What? No pilgrims?

You guys might not know this, and it came as a shock to me as well, but every country does not celebrate Thanksgiving. I would have thought that the pilgrims eating with the Indians would be a bit more pivotal to the world’s wellbeing but evidently it is not. Thanksgiving has also made me very aware that I don’t even know why we have Thanksgiving, as far as I am concerned it is a day that we get together, my mom makes too many pies, we eat too much, and then I am very very sick but very well fed for the next few days! The specifics have left my memory! I could never enjoy Thanksgiving dinner with anyone but my own family, here is why:


1. Does your dad make turkey in a garbage can?

2. Does your mom make too many mashed potatoes because you love them so much?

3. Does your grandma bring rice and entertain everyone with her technological curiosity?

4. Does your mom spend Thanksgiving eve just baking pies?

5. Does your grandpa fall asleep watching Football before and after dinner?

6. Does your mom care about appetizers as much as the actual meal?

7. Do your cousins catch you up on the latest movie quotes and song lyrics?

My guess is that you probably couldn’t answer yes to even one of these and this is why I love Thanksgiving with my family!

In honor of Thanksgiving I decided to take on the task of making punkin pie. I had seen my mom do it many times and had even helped so I thought it would be an easy task. Well as it turns out New Zealand does not sell Pumpkin in a can, only fresh sliced pumpkin in the produce section (which still does not look like any pumpkin I have seen). No one that I work with had ever had it so I thought it is my duty as an American to introduce them to the tantalizing dessert. I found a recipe that actually started with fresh pumpkin (who knew). I collected my ingredients after work and decided that in the name of giving thanks I would forgo the gym to make pie. It wouldn’t be done up Dawn style without something readymade, so I bought already prepared pastry ( I am not grandma Hiatt). Well Janine walked in just I was getting all my ingredients out and lining them up in the bench (countertop). She looked real confused so I took advantage or her disorientation and put her in charge of the pastry and making sure it doesn’t stick to the pie plate.

I felt like it was a flash back to Halloween where you have to clean all of those nasty punkin guts out, and usually my dad did that….he was nowhere to be found for this task! I steamed the pumpkin still it was mushy then I took out my week of stress out on the poor unsuspecting pumpkin. I am not going to lie, I am a pretty good masher! When I had mashed all the pumpkin I started getting second thoughts on how I really felt about pumpkin pie, it’s like catching a delicious trout then having to clean it before you eat it, it becomes not so delicious looking. The spices saved it however, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg smelled oh so good, and got rid of that yucky bright orange color and gave it a more baby poop color…mmmmm! After getting it placed in the beautiful pastry prepared by my lovely assistant Janine we were realizing we had a lot of extra. We had enough extra pastry and punkin junk to make mini pies in cupcake tins. As we were waiting for the pie to bake we started getting real hungry and decided since we were having pumpkin pie we should also have hot dogs (I am sure you can see the connection there). SO that night for dinner we had hot dogs and buns with ketchup and mustard (just Janine I hate mustard). Lucky everyone at work loved the pie (at least that is what they told me since I actually cleaned a pumpkin!

For the next day that was Thanksgiving in the states we had Chinese takeaways (which were yum) and pavlova (like angel food cake) with whip crème and strawberries. It wasn’t MY Thanksgiving but if I couldn’t have the traditional I was quite pleased with my kiwi-ized Thanksgiving!

All the ingredients to make your very own punkin pie!

It didn't look like any pumpkin I have ever seen!

Mmmmm mashed pumpkin!

Now it is serious time with precise measurement.

My baby ready to go into the incubater!

Tin foil trick I learned from my mama....keeps the crust from burning....old oriental secret?

It was glorious!

That is a lot of punkin pie!

Janine and I's Thanksgiving feast!

The Deadliest Catch!

For my work Christmas party we chartered a boat at 7:30 (that is am) in Tauranga and headed off to the unknown in hopes of not meeting Gilligan on his island because I had to make it back to Hamilton for pancake Sunday (my weekly ritual at Strata Café). We were lucky to be blessed with beautiful weather, nice sun and a breeze just enough to keep us comfortable. There were 18 of us ready to catch all of the fish in ocean! After riding out on the boat for what seemed like forever (more like an hour and half) we were given fishing rods and lots of dead fish and squid guts and someone to put it on your hook. We would fish in one place for awhile and when the fish quit biting we would move on to another fishin hole. We were catching fish left and right but it was enough to keep me interested and motivated. On our second fishing hole someone yelled out “dolphin” so I frantically started scanning the ominous ocean for Flipper. I didn’t see Flipper but I did spot a killer whale and her baby! For about five minutes I put down my pole and focused 100% of my attention on trying to figure out how I would reel that one in (it never even nibbled). I caught the first regulation size snapper which was 28 cm; it needs to be 27 cm to keep! I was also reeling in my line to see if I still had bait when something took it and I was afraid it was going to take me too. The captain of the boat tried to help me reel, but I wasn’t having it! I reeled in a barracuda! They are long and mean looking and have three little snaggle teeth on their top jaw. You can’t keep them because they are evidently no good to eat. When everyone reeled their line in for lunch, I left mine in the ocean to simmer. I sat next to it while I ate my lunch so I could keep an eye on it. I spotted no action throughout lunch so when I finished lunch I thought I would check to make sure I still had bait. As I picked up the pole there was an immediate tug at the other end. I thought I might just be hung up (I call it catching the ocean) so I started whining (literally) for someone to come help get me unstuck so I could fish. The first mate came over tugged on my line and told me to just keep reeling with a real naughty grin on his face. As I started reeling again I felt something pulling back, and it felt real big! I reeled in the fish pictured below on the floor of the boat with feet next to it. It had bitten the hook and its tail was snagged on the bottom hook. So I decided that must make me an amazing fisherman to catch a fish without even holding the pole. It was a lot of fun but my wrists are still hurting just typing this now! By the end of the day I was baiting my hooks and was the last person still fishing. I caught a total of six fish and was able to keep four of them. It was a fantastic time and I would totally do it again!

We were to wear fishing hats on this trip!

Mt. Maunganui in the background!

A Maori fishing statue.

Mt. Maunganui again

Just steering us in the right direction!

A beautiful morning on the ocean, it wasn't even 8 am yet!

Preparing our bait for the day of Bonita and squid

He is cute but very pokey!

I was beginning to get frustrated since i hadn't caught anything yet!

Decided I would catch more fish with two poles!

My delicious snapper and the first keepable one of the day!

Baraccuda, Graeme and Lucy each caught three and I caught one, I am still sore from it, I was sure I was hung up on the bottom!

The tarakihi that waited for me to eat my lunch before I reeled him in, even hooked his tail!

They wanted me to kiss it....

I called it a butterfly fish, they called it something else!

Taking a break from fishing, sprite zero and cheesie O's!

Another big fish of mine and my cute new sanuk shoes!

Those were all the fish we caught!

Our beautiful boat!

The cupcakes here left me unsatisfied....

Since I was so disappointed by the sad little things they call cupcakes here, I took it upon myself to introduce a Dawn staple to Z-Land.  I was able to find some Betty Crocker cake mix and frosting at New World.  Shocked to learn that their chocolate cake mix actually comes with chocolate frosting but everyone knows that you have to have vanilla frosting with chocolate devils food cupcakes!  I planned it so that I could hold a "staff meeting" they don't actually hold these routinely but I felt MY cupcakes warranted a special occasion.  I made a dozen to take to work and the rest Janine and I kept for ourselves.  We have been watching a lot of food network, so stay tuned for my next venture this weekend....CrEmE bRuLe!  My grandma would have been proud of the mess I made!