Thanksgiving Roundup

Marc and I are blessed with lots of family and friends in the Bay Area. So…for Thanksgiving we had many invitations, and made the rounds, visiting both sides of our families, and good friends. Since we knew we’d be having two holiday meals yesterday, we made a few dishes to bring along. Marc made our citrus cranberry sauce with pineapple, and we took half to each place.

We attempted (rather unsuccessfully) a sweet potato pie from a recipe I’ve been wanting to make for years. With walnuts, coconut flakes and maple syrup in the crust, and coconut cream in the filling, I just thought it HAD to be good. Well, the recipe didn’t call for salt. Big mistake. I salted the crust a little, but it all needed just a bit more. Plus, the walnuts were bitter, and therefore very unpleasant.

We added a teaspoon each of rum and vanilla (Marc’s idea), but used egg replacer, so there was a strange granular texture and was so far off, that the flavors really couldn’t stand up. We added probably a third more sweetening than the recipe called for, but it still wasn’t sweet enough. I know produce can really vary, and maybe the yams just weren’t sweet enough to begin with…but it tasted good before the egg replacer went in, then it went all chalky, and wasn’t saved by baking.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Pie

Bright orange and creamy looking, the photo belies the chalky bitter reality.

Oh well. We can’t be fabulous all the time…gotta let other people have their moment too. Maybe we’ll play with the recipe a bit. If we get it right, I’ll post it. Heck, at least I can take solace in the fact that the sweet potatoes were local. So were our green beans, and the walnut bread, onions, herbs and delicata squash in the stuffed squash I made.

Now that…that was a dish to be proud of. Walnut bread was just the right amount of breadyness and walnuttyness (thankfully not bitter) for the squash. The fresh parsley, sage…and thyme (missing the rosemary) were so lively with the veggies. Everyone who contributed to the holiday meals we at yesterday, did a stellar job. Yum! All in all, Marc and I had a Thanksgiving to be thankful for, filled with laughter, family, good friends, 5 households, 7 pies, at least a dozen traditional dishes, 1 exuberant pit bull puppy and two blond beaming children.

Hartig Thanksgiving

The light was so low, it’s not a great picture. But this was the beautiful, simply set table at our friends’ home…complete with napkin rings she wove and beaded, autumn leaf candle holders I gave her for her birthday, and fresh hallah bread she worked on all day.

9 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Roundup”

  1. At least the pie photo is beautifull!!! – I hate it when things dont turn out like you want. I made a very disapointing chinese dish the other day… all the ingredients nice by themselves, but together yucky! – Happy belated thanksgiving!

  2. Brie – Thanks! So it goes…At least we didn’t slave too much. And, I guess it balances out all those times I think it’s NOT going to turn out well, and it surprises me that way. Sorry your Chinese dish didn’t work out. It’s so strange when everything that goes in it is good, but somehow, it just doesn’t come together. Thanks for the belated Thanksgiving wishes.

  3. What accursed magazine/ book/ index card did that come from?! Let’s sue. 🙂
    I love the table setting, it’s so elegant. Happy Thanksgiving!

  4. Manggy – Yes, burn them in effigy! Actually it’s from a great alternative parenting magazine, that I don’t want to slander. So, I’ll keep my personal failure to myself. But, if I have the guts to make it again, seriously doctor it, and it comes out delish, I’ll let you all know. Thanks for stopping by, I’ll let my friend know you liked her table setting. She’ll be tickled.

  5. Bri!! this is really pretty, even the pic with the glittering candles..I can see you guys had a lovely dinner and a beautiful thanksgiving!!:)

    -Mansi

  6. Mansi – Thanks! Yeah, I thought the sparkle of the candles was really sweet, even if the light was too low in the picture. We really did have a lovely Thanksgiving. 🙂

  7. Even in low light that pic came out really well. Got to know so much about thanksgiving from all these foodie blogs around.

    And you are right, that picture does belie the fact that it did not taste that great. Pic looks really yummy 😀

  8. Siri – Thanks!

    Nags – Thank you. It’s so great to see how everyone spends their holiday. Especially one we aren’t familiar with ourselves. I loved seen all the Indian blog posts about Diwali (I think that’s how it is spelled). Yes, shame the pie didn’t come out well. We’ll try again. Important to learn from one’s mistakes 🙂

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