GOBBLE GOBBLE! HAPPY THANKSGIVING FOLKS!! :)

A very happy Thanksgiving to all of you!:))

Here is my last year's Thanksgiving post! This post is just to thank all of you all more than the usual recipes galore. Enjoy your families and friends! I will be on a short break from Thursday until Sunday. Kids have 5 days of holiday, got to start driving to some unplanned little town just for a weekend getaway!:)

Historically, harvest festivals and thanksgiving celebrations were held by most of the cultures all over the World. You can read all about it here.
Here are few an interesting facts and Myths about Thanksgiving!! Did you know they had suggested the Turkey as one of the birds for American symbol before they chose the Eagle? They also think that they might not have had the Turkey for the "First Thanksgiving" feast!!

"Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is a traditional North American holiday to give thanks at the conclusion of the harvest season.Families and friends gather for a reunion, a day of thanks, and a festive meal." (WIKIPEDIA)
President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a Federal holiday as a "prayerful day of Thanksgiving" on the last Thursday in November, 1939 and was approved by the US congress in 1941.

Here is my thanks:
I thank each and every one of you who come to visit to say hello to me every week and share part of your lives with me and teaching me a lot about many things too and to my family for being there for me always. Without all your support, my blogs and life in general would be colorless and bare!! I have made many new friends through blogging this year and in one short year, you have made me feel so loved and appreciated like never before.For that, I am grateful to all of you.I haven't even had a day of allergy or flu for more than a year, I think my mind and body are happy and in sync, thanks to all of you and my family!!:)

Blog friends, let's keep all our blogging purely fun and without malice. Life is too short for ugliness, let's all be beautiful!! Enjoy, laugh, love, live, (try and forgive mean people who leave nasty comments!) and count your blessings. Wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!:)

I thank GOD for bringing Fall colors to North Carolina at last! There is light at the end of the tunnel after all. YAY!!:D


NC is in it's element with full force. It's just gorgeous around here right now!! Heaven is back on Earth!!

"The World is my Oyster!!"
This quote comes from Shakespeare's "The Merry Wives of Windsor";
Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open.
Sword? Nay, I shall open my World Oyster with a click of a mouse at crack of dawn, with a smile on my face and with light loving heart armed with my fully loaded blog roll to reach all your Laptops in every corner of the World! How about that for a change Shakespeare saheb?! Hahaha!!

Photo from fotosearch.
I thank God for laptops too!:D
It's still amazes me how these little Laptops and desktops connects and unites us all like minded people from all over the World!! It's like having the whole World on your lap and you forget the real World around you sometimes!:D

Thanksgiving feast in USA:
"Thanksgiving meals are traditionally family events where certain kinds of food are served. First and foremost, Turkey is the featured item in most Thanksgiving feasts (so much so that Thanksgiving is sometimes referred to as a "Turkey Day"). Stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, corn, turnips, yams and pumpkin pie are commonly associated with Thanksgiving dinner." Info from WIKIPEDIA.

Our Thanksgiving Feast!
(We are having our Thanksgiving lunch a day early, so we can plan to leave on Thursday afternoon, that's why a little delayed post today!)
Turkey cutlets with Mushroom Turkey Gravy, whole wheat Bread-corn-herbs stuffing, Cranberry-Pineapple-Mandarin orange sauce, Apple butter, Mango Chutney, sauteed Green and Yellow beans in sauce topped with French's crunchy fried Onions, Mashed Garlic Potatoes with gravy and maple syrup glazed Yams(skipping Pumpkin Pie this year)in Graham Cracker crust with little cream on top (which melted by the time I took photos!) and served with warm Apple Cider flavored with a Cinnamon stick and lastly, added a handmade Turkey to the platter, my son's old elementary school craft project, a wooden clothes pin Turkey!!:D

Here is a platter for you, enjoy!:)



How did Thanksgiving became a tradition in my house?!
Before we moved to USA from England, we had never heard of Thanksgiving at all! That first year in 1994, we were really puzzled to see all these traveling,celebration and most of all cooking Turkey and all the mishaps one encounters while cooking that bird! When you don't have kids in school, you don't really learn much about local traditions and then kids grow up and teach us a few lessons of history of the land too!:)
I still didn't really think of celebrating until one day my son, then a 3rd grader, who is born and raised in US said "I am an American, I want a Turkey too!" Well..who can say no after that!!:D
I baked a 7lb Turkey for the first time following all the directions on the pack, it came out perfect. Turkey with all the trimmings was on a beautifully decorated table made my son and us very happy. Then he decided he doesn't want to deal with all bones after all. So next year, we just baked the Turkey breasts and year after, we baked a whole Chicken Tandoori style and now we are back to Turkey cutlets and all those trimmings!!:D
Anyway, we like the thought behind the "Thanksgiving" of giving thanks to all the people around us for caring and helping us thru' the year, not to mention the yummy feast attached to it and decided to celebrate Thanksgiving as one of our Traditions too just like we chose to celebrate Diwali and Shivaratri! Now, we look forward to Thanksgiving like any other family in America!:))


This post goes to Meeta of "What's for lunch Honey?" blog as my entry for her "Monthly Mingle" with a theme of "Traditional Feasts" this month. Thanks for hosting Meeta!:))


Here are my maple and Dogwood trees infront of house blazing with color and lawn is green too!



Savor every minute of life, enjoy the long weekend! See you all on Monday in your blogs and will post JFI-Toor dal next week!:))

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I tried and loved Mythreyee of "Try this recipe" blog's Chana Masala recipe on Monday. This is not the usual North Indian Chana or Chole masala but very tasty South Indian style recipe, I added a cubed Potato instead of grinding it. I served it with Pooris, it was delicious. Thanks Myth!:)