Anticipating an experimental Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is this week here in the US, and so we're all busy planning menus, pre-cooking parts of the feast, and inviting family, friends, and people we think may not have anyone to celebrate the holiday with us.

I'm not going to be with family (that's next week), and I'm turning down all well-meaning invitations for Thursday. Nor am I inviting anyone to my place, as I have sometimes done in the past. Why? Because I have a new toy to play with. I took delivery this past week on an induction stove. 

The new stove shows more of my fun backsplash tiles!
Lynne Cantwell 2025

When I bought this apartment, I didn't even think about the ages of the appliances that came with. At least, not until the 35-year-old dishwasher started coughing up things I'd never put into it. It was about that time that I decided to start replacing everything, even the stuff that still worked. I got a new microwave in 2024; somebody had stuck a finger or something through the plastic panel over the clock/timer display on the old one, and it bugged me that I couldn't easily read it. The new fridge I bought last year to replace a 2011 model. I got a new washer and dryer to replace the pair that were manufactured in 1997 when I redid the laundry closet last year.

That left the stove. I liked the old one. It had a 2011 manufacturing date, and it still worked fine, but I've been jonesing for an induction stove -- primarily because it's safer for older folks not to reach across hot burners for the knobs on the back of the stove. Also, induction burners won't get hot, even if the knob is on, unless there's an induction-ready pan on it.

"Induction-ready pan" needs an explanation. Induction works by creating electromagnetic energy. There's a coil of copper wire under the glass stovetop; electricity is sent through it, and when a pan that conducts magnetic energy is set atop the glass over the copper coil, the copper generates a current within the pan itself. Basically (if I've got this right), the pan itself is    ` the heat source. The burner on the stove gets warm, but the pan heats up a lot. So you can't use aluminum pots and pans on this stove -- you have to use something that a magnet will stick to. In other words, your pans need to be stainless steel, carbon steel, cast iron, or certain hybrid pans. Try sticking a magnet to the bottom of your pan -- if it sticks, it'll work on induction.

Induction cooking is fast. The installer had me put a little bit of water inside a pan and put in on the burner; the water inside started boiling within 30 seconds. Granted, it was only a little bit of water, but it seemed whiz-bang fast to me.

It's going to take some adjustment for me to get used to that speed. I've been cooking on an electric stove since the middle of 2018, and I've adapted my cooking style to the slow warmup of regular electric burners. The first time I made an omelet on this new stove, I waited too long to pour in the egg mixture. It didn't quite burn, but it came out extra brown. And induction heats up even faster than gas. 

This stove also has both a regular and convection oven. My microwave has a convection feature, which I've used a couple of times, partly for the novelty of putting an actual metal pan in the microwave -- although the microwave doesn't have a cleaning cycle in case you get grease spatters all over the inside, so it's not as useful as I first thought it would be. The new oven does have a steam-cleaning cycle. And purportedly it will do the regular-to-convection temperature conversion for you; given that I also have to recalculate for altitude, I'm not sure how useful that feature will be. But I'm willing to give it a whirl.

All of which is to explain why I'm not inviting anyone over this Thanksgiving. If I manage to ruin my Thanksgiving dinner, it will only be ruined for me. You're welcome.

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Oh, my pots and pans? Yeah, I did have to replace them. I had quit using the carbon steel frying pan I first bought because it annoyed me. Instead, I've gone with a couple of hybrid pieces and two nitrided carbon steel frying pans, all made by Anolon. (My favorite aluminum pots were all Anolon.) I am in love with these carbon steel frying pans. Still looking for a saucepan or two.

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In looking for links for this post, I ran across the saga of my washer and dryer: Best Buy had sold me a vaporware clothes dryer, and I ended up buying the unit from a regional appliance-store chain instead. 

I can laugh about it now. And you can bet I went to the regional chain first for my induction stove. Ordered on Saturday, delivered on Wednesday. Boom.

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These moments of cooking-with-induction blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. 

