of the male grocery shopper -- he generally just buys what's on the list, so to avoid temptation I sometimes let him go alone.

3. Do you have a beloved store like TJ's which is unique to your location or family?
There is nothing like Trader Joe's here as far as I know, the closest one is somewhere near Boston. Our Hannaford's supermarket is quite good, but what I really appreciate are our meat market, Bisson's, a vertically-integrated business (that is, they actually raise the beef and pork, cut it, and sell it, and Grandmere makes the meat pies); the Sausage Kitchen in another nearby town with a great variety of sausage; and the farmer's markets where, in addition to vegetables and fruit, we can get local cheese, relishes and preserves. The natural foods store on the corner and even the supermarket also carry breads from local bakers. And an old friend of my father's has a seafood business on the wharf. By the way, Bisson's also has dairy, and their heavy cream is really, really heavy!

4. How about a farmer's market, or CSA share, as we move into summer? Or do you grow your own fruits/veggies/herbs?
I've never quite been brave enough to do the CSA thing, but the farmer's market is great. We have one twice a week on the Mall (most New England towns would call it the Green or the Common, but ours is the Mall), which I can walk to, another one on Saturdays at a local CSA farm/educational place, and other nearby towns have them too on other days. In blueberry season we know a place on Rte. 1 where there's a great farm stand, and soon it will be time to visit the pick-your-own strawberry place.

5. What's the favorite thing you buy at the grocery store?
I'd have to say --- coffee and tea. We could not grow these ourselves here, nor could anyone else. I would miss bananas and citrus fruit, but maybe I could go on without them, but coffee and tea are where our locavore principles really break down. We get Wicked Joe coffee, which is locally roasted just down the bike path.

Friday Five: Hasty Pudding Edition

Songbird, pinch-hitting at RevGalBlogPals, says: "Our regular poster, Sally, having been oppressed by Blogger today, I bring you a hasty Friday Five on the subject of pudding. If you are not a fan of pudding, then you will feel solidarity with Sally, except that you will be oppressed by pudding instead. ;-)"

1) First of all, thumbs up? or thumbs down? Do you like pudding?
Yes, I love pudding, just about any kind I've ever had except Grape-Nut Pudding. (It's a New England thang.)

2) Instant or cooked? (Does anyone make pudding from scratch?)
I like just about any pudding but I do, in fact, sometimes make chocolate pudding from scratch, and it really isn't that hard. I have also made bread pudding, rice pudding, and Indian pudding from scratch.

3) If you had to choose, would you prefer corn pudding or figgy pudding?
I have just been thinking about corn pudding, which my mother used to make toward the end of the month with hot dogs cut up in it. (My father got paid once a month). There's a good recipe in my Thanksgiving cookbook, which I don't make then because of lack of oven space; I should make some soon! So, corn pudding it is. A savory pudding.

4) Have you ever finger painted with pudding?
No, that would be playing with your food.

5) Finally, what is the matter with Mary Jane?
Even something as wonderful as rice pudding can get tedious if too often repeated!

Bonus: Share a favorite recipe that includes pudding!
I'll come back and do this later, I'm going to have green pepper karhi, rice, and jalebis for dinner at my niece's house! Probably no pudding, though. OK, it's the next morning, here's how to make chocolate pudding from scratch:

Real Chocolate Pudding

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk (I usually use 1 1/2% but it probably works with whatever you have)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon butter

In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt. Gradually stir in about half of the milk until smooth, then stir in the remaining milk.

Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-low heat, until the mixture is thickened and comes to a boil, for about 5 to 8 minutes. Cook, stirring, one minute more.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla and butter until smooth. Pour into four individual dessert bowls or a larger serving dish. If you don't like "skin", place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent it from forming. Chill until ready to serve, at least 30 minutes. (Large bowl will take longer to chill, small ones less time). 

Garnish with whipped cream and shaved semisweet chocolate or what have you. In my childhood we just poured milk on it. See, that wasn't so hard, was it?

Friday Five: Pancakes

The very fortunate (you'll see why in a moment) Sophia at RevGalBlogPals writes:

Last week Sally gave us a beautiful, spiritually reflective Friday Five, so it's time for something light and fluffy (literally). It's inspired by the fact that as I write this my dear spouse TechnoGuy, with the assistance of daughter Ladybug, is making a batch of chocolate chip pancakes with two Christmas presents. One is the Knott's Berry Farm mix which came along with jam, boysenberry syrup, and biscuit mix from my aunt (we ended up with two sets, since my parents passed theirs on to avoid sweet and carb-y temptation). The other is the large size Black and Decker electric skillet he was thrilled that I got him online -- our trusty wedding present normal size one still works at going on 20 years, but the Teflon is getting worn, and he wanted more cooking space. So pull up a chair to the kitchen table and tell us all about your pancake preferences.

