I love summer, I really do, but not as much as I love pumpkin pie.
With the end of a beautiful Labour Day long weekend, we begin to welcome fall in a few weeks.
Which means itís exactly 39 days until Thanksgiving - my favourite holiday - and I couldnít be more excited.
I would eat pumpkin pie for breakfast, lunch, pre-dinner, dinner, post-dinner and dessert if I could. I know I canít and Iím afraid that if I let myself eat it all the time, I would lose my love affair with it. Not to mention adding 50 pounds to my waistline.
So I reserve myself to Thanksgiving and the three or four ñ oh who are we kidding, seven pieces - of pie I let myself eat.
I, of course, cannot move afterwards but Iím alright with that.
While the pie is a definite high point for me, I love everything about Thanksgiving.
I love the turkey, the dressing, the table settings, family, the turkey comma, the wine comma, the football on TV, I love everything about that day.
Now, while I love it, itís another thing to be able to host a thanksgiving, and I make matters worse for myself by inviting everyone and their dog to dinner.
I figure everyone should spend thanksgiving with someone.
I used to struggle with the turkey and all the trimmings, but now in the wonderful age of technology, I can finally feel confident in a successful, salmonella free dinner.
Not only is the Food Network and all its wisdom available at the click of a button, it can also make me into the ìgourmet chefî I am not.
Caramelized Brussel Sprouts topped with bacon lightly sautÈed in truffle oil, would have definitely been out of my reach before, but now I have live streaming video with a true chef to help me through the tough parts.
Some call it cheating, I call it creative cooking (donít tell my mother).
Speaking of her, while she lives on Vancouver Island, she is also available at the click of a Skype button to answer the inevitable ìdoes this look right to you,î question and for her to answer as only mothers can do with ìOhÖ. wellÖ umÖ. it looks great.î
Where my mother and I are similar is our answer to every problem ìjust add more wineî that can either apply to the cooking or my glass ñ depending the severity of the situation (itís usually my glass).
I never used to share my kitchen, but in recent years I found a fail-safe, I brought home a man that can cook, a really smart idea.
Now I get ìOhÖ. umÖ. wellÖ it looks great,î from two people (this is the man, however, that ate burnt dinners the whole first year of our relationship and even went back for seconds to spare my feelings).
Having a partner in crime to help with the numerous dishes is a major bonus, he also helps with the drinking of the wine ñ we believe itís very important to the creative cooking process.
