Expat's Thanksgiving: Dessert Anyone?

We topped off our glorious meal with four DELISH pies. My sister-in-law went to the bakery that delivers some of the best cupcakes in London - Hummingbird. They served up pumpkin pie, classic and all American.

Hummingbird's Pumpkin Pie

I begged my friend to re-make Nigella's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cheesecake (I can devour a peanut butter jar in a week, so I would say I like PB a lot). I love the bits of whole crunchy peanuts that get left behind in the digestive crust. Digestives are yummy cookies that you just can't find in the States.

By far though, the best dessert was Pecan Pie by @Nigella_Larsen. My dear friend even made the pastry dough herself and it was perfection. We finished it for breakfast the next day.

Courtesy of bakingpowders.blogspot.com

And last but certainly  not least was my friend's homemade apple pie. Tasted great warm with vanilla ice cream and cold the next day. I picked at the laces all day long.



Courtesy of homemadeapplepie.net

 Thanksgiving is just now two days away...I wish I was going home tomorrow in time to watch my mom cook and see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I'm already getting emails for Black Friday sales. Sigh*

Any who, here are some great links I found that I thought I'd share.

If you are looking for inspirational (and somewhat challenging dishes) then check out Goop's newsletter Thanksgiving Low Down.

If I hadn't blown all my cash on my own soiree, I'd drag the Hub to Villandry for their French take on Thanksgiving Dinner, there serving a twice baked cheese souffle to start. YUM.

Or, I'd love to check out the Savoy Grill's maple-roast turkey with cornbread stuffing. Two more reasons really, one I want to know what Gordon Ramsey's interpretation of cornbread is. Londoners don't know cornbread like WE know cornbread and two the Beaufort Bar is heaven. It's like old Hollywood glamour in there.

We created a dried flower/halved pear in glass center piece, but I loved this floral pumpkin vase idea.

Happy Thanksgiving

Expat's Thanksgiving: Mains

Fortunately for us, London is very accommodating to Americans and our gluttonous holiday. Sainsbury had a plethora of various sized birds and I managed to find the largest one in the frozen section. At 9 kilos (approximately 20 lbs) it was sure to feed my par-tay of 16.

I went with @jamie_oliver and modified his Best Roast Turkey for X-mas recipe. I was slightly concerned with timing, so I created the stuffing without minced pork and breadcrumbs and instead of cooking the stuffing on the stove, I stuffed it raw in between the skin and breast of my big bird Henrietta (yeah we named her). When cooking whole poultry, I always get a bit nervous that I'm going to give myself a serious bout of salmonella poisoning. So, I found Home Cooking on About.com and Help with Cooking really useful
for tips.

Henrietta Before

And after, nicely browned and very juicy.

We had one vegetarian in our mix and I wanted to make something really special. So I went with Ottolenghi's Surprise Tatin which includes a puff pastry base, hard goat cheese, caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, and sugar glazed potatoes. Always a winner.

Expat's Thanksgiving: The Appetizer

Hello! Sorry I've been away (perhaps you didn't notice and that's OK), but it's been a busy week. Yesterday, the hub and I celebrated Thanksgiving with a few friends at ours. And even though we celebrated it on a different day and most of our party was non-American, it really felt like Thanksgiving in the States. We decided to celebrate it the Saturday before so that way people can truly enjoy the evening and still have Sunday to recover from their Turkey food baby.

Catering for 16 was no easy task, but luckily I had dear Americans friends (and also expats) who helped me make it a huge success. Since the countdown to real Thanksgiving has already begun at home, I thought I'd share with you the dishes we made here in London.  

Starting with the Apps. We wanted to keep it simple and light so we decided on Rapid Roastini by Nigella

Courtesy of atannaskitchentable.blogspot.com

  and Roasted Tomato Pesto by the Barefoot Contessa.

The fried gnocchi bites were a hit and the perfect finger food starter. The roasted tomatoes were delicious, but a bit difficult handle. Perhaps if I cored them (as Ina told me too) it would have been better. I do think; however, that a buttery cracker underneath would make this dish even better.

Our guests gobbled up the appetizers in no time, but still had plenty of room for the feast that shortly followed and I will share with you tomorrow!

Homemade & Healthy - Fruit & Veg Shakes

Every now again, I get drawn into these detox diets that I read about online or in a magazine, usually after a week of indulging on delicious and not so great for me food. And although I lack the mental strength to complete a raw food plan or a juice cleanse, I do discover new food combos that are good for me.

So this week I was inspired by the raw food cleanse and was making fresh shakes for breakfast. I don't have a juicer, so I had to make do with my blender. My biggest concern was that the extra bits that usually get separated in a juicer would interfere with the quality of my shakes, but to my surprise and relief it wasn't an issue.

First, I really wanted to create a spinach shake and I mixed:

300 ml basic apple juice
1 peeled whole orange
1 handful of fresh spinach (about a cup)

This was delicious and the orange bits added texture, which I like but you can strain it out. For my second shake, I wanted to mix pomegranate with spinach, but my instincts told me no. So I blended:

One whole pomegranate (manually extracted all the seeds)
300 ml basic apple juice
1 large chunk of fresh ginger roughly chopped

This was really refreshing and luckily, the blitz pits of the pomegranate sank to the bottom so didn't mess up my shake. The sweetness of the ready made apple juice balanced out the bitterness of the pomegranate and the strong ginger.

In my research, I also discovered these shakes that I'd like to try next.

Vegan Chocolate Shake

Spinach Banana Shake (odd I know, but I love to try experimental food)

Devon: The Boot Inn Country Pub

Soooo...I accidentally deleted my Thursday blog. So if you saw the original and are already on the A303 as we speak, I apologize.

BUT if you haven't then read on! If you're planning a trip to Devon/Cornwall, I would recommend taking a detour using the A303. Still takes you in the right direction, but you could swing by this tasty and quintessentially British country pub and take snaps of Stonehenge (cuz it's literally right on the road, see photo below).

Cozy, burning fireplace

Steak, goat cheese, caramelized onions sandwich (steak chunks have fried edges and fall out of the bloomer for picking)

Open fresh smoked trout/crayfish bloomer with lemony caper vinaigrette

I'm not much for tourist sites, but it was cool to jump out and take a photo on the road

Devon - Pickwell Manor

By JonnyBaker

Our new friends Steve and Susie started an exciting business venture along with their friends a few years ago...called Pickwell Manor. I'm a massive Jane Austin geek and when I had a chance to visit this amazing estate over the Royal Wedding holiday weekend (yep they had a party there) I was over the moon. To say the least.

They renovated and decorated the place themselves and all I can say is I'm dying to stay there for a weekend. The clincher was the amazing porcelain free standing tub raised on marbel slabs that overlook the grounds.

These pictures were taken from their website and yeah, I was blown away when I walk through myself.

Never seen windows like this before, I want!

Want this too

If you want to surprise your loved one with a special weekend getaway (take note Hub) or plan a countryside wedding or go on fab holiday with your familia, check this place out. The nearby beach is beautiful and so different then US beaches. Croyd is the a local town and is so cute - narrow roads, quaint pubs, old thatch roof houses. The ladies of Pickwell Manor also got a blog about life in Pickwell.