Thanksgiving is one of my absolute favorite holidays. I have so many wonderful memories of family celebrations: visiting with aunts, uncles, and cousins, stuffing myself with amazing food, and of course, the pies, people, the pies! I’m so happy that Hubby and I decided to do a mini celebration here in Brazil. Especially now that we have Little Man, holiday traditions feel even more important to me, and I want us to create our own family traditions that incorporate both American and Brazilian culture.
We decided to invite Hubby's brothers, sister-in-law, and our friends/neighbors to have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with us. Dinner took place at 7:30 p.m. because, of course, no one here had the day off from work. Our menu included roast turkey and gravy, green beans, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. We made everything from scratch and it was delicious--especially Hubby's homemade gravy. Most of our guests had never had much "American" food before, let alone Thanksgiving fare. I got to give a mini-vocabulary lesson, teaching them the names of the dishes.
Now, to me, the most important part of Thanksgiving is the pie. Back home, we had a running joke for many years with my Dad's family, "Is it pie o'clock yet?" We were always waiting for that magical time the same way some people look forward to five o'clock so they can start drinking. Initially, I thought of making traditional pumpkin pie. But in order to make one we’d need to buy a bunch of supplies and ingredients that would cost a silly amount of money for a single pie. So then, I decided to make an traditional and delicious Brazilian dessert with an American/Thanksgiving twist: Pumpkin Pudim de Leite. Pudim de Leite is a dessert dish made with a Brazilian favorite--condensed milk. For anyone who has never eaten it before, I would describe it as sort of like flan but less eggy, more of a custardy pudding. It has the same basic caramel sauce on top, but Pudim de Leite is ridiculously creamy and delicious. It love making this dish because it is really versatile and it’s easy to experiment with new flavors and additions. Hubby, for instance, loves coconut, and adds a little coconut extract and powdered coconut to the basic pudim recipe.
Anyway, I got all the ingredients, found a recipe to base my dish off of, and took pictures of the whole process, step by step, to share with you all. This is the last photo I took, just as the pudim went into the oven for a nice water bath.
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| I didn't plan for this to say "American" at the top... |
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| Good friends and good food. |
Now, to me, the most important part of Thanksgiving is the pie. Back home, we had a running joke for many years with my Dad's family, "Is it pie o'clock yet?" We were always waiting for that magical time the same way some people look forward to five o'clock so they can start drinking. Initially, I thought of making traditional pumpkin pie. But in order to make one we’d need to buy a bunch of supplies and ingredients that would cost a silly amount of money for a single pie. So then, I decided to make an traditional and delicious Brazilian dessert with an American/Thanksgiving twist: Pumpkin Pudim de Leite. Pudim de Leite is a dessert dish made with a Brazilian favorite--condensed milk. For anyone who has never eaten it before, I would describe it as sort of like flan but less eggy, more of a custardy pudding. It has the same basic caramel sauce on top, but Pudim de Leite is ridiculously creamy and delicious. It love making this dish because it is really versatile and it’s easy to experiment with new flavors and additions. Hubby, for instance, loves coconut, and adds a little coconut extract and powdered coconut to the basic pudim recipe.
Anyway, I got all the ingredients, found a recipe to base my dish off of, and took pictures of the whole process, step by step, to share with you all. This is the last photo I took, just as the pudim went into the oven for a nice water bath.
There are no additional pictures because the pudim was an epic, epic fail. Nearest I can figure, the small amount of pumpkin I added to the recipe created too much moisture and the darn thing just wouldn't firm up all the way. It was actually really, really delicious, it just looked like crap [literally]. Obviously, I couldn't serve it to my guests. I was thankful I decided to make it ahead of time so there was still time to make something else.
This time, I decided to go with something a little more reliable and foolproof. In the end I made an apple pie, but more of a dutch apple pie. You can't go wrong with something that's basically made entirely of butter and sugar, if you ask me. I totally forgot to snap a picture of it before our guests dug in, but here is a photo from and link back to the recipe I used:
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| Recipe here |
Of course the holiday made me miss my family and home. New England got hit with a bit snowstorm the night before Thanksgiving and seeing the photos made me miss the snow and cold [never thought that would be possible]. We ate dinner on our veranda; it was about 80 degrees with a nice refreshing breeze. I am very thankful for the family and friends who came to our house yesterday and made it a really happy, enjoyable time.
I hope you all had wonderful celebrations too!
We had a great Thanksgiving at Vera & Brian's. Too much delicious food was eaten by all. We missed you so very much, tho & can't wait to be with you again!
ReplyDeletePie looks delicious. Happy Thanksgiving. We miss you!
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