Hello, come on in from the cold. Please sit and join me for a virtual coffee and sweets.
As this week is Thanksgiving here in the U.S., it gave me the perfect excuse to open a can of the pumpkin I bought last year. At this time last year, I was going crazy buying apples for apple pie, pumpkin for pumpkin pie, and frozen cranberries for who-knows-what. I ended up making just an apple pie last year and those 2 large cans of pumpkin puree sat in my pantry until a few days ago.
I used half the can for a pumpkin pie and the other half for a pumpkin pound cake. Both are delicious, even though as you can see, the pumpkin did get a little burnt there.
If we were having coffee and cake/pie, I would tell you this Thanksgiving was as uneventful as it got. No black Friday shopping. Nope, just a lunch with Chinese porridge, ham, egg and coconut tarts, and ribs plus a bombshell dropped by none other than mom.
The lunch was at my house after mom went back and forth on the decision between my house and my uncle’s place next door. As much as I didn’t want my aunts and uncles trudging into my home, I think, for once, mom made the right decision because I had no interest to carry those trays of ribs and ham to the next door.
Right before Thanksgiving lunch, however, after talking to her friend across the pond in the UK for over an hour, mom told me she’s thinking of going to London for Christmas and wanted me to come along. Of course I said yes. Anything to avoid getting cooped up in the house for those 10 days of paid holidays even being stuck with mom on a plane for 13 hours and in another country for 10 days.
Oh yes, the company announced because everyone worked so hard during the last year that it decided to close between Christmas Eve and New Years. Essentially, Christmas vacation starts on December 24th and we don’t return to work until the 3rd of January.
But then the next day, Friday, mom saw the news headline about a new variant spreading and changed her mind about going to the UK and anywhere over those 10 workless days. So now, I’m officially stuck at home over Christmas and I’m not looking forward to it.
If we were having coffee, I would show you the progress on my winter indoor gardening. I would tell you these veggies have been growing in my garage under grow lights for the last 1.5 months. I planted lettuce and spinach in this 5-gallon grow bag. I haven’t harvested the lettuce yet but had harvested the spinach twice already.
I planted more lettuce and spinach in separate 1-gallon grow bags yesterday, which are currently under my brand-new grow lights. I guess if I have to be stuck at home with mom over the Christmas, I might as well be productive and garden.
Thank you for joining me for this weekend’s #weekendcoffeeshare. I hope we’ll both return next week.
This is Another Story 
Christmas gardening can be a great way to spend the holidays.
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I agree, unfortunately, all I can do is watch it.
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Pumpkin pound cake sounds delicious. No Black Friday shopping for me, either. Had originally planned on a quick trip to bank & pharmacy, but 1st ended up being closed & latter not really necessary.
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The pound cake is and was delicious. I think it was probably my first successful cake. Mom seemed to enjoy it as well because I made it on Wednesday and as of today, Sunday, it’s gone.
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I would be nervous about traveling right now so maybe your mom made the right decision.
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I’m happen to be someone who cannot be stuck at home especially for so many days. I have to go out even if to some place local. I think she made the right decision not to go to UK but it doesn’t mean I’m willing to be trapped in the house for the whole 10 days.
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Yinglan, the pie looks great, and so did the rest of the lunch! That’s exciting that you can go to London. Enjoy it! -Pamela
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Thanks. Unfortunately, the trip to London has been called off indefinitely by none other than my mom.
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Hi YingLan, You have a great vacation break before you. I would advise a few, by yourself or with a friend, trips out for photography ventures. You and your camera need some quality time and you are surrounded by some amazing places begging to be captured in photos.
Blessings.
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Oh Gary, I sure hope there is a vacation for me in the future. At the moment, mom is more or less trapping me in my house, and that trip to the UK, it’s been put off indefinitely. *sigh* so much for hoping to get away this Christmas and oh, trust me when I say my camera is begging to be used right now. I have taken less than 10 good photos since July and the ones on my phone are awful by my standards.
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I love that you are making something positive of your time and keep gardening, since its something you grew to enjoy so much, I think that is wonderful. Both of your pumpkin pastries looks delicious.
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Thank you.
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We had turkey for Thanksgiving. I used the bones to make a turkey broth and made some rice porridge.
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That sounds yummy. 🙂
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What would happen if you just got up one morning of vacation, said “I’m going on a day trip,” took your your camera and left for the day. That way she will be surprised and not have time to make up some other commitment. Would that work?
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I did that a few times in the past and got scolded for it by multiple people. Not only that, she told everyone to call me to look for me. I think I just sorta gave up as I don’t like to be lectured for doing something grown ups do.
By the way, those few incidents happened during the last 3 years.
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I’m sorry, but at least you tried.
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