weekend update, november 26, 2012

A feast is made for laughter....

so said some anonymous someone, too busy enjoying himself to notice that he'd concisely phrased the one common element of all good feasts across time and around the world and forgotten to put his name to the phrasing.
Well, Mr/Ms whoever you are, our feasts, both the main event and its sequel, proved your anonymous maxim.

As a witness,I give you my great-nephew Elliott. Here he is, shifting his (eeeee! adorable!) baby-teethed jaw from side to side as he attempts to cross his (eeeeee! adorable!) eyes:


I was using both hands for eating, so I handed Elliott my camera and asked him to take pictures of all his favorite parts of the Thanksgiving feast at his great-grandmother's house.

Highlights? Besides the magic of really seeing the holiday as a 5 year old does? Besides said 5 year old leading me to notice that his Granhat's house is a wonderzoo of little pretend animals? (Unbelieveable, how I'd never noticed that.) The food highlights? They included:
This chocolate brownie pie that Elliot's mum (aka the prettiest lady in the world, whom Elliott  told me last Thanksgiving he would marry, except....you know, that would be silly...cause..cause...she's already married to daddy....)
and asparagus and tomato salad , which Liz had twice made for friends in Lubbock. She'd told me that among the college guy set it disappeared faster than cheap TVs on Black Friday, and I was eager to try it: 


 She promises awesome, and delivers awesome.
 this is hereafter known as awesparagus salad.



As is our tradition, a contingent of us went exploring on friday, and as is also our tradition, we did not get trampled, stabbed or screamed at. Instead we discovered a great homebrewing shop in Dallas, I got to introduce the others to Penzey's spice wonderland, we found Christmas ornaments full of inexplicably random cuteness at Crate and Barrel, and at lunctime, we happened upon a quiet little Indian place-

my Black Friday companions.
sometimes it's the company that makes the difference
between inconvenience and adventure.

 Thank you India Palace for introducing me to Madras Soup! I actually went back to buffet for THIRDS! And look at how easy the recipe is- I'll be stirring up a pot of it sometime this week.

And, yes, we did a replay of the feast on Friday night. And the adult children left for their respective homes leftover laden, as I'd hoped they would.
I asked Rob (he's the bearded one in the pic above) what it meant that we had not one, but two Thanksgiving meals. Does that mean, I asked him, that we're twice as gluttonous as the rest of America, or twice as grateful?
 His answer? (which for some reason i want to hang on a string in my soul as if it were a Christmas ornament made of glass and silver)
"I think it means that we have alot of ways of making really good food, and not enough excuses to eat it together"
Besides the company around the table, the star of the show was this roast turkey. I read this excellent Alton Brown turkey tutorial and brined the bird accordingly. Really. Combining the two recipes- Alton's brining/no basting and roasting the thing breast side down as directed in the first recipe made for meat that was so juicy and tasty that I found myself wondering "why oh why I only cook a turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas?".
I mean really- it's affordable and available all year. And now I know easy ways of making it nice to eat.
 Would my world really tip off its axis and start rotating backwards if, on an ordinary day, I roasted a turkey instead of a chicken?
Hmmm. Haven't the Mayans predicted the end of the world as we know it on December 21st?
I think I may issue a challenge to the universe by cooking a turkey on December 19th.

And- the smokey bacon chili? If you're still hunting for your own personal holy grail of chili recipes, give it a try.

especially if you get your kicks by watching people you love happily eating food they love.

overindulgence, however, is not the fault of the cook.

Guys, I hope, in the words of my friend Chrissy, that your holiday gave you food that filled your soul and your tummy til you were satisfied and then some.
And if it didn't, then I hope that this week brings you peace and recovery.
I hope that as you sort through the metaphorical leftovers, you find an unremembered moment of adventure, wonder, happiness, gratitude.
I hope what you remember is love.
Everything else is just gravy anyway.

Menus, November 20, 2012

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;

okay, quote collectors- is it from...
a. A Shakespeare play
b. A strange old treatise on war and tigers
c. One of the coolest movies of all time
d. All of the above

the answer is.... d.
Shakespeare's Henry the fifth, to be precise- and in my mind, when I slam into the tired wall long before the job is done, it's always Kenneth Brannaugh's Henry urging me to summon some courage and face the fray.

you know it's a great movie when spit
flies during the speeches, and blood
flies during the scenes between speeches.

Okay. Will Shakepeare didn't really have the American Holiday Season in mind. But, I'll bet that if there had been America,or what we call The Holidays, he would've appreciated the application.
Will's words ran through my head tonight, as my daughter and I, having driven from her side of Texas to this one,unpacked the car, forked some pho into our hungry tummies then finalized our Thankgiving list and headed for the grocery store.

the Kroger clock reads 11:10 p.m.
(we were both pretty wiped, but actually?
It turned out to be a lot of fun)

And it wasn't just Lizzy and Henry V keeping me company in that (surprisingly crowded) store. These guys were there too:


It's true Shakesiphiles, in my mind, Henry V to keeps company with Disney cartoon characters. Is that a. heresy
b. apostasy
c. sacrilege
d. all of the above?

