 | In November, soft Rain comes to Honolulu With a huge rainbow. |
Every autumn, when November arrives, my first thought is Thanksgiving. I love this holiday because it is all about hospitality, good home cooking, friendship, family and most of all—gratitude! We all know the historic origins of the American Thanksgiving Holiday when the Wampanoag people, who had inhabited the area now known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for twelve thousand years, welcomed a group of English colonists in 1621 to share a harvest feast. To this day, many of us still make the effort to include in our Thanksgiving Dinner some of the ingredients that were present in the original harvest celebration. Foods that were plentiful in the Massachusetts coastal area in the 1600s include wild turkey, shellfish, venison, foraged mushrooms, cranberries, corn, green vegetables, nuts, and pumpkin. Sugar, potatoes and apples, staples of today’s Thanksgiving dinner, were not available in the area in 1621.
| Autumn’s trade winds lift A yellow butterfly up To the breadfruit tree. |  |
In 2016, the year Kathleen and I introduced our first blogs to the myteaplanner.com website, I shared our family’s traditional Thanksgiving menu and included the recipes for home-made Cranberry Ginger Sauce, Wild Rice Dressing and Pumpkin Praline Pie. You can access these free recipes by scrolling through the Archives on the right side of my “Tea and Travels” blog. My November 2019 blog contains the recipe for a Thanksgiving appetizer, Mushroom Sage Crostini and a luscious condiment good for Thanksgiving and Christmas tea parties, Cranberry Curd. The same blog includes the recipe for old fashioned and always delicious Lemon Chess Pie, wonderful to serve on Thanksgiving along with the traditional Pumpkin Pie, as I am a firm believer that Thanksgiving Dinner requires a minimum of two different desserts. Three or four desserts would be even better! Another fabulous autumn and winter dessert can be found in my November 2020 blog: Apple Butter Pie.
In 2016, the year Kathleen and I introduced our first blogs to the myteaplanner.com website, I shared our family’s traditional Thanksgiving menu and included the recipes for home-made Cranberry Ginger Sauce, Wild Rice Dressing and Pumpkin Praline Pie. You can access these free recipes by scrolling through the Archives on the right side of my “Tea and Travels” blog. My November 2019 blog contains the recipe for a Thanksgiving appetizer, Mushroom Sage Crostini and a luscious condiment good for Thanksgiving and Christmas tea parties, Cranberry Curd. The same blog includes the recipe for old fashioned and always delicious Lemon Chess Pie, wonderful to serve on Thanksgiving along with the traditional Pumpkin Pie, as I am a firm believer that Thanksgiving Dinner requires a minimum of two different desserts. Three or four desserts would be even better! Another fabulous autumn and winter dessert can be found in my November 2020 blog: Apple Butter Pie.
 | Just cooked cranberries Scent the house. Unpeeled apples Rest on the table. |
Sadly, Thanksgiving does have a dark side, on which we will not dwell for long. While we love to imagine the Native Americans and the “Pilgrims” forming fast and enduring friendships in this “new” land, the initial cordial welcome lasted only a short ten years. And not surprisingly, the colonists soon began appropriating land and resources from the Wampanoag people and claiming it as their own. Today the Wampanoag who still reside in the region do not participate in Thanksgiving celebrations. A more contemporary shadow cast over Thanksgiving, often depicted in movies and television shows, many intended as comedies, is the predictable family squabble that erupts at the Thanksgiving dinner table. In this all-too-frequent view of American family life, anger and age-old resentments are as ubiquitous on Thanksgiving as Roast Turkey and Apple Pie.
| When she peels the sixth Apple for the Thanksgiving Pie, she takes a breath. |  |
Is this discord really necessary? Can’t we just behave ourselves on Thanksgiving and be grateful for the family we have and the food we are privileged to eat? A little less alcohol might help. I was recently delighted to be included in an autumn Charcuterie party hosted by my friend Vivian Flora whom you met in February of this year in my blog, “A Festive Filipino Afternoon Tea.” That lovely event for ladies was a Christmas celebration that featured holiday pastries, sandwiches, scones, savories and elegant herbal teas. Vivian is a super-hostess and an excellent home cook and herbalist. Her social gatherings reflect her aesthetics and her meticulous attention to planning every detail. To provide her guests with relaxation, welcome, joy and companionship, Vivian includes games, crafts and time for spiritual reflection during her women’s gatherings. So far, neither of the festivities I have attended in Vivian’s home included alcoholic beverages.
