Le Petit Poulailler

French Toast & Sunshine

Once again, referring to the very cool & utterly charming PreSchool Education Calendar, today I give you .... National French Toast Day !!

Now *this* is a celebration I can really get into!  L was lucky in that I noticed the date last night, so we had these this morning.  Well, not *these* these (the image is from MarthaStewart.com), but I borrowed the idea of kabob'ing the toasts with berries & banana slices this morning & I have to tell you ... YUM!

Use whatever recipe you usually use for the dipping & a bit thicker bread ~ Texas toast worked wonderfully.  It holds up to the batter & you can really get a nice crisp to the slices which is great for cutting & kabob-staying ability.  Cinnamon is a must at this house.  As is the powdered sugar.

I must to say it again ~ YUM!

We've had such overcast skies over the last few days, photo taking has been all but impossible.  Not that mine are that great to begin with ~ I really need to work on the photo thing.

My eldest IS a photographer ... published & everything (*puffs chest proudly*)  Obviously she did NOT get her talent from this shallow end of the gene pool.  I'm not sure why photo taking is such a challenge for me, but ... there it is.  I was probably forever marked by all those years of using a Kodak Brownie Instamatic.  Which I'm really not making fun of, especially given that the silly thing is probably worth a bazillion dollars on eBay if I still had it.  What was great about taking photographs in the 60s & 70s ~ not everyone had a camera as they do now so, when you had one, all the cute boys were very willing to ham it up for a photo session.  Yes, I was indeed shameless.

I've been spending my time (after the post-Thanksgiving Clean-Up Blitzkrieg) putting together some bags/totes/purses.  I've only to get the handles on & they'll be done.  Two have been claimed as Pre-Selected Christmas Presents by the girls, but the rest will make it to the shop most probabably by week's end.

I'm sure I'll get the sewing part done but the iffy part is having the sunshine to photograph them.
And, that being said, I'm off  now to retake some just AWFUL earlier photographs & get them uploaded to the shop.

Pumpkin Pie & Purses

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  Guiltless celebration of this life's bounty & blessings, friends & family.

Aaaaaaaaaaand ... the "food" part is pretty okay, too.  My daughters are all about the twice baked potatoes and the stuffing (and I have to say, I'm a good cook so I really can't blame them).  But, for my money? (and calorie overload) ... it's all about the pie, baby.  Pumpkin pie.

Be it basic custard-y or chiffoned, cheesecaked or miniature pie-letted; be it with pie crust lace-edged or fluted ... man, there is just nothing better than sneaking a nice slice of pumpkin pie at 10:30 pm.  Dishes done, snoring coming from as many couches as there are in the house ... just you now ~ you and that scrumptious indulgence.

Okay.  I'm definitely drooling.

Just out of curiosity, I googled "pumpkin pie" recipes to compare to the recipe I've made for 30 years.  And my mother made for as many before that.  And, unbelievably, it's the very same recipe.  Down to the very light nutmeg dusting on the cremé topping. 

I've always sworn by the basic Libby's pumpkin pie recipe.  I tried, one year, to do the scooping - out - your - own - pumpkin - cooking - it - down - making - the - pie - from - scratch thing and when everyone didn't fall down and worship me for my efforts, I decided :) Libby is good enough for me!  The girls *did* enjoy the bounty of pumpkin seeds that I roasted ... but we have that anyway with our Hallowe'en pumpkin carving.

Anyway, I was surprised to find that Libby's recipe hasn't changed in at least 30 years.  Probably because it's so good.  The only thing that I do differently ... I don't do the Cool Whip thing.  mmmMMMmmm crème fraiche.  Oh, yeah ... definitely having that come Thursday.  Trust me on this one ~ there is no comparison. 

Today was Clean Up Before the Storm Day.  Laundry, dusting ... all that unfun stuff before the kids get here (and anyone they may bring along).  I did manage to select & cut out the fabrics for the new purse I wanted to do based on the Carl Larsson Home Faerie painting.  Tomorrow, I'll work it up, I think.  For now though, I'm heading to my bed & hopefully to dreams of mmmmmmm punkin pie.

Menu Planning

Thanksgiving always sneaks up on me.

It's my very most favorite holiday, too.  But it always catches me unaware.  This year is no exception.

Most of everything we'll prepare ... well, I'll prepare while my daughters supervise from across the breakfast counter, munching on r oasted pumpkin seeds & cranberry juice Shirley Temples & impatiently waiting for the stuffing to be cooked so they can pick at it, while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.  We always have stuffing IN the bird & another extra casserole filled (just in case we have unexpected guests or do a midnight raid (which is more likely)) ... anyway, MOST of everything we'll have for T-Giving dinner is prepared from recipes handed down from my mother & grandmother.  Very nice; a wonderful feeling of continuity. 

Grandma's cookbook ~ her Bible, actually ~ was a 1936 copy of The Joy of Cooking.  It is a completely thorough & utterly daunting book.  Not meant for the macaroni & cheese crowd or microwave oven chefs. Grandma gave my mother her own copy in 1943 on the event of her marriage to my father & it's the only cookbook I ever remember my mother using.

I inherited both these jewels when I married & was the last child to leave the nest (& Mom said "THAT'S enough cooking for ME!").  It's the cookbook I turn to first when looking for direction in the kitchen.

But, when I just want to have fun, the most friendly cookbook I've ever owned is Margaret Rudkin Pepperidge Farm Cookbook.   I first saw it (& bought immediately) in 1970.  If you've never seen it ... it is a treat.  Sweet illustrations by Erik Blegvad.  DeeeeeeeeLISHous recipes that will remind older readers (like me) what was so fantastic about  Pepperidge Farm back in the 60s, when they first appeared on our corner grocery shelves.  If you think their cookies are good NOW ... well, you should have tasted their stuff when they first started out.

So ... this week I'll go through Joy of Cooking & Pepperidge Farm & most of all, my shoe box-full of recipes hand written by Mom & come up with the menu for my favorite holiday.  All the while I'll be enjoying my daughters' company greatly, missing my mother mightily ... and trying to remember that 3 women do NOT need to have 2 pies, ice cream & twice baked potatoes in order to properly give thanks.