My Secret for the Perfect Thanksgiving Feast

I have a love hate relationship with Thanksgiving. I love the idea of giving thanks for our many blessings. I love loved ones gathering for a feast. For years while we lived surrounded by family Thanksgiving was a wonderful holiday. We would each prepare our contribution to the meal and gather and enjoy each other's company.

I began to hate the holiday once we moved away from family. Then Thanksgiving became a one-woman-show and I was the star, director, make-up artist, costumes designer, props manager and audience.... Without others to contribute to the meal, it became so stressful for just me. And I always felt a weird disconnect between giving thanks by eating a huge meal. It doesn't feel like the appropriate way to show my graditude.

Two years ago, I ended up having a migraine 3 hours before all the guest were to arrive and the meal served. I am sure my sickness was because of the stress. Stephen took over while I went to bed. Luckily, my migraine worn off right when the last of the guests arrived. Stephen and my sister-in-law did a wonderful job of putting the meal together and we all enjoyed a delicious feast.

Last year, I just bagged the whole meal. Instead we went to Yosemite and arrived home Thanksgiving night. My sweet Pakistani neighbours noticed we had arrived late in the afternoon on Thanksgiving. Thinking we wouldn't have time to prepare a big traditional Thanksgiving meal, they surprised us with curried meatballs and rice. They were always too kind to us.

So, with the thought of moving out of the States, I thought, "Good I don't have to cook a Thanksgiving meal." Thanksgiving here is in springtime, so it's not a time of harvest anyway. But, about a month before the holiday the thought of skipping the feast didn't seem right. I went searching to see if I could even find a turkey to roast. I found one and it was $175.00!!! "Nope." I thought, "I'm not paying that price for one." Luckily the price went way down closer to the holiday.

Days before Thanksgiving I bought the turkey and a ham. While at the checkout the cashier said, "You're an early bird." It took me a moment to figure out what she was talking about. She assumed I was buying the turkey and ham for Christmas. Then I replied, "No, I'm just American and celebrating Thanksgiving." She very sweetly said, "That's a lovely feast." Then she gave me a weird look and said, "If you eat this for your feast what do you eat for Christmas?" I thought about it for a moment and said, "about the same stuff."

My Secret for the perfect Thanksgiving feast:
Since Thanksgiving is not a New Zealand holiday the kids and husband were all at school or work. I had the whole house to myself. That means no one was going bother me in the kitchen. With no one to bother me and stress me out I was able to cook in peace. Solitude is the secret. I cooked a delicious meal. We invited nearly all the Americans from church including the missionaries (also mostly all American). We used recyclable disposable silverware and plates (to eliminate some of the cleanup). And we had a wonderful stress free feast.

We ended the meal with pies of course. Stephen always makes his grandma's lemon meringue pie. No pumpkin pie. You can't get canned pumpkin here. But kumara (sweet potatoes) are a staple here and make a perfect substitute for pumpkin. After eating we did one of my favourite family traditions and sang Christmas carols. This year we jazzed it up with Penny on the drums and Eva on the flute.

Eva on the flute, Stephen on the keyboard and Pebbles doing vocals

Mally and Pali with the missionaries 

Penny and Lucy on the Drums

Christmas singers

Halloween Down Under

Celebrating Halloween in New Zealand is still a new thing and our suburb is one of the few in Wellington that does. So kids from all over Wellington come in costume to walk the streets of Seatoun searching for candy. I say searching, because not every house gives out candy. You know if a house is up for trick-or-treaters from their spooky decorations. The houses are still few and far between.

Even with few houses giving out candy, it was still fun for my kids to dress up, meet their friends and walk around town. Since it is spring here it felt a little different to be trick-or-treating in daylight. For some odd reason kids start early here. I had trick-or-treaters knocking at our door at 4:30 pm.

The candy assortment is also different here. A few houses just put out bowls of unwrapped gummies and marshmallows. The kids just reached their hands in and took one. I watched a little bit grossed out as my youngest reached into the bowl, took her candy and popped it right into her mouth. She looked back at me for my approval of what she had just done and all I could do was shrug my shoulders and say, "Why not?"

The Hobbit in Middle Earth. Like her hairy feet?

Cinder the Cyborg. 

Lucy Wyldestyle

The cyborg and her friends. 

Lucy with her gang of monsters.

The Hobbit with her loot. 

Road Trip

During the kids' spring holiday from school we took our first family road trip outside of Wellington. We drove 5 hours north of us to Taupo (pronounced toe pour). It's New Zealand's largest lake. On the way there we saw our first sheep. I was so excited. Everyone talks about how many sheep there are here and that there are more sheep then humans. But since being here and living near the city in the suburbs I haven't seen one. But that all changed. Because they keep the sheep in the country. And man, we saw a lot of them. And cow and a few horses too.

We drove through a few cute country towns. And got yummy food at Soul Cafe in Taihape. Not only does that town have delicious food, but it's also the gumboot capital of NZ.

Taihape, Gumboot capital of NZ. 

I was surprised by the landscape around Tongariro National Park. It was the first time I saw desert-like surrounds in NZ. Sadly, it reminded me of the high deserts of Nevada, my least favourite area to drove through. But, from that area we could see the snow-covered volcanoes of Ruapehu, Ngauruhoe (Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings), and Tongariro.

