Thanksgiving cooking

Yesterday was one of my favorite holidays - who can dislike a holiday devoted to appreciating what you have and eating good food? Not me!

In planning the holiday feast, the idea of turkey was quickly dismissed. Erika and Sasha are on a "chicken is disgusting" kick. Never mind trying to convince them that a turkey and chicken are two different birds. I'm pretty sure the stuffing and brussels sprouts would be out too (not to mention Joe also hates brussel sprouts). Their dinner would have been mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. Lots of work for me with little appreciation from the dinner guests. So we had Rouladen, Spaetzle and green beans. You could call it the German version of Thanksgiving with pumpkin cheesecake for dessert.

I actually had quite a bit of help. While it is sometimes a bit frustrating, the girls love to help me cook. I hate to discourage them. Hey - the sooner they can do it, the sooner I can sit down and relax (no laughing all you mothers out there). I cooked for about four hours and I had at least one helper the whole time. Sasha helped with the Rouladen - she gave me pickle pieces and toothpicks. Erika helped me make Spaetzle - cracking eggs and adding the ingredients to the mixer as well as snipping the ends of the green beens with a scissor. Both of them helped me with the pumpkin cheesecake although Erika took matters into her own hands and decided to add a few extra spoons of cinnamon. Luckily I was able to take most of it back out.

We sat down to dinner (with everything perfectly cooked - a minor miracle) on a beautiful table decorated with handmade construction paper placemats, pinecone turkeys and candles. After the meal, Erika and Sasha serenaded us with the abbreviated version of "Albequerque, he's our turkey".

Salut!!