Happy Thanksgiving to friends and family! It's here already, and I couldn't be more grateful for all of the good things that God has blessed us with throughout the years. I know that the era of Covid has been hard for a lot of people. I personally know people who have lost loved ones to the virus, and I've held my breath as people I love have contracted the virus and, finally, come out on the other side of it alive and seemingly well. I'm grateful for those who made it through, and my heart breaks for anyone who has suffered loss.
Now we are (supposedly) dealing with inflation, rising gas prices, shortages - you name it, we've got it going on. Ironic, though, isn't it, these shortages and rising prices? In the meantime, the housing boom continues. and people are spending money like water all around me. I think if all Americans took one collective day off from spending, we could make a very good point to the world of consumerism that some of these perceived shortages are not shortages of things that are necessities.
We are sold the idea that "must haves" are something besides shelter, food, and water. If a new holiday designer pillow for your couch is a must-have and it's held up somewhere at a port due to labor shortage or whatever, then that's a very skewed perception of the necessities of life. Also, turn off the news. The media loves a good stir-up. If there's no wind blowing to stoke the fire, it'll die out fairly quickly.
Meanwhile, as we wait around for the media to tell us the next terrible thing we should panic over, let's talk about food! Yay! I know everyone has their holiday traditions, those staples that appear every year. I have one friend whose family is not a big fan of a turkey dinner, so he spends this one holiday a year making a lasagna from scratch. They serve a big green, leafy Caesar salad and garlic bread with it and homemade tiramisu for dessert. I think that sounds divine.
We do the traditional dinner, which I always look forward to. I spent yesterday evening making two big pans of roasted vegetables. The house smelled wonderful. Full disclosure - Peggy Ann Bakery made our pecan pie and dinner rolls! With the cost of food being what it is, it ends up being cheaper to buy some things, as long as they taste as good as homemade. In this case, Peggy Ann pies can easily pass for homemade, although I never tell anyone they are. I always give full credit to the bakery. I want people to go buy goodies there so that they stay in business!
Dressing, broccoli cheese casserole, cranberry fluff, turkey, gravy, etc., will also be present, as we've all signed on to bring something. I also sent the holiday coffee home with my parents (they are hosting Thanksgiving this year, wah-hoo!!!!) to have with dessert and have wrapped up thick slices of the best fruitcake to hand out before everyone goes home so that they can properly kick off Christmas. And yep. We all love this particular type of fruitcake, even my husband, and he generally doesn't like fruitcake. It will be eaten in no time at all.
It has been so cold lately. That means that in order to thaw out after being outside in the evenings with babies, the hot tea at night ritual is already taking place. Normally, this is reserved for January through April (we get very cold weather and often some hard freezes in April, ugh), but I've bumped it up a month. And before you worry about the babies, they only get 30 minutes monitored time outside if it's cold. Then, back they go inside their warm house.
My go-to tea is Constant Comment. I will drink other teas just fine and enjoy them a lot, but I always gravitate back to that spicy beloved tea of mine. It smells and tastes like heaven and, in my opinion, if you're going to dunk cookies, it's by far the best flavor for doing so. My husband is an Earl Grey guy, and I do like Earl Grey just fine. But I'll take my favorite any day over other teas.
With tea, you (naturally) get cookies! I love a good, cheap iced oatmeal cookie for dunking in hot tea or even with ice cold tea in the summer. Tea and iced oatmeal cookies go together unlike any other combination. The first picture shows you how dark I like my tea. I steep tea for three minutes, one bag per cup, not a shared bag. I don't generally use a bag more than twice, either. The second picture shows a better view of the kind of cookies I'm talking about. At a dollar a pack, they're a cheap comfort food when you are trying to thaw from the inside out.
2 comments:
For me it's milky Earl Gray, my fave...it's got to be milky, and no sugar, thank you....any cookie will do, but lemon is the best w/ EG. In the summer lemon snaps are delicious w/ ice cold tea.In the fall, with hot cider, nothing beats a good ginger snap, a really gingery one. Cinnamon and ginger are what some call warming spices, and they do warm the body, but they also warm the soul when they are the star at tea time. Happy Thanksgiving Day...wish we were all going figuratively 'over the river and thru the woods' to grandma's house...I do miss her. No matter where she lived, she was 'home' to me, and especially so in my hometown. Traditions and memories from the past are like a fire in the fireplace...the good ones warm your spirit and the not so good ones serve as a reminder of what not to do or to be thankful for your current blessings and good fortune.
Grandma taught me how to suck it up and keep going, even when it feels too hard. She was the best.
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