Thursday, November 22, 2007

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thankgiving in the USA when we celebrate the feast held by the Pilgrims and Indians in 1621. We finished our feast with this pumpkin cake, topped with pumpkin frosting and craisins. My sister-in-law brought it and added real leaves and cedar around the base for embellishment.

On that first Thanksgiving, historians tell us that Chief Massasoit and his braves brought five dressed deer and more than a dozen wild turkey. They probably also had smoked fish. The colonists of Patuxet made a pudding out of cornmeal and maple syrup and learned how to roast popcorn . The Indians had shown them how to dry fruit, so they might have eaten blueberry and apple pies. For three days, they feasted and competed in shooting contests with guns and bows. They had foot races and drills, and the festivities all began with a prayer of thanksgiving offered by William Brewster, thanking God especially for their friendship with the Indians who literally had saved their lives by showing them how to survive in the new land.
Happy Thanksgiving!

11 comments:

J. Andrew Lockhart said...

Oh wow, I didn't get anything like this!

Jim Klenke said...

That looks very good. Mind if I run my finger through the icing?

Annie said...

The cook could probably win an Iron Chef competition with that cake.

And you could earn an A with your history lesson. I love to continue hearing this story of the original Thanksgiving Day.

Janet said...

HI and thanks for your comments. Go ahead an run your finger through the icing. It was really good. She made it with pumpkin, condensed milk and confectioner's sugar.

Annie, I haven't heard of an Iron Chef competition...will have to check that out. I got the history lesson from the book, "The Light and the Glory" by Peter Marshall and David Manuel of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They extensively researched early colonial America.

Isadora said...

That cake looks inviting enough the spend the afternoon with joined by a pot of tea or mulled wine... :)

Kerri Farley said...

Wow! That looks fantastic!!!
Yum Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mary Stebbins Taitt said...

Happy belated Thanksgiving--we had pies but that sure looks yummy.

isa said...

Hope the cake was as yummy as it looks! Nice presentation, too :-)

Kate said...

I love the story of the first Thanksgiving since it's the first welfare program in our country!!

Z said...

I hope you had a good Thankgiving and are enjoying a good, long weekend!

I love cranberries, and happily our supermarket chains import fresh ones from the US. I bought a bag and have been making 'relish'. Though I hear that a cranberry shortage is expected in the US for Christmas...

Rob said...

Mmmm, three full days of this pumpkin cake; I'm all for that!