Is this discord really necessary? Can’t we just behave ourselves on Thanksgiving and be grateful for the family we have and the food we are privileged to eat? A little less alcohol might help. I was recently delighted to be included in an autumn Charcuterie party hosted by my friend Vivian Flora whom you met in February of this year in my blog, “A Festive Filipino Afternoon Tea.” That lovely event for ladies was a Christmas celebration that featured holiday pastries, sandwiches, scones, savories and elegant herbal teas. Vivian is a super-hostess and an excellent home cook and herbalist. Her social gatherings reflect her aesthetics and her meticulous attention to planning every detail. To provide her guests with relaxation, welcome, joy and companionship, Vivian includes games, crafts and time for spiritual reflection during her women’s gatherings. So far, neither of the festivities I have attended in Vivian’s home included alcoholic beverages.
A the Charcuterie party I attended this fall, instead of serving hot herbal teas, Vivian dedicated a section of her kitchen counter to a “Mocktail Bar” where guests could create their own non-alcoholic mock cocktails. This beautifully designed serving area included pitchers of freshly pureed fruit bases, mango-cucumber and strawberry, which guests could combine with citrus flavored sparking waters or still water filled with orange slices.
To add even more fun to this creative mixology, guests were encouraged to dip the edges of their cocktail glasses in lemon and lime juice then in a sweet, hot and salty mixture of sugar, salt and cayenne pepper, imitating the classic Margaritas. Lemon and lime wedges were available to attach to the rim of the glass. The final touch, which was my favorite, was a bottle of fine quality Grenadine to add a sweet splash of glorious pink liquid to an already charmingly decorated drink. French bottled sweet cherries were also available, reminiscent of the childhood favorite, the Shirley Temple. Thin plastic stirrers, which doubled as straws, made it easy to impale a cherry and easy to drink one’s own self-created festive beverage.
To add even more fun to this creative mixology, guests were encouraged to dip the edges of their cocktail glasses in lemon and lime juice then in a sweet, hot and salty mixture of sugar, salt and cayenne pepper, imitating the classic Margaritas. Lemon and lime wedges were available to attach to the rim of the glass. The final touch, which was my favorite, was a bottle of fine quality Grenadine to add a sweet splash of glorious pink liquid to an already charmingly decorated drink. French bottled sweet cherries were also available, reminiscent of the childhood favorite, the Shirley Temple. Thin plastic stirrers, which doubled as straws, made it easy to impale a cherry and easy to drink one’s own self-created festive beverage.
I admit I enjoyed more than one of these delightful mocktails and left the party perfectly sober. So did all the other ladies. A good time was had by all, and nobody got a DUI! Reflecting on how much I enjoyed Vivian’s Charcuterie party, it occurred to me that a Mocktail Bar would be a perfect addition to the traditional North American Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year’s Eve party. And children who are present at these celebrations would love to make their own brightly colored, sweet but healthy over-the -top beverages. Vivian has generously agreed to share the procedure for making the fruit purees, and at the end of this blog, we provide a simple check list for setting up a Mocktail Bar for your family holiday celebrations.
For those of you who are not entirely familiar with Charcuterie, it is a generic French culinary term for pre-cooked or cured and usually pre-sliced meats, pates and sausages that can be quickly assembled and served at room temperature with cheeses, crackers, fresh and dried fruits, olives, pickles, nuts and breads for an elegant feast that is not intended as a sit-down meal. Meats that are often included on a charcuterie tray include salami, pepperoni and prosciutto. The word charcuterie also refers to the traditional meat shop where these sausages and cured meats are prepared and can be purchased.
For those of you who are not entirely familiar with Charcuterie, it is a generic French culinary term for pre-cooked or cured and usually pre-sliced meats, pates and sausages that can be quickly assembled and served at room temperature with cheeses, crackers, fresh and dried fruits, olives, pickles, nuts and breads for an elegant feast that is not intended as a sit-down meal. Meats that are often included on a charcuterie tray include salami, pepperoni and prosciutto. The word charcuterie also refers to the traditional meat shop where these sausages and cured meats are prepared and can be purchased.
