The 4 Sullivans: Thankful!!!

11.21.2015

Thankful!!!

I love pumpkin pie. I love Fall, because I love pumpkin pie. My favorite thing about Thanksgiving…pumpkin pie…and family…and being thankful…for the pie! I love Wal-Mart, because I can buy already made pumpkin pie!

Since it is November…the month of being thankful…and since I told my kids to never hate…and I am such a great mom…and example…OK stop laughing!!! I would never say the h-word…but making pumpkin pie is not on my list of things I love to do…it is even farther down my list when in Russia!!!

I am not a hoarder. My kids make something…I say I love it…take a picture of it…then 99% of the time…put it in the trash. If I don’t love it, use it, need it to survive…it is destined for the trash. I, however, have one can of pumpkin that makes me feel safe, happy and confident. If ever faced with a pie crisis…I have pumpkin. Year after year, I managed to avoid any major pie crisis…until now.

This year, Starbucks had no pumpkin pie spiced lattes. The only thing pumpkin in all of this huge city of millions of people is…soup! I tried to not think about pie…how much I love it…how thankful it would make me.

Finally…I could not stand it one more second. I found my emergency can of pumpkin…dusted it off…and discovered it had expired…in 2013!!! Filled with such sadness…I was determined to kick off my Thankgiving feasting with pie!!!

I found a gorgeous pumpkin, lugged it to the cashier, paid for it, carried it home, cut it, baked it, skinned it, pureed it, strained it {such a smart and important step}. However, was to tired to even think about turning the huge mess into a pie. Days later, I regain strength and motivation, found a recipe, searched for my pumpkin spice…never found it, go to the store in my building to find the necessary spices…which they did not have, bought a mulled wine spice mix…because it has ginger, cloves and nutmeg…at least I think it is what the package says.

Once I am finally back home, I contemplate making a pie crust…remember the last time I attempted a pie crust…in 1996. I find a bag of already made dough that Keith bought for pigs-in-a-blanket…decide that the pigs can be cold...tried to roll out the totally resilient dough and end up just smashing it into the pan…mix up the yummy filling substituting mulled wine spices for the missing nutmeg, all spice and ginger. I return back to the store to buy whip cream in a can…there was none…settled for 35% cream…which was so thick…it pretty much whipped itself!!!