Thanksgiving Here, There and NOT Everywhere

My first visit to Ireland was during Thanksgiving, and I celebrated the occasion with my son over a delicious Italian feast at a small restaurant called Kitty's Kaboodle on Merrion Row. It was near the famous O'Donoghue's Bar. Turkey was not on the menu. Thanksgiving isn't celebrated on the Emerald Isle or most of the world outside North America. We used the occasion to make hand traced turkeys to decorate the paper tablecloth the aged photo is included below.

Despite the important role pilgrims have in our feast history, Americans probably owe credit for the Thanksgiving celebration to our neighbors to the north. Canadians have been celebrating their Thanksgiving feast since the 1500s. Rooted in a religious harvest influenced by early French settlers, the holiday, held on the second Monday of October, was made an official public holiday in 1957. Unlike our Eve of Black Friday celebration, shopping is not part of the Canadian tradition.

For Canadians, the meal is quite similar to the state-side version with turkey or ham and plentiful harvest vegetables. The tradition allows folks to celebrate the Thanksgiving meal on any of the three weekend days in contrast to our single day focus. A distinct addition to the Canadian menu is the inclusion of maple syrup in their recipes. YUM! EY?

Your family may not be ready for a maple syrup glaze on your turkey, so try incorporating my pumpkin maple bread with maple topping. This bread can be made a few days before Thanksgiving just refrigerate it. This is perfect dessert to serve to people who are not fond of traditional pumpkin pie. It is delicious and attractive as shown below!

Most people bake sweet breads in a 9 X 5 pan, but I use a 12 X 4 pan shown below. These pans are hard to find in stores, but Amazon can deliver this to you quickly. The larger pan produces slices for a perfect size serving unlike the smaller pan that I cut slices in half. And, you get more slices! You will love this pan! I keep the baking time the same for both pans, but check the bread 10 minutes before the end time in case the larger pan bakes faster.

Pumpkin Maple Bread (one loaf)

READ RECIPE FIRST

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake 1 hour 15 minutes. Done when toothpick inserted in middle is dry.

Ingredients:

Streusel for top before baking:
1/2 stick of butter at room temp (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Bread:
1 can 15 ounces pure pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup (100% Canadian preferred, Vermont good)
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vegetable oil (canola preferred)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup milk at room temp

Glaze for when bread comes out of oven:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup

Method:
Mix the streusel with a fork keeping it lumpy cut in butter like pie crust mix. If it blends too much put in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. It should look like a crumb as in photo. Set aside.

In a bowl blend first 6 ingredients with a hand-held mixer until blended. In another bowl whisk flour and 5 ingredients.

Add dry ingredients to the liquid by alternating the additon of the milk.

Prepared bread pan by adding a sheet of parchment paper and spray with nonstick oil.

Add mixture to pan. Sprinkle the streusel to the top of the mixture. Move to preheated oven.

Bake 1 hour 15 minutes.

While baking, make the maple glaze and sprinkle on top of the hot bread. Cool bread in pan 30 minutes. Lift out and cool completely before serving. Refrigerate any leftovers. Keeps for days.

Use pure maple syrup.

Add maple glaze to top when hot out of oven. Gorgeous!!

Purchase the 12 X 4 pan on Amazon here priced for 2 pans. 

This handprint now cuddles his 7 month old daughter. Paper tablecloth from
 Kitty's Kaboodle 2001. Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Ireland: Spuds and Stars (of the Michelin Variety)

I am the odd bird that cannot sleep on an airplane. Even as a passenger on a first class Cathay Pacific flight in a pod the size of a small apartment complete with a cozy bed, toasty pajamas, and unlimited Johnnie Walker Blue, I arrived in Hong Kong 16 hours later looking and feeling like a cargo-hold stowaway.

On my first trip to Ireland in 2001, I arrived in a similar catatonic state as I drove with my son towards Waterford on the wrong side of the road in a manual transmission car. Yes, that means shifting with your left hand and foot. I recall very little of that harrowing experience, but I remember in specific detail the very first meal I ate in a village pub on the outskirts of Wicklow.

