Christmas Is Coming!

more animals

The kitty in the Santa suit looks just like our little Riley -- if Riley would let us dress her up -- same disgusted look I imagine she would have. Too funny! Have you made your list? Checked it twice? I'm heading off to the post office on Monday with the first of the boxes. I'm helping Santa!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Twilight of Thanksgiving

The day has lengthened into eve,
And over all the meadows
The Twilight's silent shuttles weave
Their sombre web of shadows;
With northern lights the cloudless skies
Are faintly phosphorescent,
And just above yon wooded rise
The new moon shows her crescent.

Before the evening lamps are lit,
While day and night commingle,
The sire and matron come and sit
Beside the cozy ingle;
And softly speak of the delight
Within their bosoms swelling,
Because beneath their roof to-night
Their dear ones all are dwelling.

And when around the cheerful blaze
The young folks take their places,
What blissful dreams of other days
Light up their aged faces!
The past returns with all its joys,
And they again are living
The years in which, as girls and boys,
Their children kept Thanksgiving.

The stalwart son recalls the time
When, urged to the endeavor,
He tried the well-greased pole to climb,
And failed of fame forever.
The daughter tells of her emprise
When, as a new beginner,
She helped her mother make the pies
For the Thanksgiving dinner.

And thus with laugh and jest and song,
And tender recollections,
Love speeds the happy hours along,
And fosters fond affections;
While Fancy, listening to the mirth,
And dreaming pleasant fictions,
Imagines through the winds on earth
That heaven breathes benedictions.

~William D. Kelley (1814-1890)

Thanksgiving Countdown Continued!

We are another day closer to Thanksgiving. Do you have sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving? How do you prepare them? Here's a recipe I cut out of the Houston Chronicle years ago. I made it the first time to take to a Holiday pot luck.

Cranberry Apple Sweet Potatoes

• 1 (21 ounce) can apple pie filling
• 2 (18 ounce) cans sweet potatoes, drained and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 (8 ounce) can whole cranberry sauce
• 2 tablespoons apricot preserves
• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade

Spread pie filling in 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking dish; arrange sweet potatoes atop filling. Mix cranberry sauce, preserves and marmalade. Spoon over potatoes. Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven 20 to 25 minutes. (Original recipe from Chronicle reader Mary Nita Wing)

You'd guess correctly if you figured I've made some adjustments to the recipe over the years. I put it in a much larger baking dish (I guess can sizes change). I also mix the sweet potatoes with a little brown sugar and a 1/4 cup of bourbon (you could use rum) to give the recipe a little more zing. It makes a pretty dish and has all those wonderful autumn colors and foods I think of when I think Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Countdown

I thought I'd start a Thanksgiving Countdown and offer you a few recipes for the coming holiday. The first is Butternut Squash-Apple Soup (you know I love soup). Apples are the perfect autumn food and Butternut Squash is the perfect color for autumn. When I was growing up in New Mexico one of my favorite things was to drive to Pena Blanca and the Dixon apple orchard and buy apples and cider. The orchard is north of Albuquerque in a beautiful valley. Wonderful place for a picnic. Nice memories for me. Back to the soup! This recipe is a combination of a couple of recipes I found - one in Bon Appetit and the other in the Witch in the Kitchen cookbook by Cait Johnson.

Butternut Squash-Apple Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup chopped onion (about 1 medium onion)
• 2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (about 6 cups) (I buy one large butternut squash and let it go at that!)
  
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
  
• 2-3 cups (or more) vegetable broth
• 2 cups filtered apple cider or apple juice
• 1/4 cup apple brandy
• Freshly grated nutmeg and ginger
• salt and pepper to taste and perhaps a little fresh thyme

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil and add the minced garlic and chopped onion. Saute the onion and garlic until golden then add the vegetable broth, apple cider or apple juice, brandy, diced squash, sweet potato, and apple. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer covered until squash, potato and apple are tender. Add spices. Salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat. In small batches, carefully puree the soup in a blender or food processor until very smooth. (I prefer a little chunky.) Watch the amount of liquid. You can always add more juice/cider/or broth at the end if you want to thin the soup.

Ina Garten has Butternut Squash and Apple Soup that is very similar. She uses more squash (2 large) and more apples (about 4) and less liquid (2 cups of water to cook and adds 2 cups of apple juice or cider at the end after the soup has been pureed -- again with the idea that you can add liquid at the end to make it the consistency you want). Also, she adds 2 tablespoons of mild curry to the soup.

You get the idea! It is a beautiful and tasty soup for the Thanksgiving season.

Temple Trek Two

Some months ago I posted about a Saturday we spent “Temple Trekking” with a colleague of mine. We spent two weekends with her discovering the international city of Houston. This post covers the second weekend.

Our first stop was the Chung-Mei Buddhist Temple. We started in the temple garden.

This young monk is tapping on his “Mokugyo”.

This young monk is napping instead of tapping on his “Mokugyo”, or “Wooden Fish” used to set the pacing of chants. His face conveys the deep peacefulness that many of us are working so hard to find. Maybe if we just sat for a bit and relaxed into the present moment, we would find what we are seeking.

Young apprentice monk with his begging bowl.

One of twelve young monks with a zodiac symbol. I had to have a picture of the dragon.

On the temple steps.

No pictures were allowed inside of the temple. It was much like the Jade Temple except there were three Buddhas on the altar: Shakyamuni Buddha, Amitabha Buddha and the medicine Buddha - Bhaishajyaguru. Instead of pews there were kneelers. There was a small museum area where the story of Kuan Yin was told.

Chung-Mei Temple has a tea room -- FoGuangYuan Tea Room. A drop of water, it is a place for people to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea, and talk about Buddhism and Ch’an. The name of Ch’an Abode - a drop of water - tells us that we should appreciate what we have around us, cherish and be grateful. Tea drinking has an important place in the traditions of Ch’an Buddhism, great monks have attained enlightenment through drinking tea. When people come for a cup of tea they can also attain the wisdom of Buddha’s teaching.

On the suggestion of Rev. Hong, who was an excellent hostess, we ordered three pots of tea, an order of Chinese pancake (small six wedge puff pastry) and an order of Ju-Yi sandwich (made with fresh baked bread, mushrooms, corn, a special blend of herbs and served warm). Everything was delicious. The tea was especially good. My favorite tea was the special fruit tea -- a delicate blend of apples, pineapples and jasmine flowers. The aroma was divine. Kao Shan Tea (high mountain) is a green tea that is grown in the mountains of Taiwan. Only the top tender leaves of the plant are used to make the tea. The third pot of tea was called Black Forest and included blueberries. Mr. Dragon and I need to go back and try out more of the menu -- there is a Prosperity Tea and a Chinese Mint Tea; Prosperity Rice (seven grain special temple blend brown rice with veggies) and Longevity Rice (very dark rice that is cooked with seven grains and beans giving it a distinctive color and flavor and includes veggies and tofu). After our tea we were off to our next stop - a Hindu temple.

The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir is the first traditional Hindu shrine of its kind in the country. It’s a massive, sprawling, but resolutely graceful temple, made out of hand-carved white marble from Italy and limestone from Turkey. It’s all turrets, arches, and flags outside and carved likenesses of Hindu gods on the inside. The marble is cool under your bare feet. We had such a good time as we called out to each other as we recognized the Hindu gods -- a nagini, Vishnu and his avatars, Ganesh, Brahma and oodles of others.




Our Saturday came to a close much too swiftly. Soon our friend would be off to China and Beijing to study for a year. We do hear from her and about some of her adventures. She is thinking about starting a blog -- yippeee!