Pumpkin Pie

The pie is in the oven, and soon the spicy scent of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and my favorite, cloves, will be wafting through the air of my apartment. It is snowing to beat the band outside, and all cozy and warm in here. The cat on my lap is meowing about her day, or just bitching at me in general. There is an empty space on the floor by the coffee table where a dog should be, an empty space on the rocker where another cat should be, and an empty space on the couch where someone should be snoring. I should be used to this by now, nothing stays the same.

I made my first pumpkin pie when I was in grade school, and I forgot the milk. Luckily my Mom noticed the cup of milk on the counter a couple of minutes after the pie went into the oven. She rolled her eyes at me and very gently slid the oven rack out, poured the milk right into the pie and stirred it up. I've never made that mistake again! I have on occasion left out a spice, and had a pie overflow in the oven, but that's about it. Yes, I do put the pie on a cookie sheet now! One mess like that is enough.

Several years ago I came across a recipe for a pumpkin chiffon pie. It rocks! Graham cracker crust, cream cheese base, and a homemade pumpkin pudding on top. I made it last year, but found some pumpkin flavored pudding at the store so thought I'd cut corners. NOT a good idea. I'm not making that this year. I wasn't even going to make a pie at all, but my x husband wanted to trade me a pie (minus a piece for me) for some of his world famous stuffing and gravy, so of course I said, hell ya! I'm also throwing in some rutabegga, which is oddly my second favorite thing about Thanksgiving.

I am spending my Thanksgiving with TAFKAP (the artist formerly known as Pablo) and family. Jenny is making ham. Now I like ham, don't get me wrong, but not for Thanksgiving. Paul and I like turkey, so I picked up a breast to cook and bring along. I will also be bringing...rutabegga! Mmmmm I love the smell of cooking beggies. When we would have Thanksgiving at Aunt Mary's you could smell it when you walked in the door. She always set a gorgeous table, for her sister's three hooligan children. The year my brother popped the top off of the water glass by squeezing the stem as hard as he could.........twice.....was priceless. Jerry was always her favorite, so of course it had to have been an accident, the first time. hehehe Not so much. She wizened up after the second one went pop. It was really cool, the whole top just popped off in one piece, flew up into the air and crashed down on the table. I clearly remember his evil grin from across the table, and I remember all of our water going into regular glasses after that.

Those days are gone now, most of the people are too. Life changes, traditions change, and we just have to roll with it. At least there's pumpkin pie, and for that I am truly thankful!

Happy Thanksgiving!