A Charcuterie tray is a hostess’ faithful companion, as Charcuterie can be served as an appetizer to a full meal, but the hostess will not have to cook any of these hors oeuvres.
A Charcuterie selection can be very elegant, and can be included in a festive Afternoon Tea, a reception, a baby or wedding shower or any other notable or seasonal occasion, including a memorial gathering. A sensitive host or hostess like Vivian will include seasonal elements such as the almonds and dried apricots that graced her autumn Charcuterie tray.
The Cranberry Curd from my November 2019 blog, to which I alluded earlier, would fit beautifully with a Thanksgiving or Christmas Charcuterie selection. For Vivian’s party, I brought thin slices of my tried-and-true Pumpkin Bread, which contains chopped dried dates and toasted slivered almonds. You can find the recipe in my October 2018 blog. Fruit breads harmonize well with cheeses and cured meats, as I pointed out in my October 2024 blog last month, entitled, “Cheese, Please!”
A Charcuterie tray is a hostess’ faithful companion, as Charcuterie can be served as an appetizer to a full meal, but the hostess will not have to cook any of these hors oeuvres.
A Charcuterie selection can be very elegant, and can be included in a festive Afternoon Tea, a reception, a baby or wedding shower or any other notable or seasonal occasion, including a memorial gathering. A sensitive host or hostess like Vivian will include seasonal elements such as the almonds and dried apricots that graced her autumn Charcuterie tray.
The Cranberry Curd from my November 2019 blog, to which I alluded earlier, would fit beautifully with a Thanksgiving or Christmas Charcuterie selection. For Vivian’s party, I brought thin slices of my tried-and-true Pumpkin Bread, which contains chopped dried dates and toasted slivered almonds. You can find the recipe in my October 2018 blog. Fruit breads harmonize well with cheeses and cured meats, as I pointed out in my October 2024 blog last month, entitled, “Cheese, Please!”
 | Before Thanksgiving, The Christmas lights wrapped around The palm trees glitter. |
Vivian’s Make-Your-Own Mocktails
Vivian’s home-made festive Mocktails reflect her experience as a gardener tending to her own herb garden and drying and grinding some of her own herbs. She is also an expert in preparing Filipino cuisine and is familiar with a wide range of ingredients indigenous to the Philippines, many of which are also available in Hawaii and other areas of the mainland.
The fruit puree that forms the base for these festive Mocktails includes Calamansi, a small, sweet and tart Philippine citrus fruit sometimes referred to in the Untied States as Philippine Limes.
Calamansi are used extensively in the Philippines to marinate and season fish, pork and poultry and to prepare soups and fruit juices. Fresh Calamansi fruit is available here in Honolulu at Asian markets and at Foodland Farms, Whole Foods, Safeway and Walmart. In addition, 64-ounce cartons of Sun Tropics Brand Calamansi Lime Nectar are sold at Safeway.
Vivian’s hosting and food preparation skills are further enlivened by her extensive travel adventures with her husband Maurino. I was delighted to see imported Italian fig jam gracing the top of a large round of Brie in the center of her Charcuterie tray, and two excellent French jams were placed next to the Filipino Pan de Sal rolls, which were offered to accompany the savory home-prepared Filipino fried meats, lumpia and tofu on a tray next to the vast array of Charcuterie meats and cheeses. A charming little bowl of Italian Lemon Drops from the Amalfi Coast added a sweet and tangy taste for the guests to experience after all the savories. I encourage our readers to incorporate their own travel experiences as well as local ingredients and family favorites when arranging their own Mocktail Bar and even their own Charcuterie trays. A familiar banana, coconut milk and lime puree might be just as welcome as mangoes and cucumbers, and a mixed berry puree with some fresh lemon juice would also be refreshing.
Vivian’s home-made festive Mocktails reflect her experience as a gardener tending to her own herb garden and drying and grinding some of her own herbs. She is also an expert in preparing Filipino cuisine and is familiar with a wide range of ingredients indigenous to the Philippines, many of which are also available in Hawaii and other areas of the mainland.
The fruit puree that forms the base for these festive Mocktails includes Calamansi, a small, sweet and tart Philippine citrus fruit sometimes referred to in the Untied States as Philippine Limes.
