Thanksgivingfulness

We had so much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving. Examine:

1) J. Anthony McCarthy's birthday!
On Thanksgiving day! Even though birthdays are rightly set aside to do nothing for anyone but yourself, Tony spent the afternoon helping hand out free Thanksgiving dinner to the needy. Then, he came over and shared his day (and his mum's perfect stuffing) with us. And so, we give thanks for Tony!


2) Vivan's preggo!
Vivian and Brendan have played on stage so many times, and made me laugh so heartily that I dropped my wine. That is hearty laughter indeed my friend. And now, Vivian is the one laughing -- she's preggers! And her baby (girl! yippee!) is perfectly healthy! We were all praying for her when her doctor told her she needed to do extra tests, but thank the heavens, they came out normal!

Here she is telling Garland the splendid news...


...and then here's Garland's reaction.


We give thanks for Vivian and her bambina.

3) We have a new aunty!
Bren's Uncle Dan popped the question to his love of many years, Jean (whom he affectionately and slightly deviously referred to as "my friend Jean" over the years, even though we had met her several times and knew for sure that she was more than a "friend" hahahaha!). They got engaged on Thanksgiving, a perfect backdrop to a gesture that emphasizes how much one is grateful for the other. They even came over to our house to share the good news. And as if they couldn't make us any happier, they brought a bottle of champers to celebrate. Ha!


(Point of interest: Those champagne flutes were a gift from my friend Elaine, on the occasion of my own engagement/marriage. It felt so great to be able to use them to celebrate another impending nuptial.)

We give thanks for a wedding in our future!

4) Bacon-wrapped dates!


Need I say more?

-x-
aarti

Conflicted

Far be it from me to get in the way of my people's shot at making a living; especially after years of colonization, corruption and poverty, but this scares me; a small paper in Pasadena has outsourced all its reporters to India. And they cover... Pasadena.

I think it works for this guy because he only has a small number of reporters working for him, so it's easy for him to walk each one through not only Pasadena issues, but American journalism style. Fingers crossed, this isn't the wave of the future for newspaper giants like the New York Times. Again, I don't to underestimate the ability of my bretheren at covering the news; it's just, you need to be where the news IS to cover it.

-x-
aarti

Joy... and pain!

Do you know that Soul 2 Soul song? Well, it's the other way around in this case but whatever, I am no longer in a sober mood because...

My friend Lika is pushing her baby out AS I WRITE THIS!!! That's him up there!

YIPPPEEEEEEEEEE! I am so excited! I can't wait to see what he looks like. I am going to spoil him rotten. wheeeeeeee! I can't wait! What joy! What a miracle! A whole new person to fawn over and then, when he's older, make fun of! Wheeee! I bet he'll be born today, in a couple of hours even... so that means I get to meet a whole new person, a product of my two dearest, sweetest, funniest, awesome-est friends, Lika and Brian... TODAY!

-brain explosion-

-x-
aarti

UPDATE: Bren informed me, in the least snarkily way he could, that the title is actually from a Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock song. Not Soul2Soul. In case you forsaw a night of tossing and turning without knowing the truth. :)

A more personal form of terrorism

I'm in a sober mood this morning after I read this column by Nick Kristof in the NY Times today; watch out the photo is graphic.

It's about a form of terrorism performed on, in this case, women in Pakistan: acid attacks. If you can stomach it, watch the accompanying video. You may have heard about the acid thrown on a number of women and girls by a bunch of men on motorcycles, as the girls made their way to school in Afghanistan last week. After reading this column, and remembering the femcide in the Congo I've been reading about for the past year, I just can't stop shaking my head...

-x-
aarti

Thanksgiving Behind the Scenes

We are doing Thanksgiving supper since a couple of sweet guests are volunteering at soup kitchens and such. So, I thought I'd give you a tour of the kitchen and fridge, so you could see the treats patiently waiting a quick torch in the oven and an equally quick journey down the gullet.

As I told you the other day, Bren is making two ice creams from scratch: "Drunken Grandma" and "Fruits of My Labor". They are chock-a-block full of stuff, since neither of us have had any form of dessert/pastry/candy/chocolate since October; he figures we are making up for lost time and opportunity, so best put whatever he can find in it!

The first one is a chocolate-Kahlua base, with a Butterfinger and a Snickers, and half a pan of brownies that have been doused in Jim Beam.


Oh, and a piece of mint gum, because Grandma is so drunk she drops things in without thinking. Haaahahah!

The second one, "fruits of her labor" is named after a line in a Lucinda Williams song: "persimmons and sugarcane... are not fit for a queen." Bren is letting the vanilla custard come down to temperature right now in the fridge, whilst the persimmons and the sugercane are mascerating. He's also adding some chestnuts, which he caramelized... and some chocolate-covered gingersnaps. Sound a bit over the top? Just remember that it IS Bren we're talking about. That boy never does anything simply!


You can see the custard in the back of the fridge here, with the sweet potatoes (soon to be blanketed in marshmallows and smoked paprika-pecans) and my absolute favorite, bacon-wrapped dates, in front.

The McSequeira household isn't too fond of turkey, so I'm making my "I Ain't Chicken" chicken. It's marinating now, and I'll cook my mum's stuffing alongside it. I'll be putting that recipe up later this week (sorry to have missed the Wednesday recipe blast this week but it was chaos around here).



And last, but not least, I made some cranberry sauce to which I added some pomegrante seeds at the very last moment. I'll let you know how it goes; if it doesn't taste good, at least it'll pump some badly-needed antioxidants into my system.



Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

-x-
aarti

WTF

The more you read about it, the more terrifying it is. I am sick to my stomach. Please pray for all those caught in the hostage crisis and general carnage in Bombay as you get ready to carve your turkey. This is horrifying.