1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?
If anyone is nice enough to make me pancakes, I'm not fussy. But my preference would be scratch, buttermilk pancakes, or even better, aebleskiver (the Danish spherical pancakes; the recipe I use contains buttermilk). Buckwheat pancakes are nice once in a while as well.
2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?
Generally I'd just as soon have plain ones with additions on the side. But when I was small my father used to make corn pancakes -- just mixing drained, canned corn into the batter -- and those were really good. And I've had wild rice pancakes that were yummy too.
3. For breakfast or for dinner?
Sure, and why not for lunch?
4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?
Well, of course Maine maple syrup, Grade B, is what I prefer for regular pancakes. For aebleskiver, brown sugar or jam. I like the bacon and sausage we get from our local farm meat market; if I'm elsewhere I would buy Nueske's bacon from Wisconsin or whatever the local goody is.

5. Favorite pancake restaurant?
The Danish-American Fellowship aebleskiver breakfasts in Minneapolis! For some reason I usually don't order pancakes in restaurants.
Bonus: Any tasty recipes out there, for pancakes or other special breakfast dishes? Bring 'em on!
The thing about aebleskiver is that you do need a special pan. It looks like this:
There are fancier versions available, but this is the kind I have. A knitting needle or skewer is also needed for turning the pancakes. Here's one of the recipes, from the Danish-American Fellowship Cookbook. It's credited to Hanne Poulsen and says "This is the recipe used for the Aebleskiver Pancake Breakfasts at the Danish-American Fellowship"
Aebleskiver

4 cups buttermilk
4 cups flour
8 eggs
4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Separate all eggs and whip egg whites. Put buttermilk in mixer. Mix all dry ingredients with the flour, then mix all at once into the buttermilk, including the egg yolks. Fold in egg whites and two tablespoons of melted butter. Bake in monks pan (aebleskiver pan) in oil, turn half way to bake and keep turning until fully baked.
This photo is from a Google(tm) Images search that led me to a new-to-me blog I'll probably keep reading, Walking the Berkshires. Thanks!
I should note that the first batch usually doesn't come out all that well for us, but keep going. If you don't want quite so many pancakes, you can halve the recipe easily enough. So, now if you see an aebleskiver pan at a rummage sale, you'll know what to do with it!

Thanksgiving Thoughts, tending toward randomness

Happy Thanksgiving to all my U.S. readers, and I hope the rest of you have a good day too!

I've just put the Sweet Potato-Peach-Cashew Bake into the oven and cut the Exquisite Chocolate Mint Sticks into bars(see above). The cranberry sauce appears to have jelled nicely and reposes in the refrigerator. In about half an hour I'll wake up Onkel Hankie Pants, who worked last night, and we'll get ready to go to Bowdoinham, where we will share Thanksgiving dinner with Uncle Nepco, Mama's Baby Sister, and their daughter, Monkees Fan.  I used occasionally to babysit for Monkees Fan when I was in town, and Mama's Baby Sister used to babysit for me.  Although MBS is a grandmother, and Monkees Fan still has children at home (they're with their dad today), we are more or less functioning as contemporaries now. It's funny, and good, how that goes.

I took Rusty for a walk down Maine Street just now. It was odd, and nice, to see everything so quiet (and also to know that that's not a permanent condition!) If I had gone a little farther, I suppose the 7-11 would have been open, and perhaps Dunkin' Donuts? The German restaurant where we had Easter dinner was advertising that they would prepare your meal, I know, but I can't recall if they also were going to be open -- I think not. The coffeehouse down near the supermarket is hosting a Thanksgiving meal by donation, to make sure people don't have to eat alone, and to benefit young adult programs at the library. And there will be a potluck Thanksgiving at church. I saw only three people not in cars -- one of the smokers at the assisted living place down the street exchanged Thanksgiving greetings with me, and one of her co-residents was being escorted to a car for a trip to dinner, probably by a sister. 

I wonder, if I end up in a place like that, will there be as many smokers clustering outside? I heard on the radio that smoking among adults is down under 20% of the population; unfortunately among teenagers it's a little higher than that.