What is gratitude? Part 1.

trombax | Deposit Photos

In a Pagan group on Facebook this week, another member (I'm not using her name because it's a private group) posted some questions meant to get at the heart of this topic: "What is gratitude?" She said she's not looking for reasons why gratitude is important; she's more interested in delving into the things that we call gratitude. More of a deconstruction; less of an admonishment.

Here we are in mid November, and gratitude season -- aka Thanksgiving -- is nearly upon us. So I told her I would tackle a few of her questions here on the blog.

One of the problems she sees -- and I see it, too -- is that the concept of gratitude has been infiltrated by what she calls "unhealthy impostors". Here's an example: What if you're giving something out of the goodness of your heart, but the person you're giving the thing to says they don't want it? 

Let's say your workplace or church has a food drive for the poor, or you attend an event where the admission price is a can of something for the local food pantry. So you do what a lot of us do: You bring a box or two of Kraft Mac & Cheese and a couple of cans of tuna and throw them in the collection box. You've done a good thing, right?

Maybe; maybe not. What if the person who gets your donation is diabetic? Lactose intolerant? Has celiac disease? Those are all legitimate health issues. But if the person you're donating to says "no thank you" to your offering -- for whatever reason -- do you think of them as ungrateful?

We haven't even gotten into how someone is supposed to make blue-box mac and cheese without milk and butter. Butter's tough without refrigeration, but dry milk is definitely a thing.

Then, too, poor people are people, with likes and dislikes. When I worked at the big DC law firm, we had partner offices overlooking Murrow Park on Pennsylvania Avenue NW. One late afternoon, one of the partners said to me, "It's funny, isn't it? There's always a flock of seagulls that show up and fly around the park every day at about this time."

"Maybe that's why," I said, pointing out his window and down. A van from one of the charities that feed the homeless was parked at the curb, and volunteers inside were handing out sandwiches to street people -- and some of the street people were sharing their sandwiches with the birds. 

Say what you will about seagulls, but they know a meal ticket when they see one.

It wasn't just the partner's cluelessness that has stuck with me about that scene. It was seeing people who had little or nothing themselves sharing their dinner with birds. I wondered why. Were they not hungry? Seemed unlikely. Did they not like the sandwiches? We were about ten floors up, so I couldn't tell what they were made from, but there was definitely white bread involved. No idea what the filling was, or whether they came with any condiments. A slice of cheese? A piece of wilted lettuce? Maybe a wan tomato slice? I didn't know. Maybe they were just bologna and bread.

Maybe people were tired of bologna and bread. 

How did the volunteers in the van feel about seeing their hard work going to the seagulls? I don't know the answer to that, either.

But I could understand the feelings of everyone involved: The volunteers, who were doing their best with whatever donations, both food and cash, they received; the street people, who were probably hungry, but maybe not for that; the birds, who were doing bird things; and maybe even the partner, who I'm sure donated to charities of his choice. (As do I.)

Is it necessary to expect gratitude when you gift someone something they didn't ask for? I don't think it is. I think it's better to ask what the person needs or wants. Even if they're poor.

And I think it's important to not fault a person who doesn't want what you're offering. Even if they're poor.

Because that makes the giving more about you than it does about the people you're trying to help.

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These moments of bloggy gratitude have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Stay safe!

Gobble, gobble.

 

SlipFloat | Deposit Photos

We are currently in the midst of Peak Eating Season, which I define as the period that starts when you buy the first bag of Halloween candy and ends after the leftover Easter candy goes on sale. The season kicks into high gear in the U.S. this coming week with Thanksgiving on Thursday.

A lot of people stress over Thanksgiving, and not just because all the relatives are coming (including the ones you don't like). There's also a lot of angst over how to cook the turkey, how much food to buy, which sides to have, and so on. Not me! I am one of those people who makes the same thing every year. I buy the biggest turkey I can*, stuff it with Pepperidge Farm stuffing, roast it in one of those plastic cooking bags, and serve it with mashed potatoes from a box, nuked whole sweet potatoes, a green vegetable, crescent rolls from the vacuum-packed can (nothing says a holiday meal at La Casa Cantwell like the explodey sound those tubes of dough make), and the jellied substance that my daughters long ago dubbed "canberry sauce". With pumpkin pie and chocolate pudding pie for dessert.

