We are family

Like last year, my big family Thanksgiving was hosted by one of my cousins who typically attends a big family reunion on the day itself for their other side of the family, so the family holiday was today. (Sadly, that means no Moose Day tea once again. I may need to come up with a "Moose Day observed".) As always, it was a nice gathering, where we talked some politics and some everyday life; a fairly high percentage of my family members are teachers, so a fair amount of the conversation revolved around that. My cousin smoked the turkey overnight, and it was super tasty.

Because having the family party on Friday is more convenient for several other family members, I have a feeling that this is going to become the new tradition. Sadness about Moose Day aside (see the previous link for more information on that personal holiday), if it means I get to see my aunts and younger cousins more often, I am all for it. Traditions can evolve and change, and I can move with the times.

Baking adventures

Today I'm going to cheat and direct you toward my Twitter live-ish blog of my baking project for the day: pumpkin cheesecake bars, which I made for tomorrow's Friends-giving dinner.

Thread with most of the posts I wrote throughout the process: https://twitter.com/iamkj/status/934593184717348868

Final result (which I forgot to make a reply): https://twitter.com/iamkj/status/934634610197065729

Like most of the things I bake, this recipe is from Cook's Illustrated. I appreciate Cook's scientific approach to cooking, even if it does make some of their recipes more time consuming and fussy than might be strictly necessary. I did experiment with one thing: instead of pumpkin pie spice, I used a hawajj spice blend that's meant to be added to coffee: cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, and clove. I also added in a bit of nutmeg and allspice. I'm sure I'll come back with reviews tomorrow.