Too desert for my likings

At Taupo we stayed at a nice Air B&B for three nights. We walked through the Craters of the Moon Geothermal Park. It reminded me of Yellowstone only much smaller, far less people and not so stinky. We walked on a boardwalk through steaming craters and bubbling mud pots. Even with rain it was very enjoyable.

DANGER, these girls are on fire!

We also drove to the rapids flowing from Aratiatia Dam. They release water from the dam a few times a day. We missed the dam opening by 3 minutes. But we were still there to see the gorge full of white rapids. We were the only ones who stayed long enough to see the dam shut and all the water flow down the gorge leaving a small stream again. Then we drove further up the Waikato River to see Huka Falls.

On one day we drove and hour and a half to Matamata to see the Hobbiton movie set. It was so cute and quaint. We enjoyed a 2 hour walking tour through the shire which ended with drinks at the Green Dragon. There our kids humoured us and put on Hobbit costumes and posed for a picture. I am tempted to use it as our family Christmas card pic.

Spring with the blossoms was the perfect time to visit Hobbiton

"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit..."

Lucy is the perfect size to be a hobbit.

I'm too tall. 

Samwise Gamgee's hole.

The Green Dragon

Would you like some ginger beer? Sorry, not butter beer. 

On another day we took a steam boat to sail to see the Maori rock carvings. The captain even let Lucy steer the boat. The carvings are really fantastic. And it's so touching to here the story behind the carvings. The carvings are all about respect and honour for their ancestors.

Maori Rock Carvings

Our boat was a replicate 1920's steam boat. 

Taupo is known for its geothermal hot springs. We went to Spa Park and waded in the hot springs flowing into the Waikato River. The pools are hot and rocky. Next time I am wearing water socks. It was really fun. We didn't bring our cameras. So, sadly no pictures.

On Sunday we went to church at the Taupo Ward. It's nice to always be able to find a group of fellow saints to meet with. Then we drove home. We stayed entertained through the car ride with listening to a lot of the kids pod casts like Six Minutes. We felt like it was a highly successful road trip. Looking forward to our next one, Hamilton just after Christmas to see the Christmas lights around the Hamilton Temple.

More Kiwi Cooking

Meat pies are a popular Kiwi dish. And they should be. What crazy person doesn't enjoy savoury meat and vegetables wrapped into a warm flaky pie shell? Not me! I'm not that crazy. Cute little individual pies are sold in all the cafes and corner daries. And they are tasty!

I bought small spring form pans, made for individual meat pies. Each week I have my daughters help with dinner. Last night it was Lucy's turn. She chose to make chicken and veggie pot pies. I have become a little obsessed with puff pastry sheets. Even the recipe in Edmonds Cookery Book calls for using store bought puff pastry sheets for the pie shell. They are so cheap and easy and they bake up perfectly flaky every time. We rolled and cut out the puff pastry. Plopped it in the pans. Filled the pies with chicken, veggies, and a soupy sauce. Threw the on a top and decorated it with cookie cutter cutouts from the extra dough. Super easy. Even a 6 year-old can do it. They turned out pretty cute and pretty delicious.

The Chef

Enjoy! 

Touring Middle Earth

A few weeks ago we toured the Weta Cave. It's the place where the physical special effects for movies are created. It's a live workshop. While we were there employees were busy working on their next projects. Because it is a work space you can't take photos during the tour except for in a few places. So, we don't have a lot of photos, just a lot of memories of all the cool stuff we saw and heard.

Lucy and Eva looking like happy Hobbits soon to be attacked by an ogre. 

My precious new friend. 

Flying the Thunderbirds Are Go exhibit. 

Kiwi Cooking

A Classic New Zealand Cookbook

I recently read a New Zealand travel guide that mentioned The Edmonds Cookery Book. It says, "Almost every Kiwi household has a battered copy of The Edmonds Cookery Book, first published in 1908... The book is the first place people turn for making the sort of cakes and desserts that fill the shelves of rural tearooms... Fancier modern cafes are now reinventing these retro Kiwi classics." Apparently, the cookbook has a recipe for Afghans. Afghans are the name for a yummy chocolate biscuit (cookie). I have bough them a few times and we have really liked them. They have something crunchy in them that I really liked but I wasn't sure what it was. Maybe toffee? Maybe hokey pokey (honeycomb, very common in sweets here). I remember seeing the cookbook at the grocery store and I knew I needed it.

The Secret Ingredient. 

 The recipe divulged the "secret ingredient," cornflakes! Seriously?! Cornflakes are the yummy crunchiness. Who would have guessed? Not me.

The Final Product. Dark and Delicious. 

I baked the biscuits tonight for our family treat and they were a big hit. Like always, I didn't follow the recipe completely. I didn't want to take the extra steps of making icing and frosting them. So I added small dark chocolate bits (chocolate chips) instead. All who tasted them were pleased and wanted more. I will bake them again and again. It's good to have a new cookie to add to my recipe repertoire.

Leave Nature Alone

Not the bird in this story, but a bird near where this story took place. 

One morning while running along the beach I spotted a seagull pecking at what looked like a plastic wrapper. I thought, "Oh no! I must save this bird from swallowing a plastic object." So, believing myself as being a good global citizen, I ran at the bird to scare it away so that I could then get the plastic from it. Only then did I discover that the "plastic wrapper" was really a fish. "Wow! birds eat fish in New Zealand," I thought to myself. But, I felt so bad for scaring that bird away from its breakfast.

Lesson learned: leave nature alone.