I am so thankful for so many things...among them are the beautiful place where we live...the bounty that surrounds us and for friends who are our 'Family Of Choice'...and when you live in a place so far away from your own blood family, it is a blessing to have so many dear friends that step up to the plate and become family...
We gathered yesterday at the home of a couple who are a part of our 'FOC' friends for food, wine, fun, conversation, and lots of laughs...The weather outside looked like how I remember most of our Thanksgivings on the mainland - cloudy gray, coolish and misty rain - but the weather inside was warm and cozy due to a low, lingering fire in the woodstove (their house is at a 1,600 elevation and it can get quite cool up there) and the aromas of the food! Couldn't ask for any better than that!
Brenda and Kevan had set up a parson's table on the side for the beverages; wine (one in particular from our own island's Volcano Winery was delicious!), Martinelli, limonada, eggnog and coffee...and a dining table in the center of the room for the five of us with an arrangement of tropical fruit in a basket as a centerpiece.
Two types of cranberry dishes to go with our bird...fresh cranberries cooked in apple juice with a bit of sugar in the pedestal glass container in background and fresh cranberry and orange relish in the cut glass bowl.
Anthony, Kevan, Brenda and Sharon
We had cream cheese and smoked salmon with crackers, brie en croute stuffed with cranraisins and topped with toasted pecans and caramel sauce, also served with crackers (Sonia), and there were two types of olives and garlic gerkins to munch on leisurely while conversation and laughter flowed and the rest of the meal was prepared.
Anthony, Sonia, Kevan and Sharon
Brenda's bird was perfect!
Our menu consisted of the pupus mentioned, turkey, 'ulu (breadfruit) stuffing and gravy, taro leaf in coconut milk (Brenda), a combination of roasted sweet potatoes and yams (Sharon), plus the cranberry relish (Anthony) and the cranberry sauce (Sonia).
Sharon explained how she prepared the taters; the sweet potato/yam dish is very made up because of not being able to decide which I preferred, so decided to mix them. I used 2 medium of each, poked with a fork and roasted in the oven with the skins on until I could pierce with a knife. I let them cool until I could take the skins off and actually put them whole in the refrigerator overnight. I cubed them, sprinkled about 1-2 Tbsp of organic light brown sugar over them and about ½ stick of organic butter. I put them back in the oven for another 45 minutes to help caramelize them.
Desserts were pumpkin mousse (Sonia) kulolo (a tradional steamed pudding made from taro, coconut and brown sugar or sugar cane juice and wrapped in ti or banana leaf)(Brenda), and a liliko'i chiffon pie (made by Sharon from the recipe in "The Lilikoilicious Cookbook" - second edition - one of the winning recipes in the 2013 Liliko'i Festival Cooking Contest.
You can't really see them, but underneath the arrangement on the beverage table composed of multicolored croton tips, yellow heliconia and the green and orange seed pods of puakenikeni tree, is a set of 7 old-fashioned glass cream bottles (the kind milkmen used to deliver to our doors in days of yore) which I found many years ago in a rummage sale at a local church. I set the 7 little bottles in an old wooden drawer that no longer has a home which I sometimes use as a tray...The arrangement didn't quite live up to what I had envisioned, but the colors were great.
The football game was on in the background but with muted sound and cell phones were blessedly quiet and not brought out during the whole afternoon and evening except to show pictures after dinner and desserts were pau!
Mahalo for your wonderful hospitality, Brenda and Kevan!