The lunch special was beef and potatoes and the platter arrived piping hot smothered in dark, delicious gravy and beef. Next to the mound of whipped mashed potatoes was a stack of roasted potatoes. Apparently in this land famous for spuds serving multiple styles of their favorite root vegetable was not unusual. It also explained my mother's habit of serving mashed potatoes along with rice when she made beef chop suey!

Back then, Ireland did not have a reputation for great cuisine. Even Starbucks did not arrive in Ireland until 2005, so finding a thimble of espresso was a challenge. Over the years, with the global trend towards slow food and the farm-to-table movement, this land of shamrocks and grass-fed beef has emerged as a hub of gastronomic delight.

With this transition, the country has wisely taken their assets on the road by growing their food export segment. In 2017, Ireland became the first EU country to sell beef to China and their exportation of dairy and beef recently exceeded 100 million euros. Cathay Pacific launched seasonal service four times weekly between Dublin and Hong Kong last year. Beyond this expanding global demand in the Irish agri-food sector, visitors can now experience excellent cuisine throughout the island.

Since the 1990s, the number of Michelin-rated restaurants in Ireland grew from 6 to 16, with the restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin being the highest rated and longest tenured on the list. Open for lunch and dinner the prices are modest compared to other 2-star rated restaurants around the world. You can see for yourself at the link below. Interestingly, the word potato is not on this menu. 

Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud

Another export item, Irish cheese is on par with the some of the very best French cheese. Ireland produces more mozzarella cheese than Italy. In Dublin, Sheridans Cheesemongers has an amazing selection from local farmers as well as special international producers. They will cryo-pack your selection of hard cheeses for safe and TSA approved international travel to the USA. This tiny cheese emporium is a must see stop while touring Dublin or visiting their larger country shop in County Meath.

Sheridans Cheesemongers

Ireland is a quick overnight flight from the USA, and you can launch to the European mainland easily from the international airport in Dublin. The next time you head to Paris, London, Rome or Copenhagen add a few days in this amazing country to savor the memorable meals and more.

Starbucks finally landed in Ireland in 2005

This Old House Swapped for That New Condo

I told people it was a downgrade of home style for an upgrade in lifestyle. After twenty years in the same home, I began prepping, purging and packing decades of memories and dragging them down the road to a modest condo within walking distance to not one, but two Starbucks. Check. Check. 

Not unlike that last move, I approached this enormous task by myself, mom solo, despite having four grown children with lives and homes of their own. I won't lie - it was a challenge. Like my lovely white French lilac tree, I, too, aged over the last two decades, and the preparing to move process was. . . interesting. The painter showed up without paint. The handyman showed up and asked to borrow a screwdriver. Without missing a beat, I quickly shot back, "Phillips head or flat head?"  You laugh. I cried. 

My experience has shown me that workers of a certain younger age consider people of a certain older age, like me, completely oblivious to the home repair and remodel world. Clearly, they are unaware that we were bred on the world of PBS's, This Old House long before the capital letters HGTV evolved into a proper noun. My people, baby boomers, are defined by the Pew Research Center as the nearly 80 million Americans, representing 26% of the population born between 1946 and 1964. I proudly rank in the upper percentile. 

We are the focused group who intently studied the episodes of Bob Vila refinishing aged oak floors and restoring kitchens and baths. Along the way, we gleaned the nuances between wax versus polyurethane and satin versus eggshell, as we grew weary over the plethora of baseboard options (by the way, you can’t go wrong with the ubiquitous 5.25-inch primed colonial, always primed). As a result, members of the baby boomer generation are well versed in the world of home restoration. 

This trend is not only my impression obsession. Researchers from the Kennedy School at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) published a report titled, Improving America’s Housing 2017, Demographic Change and the Remodeling Outlook.  The study related a prediction that homeowner improvement spending will increase 2% annually over the next decade to a staggering $25 billion by 2025. 

The authors suggested that homeowners 55 years and older will generate 50% of all the home improvement spending. The report pointed out that the 55 and older demographic was growing in both size of population and market share of remodeling. The researchers attributed some of the demand due to aging in place. This trend was in contrast compared to previous generations. I would have liked to ask them: Did they or did they not watch Bob Vila?

