Sweet and fresh aromas for a happy Thanksgiving

I did not grow up celebrating Thanksgiving but I've learned to enjoy it as one of the most special American holidays.

I've spent Thanksgiving at Brady's family and friend's homes, and have enjoyed different and delicious meals.  The last couple of years, however, it's been just Brady and I, and we make sure it is as special as it should be.

We cook, we eat, we drink, we listen to music, and we eat again. Brady cooks the meal, I am the helper, setting the table nicely, arranging flowers and candles, taking photographs, and making the dessert, always a simple and sweet melt-in-the-mouth one. It feels cozy.

Mind you, our Thanksgiving menu perhaps is not a traditional one, but it's comfort and good food, and we get excited about cooking together.

This year, our meal had aromas of chopped pecans, brown sugar, vanilla, lots of garlic, fresh rosemary and cranberries, and it was beautifully colorful.

We had rosemary & garlic roast, that was marinated the evening before with salt, minced & whole garlic, pepper and rosemary springs. The next day it was cooked with baby potatoes, carrots and celery for about 2 1/2 hours. It was so flavorful and tender, and I ended up eating more meat than I am accustomed to.

For the first time, instead of white mashed potatoes, we had baked sweet mashed potatoes topped with a pecan, vanilla, brown sugar and butter crust,  and I wondered why I had never eaten it before.

What can I say about the cranberry sauce we had? It was the first time I had homemade cranberry sauce, do you believe that? Maybe that's the reason I did not like it before. Fresh organic cranberries, the sweetness of freshly squeezed orange juice, some sugar, perfect consistency and texture. It is most likely we will be making it again, and again, so delicious it was.

Coconut and pineapple custard topped with homemade meringue. I could not imagine a simpler dessert, and yet so delicious. Unfortunately, I forgot to take some pictures for the blog, bummer!
I apologize. I'll share the recipe with photos soon. I promise.

Thanksgiving day...

DIY Round Placemat Set

My sister Maria Olímpia gave me the best gifts ever. She knew I like handmade stuff, and every time I went back to Brazil to visit my family she would give me something special.

One of these gifts was a set of handmade round placemats made out of cardboard and fabric. I use them on our everyday meals a lot, and to keep them looking good I just use a slightly damp cloth.

This year, I decided to make new ones giving them a decorative Christmas flair. This is such an effortless and economical way to add style and charm to a table, and I love them.

While I used Cynthia Rowley napkins to make my new placemat set, grab any beautiful fabric you can get your hands on.

Supplies:

• cardboard - the best type to use is dense cardboard, usually found in craft and/or art supply stores, they are strong and not too thick. Do not use cake round boards as they are made out of corrugated cardboard, and their rough edges will show and they will look shabby.
• round template - I used a round tray
• fabric of your choice 
• craft glue - modge podge is the best for this project
• foam brush
• pen 
• scissors

Step One: Trace the round template onto the back of the fabric.

Step Two: Carefully cut out the circles.

Step Three: Use the foam brush to spread the glue onto each circle onto the cardboard, and glue the fabric to the cardboard.

Whether you are looking to add them to your placemat collection, this quick and one-of-a-kind DIY placemats can be the perfect hostess gift.

DIY using paint & tapes

Here is my latest little DIY project,  just mixing and matching acrylic paint, washi and fabric tapes to turn boring plastic cutlery into cute embellished ones. A fun way to jazz them up.

"And if you use washi tapes on the ends? I've seen some spoons customized with them."

That was my friend asking me to to bring some party cheer to a bunch of plastic spoons and forks for her daughter's birthday party, and she was right, we all have seen some diy using washi tapes to embellish spoons & forks, but I thought of adding a little pizzazz to this idea by adding paint and just details of tapes to customize them to her party's theme and color scheme, and it turned out an incredibly simple and fun project to make.

What you'll need: water based non-toxic acrylic craft paint, paintbrush, washi and/or fabric tapes, and a pair of scissors.

Paint the ends first, I did only one coat with a few retouches. Use tapes in different colors and patterns, choosing between a subtle combo or something a bit bolder. Use scissors to trim the tape off neatly.

Plastic cutlery is disposable, but these embellished ones can be reused if you wash their ends carefully, it's up to you, and by the way, this idea can be applied to wooden cutlery as well.

Sweet, simple and easy, that's how I like diy!

Pumpkin Shaped Chocolate Truffles - Pumpkin Shaped Brigadeiro

If I could I would, but I can't. Admittedly, I would love to, but that's not my reality, not right now, maybe one day, who knows?

I'm talking about having more time to dedicate to things I love to do, like cooking, gardening, taking photos, reading, blogging, and so on. Like this post, I wanted to have published it I a few days ago, but it dos not matter now, the important thing is that I could do it this morning.

I got inspired to make these pumpkin shaped candies when I saw this post  by my friend Marly, I thought it was such a cute idea. I did not follow her recipe though, instead I made Brigadeiros. Remember them? Only this time I used white chocolate powder and food coloring to make them look like pumpkins.

