What We're Writing: Hallie remembers a Thanksgiving...

HALLIE EPHRON: This Thanksgiving, surrounded by the glorious chaos of my children and grandchildren, I found myself remembering the Thanksgivings that I grew up with and my mother who detested domesticity but loved Thanksgiving.

Here's part of an essay I wrote about her final Thanksgiving.

**

Thanksgiving was my mother’s favorite holiday. I remember her last one. The four of us (my sisters and me) and our spouses and my dad are there with her in the living room of my parents’ New York apartment.

My mother is presiding from a sofa that was moved there from their house in Beverly Hills to this apartment on the upper East Side of Manhattan. Once upholstered in a shiny red-and-green floral print that felt cool against my face, it’s there that my mother read the Oz books to me after dinner when I was growing up. Now in their bright, modern condominium, the sofa had been re-covered in white linen.

I can still see my mother sitting there, nearly lost in a billowing gold brocade caftan. Her hair is, as always, short and brushed briskly away from her face. She smells, as always, of Eve Arden face cream, cigarettes, and Scotch whiskey.

Her cheeks are flushed and full, and she seems at first to be in the pink of health. But closer up, her face is puffy, the skin reddened with broken blood vessels. Her hair is thin. Her grey eyes rheumy. She seems at once paunchy and emaciated. A cigarette trembles between her fingers. She’s too weak to even stand and will retire to her bed before we sit down to eat.

A writer, first and foremost, her hands have always been her pride, the fingers short, stubby, and efficient, the nails cut short so as not to interfere with her typing. Thanksgiving was one of her annual days of domesticity, even if it was hired help who set the table, cooked and served the meal, and cleaned up after.

Even at that last Thanksgiving there was an elaborate centerpiece for the table – a riot of pineapple, eggplant, persimmon, nuts, and grapes. Two turkeys, three pies, three kinds of stuffing.

Not only did she have to be a successful lady writer but she had to run a perfect home and raise perfect children. And Thanksgiving, even her last one, was the time for that perfection to shine.

**

Do you have memories of a lost loved one, no longer with us, but whose memory pops up during the holidays?

Caramel Sauce, Word Search Answers, and Whatnot

 JENN McKINLAY: I was supposed to post Friday's word search answer yesterday, but shockingly (ha!) I forgot. So it is at the bottom of today's post in which I'm sharing my recipe for salted caramel sauce because it bumped my apple pie and my pumpkin pie up "two notches" according to my father-in-law and I absolutely agree.

Salted Caramel Sauce:

Ingredients: 

1 cup sugar

6 Tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup heavy cream, room temperature

1 teaspoon salt

Heat sugar in a steel saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Sugar will clump but melt into an amber colored liquid. Once the sugar is all melted, add in the butter. Be careful because the sauce will bubble rapidly and it will burn you! If it starts to separate, remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Slowly add in the heavy cream while stirring constantly. After all the cream has been added, stop stirring and let it bubble for 1 minute. It will rise while it heats. Remove from heat and stir in the salt. It will be watery but will thicken while it cools. Cover tightly and it will keep for one month in the refrigerator. Mine has never lasted more than a few days :) 

True confession time: I used to be a hot fudge and marshmallow sauce gal, but I have crossed the enemy line and am all about caramel sauce now. If you're saucing up your dessert, what's your go to? Chocolate? Raspberry? Caramel? Other? 

And now, your word search answers...

HAPPY SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY!!!

 JENN McKINLAY: Happy Small Business Saturday! Yes, this has been a national holiday since 2010 when American Express launched it to give small businesses a post-recession boost and it was quickly co-sponsored by the Small Business Administration. 

Because I am fortunate enough to live down the street from The Poisoned Pen Bookstore in Old Town Scottsdale, I will start my day by doing some gift shopping there and then move on to the Old Town Farmer’s Market and The Mercantile, which houses 70 different artists and makers. I’m not a shopper by nature (as in, I loathe shopping) but I do love books, fresh food, and arts and crafts, so it’s not really shopping. 

How about you, Reds, what are some of your favorite local small businesses? 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, there is the cutest store in our town center, just two blocks away, called THE PAPER MOUSE. It is owned by an artist who uses the name Felix Fu  and is full of his Felix Dolittle creations; cards and stationery and bookplates. Here’s an example of a Felix Doolittle card:  

It also has as every single gorgeous stationery item you could possibly imagine.Washi tape. Wrapping paper. Amazing pens. And the whole little store is shockingly gorgeous, not an item out of place, all very Zen. It is my supplier of my beloved Blackwing pencils, and just—beware if you go inside. It is jaw-dropping and irresistible. https://www.thepapermouse.com/  And yes, they do mail order! 

PS. Debs, here is the fountain pen page. https://www.thepapermouse.com/collections/fountain-pens-and-accessories

And for all, here is the wrapping paper and such.  https://www.thepapermouse.com/collections/gift-wrap-accessories

 

LUCY BURDETTE: In Key West and Madison CT, I am lucky to have three independent bookstores within easy reach: Books and Books Key West, Key West Island Books, and RJ Julia Booksellers. What else could we possibly need? Oh, and ps, I also did some shopping ahead at the Strand Bookstore in NYC earlier this fall, and picked up some stocking stuffers in Scandinavia. I think I am set!

HALLIE EPHRON: After one after the other of our local independent bookstores closed, finally (drum roll) one is opening! WELCOME to “The Next Chapter Bookstore” in Quincy, Ma. The owner is a retired high school assistant principal (of course!) fulfilling her dream. So brave and so fortuitous for me since I live literally ten minutes away.

RHYS BOWEN:  I’m lucky that Book Passage is my local indie bookstore. They had  a talk on Saturday with suggestions for books that make great presents. The only problem was that I checked off half of them!  We have a new shoe shop opened but I don’t think it will survive. I love going up to my daughter in Sonoma where the whole plaza is full of fabulous small shops ( all rather expensive but…..)

What I really love is our farmers market each week. Local cheeses, fish, mushrooms, eggs as well as veggies. 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Count me in on the farmer’s market as well! We have so many terrific vendors that I buy from every week. It’s not just the fresh fruits and veggies–there’s the pasta stall, the tamale stall, the pizza stall, the Mexican food stall (which sells amazing whole wheat chicken tetrazzini!!) There’s my friend Sarah who makes wonderful soy candles and goat’s milk soaps (always on my Christmas gift-giving list,) and the Texas Olive Oil stall, ditto. There are many more, I’ve just cherry-picked some favorites.

As for actual shops, we have the most amazing bakery and we feel so fortunate. Also our local butcher shop, housed in what was once the Greyhound Bus station just off the town square. They sell a good deal more than meat. There is some produce, wine and specialty cheeses, house salad dressings, dairy from Texas producers, etc., etc. You can even find candles (from the market vendor above), bread, honey, olive oil, and tea. In short, they are the “village shoppe.”

We do now have an independent bookstore that I am ashamed to say I have not been in. A visit there will be on my Christmas shopping list.

Your turn, Readers, what are some fabulous small businesses is your area?