November Pizza Night

Thanksgiving: a party for children too!

Finger Stamp Place Cards

These handy little birds are great seat markers and a fun predinner activity. Have the younger set make them for the rest of the family, or let everyone try his hand -- or at least a finger -- at making his own.
Materials
Card stock as shown
Nontoxic stamp pads in brown, red, orange, and yellow
Glue
Googly eyes
Paint markers

Instructions
For each bird, fold a piece of card stock as shown (ours were roughly 3 by 4 inches). Set out nontoxic stamp pads in brown, red, orange, and yellow. Using your thumb or index finger, stamp rings of yellow, orange, and red, and a brown turkey body.
Glue googly eyes in place, then use paint markers to draw on a beak, snood, and feet and to write a guest's name below the bird.

Thanksgiving: an American celebration

The First Thanksgiving
In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feastfesta del raccolto (believed to have occurred around the 29th of September) which is acknowledgedè riconosciuta today as one of the first Thanksgiving celebrations in the colonies. This harvest meal has become a symbol of cooperation and interaction between English colonists and Native Americans. Although this feast is considered by many to be the very first Thanksgiving celebration, it was actually in keeping with a long tradition of celebrating the harvest and giving thanks for a successful bountyabbondanza of cropsraccolti, colture.
Native American groups throughout the Americas, including the Pueblo, Cherokee, Creek and many others organized harvest festivals, ceremonial dances, and other celebrations of thanks for centuries before the arrival of Europeans in North America. The original feast in 1621 occurred sometime between September 21 and November 11. Unlike our modern holiday, it was three days long. During the American Revolution a yearly day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress. In 1817 New York State adopted Thanksgiving Day as an annual custom, and by the middle of the 19th century many other states had done the same. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln appointedstabilì, designò a day of thanksgiving as the last Thursday in November, which he may have correlated with the November 21, 1621, anchoringl’ancoraggio of the Mayflower at Cape Cod. Since then, each president has issued a Thanksgiving Day proclamation. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the date for Thanksgiving to the fourth Thursday of November in 1939 (approved by Congress in 1941).





Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
Originally known as Macy'scatena americana di grandi magazzini Christmas Parade - to signify the launch of the Christmas shopping season - the first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade took place in New York City in 1924. It was launched by Macy's employees and featured animals from the Central Park Zoo. Today, some 3 million people attend the annual parade and another 44 million watch it on television.
Tony Sarg, a children's book illustrator and puppeteerburattinaio, designed the first giant hot air balloons for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1927. He later created the elaborate mechanically animated window displays that graceadorna the façade of the New York storegrandi magazzini from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
Snoopy has appeared as a giant balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade more times than any other character in history. As the Flying Ace, Snoopy made his sixth appearance in the 2006 parade.
Macy's wasn’t the first American department store to sponsor a parade in celebration of Thanksgiving. The Philadelphia department store Gimbel's had sponsored a parade in 1920, but the Macy's parade, launched four years later, soon became a Thanksgiving tradition and the standard kickoffavvio to the holiday shopping season. The parade became ever more well-known after it featured prominently in the hit film Miracle on 34th Street (1947), which shows actual footagefilmati, spezzoni of the 1946 parade. In addition to its famous giant balloons and floats, the Macy's parade features live music and other performances, including by the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes and cast members of well-known Broadway shows.





