…and one of your new friends happens to stumble across your blog, she will notice that you mention making your own evaporated milk for your pumpkin pie. “Silly girl,” she will think. “You can get it here.” She will give you a can of your very own.
Thanks!
Sunday afternoon. I’m coughing my lungs out here and have already exhausted several boxes of Kleenex. Ilsa’s cold has come upon me. The boys have friends over and are duelling it out for dominance of Europe during WWII. Right now, the Russians appear to be winning. (It’s Axis and Allies, a game which I remember my brothers playing when I was a little girl)
Thanksgiving dinner was fine, and the Brits were very thankful. Many things were just a little burnt and crispy round the edges, which is not ideal but was to be expected given the limitations of my tiny, borrowed oven. In fact, we had only half the dressing I intended; it burnt so we scraped out the inside, put it in a bowl, and our guests would have been none the wiser had we not told them. We even had cranberry sauce, bought in a British store in Gibraltar and boasting “real American cranberries” plus some redcurrants. I bought huge slabs of boneless, skinless turkey breast and, unsure, decided to cook them as if they were an entire turkey, and it actually worked.
The pie was very tasty, although the spice was a bit off. I used “quatre epices,” a French spice blend that includes black pepper as well as ginger and cinnamon, so the pie had a nice little after-bite that I rather liked.
Of course everyone had school/work all day, so we ate about 7:30 or so. It’s not good to eat an enormous Thanksgiving meal, complete with cheese course because, well, just because we could, and the French totally supported the American Revolution so it makes sense to me, plus I love cheese. This sentence is too long so I’ll start over. It’s not good to eat so much so late in the evening. You need time to digest and go for a walk. And of course, the alarm went off next morning and everyone was back to school/work, with no time to recover. I think next year we will celebrate on the weekend.
I usually avoid stores at all costs on the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I ventured out. I figured I’d be safe from getting trampled by crazed perspectiveless shoppers, and I was. I ended up at the Moroccan version of Costco. I didn‘t know it existed either and no one was more surprised than I to enter a store called Metro, where they sell gas heaters for less, and discover a place that felt like medium-sized Costco, selling normal-sized items for slightly less. A Muslim feast is coming up soon, the one where everyone must sacrifice a sheep if they can at all afford it, and I read with some bemusement my opportunity to enter a raffle and win a sheep! I was tempted, but really, what would I do with it?
We bought a space heater that takes a big gas bottle and we’ve been running it a lot. The place is positively toasty. That’s because it’s Tuesday now and my voice is beginning to come back, although Donn is still down for the count and Elliot is sickening rapidly.
I hope I’m better soon. I spent today in bed reading Ilsa’s books, as I have worn out my own supply. My friend who gave me the evap milk has a nicely-stocked bookshelf but I’m too sick to walk over there and borrow something. I’d better get well soon, or I may be reduced to finishing a mystery novel left on the bookshelf here. This book was purportedly written by a cat (could it get any cuter?) in which the animals talk to each in italics (how twee!) and call their human owners “mom.” (I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth!) I started it last night but wisely switched to children’s books just in time.
13 comments
December 2, 2008 at 11:45 pm
jolyn
I really hope you have lots of friends there with personal libraries. I just sent a friend in France a bunch of books. Since they did away with the media rate at the post office I was estimating a $50 postage bill. It was more like $61… Much more than I spent for the books for her son, all of them in excellent condition for $1 or $2 at second-hand stores/yard sales. Having such good libraries here is spoiling me, too; if we ever live overseas again I will definitely go through withdrawal.
Hope you are feeling better soon.
December 3, 2008 at 3:49 am
Kelly @ Love Well
Or you could resort to the great children’s literature. I checked out a bunch of Madeleine L’Engle’s books last week, and I’m tearing through them. In contrast, so many “adult” books are dreck.
Glad you had a good Thanksgiving. I thought of you, eating not-quite-right side dishes and portions of a turkey, and I knew the holiday’s spirit had reached to Africa.
