2011發生了不少事, 其中最重要的兩件就是年初在台灣的婚禮及夏天開始的部落格重整。對於部落格的內容我著實想了非常的久。我曾經很刻意的把英文中文內容分開, 英文講設計，中文講心情, 可是怎麼樣都覺得少了點什麼, 無法完整的表達出自己。夏天時, 我認真面對這個有寫作, 攝影, 想法, 設計及推薦的雙語部落格, 而站名就如各位所知的是Simply, Sandy, Me。理由非常的簡單, 因為這個部落格就是我。很多興趣的我, 愛研究飲食的我, 愛分享心愛小物的我, 對人生有點想法的我, 雙語狀態的我。

在感恩節我最感謝的有兩件事, 第一是感謝你們, 每一個來FB還有部落格的你們。看到我這麼不定時又隨性的分享還願意替我按讚打氣, 你們是我努力往我從五歲就喜愛的方向發展的動力。我的老朋友及新朋友們, 真的感謝你們讓我有勇氣努力經營Simply, Sandy, Me。第二件要感謝的事, 很老套的, 我要感謝牛奶。謝謝他讓我這個如此無厘頭又急性子的老婆有完全的想像空間和自由。

Lots has happened in 2011, but the two most important things were our wedding in Taiwan at the beginning of the year and my re-orgnization of this blog at the beginning of summer. The content and focus of this blog was a pain point for the longest time. I intentionally managed two blogs in the past, one for design and in English, the other for more personal stuff in Chinese. But there was always an empty spot, I felt like I couldn’t really be myself at either places, I had to hold back lots of thoughts. This past summer, I got really serious about this bilingual blog that combines writing, photography, thoughts, design and recommendations. And naturally, I named the blog Simply, Sandy, Me. The reason behind it is just like the blog name itself, this blog is me. The me with too many interests, with the love for food, with the excitement to share lovely things with you, with deep thoughts about life, and the me that’s always thinking in two languages.

On Thanksgiving, there are two things I’s like to give thanks to. The first one is you. Everyone of you who comes to my Facebook page or my blog. Pressing the like button on my posts and page even though I am so random with the way I share, you really give me a reason to keep moving towards the direction I have thought about since I was 5. All of my old friends and new friends, thank you guys for giving me the courage to keep Simply, Sandy, Me going. The second thing I’d like to give thanks to, old school I know, is Milk. I am thankful for his love in my lack-of-patience and totally-random personality so I can have absolute freedom to plan and imagine.

好, 接下來介紹今年的感恩節大餐了!

Okay, time to talk about what we made this year!

還是用了一向最愛: Ina Garten的完美烤火雞食譜。不過今年有在前一晚先把火雞浸泡在香草鹽水中, 配料是在Whole Foods購得, 果然火雞很入味也很多汁。

We still used our favorite: Ina Garten’s Perfect Roast Turkey. The only different thing I did this here is that I actually brined the turkey the night before. I got the brine mix at whole foods, and yup, the turkey is definitely very flavorful and juicy.

牛奶的招牌野菇栗子填料。 因為這是他的最愛所以我也不插手每年讓他自己做, 每年也都好吃!

Husband Milks signature Wild Mushroom and Chestnut Stuffing. This is his absolute favorite so I don’t interfere and he gets to be in complete charge for this dish, and he does it well every year.

很想要再加一道奶油瓜的料理可是又不想用烤的方式, 所以做了這道來自Serious Eats的純素薑味奶油瓜湯。順便做了一個清爽又簡單的芝麻菜蘋果沙拉, 食譜來自The Meatball Shop。

We wanted to add a butternut squash dish but didn’t want to roast or bake any more things so we tried the Vegan Gingered Butternut Squash Soup from Serious Eats. While the soup is on the stove I also whipped together a quick and crisp Arugula and Apple salad, recipe from The Meatball Shop.

今年烤了兩個派, 本來只要烤一個迷你蘋果派, 經牛奶要求我再多烤了一個南瓜派。這是他喜愛的口味也是很多美國人家的傳統, 一年一次我就多烤一個吧！

We made two pies this year. I was only going to make the mini apple pie, but by Milk’s request, I made a pumpkin pie as well. This is his favorite and also such a tradition for thanksgiving, it’s only once a year so I just made it!

用模具做了一堆葉子形狀的派皮來裝飾蘋果派, 剩下的就送給南瓜了。

I used a cutter to cut out the leaves for the mini pie, and the extra leaves went to the edge of the pumpkin.

自從我吃過Magnolia超清爽不黏膩的蘋果派之後, 我再也沒吃過類似的蘋果派, 其他的派不是太甜就是太黏。所以我今年立志要烤一個不甜不黏的小蘋果。所有的步驟都和食譜一樣不過我把太白粉換成了葛根粉, 砂糖換成了楓漿顆粒。這是我夏天上課學到的兩個比太白粉及砂糖還要好的食材。相信我, 蘋果派一樣的好吃！

Ever since I had Magnolia’s fresh, not too gooey and sugary apple pie, I’ve never had another pie that comes close. All the the other apple pies are either too sweet or too gooey. My goal this year was to bake a crisp and light mini apple pie. I followed the recipe closely but swapped two ingredients out. I used arrowroot powder instead of cornstarch and maple crystal instead of plain white sugar. I learned about these two ingredients in school in the summer, they are much better for your body. And trust me, the flavor of the pie did not suffer from the new ingredients, it was fantastic!

非常傳統的南瓜派。我們用的材料通通來自Whole Foods, 都是有機的。每個南瓜泥罐頭上都有南瓜派的食譜, 我們就是照著食譜做而已, 沒有什麼創新, 但還是好吃。

Very traditional pumpkin pie. All of our ingredients came from Whole Foods and were all organic. There is a pie recipe on every can of pumpkin pureé, we followed the recipe on the can, no new twists, but tasty as usual.

其他兩個小小的配菜有Alton Brown的蔓越梅凍及TheRawCookedVegan的陳年葡萄醋迷迭香煮洋蔥。

The other two little side dish were the cranberry sauce from Alton Brown and Balsamic Caramelized Cipollini Onions from TheRawCookedVegan.

大餐介紹完畢, 除了和好友分享之外, 我們一個星期不用煮飯了!
The end of our feats, besides sharing with friends, we don’t have to cook for a whole week, yipee!