Thanksgiving

Remember the box of tomatoes? They duly became pizza sauce and there is no comparison with either bought pizza or bought pizza sauce! I give thanks for the bounty of the tomatoes, my mother's recipe, and a new pizza stone that makes the crust so crispy. Some friends here have a tradition of pizza on Sunday nights, a lovely tradition I hope I can contribute to sometime.



I tried a new biscotti recipe using pumpkin and chocolate chips. Biscotti means "baked twice," once in a loaf, and again sliced and laid on their sides to dry out and become crunchy and dunkable. I have liked making biscotti for years, partly because I inherited a love for dunking cookies in tea or coffee, and partly because compared to other cookies, they have a more intense flavor and comparatively less sugar and fat. Rather like another wonderful Italian sweet, gelato. These pumpkin biscotti have a different texture than any I have ever made before, but also even less fat, only two tablespoons of melted butter.





This was a Thanksgiving holiday to remember, the first visit of my brothers and their families to me here, approximately midway between them. And of course, in the excitement of having them here (and some unexpected drama--trauma!--with the nightly visitation of a bat!!) I failed to remember to photograph our gathering. However, they didn't arrive until the weekend, which enabled me to host a thanksgiving feast with a friend from Iowa City on the actual day of Thanksgiving, and then spend the afternoon teaching her to sew.