That is, that was the menu for many, many years. Then I went low carb.

Honestly, though, as a veteran of decades of dieting, I can assure you that of all the holiday meals, Thanksgiving is one of the easiest to adapt to whatever lifestyle change you're making. Granted, it's tougher for vegetarians and vegans because of the focus on meat (a problem that Thanksgiving shares with Christmas dinner). But for nearly everybody else, a few tweaks and you're good.

Take this low-carb thing. There's quite a number of carbs in my old menu, but you can lean on lower carb veggies for sides.

Take the stuffing, for example. A couple of years ago, I found a recipe online for cauliflower "stuffing". It is amazing. It 100 percent tastes like regular stuffing. And it's not just me saying it - other people I've served it to have said the same thing. (Pro tip: If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, skip the business about chopping your own cauliflower, carrots, onion and celery -- instead, stop by their produce section and pick up a bag or two of fresh riced cauliflower and a container of mirepoix.)

For rolls, I've made almond flour biscuits. The mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes? You could sub mashed butternut squash, but honestly, I just skip them and add another veggie. This year, it'll be acorn squash. It's not like there isn't enough other food on the table.

Turkey is already zero carb, but I always feel like I ought to put something where the stuffing usually goes. I'm going to try this recipe this year, which includes my cherished plastic cooking bag but doesn't require you to stuff the bird with bread.

The canberry sauce is a tough one, but in the past, I've made cranberry-orange relish with Swerve instead of regular sugar.

For dessert this year, I'm going to tweak a pumpkin pudding recipe that I've used for many years. It worked great when I was doing the regular kind of dieting, and I think all I'll have to do to make it low carb is swap the brown sugar for brown "sugar" Swerve. I'll report back.

Here's the recipe. I don't remember which newspaper I got it from, or I'd give them credit.

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1 14 oz. can pumpkin puree (don't get canned pumpkin pie filling by mistake)

1/2 c. light brown sugar (I'm going to sub brown "sugar" Swerve)

1/2 t. nutmeg

3/4 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. ginger

1/4 t. ground cloves

(Of course, you could use 1 3/4 t. of pumpkin pie spice (aka "pumpkin spice") instead of the individual spices)

1 c. whole milk (or 2% or nut milk -- but remember that the less fat in your milk, the less creamy the pudding will be)

3 eggs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit. Bring a large teapot full of water to a boil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the pumpkin puree, brown sugar/"sugar", and spices. Set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and eggs, then add them to the pumpkin mixture and whisk until smooth. Arrange eight ramekins in a shallow baking dish (about 2" deep) or lasagna pan. Spoon or ladle the pumpkin mixture into the ramekins. Place the baking pan in the oven. With the oven door open, carefully pour the hot water into the baking pan until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Push the baking pan to the center of the oven and bake for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30-35 minutes or until the pumpkin is set. Carefully remove the baking pan from the oven and remove the ramekins from the pan. Serve warm or cool.

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* On the off chance that I haven't bored y'all with this before, here's why I always buy a huge turkey: It's cheap. This year, I paid 67 cents a pound for my turkey. And here's the key:

You don't have to eat the whole thing in one weekend. 

Once the big meal is over, I use a four container system for turkey leftovers: one for slices from the breast for sandwiches, one for the rest of the white meat, one for the dark meat, and one for the skin and the other stuff that nobody's gonna eat. The breast slices go in the fridge for eating that weekend, and the light and dark meat goes in the freezer. (The fourth container goes in the trash, or you can boil the contents for broth.) I can stretch those frozen leftovers for months: turkey rice soup, turkey taco filling, turkey this, turkey that. If you only have turkey a couple of times a month, you don't get sick of it. I swear to you it's true.