My Exquisite Chocolate Mint Sticks turned out a little oddly. They taste fine (I am sampling one right now, "to see if it's fit to eat" as my mother used to say). But some are thicker than others. Put it down to astigmatism, I guess. We cleaned the (self-cleaning) oven yesterday, and when I put the racks back in, I got them tilted. Somehow I didn't notice that when I put the pan in. Fortunately it doesn't show as much once they are cut up and arranged on a nice plate I got from Brother #1 and The Herbalist last Christmas.  By the way, although these are a family favorite, from Marjorie Standish's Cooking Down East, they are not a traditional Thanksgiving treat. Monkees Fan specially requested them after tasting one of the leftovers from the last time I made them. We will have pies as well. (I am expecting there will be more than one pie, although only 5 at dinner. It's traditional. When I was growing up, in a family of seven, my mother always made at least a dozen pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas).

Well, Onkel Hankie Pants is up, humming "Over the River and Through the Woods" in the shower. We will cross at least two rivers, the Androscoggin and the Cathance, on our way to dinner. The Cathance had flooded fields on the Bisson farm yesterday when we went to pick up the fresh turkey; they're used to it, they say. The Androscoggin was roaring loudly as water rushed over the dam near our house on its way to the sea. We are fortunate today to have electric power, drivable roads, and no flooding; others in Maine are not so lucky. We also must stop to remember all those affected by the terrorist action in Mumbai, all those who do not share the bounty we enjoy, and all those far from home today, especially our servicemen and women overseas.

BRP = Blatant Relative Promotion

It's a rainy, windy, dark November day here, and I'm not up to much. I am making a black bean soup with a hambone for supper, and later I'll probably do the cranberry sauce that will be one of my contributions to Thanksgiving dinner. I'm listening to my Thanksgiving playlist (see last year's Tunes for November posts for a list). Although I generally celebrate Buy Nothing Day on the day after Thanksgiving, I know that there are people out there thinking about Christmas shopping; and other kinds of shopping as well. We're all in a bit of an ambivalent mood about shopping right now. On one shoulder sits a creature whispering in our ear "Save your money! You're going to need it later!" and on the other sits another creature whispering, "Go out and support your local businesses, they need you!" Which is the angel and which is the devil? Who knows?

So, today I'm promoting the businesses of three relatives. If the things they're selling happen to be things you would like to buy (and in one case, you'll have to be in a certain geographic location), give them a try!

My cousin Pam "down to the shore" has had a thriving seasonal business for many years making wreaths for residents and businesses in the area. Now she's taking it to the next level and offering her beautiful wreaths online all over the country. I received one of her wreaths as a gift from her mother last year, and it was lovely. I believe there's a picture on one of last December's blog posts. Despite a cold, snowy, blowy winter, it lasted far beyond the time Onkel Hankie Pants deems acceptable for having a Christmas wreath up. Go to Pam's Maine Wreaths to see and, perhaps, order. Tell your friends and colleagues!

Speaking of OHP, his cousin Julie is the next relative I'm promoting here. This summer her second book for children, My New Best Friend, was published, and the first one, My Last Best Friend, is now available in paperback. Both books deal with the adventures of fourth-grader Ida May, who lives in a small town in Wisconsin. For anyone who has had or been a fourth-grader, these stories will ring true. The books are geared toward readers age 7-10, so if you have a gift recipient in that age group, give 'em a try.

Last but not least, my cousin Erica is involved with a fine little BBQ restaurant in Lewiston, Maine. It's right across from Marden's! (Mainers will know what this means). Here are some visuals from our most recent visit:

Onkel Hankie Pants and I both had the Two-Step Sandwich, in which one gets to choose two of the three available barbecued meats (beef, pork, chicken) and a side. OHP had beans and I had a really good potato salad. I greedily ate some of my sandwich before I remembered to photograph it. I have two sauces, spicy and mild, to mix.

I took some of my sandwich home so I'd have

room for dessert. This peanut butter pie was

extremely delicious, covered with a chocolate

ganache (I think that's redundant and ganache is

always chocolate).

Here is the lovely and talented Erica, chef, hostess,

and even waits tables at least for relatives. (By the way, as you'll see from their websites, Pam and Julie are also lovely and talented).

And here's the smokin' locomotive by which you will recognize the place.

So if you're in or near Lewiston, this is the place to go for some fine barbecue. They do catering, too!

Food Meme: Yummy or yukky?

Found at Terrapin Station via Cathy's Grace Notes:
This is fun, and everybody's doing it. Andrew put together a list of 100 foods he thinks any good omnivore should have tried at least once. Andrew is British, so his list doesn't include some things this Yank might believe to be must-tries.

How the Omnivore's 100 works:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (I'm going to put these in double brackets[[]] because I don't think Blogger supports strikethroughs).

4) Optional: Post a comment at Very Good Taste, linking to your results.

