Thanksgiving. A good time to take time.
To all my friends and clients,
Thought I’d take time to send a note of gratitude along with my Top 10 Best Ideas to help you in celebrating and keeping your wonderful Thanksgiving traditions and making new ones as well.
Take time at Thanksgiving-
say thank you often, express your gratitude through what you do and what you say, savor the sacred silences, think abundance, listen (to others), give of yourself and of course, celebrate Thanksgiving Day.
This year, please be a part of our family tradition for a Thanksgiving Celebration by making a commitment to take the time… It’s contagious.
I plan ahead for the day in my head and make it a special invitation but keep rules to a minimum
November 27 2008
Time: early a.m.‘til end
Place: someplace where you’ll take the time
Phone: no Blackberry or Iphones allowed
RSVP: not necessary. you’ll be welcome even as a stranger
Well, with the big day still about a week away, now is the time to step back and remember what worked last year and what you want to change for this year’s Thanksgiving celebration. Maybe I can help.
November may be a slow month for travel in New England. Snow has usually arrived in the northern New England states' mountains. Ski resorts begin to make their own snow if nature has not provided the traditional cover.
2 ?Check your complaining, blaming, judgment, gloom and doom at the transfer station and smile alot. Transportation services (airports, planes, trains, buses, highways) are strained to the breaking point as everyone travels to have Thanksgiving someplace where they can take the time. The day before Thanksgiving (Wednesday) is the busiest travel day of the entire year in the USA. Avoid traveling on that day if at all possible!
The Sunday after Thanksgiving is the next-busiest day, so avoid that as well, especially the afternoon and evening. Travel on Friday, Saturday, Monday or Tuesday if possible.
If you must travel on Wednesday and Sunday, have reservations, and take the time to show your gratitude, listen and don’t complain and expect long delays and some inconvenience.
?It’s almost here. The 82
nd Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. New York is not just another city. Maybe your heading the NYC to celebrate with long standing tradition. Go to the parade
http://www.macys.com/campaign/parade/parade.jsp
3. Make yours A Healthy Thanksgiving Menu
2 of my favorites:
In our country where super-sized seems the fashion and soaring obesity rates have become the norm, what is the best way to deal with our annual feast day?
Streamlining. The key to a healthy holiday meal, I've discovered, is that less can be more. Less fat. Less sugar. Less salt. And less on the plate. But not less flavor. As a health-conscious cook and passionate eater, I've always loved Thanksgiving.
Turkey is an excellent source of lean protein.
Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A and potassium.
Pumpkin is an abundant source of beta-carotene, fiber, and iron.
Fresh cranberries contain vitamin C and fiber and can be a magic ingredient when served as more than sweetened cranberry sauce.
Solution? A Healthy Thanksgiving mind-set before the main event means staying with a realistic calorie budget that makes sense, getting some exercise before or after the meal; and lightening up the fat and sugar.
Consider a walk on the Freedom Trail and make a visit to the only museum open on Thanksgiving Day in the Boston area, the USS Constitution.
If you’re really wanting to let go of some traditions but stressed about how to really let go, I’ve got an idea. (Remember what I said about parting from some traditions) Perhaps gorging yourself and waddling to the family room to your favorite cushioned chair to watch football is not on your list this year. What is? 8 things to do besides watch foot ball
5. Yes, the turkey may be traditional fare but there are lots of alternatives. Renew your menu, with a Gentle Thanksgiving consistent with your compassion for Animal Rights. For those who prefer to celebrate together with others who support a compassionate holiday and a cruelty-free diet, there are vegan celebrations where the feast is wonderful and free of all animal products. Open to the families and their friends in the Boston and Metrowest area. http://www.gentlethanksgiving.org/events/tevents02.htm#MA
6.Express yourself. Let stress go. There are as many Thanksgiving celebrations as there are unique ways in which we are thankful. Or find History of Thanksgiving from myths, proclamations, myths and more. Learn something new and get excited.
Some of the planning and stressing is made more challenging by its midweek date and often hours of travel and of course the pressures of maintaining family traditions including recipes, centerpieces, house cleaning, preparation and more.