 Ariel, Aladdin, Belle and Henry V- they have a lot in common, but I wasn't thinking about the great hair.
I was thinking that all of them faced a daunting task that required all the courage and energy they had. And about the courage they found when it was time to go toe to toe with particular  monsters.
I was thinking that all courage comes from love.
I've thought about it a lot, and I'm pretty sure that inside every story about courage is a story about love.
Quick! Think of the bravest person you know.
Got em?
What battles have they fought?
Who (or what) do they love?
See what I mean?

And I was thinking that I'm one of the lucky ones. The people we're sharing Thursday's feast with are people we love, love to cook for, and love to be with. Experience tells me that before it's time for dessert, I'll have laughed and played and laughed again, because of the super duper Black Friday Eve bonus: there will be people there who still have all their baby teeth!!!!
As I said. Lucky. And grateful for it.

This is what we'll be making, and taking, this week:
Wednesday: smoky bacon chili and cornbread
There'll be fun fun fun going on in the kitchen all day, but whad'ya wanna bet- at the end of the day, people will still want dinner.
so I'm going to find a non-kitchen-counter-space-taking space, plug in the slow cooker and let the chili happen while we play.
I made carnitas on Sunday- I'll be using that meat instead of beef (not a big culinary decision there, I just forgot to get beef) and the cooking liquid from the carnitas (of course I saved it! It was so packed with flavory flavor! How could I just tip all that meaty goodness down the sink?)
I'll make a double batch of cornbread, and turn the leftovers into dressing on Friday.

Thursday: All the crucial elements- turkey, dressing, gravy, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and pie will be waiting for us at the host house....
 (elements. Makes it sound very communioney, doesn't it. Hmmm. That deserves further thought)
We're bringing grilled asparagus salad, bread, pumpkin salad,
pumpkin whoopie pies, and a cheese and cracker plate with baked brie
Can't wait!

Friday:  Turkey,green bean casserole, dressing and baked sweet potatoes
That's right, it's Thanksgiving, part two.
Because, you see, there will be 4 adult people who happen to have once been my children, or are as dear as if they had been, leaving this home for their homes this weekend, and I must do my motherly best to ensure that they leave carrying enough little ziploc bags full of leftovers to visibly flatten their car tires.
That means, if we don't gallop madly into the fray of Black Friday, we'll be ...err..making leftovers.
like these guys



Saturday: Turkey pot pie and salad.I've got pie crusts in the fridge, but if you don't, remember- you can put all these lovely filling ingredients in a dish, and top it with whatever doughy carby thing you want to- puff pastry, refrigerated crescent rolls, cornbread batter, biscuit dough...the wonder of this sort of recipe lies in it's gracious forgiveness of any deficiencies in your fridge and/or pantry.

Sunday: Turkey and dumplings peeps all gone, house all quiet, and all the unmade decisions of Christmas clamoring for attention.
I may need a little comforting.
If you tried this recipe with chicken, you know why I'm using it on a comfort-food kind of day.

Need a few more interesting ideas for the leftovers? Martha and Real Simple can help you out with that.

Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more-
Summon up all your courage and face down that exhausting car trip, that impossible schedule, those worries about next week, those inlaws that set your teeth on edge, or even that lonely table for one.
I'll bet, if you close your eyes, and breathe, and summon up whatever love you can find, you'll have found all the courage you need. The courage to fight your own particular tigers like a tiger.
At least, I hope so.

happy thanksgiving, guys-

weekend update, November 18, 2012

Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
A.A. Milne

 Have you ever noticed that sometimes, a word is repeated until it sort of loses its meaning?  
Like, for instance, the word gratitude? In November?
Because not long ago, I was thinking.... "Gratitude. I know what it feels like, but what does it mean?"
So, today I looked it up.
And this is what I learned: that the word gratitude comes from the word grace, which in turn comes from the latin word for pleasing.
This is so cool that I think my brain may overheat and explode from trying to keep up with all the word-nerdy wonder. 
Because no matter what else our lives may hold, they hold at least some pleasure- in love, beauty, food,art, work, play....
And these deep pleasures, rare or commonplace, are manifestations of grace.
 And it's an awarness of grace that makes us grateful.
An awarness of grace in a world that's much, much bigger than our Very Small Selves.
So, my heart, like piglet's, though it may be a Very Small Heart, may also be able to hold a great deal of gratitude; a great deal of grace; a great deal of.....

Oops. Sorry.
My brain just popped.
Normal service will resume
as soon as possible.

Hmmm. Let me see if I can get my inner word vultures to stop circling around the word gratitude long enough to tell you a few more discoveries that I'm grateful for.

First, the lesson I am NOT ENTIRELY grateful for:
There are many, many things one can set on the stove to cook and walk away from. One can, for instance, put the heat under a pot of soup or a pan of simmering chicken and allow oneself to be distracted by, say, a discussion of politics, or the status of one's DIY bathroom remodel.
One cannot do this with a skillet full of pancetta.
Well....one can, in fact, this one did. This one also ended up scraping salty little charcoal bits from her favorite skillet, while the (very patient) home audience opened  doors and windows (and not because it was an oh-so-pleasant-night outside).

sigh. where's there's smoke....
there's often dinner.

