I do love a Thanksgiving -- but mostly for being with the family that we choose or are chosen by. (The grammar there is abysmally complex). Point being: in uni and grad school and post-grad days, Thanksgiving was all about the family that you build around yourself. In grad school it was the time to decompress a bit with friends and friends of friends, that really did become your friends; in post-grad Oxford, the USians in our research group put on a Do for the brits and europeans, and it was enough to be there and to be thankful for being there. And this year ... well this year we cannot choose. This year we have each others. And Zoom. And a room where I would like to read out loud to a friend.
I met my late husband at a Thanksgiving feast at my college apartment. We had invited everyone we knew who lived too far away to go home- twenty some people. We made two turkeys with stuffing, and it was potluck in the trimmings, cozy on a cold Wisconsin Fall day. A friend brought Bill along. After the huge meal and table clearings ( People were asked to bring their own plates and utensils),he got up and did ALL the dishes. " Who IS that guy?" I said. And he did all the dishes, forevermore.
Thank you for these delightful newsletters, which I hear in your voice.
Between recent losses and Covid, our T-day will be very quiet indeed, just us. But we're still having it. We have all the fixings, and a friend will drop by a pie (as I am a worthless cook) and all will be good!
I'm sorry to hear you've had loss this year, dear Sherwood (though I think I know at least one of them, and I'll miss her, too). I hope Pie is a healer - I love pie! - and I know friendship certainly is.
Orange Smoosh sounds delicious and I happen to have all the ingredients, even Apple cider! This is because I opened a bottle last night to make a recipe I just recently found, for Apple cider donut loaf cake. I used buttermilk instead of sour cream, and much less sugar-spice topping, and omg it is soooo gooood.
I thoroughly enjoyed this post. T-day here will be quiet and much like every other day this year, except with slightly fancier food and I’m seriously considering making your Orange Smoosh and honestly I’m pretty ok with it even though it also makes me sad at the same time.
I am eternally grateful! I just bought buttermilk because I thought we were out, but we're not, and it turns out there's not really all that much you can do with it but bake things.....
🙂 oh but buttermilk is also great for other things—use it for marinating meat, for making salad dressings, frostings, adding to soups...some people even just straight up drink it, though I don’t go that far.
Thank you so much for sharing. I love the voice in these—I can practically hear you as if you’re telling the story in person—and at the same time I feel like I’m learning more about you! It’s a really wonderful thing.
I’ve been making a pie a day for our two person thanksgiving because I am a stress baker through and through (and delighted to have a partner with a great metabolism) but no recipes of note to share. I spent my youth trying to over-complicate the family recipes (for ex: salted caramel laced brown butter apple pie) only now to go back to those exact “boring” recipes.
This makes me so happy! I feel like I'm really going out there with writing up and putting out these little stories - it feels right, but who knows? (And I had two people unsubscribe when this one came out! Not names I knew, and both, I think, in U.K. - What did I do wrong???? Too American? Too Jew-y?? Who can say? Maybe they signed up after my Thomas the Rhymer talk, and were disappointed with the absence of folklore. I know some people want to hear more about books and writing - but what more can I offer them than me writing in bed in my favorite bathrobe??)
I wish I knew more stress bakers. Or that they lived closer to me. Keep it up! <3
Thank you. . .
I do love a Thanksgiving -- but mostly for being with the family that we choose or are chosen by. (The grammar there is abysmally complex). Point being: in uni and grad school and post-grad days, Thanksgiving was all about the family that you build around yourself. In grad school it was the time to decompress a bit with friends and friends of friends, that really did become your friends; in post-grad Oxford, the USians in our research group put on a Do for the brits and europeans, and it was enough to be there and to be thankful for being there. And this year ... well this year we cannot choose. This year we have each others. And Zoom. And a room where I would like to read out loud to a friend.
Sounds delicious and I look forward to sharing with family... friends... sometime in the future!🌞Thank you for sharing your world!✨
I met my late husband at a Thanksgiving feast at my college apartment. We had invited everyone we knew who lived too far away to go home- twenty some people. We made two turkeys with stuffing, and it was potluck in the trimmings, cozy on a cold Wisconsin Fall day. A friend brought Bill along. After the huge meal and table clearings ( People were asked to bring their own plates and utensils),he got up and did ALL the dishes. " Who IS that guy?" I said. And he did all the dishes, forevermore.
Thank you for these delightful newsletters, which I hear in your voice.
Between recent losses and Covid, our T-day will be very quiet indeed, just us. But we're still having it. We have all the fixings, and a friend will drop by a pie (as I am a worthless cook) and all will be good!
I'm sorry to hear you've had loss this year, dear Sherwood (though I think I know at least one of them, and I'll miss her, too). I hope Pie is a healer - I love pie! - and I know friendship certainly is.
Orange Smoosh sounds delicious and I happen to have all the ingredients, even Apple cider! This is because I opened a bottle last night to make a recipe I just recently found, for Apple cider donut loaf cake. I used buttermilk instead of sour cream, and much less sugar-spice topping, and omg it is soooo gooood.
I thoroughly enjoyed this post. T-day here will be quiet and much like every other day this year, except with slightly fancier food and I’m seriously considering making your Orange Smoosh and honestly I’m pretty ok with it even though it also makes me sad at the same time.
Here’s a recipe for you, the aforementioned cake:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/apple-cider-doughnut-loaf-cake
I am eternally grateful! I just bought buttermilk because I thought we were out, but we're not, and it turns out there's not really all that much you can do with it but bake things.....
🙂 oh but buttermilk is also great for other things—use it for marinating meat, for making salad dressings, frostings, adding to soups...some people even just straight up drink it, though I don’t go that far.
Thank you so much for sharing. I love the voice in these—I can practically hear you as if you’re telling the story in person—and at the same time I feel like I’m learning more about you! It’s a really wonderful thing.
I’ve been making a pie a day for our two person thanksgiving because I am a stress baker through and through (and delighted to have a partner with a great metabolism) but no recipes of note to share. I spent my youth trying to over-complicate the family recipes (for ex: salted caramel laced brown butter apple pie) only now to go back to those exact “boring” recipes.
This makes me so happy! I feel like I'm really going out there with writing up and putting out these little stories - it feels right, but who knows? (And I had two people unsubscribe when this one came out! Not names I knew, and both, I think, in U.K. - What did I do wrong???? Too American? Too Jew-y?? Who can say? Maybe they signed up after my Thomas the Rhymer talk, and were disappointed with the absence of folklore. I know some people want to hear more about books and writing - but what more can I offer them than me writing in bed in my favorite bathrobe??)
I wish I knew more stress bakers. Or that they lived closer to me. Keep it up! <3