7. Need help? Here’s a life resource for far more than simple answers but a real true tip and problem tackling site. www.Life123.com visitors need only type "Thanksgiving" into its search box to pull up tips on everything from hosting a first Thanksgiving and creating crafty table settings and cornucopia to safe food handling and recipes.. For those who love historic Thanksgiving traditions, there's even a section of Native American and Colonial recipes. (For a related topic, type "football" into the site's search box). There's even a wealth of money-saving tips.
9. Spice it up! Discover new and exciting spices and spend some fun time with a special friend or family member and experiment with the flavor and whimsy of spices.
- Allspice – Columbus discovered this spice in 1494. It is the ripe sun-dried berry of an evergreen tree. Its flavor resembles a blend of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It is available whole or ground. Use sparingly. Cooking Uses: Whole allspice can be added to soups, stews, and pot roasts, Ground allspice can be used when cooking meat loaf, or non-meat loaf, tomato based sauces, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots. It also goes well in apple pie filling, cakes, cookies, puddings, and in mulled cider.
- Cinnamon – This spice widely known and available in sticks or ground and comes from the bark of an evergreen tree. Cooking Uses: Use a cinnamon stick as a stirrer in hot coffee, tea or spiced cider. Break a cinnamon stick in half and add to your coffee maker along with ground coffee when brewing a pot of coffee. .
- Pepper – Pepper is the world’s most popular spice. It is the dried fruit of the flowering pepper vine plant and can be native to the East Indies. Cooking Uses:. Fresh ground and organic pepper has a more vibrant fragrance than commercial ground pepper. Season stuffing, meats, salad dressing, to flavor freshly diced tomatoes,
10. Discover all there is to be grateful for. And make yours a wonderful life you deserve. Thanksgiving is of course an American tradition but the mystical power of a new personal commitment to gratitude in everything you think and do has much farther reaching impact. Everyday Peace. Everyday Purpose. Everyday Love. You can make your Thanksgiving a big opportunity to be happy. You are entitled. A friend gifted me a book just a few weeks ago and wanted to share it with you. “Everyday Grace.” By Marianne Williamson.
In the spirit of sharing, I have dream about a Thanksgiving Celebration filled with many moments of sacred silence to reflect on so many of the blessings. Some that I have received, some as though from magic. My best friends are invited and will be my guests to enjoy all that the celebration has to offer. So much of the event is the result of the people and the mix. The location would be a simple farmhouse. We’d un-chill the stone of the walls with a slow-burning fire in the fireplace and good wine. We’d be in the Tuscany region of Italy. For me, this is a unique place in the world.
First on the menu at my Thanksgiving Menu: Acquacotta Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 large red onion or 1 leek, roughly chopped
- 1 1/2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 pound Swiss chard, cleaned and torn in half, or 1/2 oz. porcini mushrooms, soaked and drained
- Half of a peperoncino or any hot red pepper, fresh or dried
- 1/2 cup tomato pulp from plum tomatoes (seeded, juiced, and chopped if fresh) or drained and diced if canned)
- 3 cups simmering water
- sea salt
- 2 eggs (preferably organic)
- 2 slices rustic, country-style bread, lightly toasted
- 1 teaspoon chopped parsley
- 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Tuscan pecorino cheese
Preparation:
Place the toasted bread in two soup bowls.
Place the onion and celery in a 3-quart, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil and stir to coat. Cook over a medium-low heat, or until the onion is translucent but not brown. Add Swiss chard (or porcinis, if using) and stir briefly to wilt. Add hot pepper, tomatoes, and simmering water. Season lightly with salt and cook over a low heat (barely a simmer) for 20 minutes, until vegetables are very soft.
As vegetables are cooking, bring about an inch of water and a half teaspoon of salt to a boil in a deep skillet. At the end of the vegetables' cooking time, turn the skillet heat down to a gentle simmer. Add the parsley to the soup.
Break the eggs into a small bowl, one at a time, and slide them into the simmering water. Cook for about 3 minutes, until the whites are set, but the yellow is still runny. When done, use a large slotted spoon to place one egg on each toast slice in bowls. Ladle broth and vegetables over each egg and top with a generous sprinkling of the chees
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration.
‘til next time,
Susan