It’s Thanksgiving morning in our house. Our son arrived from the University of Oregon last night, good friends are coming over to share our feast tonight and, even though our daughter is in France and many other beloved friends and family are elsewhere, it feels warm and lovely to know that we can call so many wonderful, amazing people our friends—here in California, in Oregon, in Washington, in Georgia, in Texas, in New York, in Florida, in France and the Netherlands, in Italy and England, in South Africa and Australia.
Thanksgiving is about family and friends and recipes are a way of connecting—to family and friends as well as to memories and events. Recipes are narratives of history, of family, of friends. So, even though we will be a small group of five, there are dishes I must make because, with each one, I invite someone special to join us at the table. This Thanksgiving I want to share a favorite recipe of mine as well as the story of where it came from.
Every year I make pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. And each time I make this pie I remember the day I got the recipe from Ruth Boozer. Dr. Boozer was a professor of Theology at Emory University. He and Ruth lived in a house on a hill above Peachtree Creek and across from one of the Chandler mansions which is now the Lullwater House. That day, I had driven over to ask Mrs. Boozer for her recipe for pumpkin pie. When she opened the front door, I could hear laughter and singing in the background. I apologized for intruding on what was clearly a family moment but she embraced me and insisted I come into the living room where Brenda, their daughter, and Robert Cline, her fiancé, were rehearsing a skit for Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show. They were doing a parody of Hansel and Gretel. Feeling shy but honored to be invited in, I sat on the edge of a chair in the living room, so familiar to me from the many times I had visited. I was awed by Brenda’s beauty and talent, awed by Robert’s fame. I laughed and clapped as they bowed mockingly at the five of us who were their audience (Brenda’s brother was also there), fascinated that Brenda—someone who had grown up like me in a suburban neighborhood of Atlanta—should be going on the Tonight Show. I was later to be a part of their wedding (I cut the groom’s cake—I always seemed to be chosen to cut the groom’s cake) and later still I would hear stories of their tumultuous marriage and how Brenda would sing out her problems and anger in their therapy sessions so that their arguments would not ruin her voice. That day, however, they were in love and the skit resonated with joy and love and possibility. Ruth led me into the kitchen and told me her secret for her pumpkin pie—she added rum extract. Simple as it sounds, this is by far, my favorite pumpkin pie:

1 can of pumpkin
2 eggs beaten
¾ C white sugar
¼ C brown sugar
½ C milk or cream (I use 1 %)
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
3 tsp rum
Grate a little nutmeg (either mix it in with the rest or just grate it on top before cooking)

Pour into pie shell (I always purchase that). Cook 10 minutes at 425 then reduce to 350 and cook 50 minutes. Serve with whipped cream.

Happy Thanksgiving .

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