Thanksgiving Weekend

This year Thanksgiving falls on Sunday 12 October, in French Canada it is called L'Action de Grâce, an old Feast Day which has European roots in the harvest festivals which are upon us now.

I love going out to the grocery store and shopping for a pumpkin or pumpkins. We are also looking at our menu for the Thanksgiving lunch on Sunday. I got pieces of turkey this year instead of a big bird.
I also have chestnuts and Brussels Sprouts, will do something along the lines of roasting them instead of the usual boiling. Heritage carrots, yellow and purple and red all mixed up together. The potatoes are Russian Blue, I do not know why they call them by that name since all potatoes come from Bolivia originally and the so called Russian Blue is a favourite of the Andean Natives in the highland of Bolivia. Will is going to make Pumpkin Spicy or Smokey soup and for dessert we will have a special dessert for the occasion made by Pastry Chef  Michael Holland at his store Holland's Cake and Shake by the Parkdale Market at 229 Armstrong street in Ottawa. See their web site http://www.cakeandshake.ca

This is a great place for pastry done in the old famous traditional way but with a modern twist and lots of imagination. All of it is made fresh daily no day old or stale stuff there.

The weather is crisp and cool now and the trees have started to change into a wide array of vibrant colours.

 This year's pumpkins on our balcony.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Cooking with recipes, Autumn and September

Late August means the start of harvest time in Canada. Fruits and vegetables in many varieties appear  at the Farmer's Markets around the Capital. I bought a basket of Ontario Peaches and was looking for a recipe to make a cobbler. Will said he had a recipe in one of the books where we collect our favourites. Could not find it at first and then saw it wedged as a page marker in one old cook book, I also found recipes on little photo like cards for various dishes.

One was Spinach sautéed with Indian spices another was Carrot and Parsnip purée or a winter crudité salad. All pretty simple and things I like to make for dinner.  Canadian Thanksgiving is one month away, will we be at home or will we go to Merrickville on the Rideau Canal like we have done in the last two years for lunch.

So I went through the books we have, most are fairly old cook books bought because we loved the recipes. I also found cards with hand written recipes. One is for Fennel Parmesan bake, another for Egg Potato and Prosciutto Pie, that one is really good on a Fall or Winter morning. Or what about Chicken Curry Tea Sandwiches, I remember this one from my Beijing days where we use to go downstairs to my colleague's place, Caryl A. and she made those sandwiches while we sang Karaoke, Bridge over troubled waters was my hit song, Unforgettable was another. There is also Crunchy Turkey Cranberry Pie and I did find the recipe card for Peach Schnitz Pie, Will was looking for.

I also found in my Mom's handwriting, she had a lovely hand and her handwriting is very easy to read. Her Campbell Tomato Soup Cake with cream cheese icing, I really have to try this one, she wrote it out for me years ago and the paper is all yellow with age now. A sentimental memory, the first anniversary of her death comes on 28 September.

If you want copies of these recipes let me know and I can send them to my readers/friends (only).

Sunday 31 August was also the day of a spectacular storm, high winds, crashing thunder and lightning, heavy rains with sunshine and what I call 18th Century clouds a la Canaletto with the most vibrant double rainbow I have ever seen. Afterwards we had fresh air and a beautiful sunset.
Which got us to talk of the Gustave Doré (d.1882) exhibit at the National Gallery which ends in 2 weeks. I have seen this exhibit 5 times and attended 3 lectures on it.

Doré lived in 19th Century Paris but also travelled to England and Scotland, his art is full of the romantic style of the era and false religiosity which looks so kitsch to us today. White clouds are transformed in swarms of Heavenly Angels descending to do God's work.  From the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco the 3 ton bronze, 156 feet high and 81 feet circumference, Poem of the Vine is on display. It came to Ottawa on a flat bed truck.

Poème de la vigne. A spectacular piece 

So this being the last long weekend of Summer it is still summer until 21 September, despite the fact that kids go back to school tomorrow and Universities have re-opened. I only hope that the old Almanac is correct and that our September-October months will be warmer than usual, this past summer has not been exactly the warmest.

I continue at the War Museum until 18 September and then return to the National Gallery for the Season, now as a Docent and Cultural Conference convener (les mercredis culturels). A Season of training and learning, not to forget the school program Vive les Arts for the 6 to 12 years old, a tough crowd who likes the moderns.

Automne, Autunno, Autumn

We were able to have dinner outside from 21 June to 31 August this year, a short period of time but we love this tradition of dining on our terrace looking at the Rideau Canal.

