Yeah, I've heard the cooking of Scandanavia is pretty good. I did some investigating two years ago when I got invited to a scandanavian pot luck! I brought blue cheese spread on rye krisp, and potato-beet salad, yum! Those nectarines sound divine. My mom used to make us grilled peaches for dessert when I was a kid, sounds similar. I could even add a sprinkle of cardamom, which I love. Or make this recipe for cardamom cookies that I have and have never tried. Grilled nectarines in a little glass dish with a cardamom cookie on the side, sounds very elegant. I was toying with making the peach-raspberry pie that I love, but that seemed too rich. I love to make it though, I throw together a bag of frozen raspberries, a bag of frozen peaches, a glop of brown sugar, a dash of cinnamon, dot with butter and then use a pre-made crust. "Homeade pie" that always gets me raves at potlucks, all in about 10 min. to prepare. Those mushrooms sound awesome Lars, thanks! It will give me a chance to use up some of the basil I froze last summer.

Ok so I don't have an exact recipe and have only made this twice, once for Thanksgiving last year and once beforehand to make sure it would taste decent. I usually make spanakopita for holidays, and every time my father tells me how in Greece his mother used to make it with pumpkin instead of spinach and why can't I make that. So last year I googled kolokithopita which can either mean zucchini pie or pumpkin pie, read a bunch of recipes, and decided to attempt it. I still prefer spanakopita but if you want to make something with pumpkin that is savory and not sweet here is something to try. Here is an approximation of what I did. Kolokithopita 2 medium size pumpkins 1 medium size onion a couple sprigs of green onion 1/2 can evaporated milk 2 eggs big handful of fresh parsley, chopped 1/2 - 1 pound feta cheese crumbled pepper Filo dough melted butter Preheat oven to 400 Peel and grate pumpkin, sprinkle on some salt and place in colander to drain. Leave it for awhile then squeeze pumpkin with your hands to drain excess water. In a pot add some olive oil and sauté both onions till the white ones are translucent. Add grated/strained pumpkin and cook until you feel pumpkin is done. Add parsley, evaporated milk, feta, and pepper. (This is the point that I taste the mixture to adjust the proportion of feta. I start with 1/2 lb then taste and add till it tastes right to me ) Add two beaten eggs and stir to combine. Brush a 13 x 9 pan with melted butter place 1 sheet of filo in pan. Brush filo with butter add another sheet of filo. Continue for about 6 sheets of filo. (a few more is fine also) Spread pumpkin mixture evenly on top of filo and top with another 6 or so sheets of filo dough. Score the top layers of feta and bake for approx 45 minutes or until filo is crispy and browned.

I offered to host this year but our gathering is not very big. My parents usually host when my sister and her family come (every other year) but I know how much work it is. My mother does not really enjoy cooking but my father loves to. It's a lot of work as they are older now. It's not really the cooking but all the prep ahead of time and then the clean up afterward. A couple of years ago I offered to host either Thanksgiving or Christmas to lessen the stress, but for some reason, my kids prefer going to my parents' house for Christmas so that means Thanksgiving falls to me. My sister's family lives 6 hours away, so when they come, they stay for several days with my parents which means she does not make anything to bring. Since my father loves to cook, he has offered to bring two vegetable side dishes which will be some sort of Italian dishes since that is his heritage and cuisine of preference for cooking. My mom likes to bake so she will do three pies - pumpkin, pumpkin chiffon and chocolate. DH will make an apple pie as well. Our menu is what I've always thought traditional (until one year we spent Thanksgiving in Atlanta and discovered they had different traditions). We will have smoked turkey (dh will cook in his smoker), mashed potatoes, bread stuffing (dressing really b/c I won't do it in the turkey but we still call it stuffing), sweet potato casserole (not with marshmallows, mine has a pecan topping), gravy, and two vegetable side dishes from my father. We don't do rolls/bread - enough carbs already on the menu. My niece and nephew are vegetarians, so won't be eating turkey but my sister said not to worry, they will just eat the side dishes. My 18 y/o dd stopped eating meat this summer and has managed to continue to remain vegetarian her first few months away at college. She informed me though that she has decided she will eat turkey on Thanksgiving and may go back to eating poultry as she is tiring of the limited vegetarian offerings at her school. My sister and BIL also stopped eating meat, mainly to eat healthier, but don't consider themselves strict vegetarians and told my mother they will have turkey on Thanksgiving. I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that my brother is spending Thanksgiving with his inlaws b/c SIL and my niece are apparently now vegan so that would have made most of our dishes unsuitable.

Squircle!! I laughed because I still use my old Corning Ware with the blue cornflowers on the sides! My daughter keeps saying that I should get rid of them because they are so old. I tell her, "I am old too. Do you want to get rid of me?" I should give all my kitchen stuff to charity when I die, because she will get rid of it anyway. I will roll over in my grave when she throws my Ankarsrum mixer or my Breville Peel and Dice out. Maybe, I should be buried with them.... I love my stainless steel rolling pin that my father-in-law made for his mother-in-law. (My husband's grandmother) But, my husband loaded the dishwasher one night, and he put the rolling pin in the dishwasher. No more shiny! He did the same thing to my meat mallet. Biscuit and doughnut cutters are still shiny though. Used a Corning Ware dish tonight to make 4 rolls. Lars, your lasagna looks better than the one I made the other day. Mine was really flat and green. Not pretty at all, but it is probably one of the best recipes I have ever made.