MY OMNIVORE'S 100

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (No, but just give me time, The Herbalist recommends it highly)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. [[Steak tartare]]
5. Crocodile
6. [[Black pudding]]
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PBJ sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans (I even know how to make them!)
25. [[Brawn or head cheese]]
26. [[Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper]]
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (I've eaten gallons of clam chowder, but never in a sourdough bowl.)
33. Salted lassi (nope, just mango)
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac [[with a fat cigar]]
37. Clotted Cream Tea
38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail (assuming oxtail soup counts)
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects (covered in chocolate, my father brought home once)
43. Phaal
44. Goat's milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more
46. [[Fugu]]
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV (probably, in Germany)
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips (surely, foisted upon unwitting children by superhealthy 80s moms in my neighborhood)
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (making sure readers know this is not BREAD)
63. kaolin - (as in Kaopectate)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. [[Frogs’ legs]]
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. [[Chitterlings or andouillette]] Smelled them cooking, that was enough!
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail (I'm a little dubious about this but I hear they come with lots of garlic butter)
79. Lapsang Souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom Yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. [[Horse]] My grandfather would rollover in his grave if I did.
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox (We used to get this for Sunday brunch once a month in college)
97. Lobster Thermidor (I generally take my lobster steamed, stewed or in a lobster roll. I've had lobster ravioli and was underwhelmed.)
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

What about you?
Comment: I see two common denominators of the things I haven't tried -- too expensive to imagine getting the opportunity, or the "ick" factor. Then there are the things I don't know at all -- what the heck is pocky? I'll have to look that up.

Garage Sales, the Sequel

Last week the Friday Five was about garage sales, and today we actually went to some! We started off the day with breakfast at Faith UMC on Orr's Island. Today the specialty was crepes -- they have a breakfast each month on the first Saturday and the main entree is different each time. I had the chicken, mushroom and asparagus crepe, which was delicious. Fried potatoes, bacon, sausage, fruit cup and juice, and mini-cinnamon rolls rounded out the breakfast. And coffee of course; the volunteers recognize us now and start the water boiling for Onkel Hankie Pants' tea as soon as we come in.

We had already learned that the Sebascodegan Garden Club was having a plant sale on the Cundy's Harbor Road so next we headed over there. Here's a picture of what we bought for $11.00: a hosta, a wee peony (it's wee now, but we hope it will grow), and three herbs that I'll plant in a big container -- rosemary, basil and oregano.
There was also a bake sale going on at the same time, so for $2.50 I got a loaf of cracked wheat bread (have you priced the artisanal breads in the supermarket lately? This was a good deal!) and for a dollar each, two cheese scones. OHP turns up his nose at scones, having had too many of the dry, nasty ones that were all the rage at bakeries and coffeeshops a while back. But I could see that these were freshly made and I just had one, it was delicious! (You can see them in the photo below).
We had also seen a sign for a neighborhood of garage sales, so we checked that out. Most of what's in the photo above is from several sales we stopped at. Onkel Hankie Pants got a tripod and a kids' telescope for $5 each, and a book called The Friar and the Cipher for a buck. I got a dough scraper with measuring markings for $2.50 (retails for $4 but I'd have to go to Bath to buy one); a cream pitcher and sugar bowl for a dollar each, Williamsburg Pottery (I think the sugar bowl may be missing a cover but as we don't usually keep sugar out, not a problem); a book of John Connolly short stories for a quarter; a Christmas ornament for another quarter and 4 Santa tealights for 50 cents; and my most expensive single purchase, too good to pass up even though it will have to wait a while:
This lovely handmade bunny was only $4! It goes to my first granddaughter. I don't know how long it will have to wait. In this photo you can also see the telescope (the odd-looking red thing).
Our last stop was the Give and Go Sale at Bowdoin College. They used to call it the Dump and Run but as the proceeds go to the various non-profits who staff it, the name has been spiffed up. Anyone who has been present when a college senior leaves the dorm or apartment for the last time knows what this is all about. The sale started at 8 and we didn't arrive until nearly 11, so who knows what treasures we may have missed. But the good side was that at 11 everything went to half-price. We didn't find a lot there, but I did get three mostly-unused notebooks, an expanding file pocket folder, and an Ann Arbor Junior League cookbook, all for $2. I'm especially pleased with the Junior League cookbook, as they tend to be exorbitantly priced at used book stores, but often have quite useful recipes for entertaining without working too hard. This one isn't as regional as some, but does seem to have a lot of mushroom recipes, as well as things like Cherry Soup.
So, that's my shopping for the day done. Now I have to prepare for the Genealogical Society meeting/picnic tomorrow -- I'm to bring dessert so I'm going to make a rhubarb cake recipe I found in the Minnesota Heritage Cookbook. And, I have to finish indexing a member's huge three-volume pedigree charts -- most people turn in 2 or 3 pages. She is eager to know if she is related to anyone in the society -- so far, she is a distant cousin of mine in a couple of lines way back. That's Saturday in Brunswick and environs.

