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About the blog

Welcome to my blog. The main focus of this blog is to share my explorations into handmade goods, mostly of the needlework kind. My interests are varied and include reading fantasy and urban paranormal romance, cross stitching and keeping hamsters. I must inform you that all of the pics and text on this blog are copyright protected unless otherwise stated and are not to be used in any other written or pictorial form without written permission from me. I give credit to the creator of the chart or the publication that published them in the caption. If you feel I have infringed on a copyright, please contact me ASAP. Whew..OK, now on to the fun...Thank you and Welcome.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Thanksgiving Day

I always prefer a bit of a funky menu at the Thanksgiving meal. This is primarily so because growing up in a Cuban-American household, we would have roast port, black beans and rice and the ever ubiquitous boiled cassava. As children of immigrants, we were definitely thankful for the opportunities, even if the gratefulness was a bit marred by resentment of the prejudice and rejection we faced constantly. Still, we knew that here, in the United States, we could at least have "a go" at real success. Our school mates were children of immigrants, too. They were, amongst others, Polish, Peruvian, Irish, Russian, Pakistani, Italian, Vietnamese, Ecuadorian, Korean, and Egyptian. When Thanksgiving Day came around, their tables were invariably filled with foods reminiscent of their own motherlands but always included some "American" dish. At our house it would be a pumpkin pie.

These days, my Thanksgiving table is more traditionally "American". We have string bean casserole and dinner rolls and of course, a gigantic over-cooked turkey. My mother-in-law brings the most fabulous sweet potato concoction with marshmallows and brown sugar ever made. My kids enjoy the American ubiquitous food....  macaroni and cheese. And now, instead of a token "American" food, we have a token Cuban food, something I know my Father would have enjoyed,  such as sweet plantains or turron.

No matter how our Thanksgiving menus may have evolved, however, there are somethings that haven't changed; that is, the love, humility and hope that is felt by all sitting around the table, on the wonderfully American Thanksgiving Day.