Turkeystacchini and Cooking
In a letter to his daughter sent in 1784, Benjamin Franklin suggested that the wild turkey would be a more appropriate national symbol for the newly independent United States than the bald eagleaquila di mare testabianca (which had earlier been chosen by the Continental Congress). He argued that the turkey was "a much more respectable Bird," "a true original Native of America," and "thoughsebbene a little vainvanitoso & sillysciocco, a Bird of Courage."
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Minnesota is the top turkey-producing state in America, with a production total of 49 million in 2008.
The National Turkey Federation estimated that 46 million turkeys - one fifth of the annual total of 235 million consumed in the United States in 2007 - were eaten at Thanksgiving.
The cranberrymirtillo rosso is one of only three fruits - the others are the blueberrymirtillo and the Concord grapespecie americana di uva da vino - that are entirely native to North American soilsuolo, according to the Cape Cod Cranberry Growerscoltivatori Association.
The turkey trotballo detto "trotto del tacchino", modeled on that bird's characteristic short, jerkytraballanti, irregolari steps, was one of a number of popular dance styles that emerged during the late 19th and early 20th century in the United States. The two-step, a simple dance that required little to no instruction, was quickly followed by such dances as the one-step, the turkey trot, the fox trot and the bunny hugballo detto “abbraccio del coniglio”, which could all be performed to the ragtime and jazz music popular at the time.
Turkey contains the essential amino acid tryptophan, which is a natural sedative, but so do a lot of other foods, including chicken, beef, pork, beans and cheese. Though many people believe turkey's tryptophan content is what makes many people feel sleepy after a big Thanksgiving meal, it is more likely the combination of fats and carbohydrates most people eat with the turkey, as well as the large amount of food (not to mention alcohol, in some cases) consumed, that makes most people feel like following their meal up with a nap.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest pumpkin pietorta di zucca ever baked weighed 2,020 pounds and measured just over 12 feet long. It was baked on October 8, 2005 by the New Bremen Giant Pumpkin Growers in Ohio, and included 900 pounds of pumpkin, 62 gallons of evaporated milk, 155 dozen eggs, 300 pounds of sugar, 3.5 pounds of salt, 7 pounds of cinnamoncannella, 2 pounds of pumpkin spice and 250 pounds of crustimpasto base.
Three towns in the U.S. take their name from the traditional Thanksgiving bird, including Turkey, Texas (pop. 465); Turkey Creek, Louisiana (pop. 363); and Turkey, North Carolina (pop. 270).The first time the Detroit Lions played football on Thanksgiving Day was in 1934, when they hosted the Chicago Bears at the University of Detroit stadium, in front of 26,000 fans. The NBC radio network broadcast the game on 94 stations across the country - the first national Thanksgiving football broadcast. Since that time, the Lions have played a game every Thanksgiving (except between 1939 and 1944); in 1956, fans watched the game on television for the first time.





Miscellaneous
In 2001, the U.S. Postal Service issuedha emesso a commemorative Thanksgiving stampfrancobollo. Designed by the artist Margaret Cusack in a style resembling traditional folk-art needleworkricamo, it depicted a cornucopia overflowing with fruits and vegetables, under the phrase "We Give Thanks."
Despite record-high gas prices (more than $3.00 per gallon) in 2007, the American Automobile Association (AAA) estimated that 38.7 million Americans would travel 50 miles or more from home for the Thanksgiving holiday, a slightleggero increase (1.5 percent) over the previous year.

Thanksgiving receips

November Social Clubs: join us!

2nd - 8th November: "Let's learn ...how to make Pizza!" @ Wall Street Institute Pistoia

This month we want to give you good suggestions on how to make a very good pizza!

Interesting receips which you can easily use when you invite your friends for a dinner!

To join this event, just tell the girls at the reception!

Barbecue Dinner 2009 @ WSI

RECEIPS: Pumpkin Cake O' Lantern

Made from two bundt cakes, this jack-o'-lantern will light up any party. Because of its delicious homemade pumpkin flavor, this cake is sure to be carved up in a hurry. If you're pressed for time, substitute three boxes of spice-cake mix for the ingredients we've listed here. Serves 24.
Ingredients