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If you take away only one thing from this post, make it this: Don't make yourself crazy over a single feast. Bodies are adaptable. One day of breaking your diet isn't going to wreck your metabolism or your life. If you want the damn pie, eat the damn pie.

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These moments of festive low-carb blogginess have been brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell. Stay safe, and happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving 2012, or: Gratitude with an Attitude.

My weekly news feature has been sadly neglected of late; I apologize for that, but I've been concentrating on writing (Tapped and Book 4) and editing (Tapped), so promotion has gotten shoved to the side a little bit. Well, that's about to end.

For one thing, as of today, we are just about 30 days shy of the date of the first scene in Seized:  the night Brock proposes to Naomi.  That means the Winter Solstice and White Buffalo Calf Pipe Woman's first appearance to Naomi are fast approaching, too.  I'm planning to mark the occasion with a little celebration.  You'll notice the decorations are already going up -- the banner up top and the countdown clock (roll your cursor over the countdown clock -- it's kinda fun, once or twice).  I've got several guest blog slots lined up, some of which are listed on the Tour Dates page.  And I'm planning a contest.  ("Ooooh!  Aaaah!")  More details to come next week on all of that, but in the meantime, get ready, and tell your friends and neighbors.

Speaking of redecorating, I keep forgetting to mention this:  Tucked away on the Buy My Books tab is a link at the top of the page to "Lynne's Book Emporium on Amazon.com."  There you will find, besides links to my own books, links to most of the books I've been using as reference works for the Pipe Woman Chronicles.  If you enjoy perusing bibliographies and "suggestions for further reading" lists, feel free to take a look.


In addition, I should mention that I did more at WFC in Toronto than just attend one panel.  I did a reading, sold two books (yay!), met some local knitters (yes, that's right -- I met two knitters who live in northern Virginia while at a writers' conference in Canada), and people-watched.  One of the panels I attended was the Patty and Mike Show, where Patricia Briggs (who writes the Mercy Thompson books and the Alpha and Omega series) and her husband held forth for an hour or so.  I got a t-shirt, too.



The Friday night mass autographing session is always a great place to spot writerly celebrities.  I was pretty much stuck in my own little corner all night.  But as I was leaving, I happened to turn around and notice Patrick Rothfuss sitting by the door.  If you've ever wondered what the guy who writes the Kingkiller Chronicle looks like, take a gander over to your left.






Moving on from convention news, I should mention that I've got a cat again, if only for a limited time.  Tom, a.k.a. Tommy Wommy, a.k.a. Mr. Wommy, a.k.a. The Wommy Man, is once again in residence, due to a quirk in my older daughter's housing situation.  Here he is, in all his adorable glory. You can easily see why he merits multiple nicknames.  (I should just convert this to a blog featuring pictures of Mr. Wommy, shouldn't I?  That would drive up page views, I bet....)

Finally, I'm feeling much better about my NaNoWriMo totals after this weekend.  As of right now, I have written a little more than 35,000 words of Book 4 and feel confident that I will finish it well before the end of the month.  Which is good, because I will need to do final edits and formatting on Tapped then.  Whew.

Anyway, enough about all that.  This Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US, and one of our hoary traditions (besides watching huge balloons float down NY streets on TV and eating ourselves sick) is to list things we give thanks for.  So here you go, my list of Five Things I Am Grateful For This Thanksgiving.  (I could come up with more, but this post is already pretty long, and I'm sure y'all have things to do.)

1. Friends and family, of course.
2. My fans.  I'm especially grateful for those who fit the description for both #1 and #2.
3. My day job, which allows me to live comfortably while pursuing my dream of being a full-time novelist.
4. The ability to write the books I want to write and to publish them.  Indie publishing for the win!
5. My colleagues at Indies Unlimited and the Indie Exchange, who, besides being available at a moment's notice to commiserate and cheer each other on, are just plain fun to hang out with.

And a Bonus Thing I Am Grateful For This Thanksgiving:

NaNo is almost over!

Have a great Turkey Day, everyone.

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This moment of bloggy gratitude was brought to you, as a public service, by Lynne Cantwell.