Being Thankful

 it is 7:00 p.m. in the holy city of safed.  i started cooking this morning at 7:00 a.m. and pretty much finished by 3:00 p.m.  i decided this month that i wanted to do a thanksgiving 'like' dinner for a few ladies.  i have been shopping for weeks for the traditional items.  i managed to find turkey wings and drumsticks.  i bought a package of ground turkey to make a stuffing.  i have never seen whole turkeys here.  our ovens are smaller than american ones.  there is no roast turkey happening here in safed.

i found frozen, uncooked, whole cranberries in town.  there is no ocean spray cranberries in safed that i know of.  we do have the nectar and juice.  i was lucky also; to find cornmeal.  sometimes they are all out at the supermarket. i wonder what israelis and sephardim do with cornmeal.  i don't know anyone except for americans that know what cornbread is.

i bought a butternut squash to use as a pumpkin substitute.  i am so through with trying to make pumpkin pies, latkes and breads.  i decided to make soup.  i also found fresh chestnuts.  no more packaged prepared chestnuts for me.  i  even read how to boil them first before roasting.  in the end; i made pumpkin, sweet potato and chestnut soup.  i didn't roast the vegetables or the chestnuts. i wasn't really that invested, in the end. i added a splash of almond milk and fresh ginger.  it is quite tasty.  i had two bowls of it.

i also made a sugarless cranberry sauce.  being true to my new dietetic lifestyle; i used dates in place of sugar. i did succumb and i added 3spoons of pure maple syrup to the orange juice and date paste.  the color is off but the taste is great.  i couldn't stop eating it.  i haven't used any honey or maple syrup in a year.  i did dip my apple in a splash of honey on  rosh Hashanah.  i have been using a banana for my sugar substitute all along.  i thought about adding one in the cranberry sauce but i chickened out.

i ended up; after a long deliberation; making cornbread muffins.  i used three tablespoons of honey and one tablespoon of maple syrup.  i made a dozen muffins.  i used whole wheat flour for a change.  i have been baking with oats all year.  the muffin was lovely.  boy, that honey goes a long way.  i really was hyper.  i marinated my beets already.  i made a pot of braised turkey parts and threw in some turkey meatballs.  i added the remainder of a semi sweet bottle of white wine and added fresh rosemary that i bought at the supermarket up here.  i also scored some fresh dried sage in town.  i bought some dried thyme, too.  i added a bit of tumeric for color; otherwise, i stayed true to the traditional thanksgiving spices.

i bought a package of organic wild rice at the health food store.  i want to do a pilaf.  i can't use mushrooms because one of the gals doesn't eat them.  i still have celery left and some chives.  i used up my remaining large onion and the rest of the tiny shallots. i want to bake some small pink apples. i will just sprinkle some cinnamon and drizzle honey or maple syrup.  i have a large bag of frozen string beans.  i wanted to ad almonds but i realized today that i had only bought ground almonds.  that might be good with the cinnamon for the baked apples, actually. 

i am not going back to the supermarket tomorrow.  it is supposed to rain all day and i am already coughing and sneezing a bit.  i decided to use some store bought teriyaki sauce on the string beans.  i already cleared it with my lady friend who is the picky eater.  i will sprinkle toasted sesame seeds on the beans.  i know that she will be disappointed that i don't add the almonds.  i am not making one more supermarket run again until next week.  i did think about buying a non dairy coffee creamer for a friend who drinks endless amounts of coffee.  we will see how the weather is tomorrow.

i don't really have a dessert planned.  i thought about making a trifle out of the leftover store bought honey cake in my fridge.  i bought a package of vanilla pudding and thought about stewing apple slices and then layering the glass with the cake, fruit and pudding.  my picky eater friend said that it sounded weird.  she also went off on vanilla pudding.  she is definitely a chocolate pudding person.  i thought about making my own chocolate pudding; using almond milk and cocoa.  let's wait and see how i am tomorrow.  

i washed all of my training and fleece pajamas this morning in the bathtub.  it was a sunny day.  i never thought that it would storm tonight.  they have been predicting winter weather starting tomorrow.  i panicked.  i was suddenly cold and didn't have any winter weight jammies to get into.  suddenly i discovered a pair of clean training pants and an old fleece housecoat from once.  i didn't shower.  i just put them on really fast.  i washed one pair of slippers but luckily; i had another pair.  finally, something to be grateful for: warm jammies and slippers!