December 3, 2008 at 3:57 am
Diane
Glad you’re in your “permanent” spot. Sorry you’re sick–it sounds like the same thing we’re fighting–scratchy, sore throat and deep voices. Seems to be short-lived though. We had a wonderful, mostly quiet Thanksgiving. It was just us 7. I woke up at 4:30am–seems to be a regular occurence now whether I’m trying or not (old age, you know). So I made pies in the early morning. Can’t imagine doing it without canned pumpkin! Since turkey is very cheap right now, I bought 2! they were 24 lbs each! So I froze one for later. We are still eating leftovers. Tried one new thing this year. Roasted carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash–sort of sweet potato fries made of all three. They were great! These next two weeks are crazy-busy with basketball games, Christmas school concerts, music practices for Church–before Christmas Break starts. Scott’s been working 12-16 hr days which increases the stress around here as well. Looking forward to a vacation ourselves! Enjoyed catching up on your last two weeks.
December 3, 2008 at 7:46 am
meredith
Hope you’re all feeling better soon. There are Metro’s in France, but I’ve never been…that’s probably for the best 🙂
I can send books, it wouldn’t cost much at all from here. I’ll start a list and e-mail it and just tell me which ones you want/haven’t read yet…
December 3, 2008 at 4:58 pm
suz
Hope you get better soon..hope you can somewhat enjoy the rest~your dinner sounds great..being with friends and family is what it is all about~
December 3, 2008 at 5:39 pm
Tonggu Momma
Is it really sad that I know the book of which you speak?
And I loved your description of your Thanksgiving dinner. I’m glad everything turned out so well. We were in casserole Hades, but that’s to be expected during the week of a funeral. Some very kind person did supply us with a turkey, however, plus the children had a wonderful time decorating their pilgrim hat cookies (from Scribbit’s blog — they were a lifesaver). But the Thanksgiving Day casseroles… oh, the casseroles.
December 3, 2008 at 6:45 pm
LIB
Except for being sick (which I’ll admit is a BIG exception) you have all kinds of things to be thankful about: Your friend with the evaporated milk; the discovery of Metro; a friend with a well-stocked bookshelf; the fact that Ilsa has good taste in books and reads voraciously.
Meredith, could you please add “Belong to Me” by Marissa De los Santos to books you are sending Beth? It’s hands down the best book I’ve read all year.
December 3, 2008 at 10:37 pm
threeundertwo
What an interesting blog! I feel like I take my big kitchen full of conveniences for granted now. And it’s interesting to think how far those cranberries have travelled – don’t they only grow in the Pacific Northwest?
Hope you feel better soon! If you get desperate there are lots of free books to read online. Google “free e-books.”
Best wishes from California!
December 4, 2008 at 3:01 am
Jeanne A
I always think Maine when I think of cranberry bogs!!! So I googled it and they are scattered around the country.
December 4, 2008 at 6:05 am
MaryWitzl
We wimped out this year and did not celebrate Thanksgiving at all. I missed it very much, but there was just no time — not even on the weekend. At ;east you tried, so good for you.
As for evaporated milk, though, what I’ve done is to use powdered milk with half the water. It has worked fine for me!
December 4, 2008 at 5:56 pm
Linda
I spent this Thanksgiving in the States. It was nice to find all of the ingredients and to have a football game going on in the background. It a great holiday with great food. Do you use evaporated milk in your mashed potatoes? I do. Everyone always asks me for my recipe.
December 5, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Annie
you’re not nearly as silly as the person who was in Morocco for six years before she gathered up enough courage not to bring canned pumpkin from the states but make a pie with real pumpkin….wonder who that was?
December 7, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Pieces
I love your description of the mystery novel. I long ago made it a policy to never read a mystery involving cats. Fortunately, I have never been driven to your level of desperation. I hope that by now you have visited your friend’s bookshelf.