The Third Thursday
Up north, snow has already
Fallen on the pines when November
Arrives. The maple leaves are bright
Dawn red, and the aspens flutter,
Golden in the cold morning light.
Rabbits wear their white winter coats,
And the fruitcakes have already been baked.
Apples for the Thanksgiving pies snuggle
In baskets in the storage shed, and
Cranberries bubble with sugar on the stove.
Far across the continent and over the ocean,
Soft night rain falls through the white
Plumeria blossoms and the big garden snail
Slithers out of the ivy as the trade winds hustle
The clouds away from the silvery moon and
Release the sparkling stars. Grandma sets out
All the ingredients for tomorrow’s coconut cake
And places her best dishes on the table as the
Men tend the fire pit all night where the pig roasts.
Even with no snow and not a single apple tree
On the island, gratitude remains with the spirit
Of aloha, and grandma lifts up a prayer of thanks
As she puts on her nightgown.
November is a beautiful month everywhere. And it is a time when old and new customs merge as families gather far and wide to celebrate America’s oldest holiday, Thanksgiving. Even in October I am thumbing through my old menus and recipes, planning for this year’s meal and searching for new items to add even more gratitude to the Thanksgiving table. But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, let’s give a shout out to Halloween, the final day of October, and some of the other days that are traditionally celebrated in November.
October 31:
On Halloween, an
Old Asian lady on the
Bus wears Devil’s horns.
November 1:
On the Feast of All
Saints, faint stars glimmer above
The blue rosemary.
November 11:
On Veterans’ Day
On the bus, an old Marine
Greets another vet.
November 2:
On the Feast of All
Souls, gray clouds creep over the
Mountain. A dove calls.
November 30:
On St. Andrew’s Day,
The boys eat shortbread. Girls dance
In their green tartans.
November 27:
Candied cranberries
In the red dawn sparkle on
The Thanksgiving Cake.
Now we’re ready for Thanksgiving. As we know, Thanksgiving, a uniquely American Holiday, is not celebrated on the same day every year. It is commemorated on the third Thursday of November, and this year the Third Thursday is on November 27. Our friend and neighbor, Canada also has an annual Thanksgiving Day, held yearly on the second Monday in October. This event has already occurred this year on October 13. Canada’s Thanksgiving resembles the traditional harvest festivals held in Britain and France: a celebration of being thankful for what one has and the bounty of the previous year.
After Thanksgiving,
The scent of cinnamon and
Ginger fills the house.
Traditional American Thanksgiving meals often include turkey with dressing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie and apple pie for dessert. The “Thanksgiving Cake” referred to in the November 27 haiku above is actually Cranberry Ginger Pound Cake, a Christmas cake featured in my December 2022 blog, “Sugar and Spice: Ginger for Christmas.” I have made this fabulous cake many time for Christmas, but why not make it this year for Thanksgiving? After all, glorious red cranberries are associated with Thanksgiving as much as Christmas.
Pumpkin colored clouds
At dawn on Thanksgiving float
Over the mountain.
To get you started planning your Thanksgiving menu this year, I encourage you to look at my November 2016 blog, “Giving Thanks,” on this myteaplanner.com website. This blog shares our family’s traditional Thanksgiving menu and includes the recipes for three of the items that we serve every year: Cranberry Ginger Sauce, Wild Rice Dressing and Pumpkin Praline Pie. Homemade Apple Butter is also wonderful for Thanksgiving, and my November 2020 blog not only shows you how to make your own Apple Butter at home but also shares the recipe for Apple Butter Pie.