CAKE:
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups milk, at room temperature
1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups sugar
6 large eggs, at room temperature
FROSTING:
2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Approximately 9 cups powdered sugar
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Instructions
Heat the oven to 350º and butter two 10-inch bundt cake pans.
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, spices, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In a medium bowl, stir together the milk, pumpkin, and vanilla extract until smooth.
In another large bowl, beat the butter or margarine and oil together with an electric mixer until combined. Next, beat in the sugar. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Alternately beat in the milk/pumpkin mixture and the flour mixture until just combined.
Divide the batter between the two prepared pans. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks to cool completely.
Directions for Frosting: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Mix in the vanilla extract. Then beat in the powdered sugar gradually until the frosting is a spreadable consistency. Color about 1 cup of the frosting green and the rest orange.
Assemble the Cake:Trim the bottoms of the cakes so they lie flat against each other. Frost the flat surface of the bottom cake and place the other cake on top. Frost the entire cake orange. When the frosting dries, add green frosting leaves and top with the ice cream cone to create a stem.
Decorate the Cake:Sprinkle sugar over your work surface and use a rolling pin to flatten 12 large yellow and white gumdrops together into a pancake about 1/4 inch thick. Adults only: use a knife to cut out the eyes, nose and mouth. Microwave 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for about 60 seconds. Dip the left side and bottom of the facial features in the melted chocolate. Dab a small amount of water onto the top surface of each feature, sprinkle the edible glitter on top, then press the facial features onto the cake.

Halloween is coming up!

HISTORY

Halloween, Hallowe'en, or Holloween is celebrated on the night of October 31.Halloween dates back two thousand years to Britain and Ireland and a Celtic festival called Samhain which marked (segnava) the end of the “season of the sun” and the beginning of the “season of darkness and cold.”
The first of November was considered the end of the summer period, when herds (greggi) were returned from pasture (pascolo) and land tenurespossedimenti fondiari were renewed.
It was also a time when the souls (anime) of the dead were believed to return to visit their homes. People set bonfires (falò) on hilltops for relighting their hearth (caminetti) fires for the winter and to frighten away evil spirits (spirit malefici). They sometimes wore masks and other disguises (travestimenti) to avoid being recognized by the ghosts (fantasmi) they believed were present. That’s how witches (streghe), hobgoblins (folletti), fairies (fate) and demons came to be associated with the day.
The period was also thought to be favourable for divination on matters such as marriage, health, and death. When the Romans conquered the Celts in the 1st century AD (anno domini - d.c.), they added their own festivals of Feralia, commemorating the passing of the dead, and of Pomona, the goddess of the harvest (raccolto).
In the 7th century AD, Pope Boniface IV established All Saints’ Day, originally on May 13, and in the following century, it was moved to November 1.The evening before All Saints’ Day became a holy, or hallowed (sacra), eve (vigilia) and thus Halloween.By the end of the Middle Ages, the secular and the sacred days had merged (si erano fusi).
In North America, the celebration of Halloween was forbidden (proibita) among most of the early colonists, but in the 1800s some festivals celebrating the harvest developed and incorporated elements of Halloween. Irish immigrants brought versions of the tradition with them to America in the nineteenth century.Other western countries adopted (hanno adottato) the holiday in the late twentieth century.
Traditions
Traditional Halloween activities include trick-or-treating (dolcetto o scherzetto), ghost tours, bonfires, carving (scolpire) jack-o’-lanterns, and costume parties.
Trick-or-treating is the main Halloween event for children. They disguise themselves in costumes and ring the doorbells (campanelli) of their neighbours yelling (gridando)"trick or treat!" They receive candy (dolcetti caramelle) or similar items such as chocolate bars (tavolette di cioccolata), loose change (spiccioli), or even crayons and pencils.The jack-o’-lantern, a carved pumpkin (zucca scolpita), lit (illuminata) from within by a candle, is one of Halloween's most prominent symbols. It can be traced back to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack, a greedyavido (tirchio), gambling, hard-drinking old farmer.
He tricked (ingannò) the devil into climbing a tree and trapped him by carving a crosss (colpendo una croce) into the tree trunk (tronco). In revenge, the devil placed a curse (maledizione) on Jack, condemning him to forever wander (vagare) the earth at night.Halloween costumes usually relate to death, magic, or mythical monsters.Traditional characters include ghosts, ghouls (demoni), witches, vampires, bats (pipistrelli), owls (gufi), crows (corvi), vultures (avvoltoi), black cats, spiders (ragni), goblins, zombies, mummies, skeletons and demons.Black and orange are the colours of Halloween. Black represents death, night and scary creatures; orange represents autumn, the harvest and fire.The most common game played at Hal loween par t ies is bobbing (pescare) for apples. Apples float (galleggiano) in a large basin (recipiente) of water and people have to use their teeth to get the apples out.