One of my fall projects is sort of an extension of Thanksgiving. I hold no romantic notions about the origins of Thanksgiving, however, I do like the romantic parts that American society has decided to embrace and propagate. I like the idea of just taking time to be happy about things, to think about the things that are going well for you.
I also go into serious cooking lust mode when the holidays come around. I want to try all of those recipes for baking and brining and deep frying turkeys. I want all of the different kinds of mashed potatoes. I don’t want to be reduced to only pumpkin pie, or only apple pie. I don’t want to agonize over whether I should stick with my tried and true cranberry sauce recipe or whether I should branch out and be daring.
So, in 2008, I want to spend the month of November sort of celebrating Thanksgiving. If I had even more leisure time in my life, I would commit to making some beautiful Thanksgivingy dish every day of the month. Though I am not insane, I probably am still over shooting to try to come up with something each day that makes me think fall, or holidays. It could be a smoothie that uses pumpkin, or it could be a pomegranate martini. It could also be macaroni and cheese or collard greens. Who knows what November holds?
So, for day one, I made gingerbread cupcakes, using this recipe. I didn’t make the lemon sauce because I have lemon curd in the fridge (gotta love Trader Joe’s).