This year in September, our family held a reunion in San Jose at the home of my sister-in law, Joyce Higashi. Her home is conveniently located not far from our son David, my brother, John Murdock and his family and Wayne’s brother Steven and his family. My late sister Margaret’s family, the Pedullas, who live in the coastal town of Watsonville, also participated in this festive get-together. We served excellent Mexican food from nearby Adelitas Taqueria, and Kathleen, my niece and co-author, and I had fun in the kitchen together preparing the desserts. Kathleen baked Ellen’s Fabulous Coconut Cake, featured last month in my October blog and her famous Apricot Jam Bars made with Kathleen and Tiffany’s homemade California Apricot Jam. We also made Dark Chocolate Brownies with Dark Chocolate Glaze because Tiffany and I are both in love with chocolate, and chocolate originated in Mexico! All three of these desserts are family favorites that Kathleen and I have been making for years, and we knew would be welcomed. I looked around for a new and different dessert to add to the mix that would also harmonize with the Mexican menu, and I discovered a recipe for Dulce de Leche Banana Trifle on the Stonewall Kitchen website. I digressed a bit from the online recipe to create a delightful early autumn slightly Mexican themed dessert that the family loved. I am planning to add this new item to the Thanksgiving dessert table along with the Pumpkin Praline Pie and the Cranberry Ginger Pound Cake!
Trifles have been part of our family’s culinary history for decades, along with Afternoon Tea and Deviled Eggs. Our website is loaded with Trifles for every season and every holiday celebration. Part of the charm of a Trifle is its beauty. A Trifle is an elegant, layered dessert served in a stunning, footed clear glass bowl, revealing the various layers of treats that are combined to create a complex melding of flavors. Our Summer Trifle, for example, combines layers of pound cake, custard, peaches and raspberries to highlight the colorful and luscious fruits of summer. Our Post Thanksgiving Tea in the November Calendar section of our Tea Book on this website actually combines left-over gingerbread, chunks of pumpkin pie, gingersnap cookies, custard and whipped cream! Since fresh bananas are available year-round, and almost everyone in our family loves Banana Pudding, I thought that the Dulce De Leche Banana Trifle I created in September would not only harmonize with the Mexican Menu but would also be appropriate for an early autumn meal with its golden and brown ingredients echoing the California landscape in early fall. The same color combination and set of ingredients would be perfect for this year’s Thanksgiving dessert buffet. Remember, on Thanksgiving, we never serve just one dessert!
Dulce De Leche Banana Trifle
- 1 large Sara Lee frozen pound cake, thawed
- 8 ounces Mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 jar dulce de leche (we used Trader Joe’s)
- 1 cup Heath Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee Bits (from an 8-ounce bag)
- 1 bag Dutch Stroopwafels Caramel Cookies (11.29 ounces from Trader Joe’s)
Special Equipment: large mixing bowl, hand-held electric mixer, rubber spatula, large glass trifle bowl, large silver spoon for serving
Makes 12-16 serving
- To guarantee the freshness of the sliced bananas, make this elegant trifle the morning of the day you plan to serve it. Place the Mascarpone cheese in a large mixing bowl and whisk with an electric mixer. Slowly add 3 cups of whipping cream and beat on high speed, incorporating the cheese into the cream, and continue beating until the mixture is thick and soft peaks form. Gently add the vanilla extract and ½ cup granulated sugar and beat just until combined.
- Cut the pound cake into 1-inch squares and cover the bottom and slightly up the sides of the trifle bowl with cake squares. Spread about 1/3 of the whipped cream mixture over the cake squares. Slice 1 banana over the whipped cream mixture. Sprinkle toffee bits over the banana slices and drizzle Dulce De Leche over the banana slices and toffee bits. Break the caramel waffle cookies into pieces and scatter them over the layers in the bowl, making sure that some of the cookie pieces are visible through the sides of the bowl along with the other layered ingredients.
- Follow the same procedure twice more, layering cake pieces, whipped cream, banana slices, toffee bits, Dulce De Leche and waffle pieces, using all three of the bananas and most of the other ingredients. The trifle bowl will be nearly filled.
- Arrange another layer of cookie pieces on top, drizzle with additional Dulce De Leche and top with a final sprinkling of toffee bits. Refrigerate until ready to serve, from two to four hours to allow the flavors to meld. To serve, do not attempt to cut the trifle into pieces. Dip into the trifle with a large silver spoon and place a large serving, with all of the layers visible, on a serving bowl or plate. Refrigerate any leftovers.