-x-
aarti

Pig Love

It says something about my eating habits that not one, but TWO people suggested I take a look at a website called Bacon Today. Thanks Andy and Jay! (I think...)

Featured articles include:
- Bacon & Eggs ice cream (funnily enough, Bren has been thinking about making bacon ice cream, in addition to the two ice creams he's making for Thankgiving: persimmon- chocolate gingersnap, and a surprise ingredient one called "Drunken Grandma". More about that one on Thursday!)

- Bacon-wrapped iPhone

- And perhaps the piece de resistance, Turbaconducken: a chicken wrapped in bacon, stuffed into a duck wrapped in bacon, stuffed into a turkey... wrapped in bacon. Photo of the raw completed birds up there. Sounds kinda yucky to me, but the chefs say it was delicious.

Enjoy!

-x-
aarti

The Mad Hatter of Branston & Words of Wisdom

Last Saturday, our Vineyard hosted a Women's Tea, a celebration of all things that require a curled pinkie: tea sandwiches, scones and clotted cream, tea pots and tables festooned with flowers, napkin rings and (gasp!) cloth napkins. Oh and Jesus of course! Woops forgot about that part for a second, although not sure how He fits into the curled pinkie bit. Hmmm.

We were each to bring a plate of tea or finger sandwiches. I brought a plate of Branston pickle and cheese sandwiches, a decidedly English combination that I came upon when I was about 17. A boy, in my class, Matty, suffered from what I could only think was a mild eating disorder, because why else would anyone leave their Branston and cheese sandwiches untouched??

I realise now that he simply may not have liked them.


In any case I, not being afflicted with said eating disorder (perhaps afflicted with an eating order?), would nick them from his locker every day, savoring the intersection of sharp cheddar flavour and sugary, tangy, crunchy yumminess. Branston's is more of a chutney than a pickle, with crunchy veggies (cauliflower, rutabega, onions etc) bathed in a sauce made of dates, vinegar and sugar. Oh MAN is it good.

You can usually find it in the international aisle of your supermarket, and I urge you to get it. Once you do, you might never have a cheese sandwich without it. It's ri-DONK-ulous. In fact, this lady has the right idea: Grilled Cheese with Apples and Branston Pickle. Hello?!

Ok, back to the Tea. We were also encouraged to bring a nice big hat, with as much frilly, flowery floofiness as we could manage. I didn't get a chance to find or make a hat, which I mentioned to good ol' Laura... who a couple of days later texted me in installments:

"I made your hat. It's grand 4 high tea. U shall have the finest! I decree it!"

"U r gonna poop urself."

"U will be a vision. U could have been on the Titanic with this hat."

Between gut-convulsing giggles, I wondered again at the little angels God has put in my life. THANKYOU LAURA! It was indeed, the finest hat of the day. Check it:



I got so many compliments from complete strangers on my hat. In fact, even the blind woman in the gospel choir, Terry, wanted to lay her hands on it so that she could appreciate all the marvelous little surprises Laura had woven into the hat: a little birdie...


...and a butterfly!


It was such a great conversation starter that I made new friends! These are the ladies I shared a table with. They're awesome!


And look at the gorgeous table Kim (the woman in black and white) designed for us:


It was such a great day, bathing in teenage memories of Branston pickle, crowned by Laura's thoughtful friendship, encircled by new friends and (oh thankyou!) full of clotted cream. Oh, and not to mention a fantastic speaker, Grammy-nominated Zydeco singer, Lisa Haley, whose story will bring you to tears.

At the end of the afternoon, right before she left, Lisa asked us, if we had the cojones, to utter the bravest prayer she has ever heard: "Jesus, I give you permission to do whatever You want with my life."

I gulped, closed my eyes and whispered it under my breath. Then Lisa asked us to come to the front of the sanctuary if, after saying that prayer, you didn't know what was next; the elders would pray with you. One by one, about half of the women tiptoed up to the front, whilst Lisa played this song:



For some reason, as I went up, I was thinking about the documentary we've been trying to make about the atrocities happening in the Congo... it has stumbled so many times that part of me, in all honestly, has given up on it. Instantly, I heard a voice inside me say, "Keep going, keep going, keep going. I'm here."

You can call it my inner voice, my gut... I call it God. And I've now written it on a piece of paper and taped to the fridge. So, if there's something that you have been struggling to complete, or been met with adversity about or had people saying, "Nope. Not gonna help you 'cos that's a stupid idea"... even though you know that it is the right thing to do, DON'T BACK DOWN!

Keep going, keep going, keep going. He's with you.

Have a great weekend.

-x-
aarti

Uh-Oh.

From Yahoo today:

"One of New York City's most famous food critics is out of a job.

New York magazine confirmed Thursday that Gael Greene — known for her flamboyant hats and influential opinions — is no longer working for the publication.

Magazine spokeswoman Lauren Starke says that in a "tightening economy, our company is simply no longer able to support four separate restaurant critics." Three other critics remain.

There was no immediate response to an e-mail sent to Greene.

Greene was the magazine's chief restaurant critic from 1968 to 2002. After that, she wrote a weekly column called "Insatiable Critic."

Starke says this is Greene's last week at the magazine, and her last review will appear in Monday's issue."

It's just too good

Y'all have to see my sister, Kuv, performing at her tap dance recital on Monday night. She just started taking tap classes a month or so ago, and I'm so impressed with how much she's learned. Of course, she DID take ballet for a while when we were little (I was too fat to do it I think), so I know all those years of training helped, HA!

Anyway, she did a great job, and you can read about it on her blog.

In the meantime, here's the video. Oh, she's the Indian one. IN THE MIDDLE YEAH KUV!!!!


Tap Dancing Recital from Kavita Sequeira on Vimeo.

-x-