Thanksgiving in January

When the 'kids' come to visit, it's time to celebrate (and get cooking!)

A belated Thanksgiving celebration, with a French apple tart and chocolate cake. (Photos by Nagisa Kamae)

Our son and daughter-in-law had several requests when they came for a short visit just a few days into the new year. They wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving. No matter if we couldn’t find a whole turkey—they just wanted the trimmings: cranberry sauce, stuffing, pies—all the foods they couldn’t easily find in Japan.

And Nagisa, whose birthday is in early January, wanted to make one of her signature birthday cakes for my cousin’s baby granddaughter, who just turned one, and for my neighbor Susie whose birthday is also in January. She’d been practicing on her young nephews and niece and knew just what kind of cartoon character she wanted to make—a Teletubby creature called Po!

A layered strawberry shortcake that Nagisa made in a rounded bowl/mold, then decorated to look like a Teletubby called Po using pink-tinted whipped cream, marshmallow fondant, cookies and icing pens.

And then there were the gyoza, the small stuffed dumplings that she loves to make for special occasions, something she learned from her grandmother when she was very small and fashions as meticulously as she does her paintings (which you should definitely check out on her Instagram page here). They’re filled with ground pork, something I normally don’t eat, but, for this occasion, I was going to be her assistant and hopefully glean a few tips about making gyoza. Of course I needed to sample a few! (In a future post, I hope to share how to make them—though perhaps I will fill them with ground chicken or tofu!)

Nagisa and Sam had arrived the day after the Los Angeles wildfires had blown up, devastating our city, and we wondered if their plane would be delayed or rerouted because of the extreme winds and smoke, but it touched down right on schedule. And we were grateful for the distraction from both the fires and the angst (and worse!) that many of us had been experiencing as we awaited the arrival of a new administration in Washington.

My son Sam and his wife Nagisa. Despite the knife, no violence ensued. (Photo by Jefferson Graham)

Cooking—particularly baking—as I’ve discovered over the years, provides a most effective diversion from disturbing news, thoughts and feelings. That and binge-watching television (my latest guilty pleasure has been the fifth season of All Creatures Great and Small on PBS). Also helpful are podcasts (nonpolitical ones!) and books on tape (an excellent kitchen companion when you’re cooking too!), reading cookbooks and bookmarking recipes I want to make, New York Times word games (which sometimes make me feel stupid when I can’t solve them!), and sleep if you can shut your mind off enough to enjoy it. Another great distraction is travel, and there are plans afoot to do more of that soon!

What are your favorite distractions when you need relief from the news or your own whirling brain? I’d love to know.

Marvelous muffins

During this visit, I rediscovered the wonders of muffin-making. For one thing, they’re a snap to whip up to feed hungry folks; they can be made and baked in less than an hour and usually include ingredients you have on hand. You can eat them immediately, save and reheat them, freeze them, or transport them to a friend or fellow in need. You can even eat them yourself with a cup of tea while writing a blog post (that’s what I’m doing now!). And people are invariably pleased to receive them. What’s not to like?

You can also change them to suit the tastes, whims and diets of your guests. Nut allergies? Leave them out. Too sweet? Reduce the sugar. Want to sub whole wheat for white flour for part or all of the recipe? Just do it!

From left, blueberry muffins, cranberry sauce muffins and banana nut muffins.

I ended up making four varieties over a two-week span, including blueberry muffins from a recipe in Anne Byrn’s excellent Baking in the American South. With her permission, I will share it with you in a future post. Meanwhile, here are links to the three other muffin recipes I made: Leftover Cranberry Sauce Muffins, Sweet Potato Muffins, and Banana Muffins.¹

---

Speaking of muffins: Each year Julia Levy, who writes The Switchboard here on Substack exploring the way we communicate and connect at work, holds a Philanthropic Food Holiday on National Muffin Day, in which people bake muffins for those in need, with money raised and donated to worthy charities based on the number of muffins that are made. (Can you think of a sweeter cause?) This year, Julia’s 11th year doing this, the event will take place on Sunday, Feb. 23. The proceeds will support those affected by the fires in L.A. and the hurricane in North Carolina in September. To find out more, click here.

---

The nation’s attention is on Washington—or it should be because the goings on at the nation’s capital are head-spinning, and we need to stay alert and make sure that our democracy doesn’t fall apart while we’re immersed in our own lives, or, like me, trying to bake away our sorrows.

We’ve finally seen a teensy bit of rain in Southern California. We need some more—though not enough to trigger mudslides—but hopefully it will help firefighters contain the blazes that have consumed so many thousands of acres and homes and disrupted so many lives here in L.A.

At a donation site at the local YMCA, a car, at left, is packed with supplies that the owner, who lost 2 jobs because of the fire, needs to feed his young family; Karly, center, a volunteer; at right, pairs of donated shoes.

I managed to spend a few hours at the local YMCA helping people who had lost everything and were shopping for goods they needed—everything from toilet paper to peanut butter to underwear to toys for the kids to dog food and kitty litter to reading glasses to cords to charge their iPhones. Local restaurants had donated pizzas, sandwiches, energy drinks, coffee, donuts and snacks for the volunteers. There were even vegan and gluten-free options.

Many L.A. eateries are struggling themselves because the customers that used to frequent them have been coping with evacuations, and losing their homes and neighborhoods. Many establishments have become first-responders, supplying firefighters, volunteers and evacuees with meals free of charge. But meanwhile, they’re dealing with their own losses, including immigrant workers who are terrified of deportation, whether they’re here with permission or not. Some may decide not to show up for their jobs for fear of raids or being asked about the status of their family members.

There’s clearly a lot of pain to go around. But still we look for joy and hope amid the gloom. This week, a group of food bloggers did what we do: made food—gluten and red meat-free—for a family that had lost their home of many years in Pacific Palisades. On the menu: ginger butternut soup, Thai vegetable and chicken curry with rice, quinoa with chickpeas and roasted vegetables, a coconut flour banana cake with chocolate ganache frosting. I made some gluten-free granola cookies that I had to hide from my husband who was ready to devour the whole batch.

The recipient, Valentina, who had grown up in Pacific Palisades, wrote that the picture I had included in my last post of a bridge in the Temescal Canyon had triggered bittersweet memories.

Picture of Temescal Canyon Trail (via AllTrailsUser)

“The canyon has a special place in my heart (along with everything in town). My dad was on the Temescal Cyn Assocation, helped build the trails and bridges, and hiked every trail hundreds of times.”

In a postscript, she added":

“Your granola cookies lasted 2 days. We devoured and loved them. With love and gratitude, Valentina.”

In case you want to make these cookies (which really were good!), you can find a link to the recipe here. I reduced the maple syrup to 1/4 cup and omitted the coconut sugar—and they were still plenty sweet! Like the muffins, I think they’d comfort anyone in need—including yourself!

Easy Flourless Granola Cookies from Minimalist Baker. The recipe calls for flattening the cookies slightly before baking, but I missed that part. I actually like them this way though.

Thanks SO very much for reading, liking, commenting and subscribing to this newsletter. If you enjoy my work, please share it with your friends so I can reach more folks. There’s still no charge other than the gift of your time. If you have story ideas or are interested in collaborating on a post, I’d love to hear from you too!

See you next time.

Ruth

1. In almost all of these recipes, I reduced the sugar and subbed some white whole wheat flour for part of the white flour. I added a half cup of toasted walnuts to the banana muffins and sprinkled some more on top.