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Thanksgiving from the Archives

11/21/2011

7 Comments

 
Thanksgiving is almost here and let’s face it, it’s gonna be different this year.  It’s easier than you might imagine, actually.  I mean, you know that the French don’t celebrate it. You know it intellectually.  But seriously, the French don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.  There isn’t anything Thanksgiving-y around to make me feel like I should really be celebrating properly.  There aren’t any pumpkins, no silly turkey cartoon images plastered on everything, no brown and gold and red autumn colors to remind us that it’s the fall.  There’s no cinnamon/ginger/nutmeg/clove spiced everything either.  

It’s easy not to miss it when it’s not there.  But now that I’m writing about it, I do miss it.  The French don’t really understand what all the fuss is about.  But the Americans, well, we love it.  All around.  Not a single American I know has said they’re skipping out on the festivities.  Not a single one has said they don’t mind doing something else.  Because what we know, is that it’s really the best holiday ever.  It’s a day devoted entirely to being with family and friends, eating good food and giving thanks for what we have.  It’s called gratitude and it’s a wonderful thing. 

I won’t be in California this Thanksgiving, but neither will my family.  My parents, brothers and a good family friend jetted off this morning for Vietnam and Thailand, where they’ll be traveling for the next 3 weeks or so.  I’ll be off to Paris again to celebrate “A Very French Thanksgiving” with a bunch of Americans and a Frenchman.

In the meantime, this little gem is “from the archives,” if you will.  I made these cupcakes last year to rave reviews.  They’re adorable and time consuming and I love them.  I don’t have a step-by-step tutorial for these, but the cupcake is from the Peanut Butter and Chocolate cake, the frosting is Ina Garten’s Chocolate Buttercream and is piped in a modified shell pattern with a small(ish) round tip. The tail feathers are toasted almond slices. The chocolate face is the secret ingredient: on a sheet of wax paper, microwave a melting chocolate disk until soft enough to slide down the wax paper.  Once you’ve achieved the shape you want, hold it, slightly curved until the chocolate is hardened (or set it in the freeze propped up in a curved position until set) then pipe the eyes, nose and mouth with a small round tip.  I got the idea from a friend of my brother, who made something similar. 
7 Comments
Ashley - Baker by Nature link
11/20/2011 07:58:54 pm

These are SO adorable! Hope your Thanksgiving is still filled with great food, warmth and love from those around you.

Reply
slenderella newman
11/20/2011 09:14:39 pm

Does your mother know that when she's globe trotting you're off taunting her WW tribe??? ;-D These are just lovely and too cute. I believe that it is now your solemn duty to remake these beauties into a more WW friendly recipe --PLEEEEEZZZZEEEE!!!!

Reply
Katie link
11/20/2011 10:05:58 pm

Ashley - Thank you! These cupcakes take a lot of work, but were SO worth it. I hope the same for your thanksgiving, too!

SN - Maybe it should be a challenge for YOU. ;)

Reply
Wendy
11/21/2011 12:39:42 am

These are great! I won't shoe DH as he loves anything peanut butter.

Have a happy thanksgiving!

Reply
R. Riley
11/21/2011 01:05:44 pm

Absolutely adorable! I'd like to eat one now.

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Marsha Carvalho
11/21/2011 01:43:22 pm

Our family was in Hong Kong one year at Thanksgiving, and we had dinner (they even had turkey on the menu!) at the Peninsula Hotel on Kowloon. I (trying to be festive...) brought along some of those sorta honeycomb foldout paper turkeys, which I placed in the center of the table. First one server, and then another, and then ANOTHER sauntered over to take a wary-eyed look, and I eventually folded them back up and put them back in my purse, thinking maybe they were w-a-y politically incorrect. I bet they'd have liked your cupcakes a LOT better.

Reply
Kelli H link
11/22/2011 01:17:27 am

Those are so freaking cute!

I think I would miss Thanksgiving too if I weren't celebrating it.

Reply



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    Katie

    Baker. Traveler. Writer.

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