chess

celebrating thanksgiving with pumpkin pie

i perused all my pumpkin pie recipes and found one from last year which i had copied from the internet. i think it was from foodnetwork, though it could have been from cooks.com. it calls for cream cheese, and it has become my favorite pumpkin pie recipe. i made it this year with buttermilk rather than half and half and it was so good that i really need to make another soon!

thanksgiving day

thursday morning i woke to a feeling of restlessness. here we were in nyc for thanksgiving (we usually go to connecticut to my sister's house) and so far we had no plans to walk around the city. so m and c and i decided to go ice skating and catch a bit of the parade.

we took the train to 28th street and from there walked up sixth avenue to herald square. we were excited to see the hello kitty balloon.

there the crowd got to be a bit too big, so we headed over to fifth avenue and then up to 40th street and bryant park. we passed lord and taylor's windows. we didn't stop to look today as there was a line. we figured we would visit one morning after an early skate. lord and taylor's always has beautiful windows. they're our favorite.

as we reached the rink, we saw a large elephant through the trees. it was dr. seuss' horton!

there was a short line to get in to the rink, and the zambone was cleaning the ice. but then we had a nice skate with many other families out for the day. it was actually a nice crowd, and we saw santa claus passing by along sixth avenue. he was bringing up the end of the parade.

in the evening we went to janet's for dinner. we made and carried over with us: two apple pies, candied yams, creamed celery, steamed apples and raisins, turnips, and crackers with herring, blue cheese, drunken goat cheese, gouda, and manchego. janet had a huge turkey, brussel sprouts, chestnut and wild rice stuffing, savory biscuits, baked golden potatoes, cranberry relish, two cranberry orange pies, and two pumpkin pies. it was quite a feast. afterwards, everyone wanted to get out into the crisp air for a walk.

we went to the high line and enjoyed the solitariness of a thanksgiving evening.

we also had ice cream with our pies. well, others did. i prefer mine without such a cold addition!

thursday, november 25th

happy thanksgiving

a chocolate bar visit and a violin concert

we went to the chocolate bar this evening after duncan class with sami and lizette and camille. it was the perfect touch to the afternoon . . a classic hot chocolate!

the girls decided to see what chanda would look like with camille's red hair.



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after dinner, chanda and i attended a concert at st. mark's church, across the street from the music school. her violin teacher was playing with luci toscane, a group that performs every summer in siena, italy, and fundraises for the trip during the rest of the year.

it was a beautiful concert, and we missed having sami and lizette with us. they usually join us for jose's concerts, but julienne was at home beginning the thanksgiving preparations, and lizette felt it important to return. unfortunately, i think many people felt that way, or they were on the road traveling to thanksgiving ports, as the audience was smaller than it should have been for such beautiful music, and such talented musicians and singers.

a sunny and cool day

the past few days have been warm: 60 to 64 degrees! it's much cooler today. 43 degrees right now, only going up to a high of 50. i haven't been outside yet, i know i shall feel cold, especially with the wind i hear out there. but right now, with the sun shining in the living room onto the amaryllis and the seashell, the rug and the dog, it feels wonderfully warm.

i'm behind with posting about the past few days. korrina's birthday was sunday, and chanda had a dance performance the same day at barnes and noble with dances patrelle. since sunday was so busy, monday felt like it should be a holiday. but it wasn't. we still had laundry to fold, the palace of minos at knossos to read about, a dance class with ellen robbins to attend, dinner to cook. and now, of course, we have thanksgiving. there is a giant turkey in the refrigerator . . with vegetables and potatoes and onions and cider and . . . apples! lots of apples. also, a butternut squash for a pumpkin pie.

thanksgiving preparations and dinner

we went shopping at the coop this morning with camille. we had important groceries to get for our thanksgiving preparations!

later today, for dinner, chanda and i decided to make olive paste with our pitted black calamata olives we had just bought earlier.

here is chanda adding 1/2 teaspoon of salt . . since we were cutting the recipe in half, it should have been 1/4 teaspoon . . we were wondering why it was a bit salty!

blending it all together. we had delicious rosemary crackers to dip into it. you can see our granny smith apples here, just waiting to be peeled and sliced!

a busy monday

today we read about the excavations of king minos' palace at knossos. it's really fascinating and m and c and i are enjoying this book tremendously. m and c are working on maps of crete and deciding what they would like to include about the palace and the story of the minotaur.

m has also been working on a bag for her friend amelia, who is having an ice skating party next week at bryant park. there's still more flowers to add!

i walked through columbus circle today and was just a little surprised to see all the christmas decorations up!

there was also a statue of dali's on exhibit. this must have just been put in. it's his persistence of memory sculpture.


on my way to meet greg to see a screening of harry potter at the HBO screening room, i passed by brooks brothers and radio city. yes, it's definitely holiday time.

ok. i took a picture of the bathroom at the screening room. yes. it's just very elegant and clean (!).

greg in times square after the movie (which i really liked, by the way. it helps not to have read the book in awhile).

times square, 10:00 pm.