chunkytoast: Our 4th Annual Thanksgiving Down Under

For me, November 27th this year was merely 'Thursday.' But I do not miss out on Thanksgiving whatsoever in Australia, we just roll it to the weekend and use it as an oppotune way to introduce others to the wonders of this feast. I do always enjoy giving the little historical overview of the holiday, I must admit.

This year was slightly different from past ones...we started a bit earlier, eating at 5. This allowed our friends who lingered (ie, those of us who wanted to keep drinking wine and watch videos) to go for round 2 at about 10pm.

I have always relied on cans of Libby's Pumpkin Pie puree to help me make the pies, and this year I brought back a big can of it from the US. I thought it was so big as to make two pies, but instead it was just all ingredients for one pie in a big can. So I had a bit of a panic and thought I'd challenge myself to make one by scratch.

I did some googling and decided on this recipe from what looks like a now-defunct online mag about all things Iowa. I liked the simplicity of it and the ingredient that gives it a bit of a kick: bourbon! I also found it rather fitting that it was by a chef at a restaurant in Iowa City called Devotay that I used to walk by daily during my junior year at college when I lived on Linn Street. It was too posh for college students, but I did like to glance at the menu once in awhile.

As it turns out, it's a recipe I can highly recommend. We served the pies up as a taste test and the 'from scratch' version was the crowd favouite, which I will attribute to less preservatives/chemicals and things in my recipe. It was lighter and maybe a tad sweeter. Much more labor intensive tho -- cutting up a pumpkin is hard work.

This year's meal:

The pumpkin becomes puree