m: I've been swined.

We did indeed eat well. At least, until a round of allergies/cold/random virus came around and mama was not feeling like cooking grand new dishes. We tried carrots with shallots, sage, and thyme; creamed spinach and parsnips; brown sugar baked sweet potatoes and acorn squash; and pear cranberry cake. All were delicious, but the cake was by far my favorite. Moist and yummy without being overly sweet (that's without the glaze - didn't have a chance to make that). That said, none made it to the Thanksgiving table. Even with only 5 adults, tastes were still too picky to make things like creamed spinach or braised carrots. (Don't get me started on my sister's crazy food thing. That's a subject for an entire post. Or maybe even an entire blog.) So we stuck with the standards, and everything was absolutely dee-lish. And then the swine flu hit us.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving and the food and whatnot (mostly the food). I'm tired of our traditional family thanksgiving menu. While the food is always good, there's never any bold flavor, and there's never anything new. However I don't want to shake things up at all and make something entirely different, and I wouldn't want to leave anything out. I'm looking for a good middle ground where everyone's happy and the food is memorable. So in two years (I'm totally not cooking next year - after this year I need to take a year off) I'll be shaking it up, but just a little. My thought is that all the basics should be there, but with a twist. Turkey, potatoes (mashed/smashed somehow), sweet potatoes of some sort, cranberry sauce (some addition here would be nice to make it different - but it still needs to be tart and brightly colored), stuffing (new ground for me, but looking forward to it), a couple veggie things (green beans/brussels sprouts/carrots/peas), and pie(s).

In other news, Cashew has started pulling herself up and scoots along the furniture. At 7 months. It makes me proud, but I am so not ready for her to be walking yet.