Since 1 September the weather has been sunny but cool and in the evening chilly. The days are noticeably shorter now so we are slowly moving towards Autumn.

The word Autumn in English comes from old French Automne and it seems that prior to the 16th century the word Harvest was much in use since most people lived on the land and Harvest meant that time of the year, Season, when most food is harvested. Only as of the 16th century when more people moved to Cities and learnt to read and write did the word Autumn gain prominence.

With Autumn new activities take place, Thanksgiving falls on Sunday 13 October, meaning that we decorate with various types of coloured corn, pumpkins and a variety of squashes. Last year I found a pumpkin which was a bluish silver colour, a heritage variety. There is a lot of so called Heritage vegetables on the markets now and many people love this new choice. Just outside Ottawa, the Gatineau Park has spectacular colours and it is wonderful to drive up into the hills and on a sunny day see the multi-coloured trees.

Of course many will cook a turkey and have the traditional stuffing and vegetables, potatoes, brussels sprouts, carrot, turnip and squash. I do not know what we will do. It all depends who is in town during this long weekend.

We are booked for our cruise in November from Rome to Seville, with stops in Sorrento, Trapani, Barcelona, Valencia, Gibraltar, then across the Strait of Gibraltar and along the Guadalquivir river to Seville. We also plan a side trip to Granada. This cruise is to celebrate our 35 Anniversary. We had such a great cruise last year from Amsterdam to St-Petersburg and Stockholm through the Baltic Sea. This will be our gift to each other and a wonderful way to celebrate. AZAMARA is tailoring the cruise for our anniversary and giving us little extras to make it memorable.

This will be our second cruise with AZAMARA, smaller ships, called mid-size with 700 passengers and higher level of amenities and service. The food was excellent and the wine list impressive, I also liked the fact that they poured drinks not measure them, so you got a nice stiff drink to make any sailor proud. We have never been on the super-size ships carrying thousands of passengers and I do not think we would like it. Also from a point of safety, I prefer a smaller ship. We were also able to dock in town where larger cruise ships had to dock often far away in sea ports. One final point that sold me on AZAMARA was the number of Canadians on crew on board, a nice touch.

Azamara Quest

Jour de l'Action de Grâce, Thanksgiving

My favourite holiday of the year le Jour de l'Action de Grâce, Thanksgiving on the second Monday in October in Canada. It is a Liturgical Festival and comes to us from our ancestors in France and England celebrating the Harvest.

Les citrouilles harvest 2012

The actual holiday is Monday but most of us Canadians will celebrate on the Sunday with a Festive meal amongst friends and family. It is a holiday everyone can celebrate unlike Christmas. It is a holiday to reflect on our good fortune and be thankful, if only for the fact that we live in a peaceful and stable country bordering on the boring. In Canada the origin of this holiday are numerous, the first time the holiday is mentioned is 1604 when Samuel de Champlain and his companions who have settled at the fame l'Habitation, gave thanks for making a safe crossing of the Atlantic from France to Quebec City or Stadacona as it was then known. We know that the native people have for centuries celebrated the Harvest with meals and dances, well before the Europeans arrival. It was common to celebrate with the European settlers and this is where squash and corn came into being a part of the meal. The wild turkey a Mexican import came much later probably in those days venison was the main meat of the meal.

Starting in 1879 Thanksgiving was observed on a Thursday in November, something to do with the Royal Family, then after the First World War the observance was around the 11 November, Armistice Day, thankful for Peace, not to forget that 10% of the population had gone to war in Europe. Finally in 1957, Thanksgiving became a National Statutory Holiday and fixed on the second Monday in October.

Glorious Maple tree colours on our back street.

So today I went to the store to pick up my 5 Kg Turkey, a small bird. I love the smell of roasting turkey it brings back so many memories of family gatherings at my grandparents decades ago. I also will do two vegetables, some potatoes and a mixture of celery, pearl onions and peas. One guest will bring an appetizer and the other guest dessert. I have champagne and over 100 bottles of wines to choose from, plus several excellent single malt scotch, gin and vodka for apéritif. So we should be OK so to speak.

A Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 Our street in Ottawa.

