Thanksgiving in the Desert!

This year I traveled to Pioneertown (near Joshua Tree) for a wonderful Thanksgiving with Gourmet Gal and other dear friends.  (Photo by Kerstin Goetz)

There is a spare beauty to this area, and we spent a lot of time just looking at the scenery, and watching the birds at the bird feeder.  (Photo by Kerstin Goetz)

When we weren’t doing that, we were cooking, because Gourmet Gal cooked the Thanksgiving dinner for a crowd of 13, and it was fabulous!  In addition to the usual turkey and stuffing, we had Gourmet Gal’s fabulous potato fennel gratin, braised carrots and pumpkin cheese cake, two sweet potato dishes, a beet salad and more desserts brought by guests, and brussels sprouts and cranberry relish prepared by yours truly.  We enjoyed chatting with old friends and new, sharing the fabulous food together, and consuming copious quantities of wine.  Good times!  (Photo by Jeanne Talbot)

Note:  The cranberry relish recipe comes from Sarah Lea Chase’s Cold-Weather Cooking, and goes like this:

1 ½ lbs. fresh cranberries

1 lime

1 tangerine

¾ cup (packed light brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar (Note: I used less sugar – 1 cup total)

3 TB orange liqueur (I used Triple Sec)

Scant pinch ground cloves

¼ cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

Process the cranberries in a food processor till coarsely chopped, and transfer to a mixing bowl.

Cut the lime and tangerine (peel and all) into small pieces, remove the seeds, and process in the food processor till finely chopped.  Add to the cranberries.

Add the sugars, orange liqueur and cloves to the cranberries and stir well.  Taste for sweetness and adjust if it seems too tart.  Fold in the pine nuts, and refrigerate over night so the flavors can marry.  Keeps for several weeks refrigerated.

Enjoy, and cheers!