thanksgiving cooking

Thanksgiving has never really been a big deal to me. I think it's because it's an American holiday, so it wasn't something I grew up with. This wasn't something we celebrated when I was little and living in the Philippines. And, once here in the US, I often lived away from home, and it made no sense--time-wise and money-wise--to go home for Thanksgiving when I was going to go home a couple of weeks later for an extended Christmas vacation anyway. (Plus, the Thanksgiving break has always been a good time to catch up on school and/or work.)

This year, I'm actually living close to family, and I still didn't celebrate Thanksgiving. My mom went off with her sisters to vegas, while my sister and her family went to her sister-in-law's. Though my sister invited me, I preferred having the house to myself instead.

I did try to get into Thanksgiving mode by doing some cooking. On Thanksgiving evening, I made bourbon pumpkin cheesecake (again with the pumpkin. lol). Actually, I used Jack Daniel's instead of bourbon, so maybe it should be just be called whiskey pumpkin cheesecake (hmm... that doesn't quite have the same ring to it.) Everything was made from scratch, including the crust.

I didn't realize how long it takes to make a cheesecake. I first had to make the crust (by grinding graham crackers and pecans and mixing these with brown sugar and butter). After forming the crust, I had to chill it for an hour before I can pour in the cheesecake mixture. I then had to bake it for about an hour.

I then had to take it out of the oven and let it cool for 5 minutes, while I made the sour cream topping. After putting the topping and more pecans, it was back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Then, it had to be cooled for 3 hours. By that time it was 11pm, and it still had to be chilled for at least 4 hours. So I couldn't even eat my creation on Thanksgiving. It wasn't until after lunch the next day that we got to eat the final product.

This was really good. My nephew, who loves cheesecake--but only the plain kind, loved it. He even said that he'd give me $5 to make it again. Everyone else liked it, too. We finished this in 2 days.

That friday, I also decided to make mushroomkopita (like spanakopita, but with mushrooms instead of spinach). I've made this before, but with intervals of years in between. (I probably last made it over 10 years ago.) Each time I make it, I remember why: working with phyllo dough can be difficult and is a lot of work--what with the buttering of each layer and all. Here's how they looked before baked them:

Here are the finished products. They were crunchy and tasty. Even the kids liked it. They're probably not that good for you, though, with all that butter. Good thing I only make them every few years.