Autumn Farmer's Markets

Well my favourite time of year as arrived and my favourite holiday of the year is just around the corner, Canadian Thanksgiving on Sunday 7 October. Today my friend C.P. and I went to the farmers market in Blackburn Hamlet area and then to the Orleans Fruit Farm which use to belong to the Oblat Fathers it is now part of the National Capital Commission Green Belt around the Capital. Lots of pumpkins and squash and apples and other root vegetables. Also bought some lamb from the Albé Farm in Alfred and from the farmers from Cumberland, all little agricultural villages around the Capital region. The biological, organic and other labels on natural feed for animals with no hormones or chemicals is the big sale point. There is a great demand for natural products and also now Gluten Free breads and other pastry items. I bought a bread made this morning, it was still cooling made from Chickpea flour. I also found a Puglia bread which is the sort of bread I use to buy in Rome, nice crunchy crust and good tasting. I got some white and purple carrots and purple potatoes. I also found a greyish blue or Prussian blue Pumpkin, I have never seen anything like it and the farmer also had white pumpkins.  All these farming areas East of Ottawa are mostly French speaking families, Franco-Ontarians who have lived there for centuries. You also get a lot of recipes from them if you are not sure about cooking certain items.  I also bought Turkey and cranberry sausage, Duck sausage, Lamb Tourtière and Lamb paté.
Lovely weather sunny and blue skies at 15 C. It was chilly this morning at 2 C. almost freezing point.

Today's pumpkins

the children of Cerberus guarding the wine.

Time, Tanti Auguri a Me

Well today is another anniversary for me. So many things have happened in my life. From the period after the Second World War, before decolonization to the societal changes of the 1960's, the Vietnam War, man landing on the moon, meeting Will and starting our life together, my entry into the workforce when the typewriter was king, photocopying was still in its infancy, more recently the age of the computer and the internet and now the eve of my possible retirement in the next few years.

So much change in one life and all in a relatively short period of time. Not to mention all the countries I have visited either for work or vacation and lived in, so many different cultures, languages, beliefs, all complex with their own history, societies very different from Canada. Countries where even the food and eating habits have nothing to do with western habits. Rice, vegetables and fish or flat bread,olives, green onions and eggs or maize, corn, beans and root vegetables, diets where any milk products simply does not exist. Where fast food is not McDonalds but what ever the people locally enjoy and is common to all creating their own fast food or here in Italy the whole slow food movement. Had to get use to all these different, taste and diets, lucky me that I was able to enjoy them all without difficulty.
All the wonderful things I have seen and was able to get to appreciate in several continents, the people I met, many I had heard about or read about but never thought I would ever meet in person and more often than not in a private setting and getting to know their family.
I sometime feel like Ulysses, as the French saying goes, ''Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage'', maybe this is what my life has been a long and interesting journey.

Lots of good things, blessings and a lot of good luck.

Canadian Thanksgiving 12 October

Auguri! Happy Thanksgiving to all. This is the long weekend of my favorite holiday of the year, I always enjoyed this holiday no matter where I am in the world. In Canada it is a harvest festival, a very ancient feast day, which goes back to antiquity. In Italy, we are into the season of olive tree harvesting and olive oil pressing which will continue until december. Chestnuts have also started to appear on the market and different varieties of apples. Thanksgiving or l'Action de Grace as it is called in French, is a time to reflect on what we have and how we should be thankful. Thankful for being the Citizen of a country which is govern by the rule of laws, by a Parliament and by a modern civil service dedicated to the public good. We may as Canadians complain often and feel we are hard done by and gripe but in the end if you take a good look and reflect on it, you come to understand that we have it good in terms of quality of life. Also in terms of family, friends and my spouse of almost 32 years, I have been blessed. So on this day I have a lot to be thankful for.

We had Sunday lunch, nice half turkey about 4.5Kg just enough for some left overs but nothing substantial. The stuffing was made with prosciutto sausages and a hard grain bread, very good. The bird was moist not one dry part in it. The bird came from southern Tuscany and they are left to roam around, so the meat is nice, plump and light. Nice apple pie for dessert with home made cinnamon gelato. We also had Will's famous Smokey pumpkin soup with smoked ham. This year he added to the soup Madeira wine instead of Marsala wine, it was much better and not so sweet.

Our friends in Italy came to lunch, we were 6 all together on a lovely day, the weather was sunny and around 22C with that blue sky we only get in Rome. Tomorrow we are going to visit the park of the ancient Aquaducts, those great elevated waterways which brought all the water to Rome and allowed the city to become one of the wonders of the ancient world, millions of gallons of water every hour to feed the fountains and the great bath houses, they were destroyed by the barbarians in 410 AD. It will be nice to enjoy the fresh air outside the city.

Enjoy the holiday!