Up early yesterday morning at 7:15 or so and pack and breakfast and shower and then off the the airport. mdaniel kindly took me and dropped me off and I successfully met up with Charlotte and away we raced to our gate and through security. We made it and then had to find a Starbucks and get a Mocha each and then off to the gate. Once at the gate I went and put my ever so attractive back corset on – for the flight – and we boarded soon afterwards. The flight was delayed on the tarmac and so we sat around for a while, Charlotte and I managed to talk the whole way up, all the way up until we met our cousins at the arrivals concourse.
Next up was the drive to White Plains and traffic, wow it was bad leaving the city, but it cleared up nearer out exit and it took us all together about an hour or so to get to my aunt and uncle’s house. We settled in and I discovered a video game console I love – a wii! We played some sports games and then bash the funny bunny game, it was so much fun, before I knew it it was dinner/lunch time.
The food was lovely as always, salad with pomegranate seeds, pistachios, and persimmons, then corn soup, then turkey, roasted sweet potatoes, brusssel sprouts, squash, gravy stuffing all beautifully made by Linda. I break after that and more wii, then
Pumpkin Mousse Parfait
One-quarter cup dark rum
1 packet unflavored gelatin powder (2 teaspoons)
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin (not pie filling)
One-half cup white sugar
One-half cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 extra-large egg yolks
2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest
One-half teaspoon ground cinnamon
One-quarter teaspoon ground nutmeg
One-half teaspoon kosher salt
1 and one-half cups cold heavy cream
1 and one-half teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Sweetened whipped cream
8 to 10 chopped homemade or store-bought ginger cookies
Crystallized ginger, for decoration (optional)
Place rum in a heat-proof bowl and sprinkle gelatin over it. Set aside for 10 minutes for gelatin to soften. In a large bowl, whisk together pumpkin, white sugar, brown sugar, egg yolks, orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set the bowl of gelatin over a pan of simmering water and cook until gelatin is clear, 2-4 minutes. Immediately whisk hot gelatin mixture into pumpkin mixture.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip heavy cream and vanilla on high speed until soft peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the pumpkin mixture.
To assemble, spoon some of the pumpkin mixture into parfait glasses, add a layer of the sweetened whipped cream, then some chopped cookies. Repeat, ending with a third layer of pumpkin. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. To serve, decorate with whipped cream and slivered crystallized ginger. Serves 8.
— From “Barefoot Contessa at Home” by Ina Garten (Clarkson Potter, 2006)and pecan pie. More wii fun ensued after that, and then time to bring out the photos of Kenya trip and eventually bed.
Up this morning around 9 or so, maybe closer to 9:30 and breakfast was foraged and then time to get ready to go into the City. Isn’t it funny how New York is referred to as “The City”? We got a lift in with my Uncle and he dropped us off near a stationary store, and we went in to look at wedding invitations and get ideas for Charlotte’s wedding, then to the next store for more wedding invitation ideas. Off to Barney’s where Charlotte had make up plastered to her eyes and I evaded the brush wielding maniacs.
We then left and caught the Subway down to SoHo, and ate lunch at Dean and Deluca and then went to Sur La Table and The MoMa store where I bought MUJI recycled yarn socks
And then a train home and a coconut cupcake ….mmmmmmm.