Pumpkin Shaped Chocolate Truffles - Brigadeiro
Makes about 25 candies

♥ 3 tablespoon white chocolate powder
♥ 1 can of sweetened condensed milk
♥ 1 tablespoon of butter
♥ Food coloring (combine yellow & red to achieve the orange color)
♥ Orange sugar crystals
♥ Semi-sweet morsels to decorate

Mix the condensed milk, chocolate powder, butter, and food coloring in a medium saucepan, and cook over medium-low heat stirring constantly (this is important) until the mixture becomes thick and shiny, and starts to pull away from the bottom and sides of the pan.

Remove from the heat and immediately pour the mixture into a plate greased with butter.

The mixture needs to be cooled off completely before being rolled into small balls. I like to place it in the refrigerator to speed up this process.

To make it easy to roll the mixture, you can either lightly rub some softened butter on your palm hands, or wet them with cold water. Using a small spoon scoop out the chocolate mixture and roll it into small balls between your palms.

Roll each ball in the sugar crystals and place them in paper candy cups. To make the pumpkin shape press the top gently, and with a slightly wet toothpick  make creases all around it. The finishing touch is to place a chocolate morsel on top of each candy to resemble stems.

Happy Halloween! Have Fun Everybody!

Carrot and Coconut Milk Soup

It's been raining non-stop for a week now, so making soup seemed a good choice for a chilly night.

"Do you know what you are doing?" Brady asked me while I was gathering the ingredients to make our soup.

"What do you mean?" I replied, not sure I understood what he meant.

"In all the these years we've been together you've never made a creamy, smoothie soup, your soups, delicious I must say, are all about chunks of meat and vegetables".

I looked at him and said, "Well, maybe it's time to leave my comfort zone and try something new".

And that's exactly what I did, and I'm glad I did it. This soup is pure goodness, creamy, satisfying and flavorful.

Growing up I would grate coconut for my mother's cooking, needless to say that some would end up into my mouth, so much I like it. Coconut is present in a variety of sweet and savory dishes in Brazilian cuisine, but I must confess this was the first time I had it as a soup ingredient, and I absolutely loved it.

The sweetness of carrots, the creamy silk of coconut milk, and the citrus of lime make this soup a perfect healthful and earthy meal to enjoy on a fall evening. 

Carrot and Coconut Milk Soup

Serves 4

♥ 10oz (284g) shredded carrots

♥ 200ml unsweetened whole coconut milk

♥ 1 tbsp (14 g) unsalted butter

♥ 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

♥ 1 onion, diced

♥ Scallion, finely chopped

♥ A few twigs of lemon thyme *

♥ 3 garlic cloves, minced

♥ 2 bay leaves

♥ 4 cups cold water

♥ Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

♥ 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

♥ Light cream, or plain yogurt, to serve 

* If you can't find lemon thyme, add lime zest to the vegetables as they cook.

In a large pot, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the olive oil, and then the onion, and cook until the onion is soft and translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add the scallion and lemon thyme, cook stirring until fragrant. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 to 2 more minutes.

Add the carrots, cold water, and bay leaves. Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper, and stir well to coat with mixture.

Bring mixture to a very low boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until carrots are soft.

Discard bay leaves and lemon thyme twigs, and transfer the mixture to a blender, or food processor; purée until smooth.

Return mixture to the pot and stir in the coconut milk. Reheat and check the seasoning for salt, and pepper.Stir in the lemon juice.

Serve hot with a generous swirl of light cream, or plain yogurt.

We celebrated her birthday

It's been a month since I last posted here and yet it does not feel like that to me, as a friend of mine likes to say "time flies when we are having fun". 

It may be strange but I only like to share stories and my photos if I am at home - never mind instagram, which is so instantaneous and fleeting - and I was away, I traveled to Brazil to be with my family and to celebrate my mother's birthday, she just turned 90.

She doesn't seem 90. She lost her hearing in one ear and has diminished vision in one eye, but keeps a lively state-of-mind.

Throughout her life she has been mostly housebound, she says it's because she had to raise 10 children and did not have time to socialize, but in fact she's a shy lady and being at home makes her feel safe. 

She does not like parties, and we are still grieving my sister Maria Olímpia passing, but we all wanted to be together to celebrate her birthday and make that day special for her, and we did it. She was surrounded by her family, and she was serene and happy.

My mother's cooking came effortless to her. I learned a lot from her, she was always busy tossing, chopping, sautéing, kneading, and baking, cooking simple and delicious meals to feed her family and friends who would stop by.

Nowadays, she has help in the kitchen but it's still the one deciding what and how to prepare the meals.

We ate salpicão - Brazilian chicken salad, pernil - roast whole fresh ham, farofa - toasted cassava flour with vegetables, two kind of salads, and rice, certainly - it's unheard of my family's meals without rice. But the eye-catcher of the day was the dessert table - truffles, bombons & docinhos, and a delicious chocolate and strawberry cake.

We had a cozy and joyful afternoon listening to my mother's stories about her childhood and youth. Life was so different back then, it was simpler but yet so much harder at times.

That was such a special trip! ♥