Friends, Family, and Gratitude

Not to mention great food!

It's Thanksgiving Day! A national holiday devoted to family, friends, great food, spending time together, and gratitude. How lucky are we, to have such a wonderful holiday, year after year?

We plan to go to the vegetarian dinner at the Ananda Seattle temple this year, our first time to spend Thanksgiving with the Seattle sangha. If my neck can't support my head yet, 😒, then Dambara will go anyway, because he loves getting together with our friends, AND because then he can bring our cranberry compote that we made yesterday.

Best when served at room temperature

YUM!!!

We've brought this to almost every winter-holiday potluck that we've attended over the last eight years or so, because it's SO good. And every year, it gets passed over during the first wave of banquet-table browsers, then vanishes during the second half of the feast.

Because, let's face it; cranberries are not everyone's favorite side dish, and there are always so many delectable choices on offer, so it's easy to overlook cranberry anything. But with this compote, word spreads. The bowl gets scant attention, and then is ravished; it is always empty by the end of the banquet. People whisper around to find out who brought it, and we end up sending out copies of the recipe.

Here's the recipe, ahead of time:

Shanti’s Cranberries with Cherries

serves 16

2 lbs cranberries (3 bags)

3 cups sugar

1 scant tsp ground cloves

1 cup orange juice

1 cup pomegranate or cranberry juice

zest from 2 oranges

2 cups dried cherries

Bring all except the cherries to a slow boil and simmer about 10 minutes or until cranberries start to pop. Remove from heat, and stir in dried cherries. Cool; store chilled.

It's called Shanti's recipe, because I got it from Shanti Rubenstone years ago, when we lived in Palo Alto. She's a marvelous cook, and she's made this recipe since forever. The cranberry compote followed us to Portland and is about to debut in Seattle. This should be fun.

FYI, we cut the sugar almost in half and added cinnamon. Be careful to avoid overcooking; it becomes a solid mass and loses all its attractiveness and yumminess. I speak from experience.

While it's too late for your Thanksgiving table, there are more holidays just around the corner. You will love it.