Food Thoughts and Pictures for November

Post-Thanksgiving 

Friday: Chinese Dinner

Miriam in China: Real Chinese Food

Miriam visited China in November, and brought back many food pictures, which she agreed to share here.
These are only a few of her fascinating photos.

Saturday: Post-Thanksgiving Mashed Potatoes

Leftover mashed potatoes were made into potato patties.

Thanksgiving: Once-A-Year Feast

In our family, there is no other meal than Thanksgiving with such a set selection of foods. In my childhood, my mother, father, sister, and brother and I would often have Thanksgiving Dinner with my mother’s sisters and their families, or my mother would invite a friend of the family to our house. Yes, turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and more. My aunts sometimes made the famous (notorious?) casseroles of sweet potatoes garnished with marshmallows or of greenbeans in mushroom soup. Our menu this year was close, but no casseroles. 

A few photos:

Mashed potatoes cooking in my kitchen. (Made by Miriam)

We roasted two chickens with stuffing. 

Gravy and squash on the stove near the pot of potatoes.

You can see the stuffing at the right in this photo of the table as we were setting up for the meal.

We used my great-grandmother’s turkey platter: the oldest item in my kitchen.

My dinner plate: turkey, snow peas, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and squash.

Pear-topped cake for dessert (no pie this year).

Coming Next: Christmas Flavors

Tom and Evelyn brought us some wonderful German Christmas treats.

Other Things We Ate in November

Olive oil and Hellmann’s mayo: two items you’ll always find in my kitchen.

Roast beef and French-style potato salad. This is Trader Joe’s ready-to-eat roast beef, a new item for us.

Here I am, cooking in my kitchen.

Making soup in my kitchen — a squash that’s equivalent to pumpkin.

Falafel.

At the Farmers’ Market

Carrots!

Local produce in my kitchen.

Blog post and photos © 2025 mae sander

Shared with Sherry’s November Kitchen Blog Post.

British Baking Show Wrap Up (Contains Spoilers)

Competing.
(These and all images in this post are screen shots I made during the show.)

This morning we watched the finale of the current Great British Baking Show. We have faithfully watched all the other episodes from this year— as well as having watched most episodes during previous years. There wasn’t much suspense this time as one and only one contestant has won almost every week.

One of many very richly decorated and filled cakes.

Judging

With all the friends, family, and other contestants — about to announce the winner.

 

Watching TV and One Boring Book

 Watching a lot of TV

The Great British Baking Show is winding down for the year. I like watching, but mostly
I’m not tempted by the pastries they bake. The meringues sounded pretty good, though. 
We have faithfully watched each week as it’s being released.

“Elsbeth” Season 3 is much more comical than the previous seasons — we watched one more this week.
The effective detective still wears unusual hats and carries 3 shopping bags. A very fun series!

Nero Wolfe and his trusty sidekick Archie now speak Italian (with subtitles).
It’s a little strange, but watchable. I’ve only seen one episode.

One Boring Book

The Hollow Man: by John Dixon Carr: A Classic.
Also a very boring book. I forced myself to at least scan to the end.

One Intriguing Short Story

Anticipating Halloween

Halloween signs from a web search — for Sami’s weekly murals.

From Andy Borowitz’s commentary.

… and more Halloween from another walk around the neighborhood.

Blog post © 2025 mae sander

Reading and Other Adventures This Week

Richard Osman, The Impossible Fortune.
I was really looking forward to this new book about the Thursday Murder Club.
Sadly, I did not find it nearly as enjoyable as the earlier ones in the series.

Another episode of the Great British Baking Show — here are some of the participants.

Early October Treats

 

We have never before bought Halloween candy so early! It’s very good and might not last until
the Trick-or-Treaters get here. We will probably have to buy more. I do like Snickers bars.

Spaghetti casserole with lots of cheesy crumb topping.

On the Street

Walking through downtown… bicycle chaos and…

A mural for Sami’s Monday Murals.

Warm sunny weather is lasting into October. No frost so far.

New Plants in my Window

Blog post © 2025 mae sander

November Kitchens and Foods

 Evelyn and Tom’s Kitchen, Fairfax, VA

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Evelyn and Tom have all new doors and door handles, and a new white paint job in their kitchen.
I’m featuring their kitchen this month because it’s much more interesting than my own kitchen!

From Evelyn’s Kitchen

Seared tuna, bread, and salad.

Turkey breast, stuffing, and roast vegetables in Evelyn’s kitchen.

Also in Fairfax

Fantastic Mr. Fox lives in the back yard. (Tom’s photo, shared with Saturday Critters),

Also at Evelyn’s: we watched the semifinals of the Great British Baking Show.

Visiting W. Lafayette, IN

Earlier in November, we visited Elaine and Larry; she had baked some of her wonderful pies.

Culinary Historians of Ann Arbor Winter Dinner

This is Sherry, one of the original Historians, with her potluck contribution:
her grandmother’s sausage, apple, and squash casserole from the 1930s.

The theme of the dinner was APPLES. My Waldorf Salad is a classic American dish.
When first introduced at the Waldorf Hotel in New York in 1896, it had only apples, celery, and mayonnaise.
Now it has lots of other ingredients as well.

Dining at Home in Ann Arbor

Len made Conchas: Mexican sweet rolls with a crunchy topping

Our Ann Arbor kitchen wasn’t very busy this month, as we were preparing for our trips to Indiana and Virginia, and then we were traveling. So I had more to say about other kitchens and other food experiences this month. And now I’m home from Fairfax, and of course I found out who won the 2024 Great British Baking Show.

Sharing with In My Kitchen from Sherry’s Pickings and Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz

! © 2024 mae sander.