Calamansi are used extensively in the Philippines to marinate and season fish, pork and poultry and to prepare soups and fruit juices. Fresh Calamansi fruit is available here in Honolulu at Asian markets and at Foodland Farms, Whole Foods, Safeway and Walmart. In addition, 64-ounce cartons of Sun Tropics Brand Calamansi Lime Nectar are sold at Safeway.
Vivian’s hosting and food preparation skills are further enlivened by her extensive travel adventures with her husband Maurino. I was delighted to see imported Italian fig jam gracing the top of a large round of Brie in the center of her Charcuterie tray, and two excellent French jams were placed next to the Filipino Pan de Sal rolls, which were offered to accompany the savory home-prepared Filipino fried meats, lumpia and tofu on a tray next to the vast array of Charcuterie meats and cheeses. A charming little bowl of Italian Lemon Drops from the Amalfi Coast added a sweet and tangy taste for the guests to experience after all the savories. I encourage our readers to incorporate their own travel experiences as well as local ingredients and family favorites when arranging their own Mocktail Bar and even their own Charcuterie trays. A familiar banana, coconut milk and lime puree might be just as welcome as mangoes and cucumbers, and a mixed berry puree with some fresh lemon juice would also be refreshing.
Creating a Mocktail Bar
Equipment:
Blender, paring knife, citrus juicer, mint muddling tool, 20 eight-ounce plastic beverage cups or glass cocktail glasses, decorative serving dishes: 2 flat bowls wide enough to accommodate the top rim of an 8-ounce cup, ice container with tongs, plate for mint sprigs, decorative bowl for lemon wedges, small stirrer-straws
Ingredients:
See the list below. Note that you will need at least 9 limes (or 30 calamansi) and 5 lemons for the puree, dipping juice and garnish for the mocktails. Calamansi are smaller than limes, and you may need as many as 30 calamansi for the puree and dipping juice of you choose to use calamansi rather than limes.
Makes: Approximately 20 Mocktails
For the fruit puree:
- 2-4 peeled fresh mangos, seeds removed
- 1 large cucumber, sliced
- ½ cup freshly squeezed juice of approximately 4 limes or 20 fresh seeded calamansi
- Honey or simple syrup for sweetening
To Garnish the cup rims:
- Freshly squeezed juice of 2 lemons
- Freshly squeezed juice of 2 additional limes (or 10 additional calamansi)
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
For additional garnish and finishing:
- 5-6 sprigs of fresh mint
- Additional 3 lemons and 3 limes, each fruit cut into 6-8 wedges
- 1 bottle of Grenadine
- 1 jar of pitted French sweet cherries
- 2 large bottles of unflavored sparkling water such as San Pellegrino
- 4 large bottles of flavored sparkling water such as lemon, lime, grapefruit or pomegranate
- Ice Bucket full of Ice with Tongs
Puree and Garnish for Vivian’s Mango Mojito Mocktail
1 cup sliced cucumber
½ cup lime juice or calamansi (a Filipino citrus fruit) juice
- Make the Mango Puree Mixture by blending the following ingredients:
1 cup sliced cucumber
½ cup lime juice or calamansi (a Filipino citrus fruit) juice
- Adjust the sweetness by adding honey or syrup to taste.
- Squeeze 2 lemons and 2 additional limes (or 10 additional calamansi) and place the juice in a small shallow bowl, large enough to fit the top of an 8-ounce cocktail glass
- Measure the sugar, salt and cayenne pepper into a small flat bowl or saucer and stir to mix thoroughly.
- Cut 3-6 lemons and limes into wedges and place them in a decorative bowl near the juice and the sugar mixture. Place the mint sprigs on a small serving plate near the cherries and the bottle of Grenadine.
To Assemble a Make Your Own Mocktail
- Turn an 8-ounce plastic cup or cocktail glass upside down and dip the rim of the cup into the citrus juice. Then place the rim of the moistened cup into the salt and sugar mixture.
- Tear off 5-6 mint leaves from the available springs and muddle them in the bottom of the cup to release the flavor.
- Add 2-3 ice cubes and pour mango and cucumber puree to cover the bottom third of the cup. Stir gently with a straw stirrer and top off with sparkling water of your choice.
- Optional: Add a splash of Grenadine and 1-3 cherries, and top with 1 or more lemon or lime wedges. Stir again and enjoy. You will want to enjoy more than one of these Mocktails, varying the additions to suit your taste.
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