Not Your Traditional Thanksgiving

When I was a little girl, my desire was for my family to celebrate, as all American families did, the traditional holiday of Thanksgiving. I didn't know my family wasn't American, not really. We didn't have loads of relatives to celebrate with, we ate with our hands and by the way, we didn't eat meat on Thursdays.

Last night my dad told me how I really wanted a turkey for Thanksgiving when I was old enough to know what you were supposed to eat. And yet there were only three of us to feed on this holiday, when we didn't have other families to join us and even if we did, they were other Indian families with no interest in turkey or mashed potatoes that weren't burnt yellow with turmeric. So he brought home a chicken. Was I fooled, I asked. Of course I was! My little unsophisticated palate didn't know any better.

Over the years, our Thanksgiving celebrations evolved. Some years we did actually have turkey (I checked the label), one year there was ham. Eventually we switched to celebrating on Friday at a friend's place so we could have the meatiest of meals, and Thanksgiving Thursday became either a non-event or a time for me to join other friends for a meal.

The last three or four years Thanksgiving has evolved again into a vegetarian feast. Last night, for example, we had butternut squash soup with chopped apples, fettucine alfredo, spinach and pear salad, sweet potato biscuits with honey butter, brussel sprouts, fruit and ice cream. I hardly missed the turkey.

Thanksgiving is actually a holiday made for immigrants, and I love the idea of making it fit my family's immigrant needs. And I'm all for two delicious meals instead of one!

Here's the sweet potato biscuits I made yesterday, which could go with any traditional or untraditional meal. Appropriately, they are from an "American" cookbook, but then what is American other than a blend of a myriad of cultures?



Sweet Potato Biscuits (from Bobby Flay Cooks American)
Makes 12

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter cut into pieces
7/8 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mashed cooked sweet potato (about 1)
1 tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or use a nonstick baking mat. Sift the dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles rolled oats.

Make a well in the center of the mixture and add the buttermilk, sweet potatoes and honey. Stir vigorously until the dough forms a ball. Knead lightly for about 30 seconds, until the dough just begins to look smooth.

On a floured surface, pat the dough out 3/4-inch thick into a 7 by 8 inch rectangle. Either cut into 2 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or slice into 12 squares (which eliminates the need to reroll all scraps into another biscuit). Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.

Serve with honey butter: Mix four tablespoons of softened butter with two tablespoons of honey, or more to taste.

Japanese Craft

26 november 2010, jumat

Sabtu minggu lalu, ada meeting kodomo kai, perkumpulan anak2 di komingkan, sejenis balai rakyat. Gw da siap2 pergi jam 7.25 an by sepeda, ank2 titip ama papanya. Nyampe t4 situ gw heran..t4 pertemuannya di lantai 2 kok gelap bangett?? nekat gw masuk juga ke situ, ternyata hari itu ga ada pertemuan sama sekali?? Lho berarti gw salah jadwal donk ya...

Ada 1 ibu keluar dari 1 ruangan, nanya gw, ada apa?? Gw jelasin, eh ternyata dia bilang, mestinya si ga ada jadwal pertemuan deh, soalnya tuh t4 pertemuan bakalan dipake buat pameran japanese craft besok. Trus dia undang gw ke dalam, buat liat2. Wah seneng gw...coz bisa buat cuci mata n foto2 dah
Bagus2 lho...bener2 handmade...kepengin deh belajar bikin gituan. Sayang pas hari H nya, gw ga bs ikutan liat, coz mesti nyetor muka ke mertua hehehe

Homemade Steak and Guinness Pie with Assorted Fresh Veg

Steak and Guinness make a fabulous combination in a puff pastry pie. I vividly remember the first time I ever tasted Steak and Guinness Pie. It was in a pub in Edinburgh, called The Last Drop, more than twenty years ago. It remains the best Steak and Guinness Pie I have ever tasted and I have sampled it many times over the years, particularly when I lived in Edinburgh for a time. It is made from The Last Drop's own secret recipe and is still prepared and served the same way to this very day. I can heartily recommend it if you ever find yourself on or near The Grassmarket, in Edinburgh's famous Old Town.

Steak and Guinness Pie is extremely easy to prepare at home, especially if you buy the puff pastry, rather than make it yourself. In this instance, I have served it with some boiled new potatoes in herb butter and fresh carrots and broccoli.

Ingredients (Serves Two)

1lb stewing steak
1 pint of Guinness
1 pint of fresh beef stock
1 tbsp plain (all purpose) flour
Pinch of fresh thyme
Little bit of sunflower oil for browning
5oz puff pastry
1 beaten egg for glazing
Salt and pepper

12 new potatoes
1 small head of broccoli
1 large carrot
Pinch of dried dill
Little bit of butter

Method

The cooking time for the steak will depend on the particular cut that you buy. Stewing steak such as this will cook in an hour, whereas shin of beef - as I often use - will take at least two hours. Simply let it simmer until the steak is tender but do ask your butcher if you require advice or a recommendation.

The flour should be added to a bowl and seasoned before the steak is tossed through it to ensure even coating. A little sunflower oil should be heated in a large pot before the steak is then quickly browned in it. The beef stock and Guinness should then be added and brought to a simmer, kept at same until the steak is tender.

It is important to allow the steak to cool completely, or at least considerably, before assembling the pie. Otherwise, the steam coming from it will make the underside of the pastry soggy and possibly cause it to collapse.

The cooled steak and enough of the gravy to almost completely cover it should be added to a pie dish such as this ashet. The pastry should then be rolled out large enough to cover the dish and leave sufficient offcuts to line the edges of the dish as shown. If you have any more pastry left over, you can use it to form a small design for the top of the pie, such as this Guinness Harp I attempted to fashion...

The pie should be lightly glazed with beaten egg and put in to an oven pre-heated to 400F/200C/Gas mark 6 for thirty to forty minutes, until the paste is risen and golden.

When the pie is in the oven, the potatoes should be washed and added to a pot of cold, slightly salted water, brought to a boil and then simmered for thirty minutes or until soft. The carrot should be scraped and chopped in to finger sized pieces and added to a separate pot of cold, salted water after about a further ten minutes to boil and then simmer. The broccoli head should be broken in to florets and added to the pot with the carrots ten minutes before everything is due to be ready.

The potatoes should be drained before being swirled in the butter and dill. The various ingredients can then be assembled on heated plates and served immediately.

Cooking Turkey

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Buying & Storing Vegetables

We are working parents with four kids to put through University. I don't expect this to do it but maybe it will help a bit. We are real people who face the everyday challenge of "Pulling a Rabbit out of a Hat" for supper. We have found that not only is that approach stressful, but kids just don't seem to like rabbit that was prepared in a hat!

Our plan is to put together inexpensive packages of recipe cards, calendars, stickers and shopping lists to help plan out your dinner meals into the future. Our product is still under development and is expected to be ready in early 2006. In the meantime, we hope to bring you helpful and useful ideas to help you find your way through the Meal Maze!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving as a holiday was begun by Abraham Lincoln with a proclamation that contained this passage:

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.

In the spirit of Honest Abe*, I'd like to say that I am deeply thankful that God has given me innumerable chances to recover and learn from mistakes and friends (which includes all y'all) and family who have shown me supportive kindness and understanding forgiveness throughout my life. God bless all of you.

* - Sometimes you can be a little too honest. :-)