For added validation, I investigated the 10-year price performance of the stock of Home Depot. On January 2, 2009, the stock closed at $24.13, and on January 2, 2019, the stock closed at $172.41. I did the math using the handy calculator on the HD website. The stock price with reinvested dividends increased +800% during that 10-year period. There appears to be a correlation with the data on remodeling trends. 

Before embarking on my road ahead, I made a calculated self-assessment to consider if I was really ready for radical change. Having moved twice during my childhood and several times as an adult, this property represented my longest layover. I would never again assemble my coveted farm sink, barn door, French door, and spa bathroom as an ensemble in my more modest, miniature estate.

The outdoor green space that I lovingly tended for two decades was on the site of a former golf course where my father treaded 60 years ago. I have told my children that from my window I could imagine grandpa on the 9^thhole in my patch of tall evergreens digging for his wide-left tee shot. In the quiet breeze, I could almost hear him declaring a Mulligan. 

It’s in that same plot that I planted tiny blue snowdrop bulbs which I legally, or perhaps not, brought home from Ireland at the turn of this century. They popped up each spring simulating little blue stickie notes reminding me that Ireland was calling me back. Melancholy can be a paralyzing emotion. Then, I splashed myself with a dose of reality: Walking distance to not one, but two Starbucks!

The universe has a way of keeping things real. Thankfully, finding my next suitable perch was surprisingly seamless. Devoid of lists of hopes and dreams my younger self required in earlier home purchases, my current list had one subject: needs. My new home checked my few boxes. 

As luck would have it, I located my new home in a nearby village of winding streets. Naturally, on my way to see it, I made a wrong turn. After a few twists and turns, I found myself adrift on a charming little street named Sheridan Avenue. The Sheridans are my great-grandfather’s family from County Cavan, Ireland, that I tracked down and connected with in 2005. 

I took that ordinary street sign as extraordinary divine and directional intervention, as if to say I was heading down the right path. After a few grateful breaths and a duly programmed GPS, I took this road less travelled, and the rest is my new history.

Realistically, that doesn't mean I won't revisit the repair and remodeling cycle that so absorbed my previous homes. In fact, I've already lined up my next project to modify this old condo into my newish condo. After all, life has taught me that it is not mine until I knock down a wall. Or two. 

Keep in mind now, if you are a member of the demographic cohort identified in the Harvard study, you are likely to find yourself in the good company of younger, skilled tradespeople sometime over the next decade. 

They will politely enter your home and introduce themselves as Chase or Morgan or a similar sounding hip name you won’t find listed in your baby boomer high school year book. Resist the urge to ask them to spell it. Nevertheless, when your correct response to a home repair query is met by a surprised look, be sure to follow it up, as I do, with, "What else do you have for me?"

 

My Old House Farm Sink, Island with Wine Fridge, etc.

My Old House Barn Door, Spa Bath, etc.

My Newish Condo Starbucks Just Beyond the Trees

Annotation Links:

Pew Research

Harvard Study

Home Depot

Aldi & Trader Joe's: Carnaroli Rice, Wine and more in France, Italy, Ireland, and Your Neighborhood!

Aldi Ireland was a familiar site driving through Cavan town in 2017. I stopped to grab bottled water and to checkout the offerings. Known for modest prices, limited, specific stock choices, and little advertising the German-based grocery store with gross revenue above $50 billion (10 times more than McDonald's gross revenue) has been in the U.S. since 1976. Three years after arriving on our shores, they sent over their offspring, Trader Joe's. If you were unaware of their relationship, now you know, and you can give parent Aldi their due respect!

The Irish Aldi had similarities to the U.S. family and fascinating differences as well. First, the eggs  are not refrigerated as in most European  grocery stores. There is science for that which I will skip, just know it's safe. You can purchase magazines and newspapers along with the usual fare and local favorites like a full line of Cadbury products cookies, candy, and hot chocolate. Their shopping cart system requires a refundable 2 euro coin unlike the 25 cent coin here. Foreigners beware!

