Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and my friend and neighbor J invited a bunch of friends and family over for a feast! I brought along an approximation of a pear tarte tatin. I'm getting quite into baking these days, now that we've entered soup and baking season, but that doesn't mean it's all masterpieces! Our local supermarket didn't have frozen pastry dough so I tried to make do with layers of filo pastry. Live and learn. The pears, baked in the bottom of the pan with caramel, came out beautifully, but the filo came out ... well, remarkably like the white meat of turkey - white, flaky, dry and unencumbered with flavor.
I stayed on after the other guests left, read J's 5-year-old daughter some bedtime stories - they have a few books in German, from a year they spent in Berlin when she was 2, so I read from Bobo Siebenschläfer, in German then in English - and then sat around the kitchen counter as things were cleaned up, with J, her husband B, and his mother. Big feasts are grand, but I'll take a smaller gathering like this one any time. Nice to have both!