Let us Give Thanks
Let us give thanks for a bounty of people:
For children who are our second planting, and though they grow like weeds and the wind too soon blows them away, may they forgive us our cultivation and fondly remember where their roots are.
Let us give thanks: For generous friends with hearts as big as hubbards and smiles as bright as their blossoms;
For feisty friends as tart as apples;
For continuous friends, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that we've had them;
For crotchety friends, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;
For handsome friends, who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn, and the others, as plain as potatoes and so good for you;
For funny friends, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes, and serious friends, as complex as cauliflowers and as intricate as onions;
For friends as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill, as endless as zucchini, and who, like parsnips, can be counted on to see you through the winter;
For old friends nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time and young friends coming on as fast as radishes;
For loving friends, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;
And, finally, for those friends now gone, who like gardens past that have been harvested, but who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter;
For all these we give thanks.
Let Us Give Thanks from View from a Tree by Max Coots
A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you!
Labels: friends, gardens, Thanksgiving
Thankful for Airplanes
Merrillee here who is thankful for a lot of things, especially my faith and family, but I'm also thankful for things like airplanes. This is a photo that I took a few years ago on a plane ride from Portland, Oregon to Spokane, Washington. As we left Portland, we ascended through the clouds and this is what I saw out my window. At that point, I was so thankful that I had my camera with me. I'm thankful for cameras, too. No one was there to tell me the name of the mountain that is protruding through the clouds, but it might be Mt. Hood or Mt. Shasta. The spectacular sight completely amazed me. This photo is only one of the reasons I'm thankful for airplanes.
My family is spread out all over the United States. When my little brother had his fiftieth birthday, I would have missed it if there were no airplanes.
I also would have missed this sunset. I took this photo from his back porch.
If not for airplanes, I would never have been to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships
or the Greek Isles
or traveled to Denver for my very first book signing
or get to see my daughters and their husbands. They are flying here for Thanksgiving.
And last but certainly not least, I wouldn't get to see my precious granddaughter on a regular basis.
What modern convenience are you thankful for?
Merrillee
Labels: airplanes, cameras, mountains, Thanksgiving
Turning to Family Traditions, Again and Again...
Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, which means I’ll be revisiting a lot of family traditions. I spent most of the weekend in Seattle for the Emerald City Writers’ Conference, but I’m up early this morning to prepare a holiday feast.
My family loves the old standbys—turkey with bread stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy. Today it’ll be roast chicken because only four of us are sitting down to dinner. There’ll also be buttered carrots, brussels sprouts and, of course, pumpkin pie for dessert.
One of my favorite side dishes is baked squash, a recipe I modified from my Grandmother McKenzie’s old cook book—the
Modern Priscilla Cook Book—which has been passed down to me. The cover is quite shabby and the copyright page is missing, but I believe it was published in the 1920s.
I’ll start with the original ingredients for the original recipe.
Squash au Gratin
2 cups mashed squash
2 tablespoons melted butter
salt, pepper
2 eggs
1/3 cup grated cheese
buttered crumbs
Yes, this cook book uses a lot of butter. And the recipe says that if the squash is very dry, “a little cream may be added.”
I substitute a little olive oil for some of the melted butter, add a sprinkling of nutmeg for flavor, and replace the buttered crumbs with chopped cashews. But the egg and squash combination still create the original souffle-like texture that made this side dish so appealing.
Squash qu Gratin (Lee's version)
2 cups cooked, mashed squash (butternut is my favorite)
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
a generous grating of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste (optional)
2 eggs, beaten
finely chopped cashews
Here are my instructions, modified from the original, as you can tell by my use of a microwave!
Cut the squash in half, scoop out the seeds and place the two halves cut side down in a shallow, microwaveable dish. Add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish and microwave on High. Cooking time will vary, depending on the type of microwave you have. You can also bake the squash in the oven for half an hour or so.
Let the squash cool, scoop the pulp into a bowl, and mash it. Stir in the olive oil, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Add the beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Put this mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle the top with the chopped cashews. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Serves 6.
Either version is very tasty. I hope you enjoy it!
Until next time,
Lee
Labels: family, holiday recipes, Thanksgiving, traditions
