Thanksgiving Day Reflections: Part 2 Thankful To Share

Pumpkin cheesecake topped with vanilla ice cream,  this and other recipes below 

Yesterday I talked about the Thanksgiving meal my family and I enjoyed at a local restaurant with two invited guest, both of them African-American female undergraduates from a city in the Southeast http://www.foodasalens.com/2011/11/thanksgiving-day-reflections-part-i.html. As I explained they are high school friends from low income families who had the opportunity to attend a college preparatory high school and go on to be the first members of their family to attend college. One of them is student at Babson College for my wife and I are profs the other attend a HBCU in the Southeast. Over the course of the meal we learned a lot. For example, the student from the HBCUs told us that my wife and I and our family served as the second stable married African-American couple with children that she had ever met. We also learned about the troublesome family dynamics and financial hardships that they knew growing up in impoverished black urban neighborhoods in the South. It became evident why they both chose not to go home for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and spend it instead on an empty Babson College campus. Listening to their stories made my wife and I feel very grateful that we invited them to join our family Thanksgiving Day and that we had chosen to eat at a posh restaurant. This year we do not have any leftovers from a traditional home-cooked meal but we are thankful for our family and economic stability and careers (including grading papers), that we have and can share with others. As I mentioned in my previous post our guest are had the restaurant’s pumpkin cheesecake for dessert. “This is the best dessert I've ever had, me too,” the two students said as they enjoyed forks full of the orange, creamy, and heavenly cheesecake. Here are some links pumpkin cheesecake recipes and other related recipes. In the coming days I look forward to sharing Christmas food history traditions and related recipes.

Pumpkin cheese cake recipe: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/pumpkin_cheesecake/

Pumpkin cheese cake for two recipe: http://dailyfoodgasm.com/2010/11/07/pumpkin-cheesecake-for-two/

Gluten-free cheesecake recipe: http://www.glutenlessfoodie.com/2011/11/pumpkin-cheesecake-bars.html

Turkey Leftover Recipes and tips: http://tipnut.com/turkey-leftover-recipes/