I had just about decided we wouldn't celebrate thanksgiving this year... I was feeling it was a-great-idea-I-just-couldn't-quite-get-the-energy/time-do-to. But what is it about cooking this particular bird that gets me every time? I'm not sure. I don't even eat turkey!
So very last minute we decided to give it a go and we had people that live near us, including our parish priest, come over. It was soooooo worth it. It was wonderful. I made turkey, a pumpkin pie and chestnut puree and everyone else brought side dishes for the turkey. Turkey is surprisingly easy to make. It's just time consuming. I used this brine, then stuffed it with lemon, fresh thyme and onion, smeared it with butter all over and cooked it until it looked done. Next year I will get more professional and use an oven thermometer. ;)
I made everyone write down something they were thankful for and place it on a tree branch before we ate (see pic above). My favorites were the youngest kids' answers. What makes you really, really happy, I asked them. My two-year-old said "food" (!), a three-year-old said "laughter" and a five-year-old said "pictures".
After dinner I paraphrased and translated the book If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, also for the second year in a row. I feel like I should get some kind of award for sharing American culture. ;) My favorite thanksgiving books are that one and also One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims for small children.
I used all plastic plates and silverware, but there was still a lot of clean up / headache the next day. Oh well. Still so, so worth it.
So, at the risk of sounding ridiculous, I feel like this white frosting recipe has revolutionized my life. There are those small things in life that are not really that important, but make life a little more beautiful, a little more delicious, a little easier. This white frosting is one of them.
I struggled with trying to make white frostings for a long time, but they all were butter or cream cheese based, which made them all turn out butter-tasting or off-white. Ther are times when you need a WHITE frosting. Not an off-white frosting. Like a baptism, for exemple. Or an oreo cookie. Or Christmas cupcakes you plan on sprinkling crushed candy canes on. (see pics below)
So you're welcome, here is the recipe.
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 egg whites
Halve, double, triple ingredients according to necessity. Combine them all in a small bowl that fits neatly on top of a small pot. Bring some water to a boil in the pot. Beat the ingredients with an electric mixer for about a minute. Then, over the boiling water, beat them some more for about seven minutes. See picture of me posing as Martha Stewart above. ;)
Enjoy!
"Today women's liberation is a popular discussion topic, and one of the big pushes within the movement is to encourage women to seek fulfillment outside the home. In fact, many articles claim motherhood is a myth or that a woman 'should' or 'must' seek fulfillment outside the home if she is to be happy, if she is to maintain a happy marriage, and so on. [...]
If we look at nature, we find that breastfeeding clearly defines who is responsible for the child. This is not to suggest that husbands shouldn't share in diaper changing, washing dishes while mother is nursing the baby, rocking or walking te baby to sleep when he doesn't want to nurse, and so on. It appears, however, that nature intends the mother to have the primary responsibility of baby care during the early years. [...]
What truly liberates the woman is natural or ecological breastfeeding. What she needs to be liberated fom today is the cultural pressure to use bottles, pacifiers, and baby food and to leave baby at home. She needs to be liberated from the hospital that 'owns' the baby, from the doctor who says, 'You do as I say or else,' from the relatives who fear she will starve the baby, and from a society that promotes working mothers and child-care centers, thus pressuring women to work even when it is not a financial necessity. She needs to be liberated from any pressure that contradicts her natural mother role. What she truly needs is support from the hospital, doctor, relatives and society."
- from Breastfeeding and Natural Child Spacing by Sheila Kippley, p. 72-73
PS I met a stay-at-home dad this year and it is AMAZING what he does. So this is not to say a man can't be a stay-at-home dad. It's just more natural for it to be the woman, of course.
PSS Thanks, Joana, I am enjoying the book!
Weekends have been dreamy and weekdays have been nightmares. I usually get to the end of the day angry and fed up with everyone and everything. Which is a pity, because it's when my husband gets home and when we should be most calm and together. Today it was 9.30 am though. I wasn't even able to make it to the end of the day. Poor Addie is getting yelled at a lot.
Anyway, sidenote. This weekend we hosted our second annual book party, in which an Usborne saleswoman comes and sets up a table full of books to look at and buy if you'd like. We love the books and think it's an ingenius idea... which is we we are repeating it every year. But barely anyone comes. I can't figure it out. Why do we have such a low turnout for this book party when lots of people come to our other parties and a million kajillion people came to Davy's baptism? They didn't even fit into the room.
My theories are A) Portuguese people don't like spending money on books for their kids; B) Portuguese people don't like spending money on books in English for their kids; C) Portuguese people think a party where things are sold is fishy; D) We didn't announce that there would be food and alcohol served. A combination of all the above, methinks.
Still worth it though, despite the low turnout. It was fun anyway and I realized it is worth it even if just for my sister and I, who speak to our kids in English and like having good quality books in English. And this is a good way to do it in Portugal.
I only got pictures of pre-party, which are above.