Post-Boxing Day Report

My personal pendulum has been swinging wildly between manic and exhausted for the past few days. Sisterknits and I did last minute shopping on Sunday afternoon and some wrapping and pre-preparation of food items. Christmas Eve is our big family celebration since my marriage to a Dane 35 years ago. So that day is always pretty hectic. I was not expecting a large group for Christmas Eve dinner (roast pork with apples and prunes, gravy, mashed potatoes, green jello salad with pineapple and cottage cheese, peas and carrots, rolls, sparkling grape juice) and then mid-afternoon it got smaller. Brother #2 was to have joined OHP, Sisterknits and his twin sister for dinner, but sadly, he found his landlady dead on her sofa about 1 pm. She was of the age where this was not a tremendous surprise, but of course an unattended death has to be investigated. However, the bigger problem for him immediately was that she was a dogsitter by trade, with a clientele that has included the rich and famous who summer or live in Maine, and there were 6 dogs (besides his dog and her dog) in residence that he is now caring for until he can track down their owners.

So, we had probably the fewest people at our Christmas Eve table since 1973 when a snowstorm prevented us from joining the family in Minneapolis. Then we went to church -- we only missed the first two of the handbell choir's selections, but the church was already full enough that we had to sit in a very odd location -- I can't really even describe it but getting there was a trip! Beautiful music as usual and a good sermon on the Incarnation, but I still miss the experience of going to church and being surrounded by people I know. I recognized one or two of the ushers but no one else in our vicinity.

We returned to prepare for the arrival of the rest of the family (they are vegetarians so we don't inflict our roast pork on them). This year we did something different -- we saved our ris a l'amande until they arrived so the suspense over who got the nut would be greater. I had made the "old school" version (minus gelatin -- see earlier post for recipes) so I wouldn't have to search for veg. gelatin, and it was good though different. Brother #1 got the nut, and a pen in the shape of a moose was the prize. Then we danced around the tree and sang carols and "Nu har vi Jul igen" and then opened presents. Cookies made by my niece, Danish kringle from Racine, WI provided by Temple Truck Woman, and apricot balls were consumed. I think a good time was had by all.

In the morning there were stockings. A sad accident befell my stocking, a beautiful pale green cable-knit one that Cordeliaknits made for me last year. (It is not a permanent injury.) Santa #1, the less-experienced Santa, had put a jar of jelly in the toe, before Santa #2 (yours truly) had a chance to put the tangerine in. When Santa #2 began her work, nearly all the stockings overbalanced and crashed to the hearth along with their (iron) stocking holders. No problem except for mine. I didn't notice at first and hung it on the flue knob, putting the others' stockings on chairs. While I was waiting for Sisterknits to get up, I noticed Rusty licking the hearth tiles. Uh-oh! Sisterknits and OHP cleaned up the mess and we expect the stocking to make a full recovery. After stockings we opened the rest of our gifts. The original plan had involved aebleskiver and the construction of a buche de noel for SK's birthday. But she went back to sleep and awoke too late for all that! We heated leftovers and had supper, and then two of her friends came up from Portland and we played 25 Words or Less. We made the Buche de Noel yesterday, and we'll have aebleskiver today. When one is entertaining a 20-something who has two jobs and a full-time college schedule, one needs to factor in time for extra sleep.

Fun and flora on the Islands

This past weekend our friend Wolfie's Woman was here for a short visit. On Saturday this is what we did.
First we had breakfast at the Faith United Methodist Church on Orr's Island in Harpswell. Here is what one of the plates looked like:

The French toast is stuffed with cream cheese and there are real blueberries on top as well as syrup. The muffin is cranberry-orange. The fried potatoes with bits of pepper are homemade. All this as well as juice and coffee or tea, and as much as you want, for $7! It's a good thing for our waistlines that it's only once a month.
Then to walk off the breakfast we went to the Giant's Staircase on Bailey Island for a wee hike. Unfortunately Blogger is not taking any more pictures from me right now. I changed the setting on my camera to take better pictures, but the pictures are much bigger, and I'm not all that sure how to make them smaller (byte-wise). I will have to see if Onkel Hankie Pants can help me.
Today The Accountant is coming to visit -- one of my longest-serving friends, since 8th grade. The weather is not nearly as nice as it was, but I'm sure we will find some fun things to do -- ArtWalk tomorrow night, perhaps? I also have some pictures of various plants we saw last weekend that I don't know how to identify. Better luck next post.