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Now we’re cookin’!

November 24, 2006

Like a good many other Americans living abroad, I and mine will be observing the Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow. Today has been devoted largely to preparations, and as of this writing I have three freshly baked pumpkin pies on my counter, a turkey in the oven, and a pot of sweet potatoes on the stovetop. Tomorrow I’ll make gravy, cut up the sweet potatoes and bake them with a praline topping, and whip up a batch of cranberry sauce, which will fulfill my cooking obligations.

In a lull between pies, I threw together a four-layer cake that I’d been meaning to try for a couple of weeks, and the results were, in a word, heavenly. It’s a little lopsided and sloppy-looking, but don’t let its appearance deceive you. It’s amazing.

Harvest Cake
I was remarking earlier to Helena–without whose help the pies would be yet unbaked and the cake be yet unsampled–how much my life has changed in the years I’ve lived in Sweden. There are all the obvious ways, of course, but what I was thinking about just then is the fact that six years ago it would have been a heroic effort for me to make a four-layer cake, period, under any circumstances. Today I made one almost as an afterthought, on a day when I would also be making three pies completely from scratch (no pre-made crusts or canned pumpkin), and roasting a turkey, among other things. Just call me the happy homemaker.

3 thoughts on “Now we’re cookin’!”

  1. I hear ya! Before I moved to Sweden my contribution to Thanksgiving was a doctored up cake mix! So you gonna share that recipe? 🙂

    Off to make my pie crusts now.

  3. Can it have anything to do with growing up and getting older as well? I mean, more in the family age rather than the teenage+. I guess you had Lydia six years ago but you were still just 20 something right? It could also be the case that it’s sometimes more difficult to find the ready-made or half-ready-made stuff in Sweden.

    I’d love that recipe as well!

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