At the Verona, Italy Aldi I purchased so many goodies I had to make three trips. Complete with a 0,50 euros coin operated modern espresso machine in store (shown here),  I found Italian carnaroli rice, used in my risotto cooking class in Verona for 1,89 euros for 1kg. On Amazon, a box this size sells for $10 or more. The wine selection was so vast they handed out this 67-page booklet. . . I'm still reading it!

Aldi in Grasse, France, had its own unique twists. I am certain they offered more wine than food items. The selection and quality of cheese surpassed the many shops in tony Antibes, AND they had golden fresh croissants. I could not pass up these almonds sold under the Trader Joe's brand. Like Italy, France carried my favorite Dolce brand of LavAzza ground coffee not available for sale in the U.S. I grabbed a few bags at 2,79 euros knowing they would pass TSA inspection.

Today, Aldi has 1,600 stores in the U.S. and a growing presence in suburban areas including a recently announced partnership to open inside some Kohl's locations. Now, every trip to my local Aldi takes me back to great memories of my European shopping sprees, as I pack up my goodies in my Aldi Italy grocery bag.

People collect Trader Joe's reusable grocery bags ($1) from different cities in the U.S. It's a thing. I bought the TJ's Chicago bags for Christmas gift bags, and they were quite popular and practical. I was happy I picked up this bag from Italy (1 euro) and regret not buying them in France and Ireland. When you are lucky enough to find yourself in a foreign city, look up Aldi and stop in for your memory shopping bag, and I bet you will find treasures to fill it up!

Wine Italy booklet 67 pages in-store selections 

Espresso coffee machine inside Aldi Verona Italy
LET'S PETITION TO BRING TO USA!

Aldi perfect cappuccino for 0,50 euros!

Only 1 euro buy a few!!

Grasse, Provence, France

France selling Trader Joe's almonds

Aldi's sold Dolce by LavAzza in Italy, France 

Ireland: Let's Eat Cake

Full disclosure: this recipe does not include whiskey or beer, but it is well worth your interest. Stay tuned for a future post on two fabulous recipes using Bailey's Irish Cream. Today, this is a delicate, delicious, butter-rich cake with or without an orange-lemon glaze, and it's gorgeous!!

My grandmother Bridget O'Day was an amazing professional cook who worked in the kitchen of her Chicago parish. This recipe was handed down to me from her daughter, and I remember baking this when I was in high school. It was called Hartigan Cake, but after dabbling into my Irish genealogy, I am certain the cake was named after Bridget's grandmother, my great-great grandmother, Bridget Hardiman from County Roscommon Ireland. I point this out as the ingredients call for sour milk a key ingredient in rural Irish baking.

The Irish language word for milk is bán-chia which translates as white meat. Milk continues to be a staple in the Irish diet. Before refrigeration, the shelf life of milk was less than one day in summer. The milk turned sour from bacteria that was then killed by heat during the baking process, so it was used in many baked recipes to avoid waste. Today, people substitute buttermilk in recipes calling for sour milk, as I did below.

                                                           Bridget O'Day ~18 (1920)

Hardiman (formerly Hartigan) Cake

Ingredients: Cake
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
2 cups room temp buttermilk (can make by adding 2 tablespoons lemon juice in regular milk)
1 cup melted salted butter
2 eggs - room temp so rising compounds aren't shocked by cold ingredients
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
Juice of one whole orange
Zest of two oranges

Glaze - Optional as cake is tasty with or without this step.
1 cup sugar
Juice of one lemon
Juice of two oranges
Combine and let these sit on counter while cake bakes. Most of the sugar will dissolve. OK to have some sugar stay on cake when basted.

Method:
Prepare bundt or tube pan with spray oil containing flour. The flour allows the cake to rise up in the pan. Preheat oven to 350. Photo shown was baked in a Nordic ware bundt pan ~$28 on Amazon.

Cream butter and sugar about 5 minutes. Add eggs and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients. Last add orange zest and orange juice blend by hand and add to prepared pan. Bake 1 hour or until done.

Cool in bundt pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and place over cooling rack to catch excess glaze. While hot prick the top and sides of cake with tooth pick or skewer and baste spoonfuls of glaze over cake. Cool 2 hours. Sprinkle with powder sugar.

                                                              Looks too good to eat!!

My sous-chef, Ducati, waits patiently for the crumbs.