And that's what happened to the tortellini with pancetta and butternut squash, and it was rescued to the point of edibility, but still. Who knows how good it could've been?
So- if you've got a deep frying something, or custard, or rissotto, or especially pancetta on the stove, try to put a leash the distractibility and stay tethered to the kitchen until the job is done, okay?
Because it's getting too cold to leave doors and windows open.

Next, a discovery for which I am very greatful indeed:
Chicken chilaquiles !!! I was wondering if there might be a  way to make a nice-ish weekend breakfast and use up the last of the cooked chicken. Chicken with gravy on biscuits sounded great, but so much work... and then I found this little gem of a recipe. I happened to have, in addition to the chicken, half a bag of stale tortilla chips, some tomatillo salsa, and some plain greek yogurt- and in 5 minutes prep time and 20 minutes in the oven, we had one of the nicest breakfasts in recent memory.

look at my pretty new/old plates!
Thanks mom!

I nestled a fried egg on top, because sometimes chilaquiles have eggs on top, and because it was breakfast, and wow!  The egg and the avocado...wow...
As if I needed another reason to indulge my fondness for tortilla chips. Now I'll be buying bags of them, eating half the bag, and letting the rest go stale for chilaquiles.

And, two daughter-discovered discoveries, that I'm assured we'll all be sampling this week, because, you may remember, she and her brothers and a wonderful girlfriend arrive soon.
Oh, I wish there was a font called happy dance! since there's not....


we interrupt this program for
a message from the department
of spontaneous jubilation

She says she's found the holy grail of French Toast recipes in Alton Brown's french toast . My love of French toast extends back into the dim mists of my childhood, so I'm really looking forward to this. And she learned today that  Pioneer woman's apple tart is one of those recipes that combines ease of preparation with beautiful presentation and amazing taste. Can't wait!

And, another little thing, for which I am directly grateful to you who are reading.
This little blog hit a pageview milestone this week which, although small to some, was a very shiny big deal to me.
And I want you to know that believing that there may be an audience who thinks that one has something worth saying is part of what gives one a voice. So, for that- for the pleasures of words, and food, and friends with whom to share them, I am more grateful to you dear ones than I can say.
I hope that you too carry with you an awarness of the light,mercy, beauty, love, healing, joy,compassion,humor,adventure- the graces- that are being breathed into and out of your life.
And I hope the awarness of graces recieved and given rests easy on you, and fills your Very Small Self with enough gratitude to fill your whole Very Big World.



menus for the rest of this crazy week (not Thursday) on Wednesday!

Weekend Update, November 10, 2012

Epiphany:
noun.
a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.
epiphanies, epiphanic, epiphonous

I've been informed by reliable sources that in 10 days it will be Thanksgiving. That's 11 sleeps, to those of who pay a visit to the internal shop of silly uncertainties whenever we hear people counting off the days til an event. 

We hear "10 days til..." and get distracted, wondering "does today count as a day?" " Does the day count as a day?". 

Easier by far to count sleeps.

Of which there are 11. Until Thanksgiving.

My reaction, when I realized that the holidays, like a thunderstorm, are upon us? The lift of one perfectly groomed eyebrow in momentary surprise.


you know, kinda like this.

There are people who know me well and are wondering why I didn't illustrate the loomingosity of the holidays with the real scream picture. You know, the Munch scream:

Two reasons:

1. This picture has been genuinely creeping me out since I first saw it in a history textbook in 1973. (shudder) There are certain things not even I can turn into a joke.

2. This week, an epiphany flew in from some quiet, amberlit place, and found enough runway space in my busy brain to land.

 Munch scream? No longer applicable nor necessary. 

Not necessary, because last week, I posed a Thanksgiving question to Martha, the amazing woman who I get to see whenever I visit my (equally superlative) doctor, and she told me about one of her family's most memorable Thanksgivings:

Everybody's favorite foods, all on the table at once, including, but not limited to, French toast, fajitas, burgers, and chocolate chip cookies.

 And this year, I learned, Martha's family will be gratefully, not guiltfully, feasting on movie food as they watch a show at the drive in.

And suddenly, there it was.

Epiphany.

 A sudden perception of essential meaning.

Thanksgiving, dear ones, is just a party. A party with some food you love, and some people you love.

a little like this 

or this 

or this

 If you're lucky. If you're not so lucky, it's a party with people you have resolved to treat lovingly, like the well mannered person you are, even if after the first half hour you wish you could crawl out of your skin and send your bloody skinless self screaming  down the street.

like this

 If you're hosting, and fighting panic, help is out there:

Martha and Splendid Table have a Thanksgiving checklists, and so do

Real Simple  and Woman's Day.  Even Reader's Digest and Disney's Family Fun site have step-by-steps to help you out.

My own Thanksgiving checklist?

1. Find out where the food is going to be.

2. Go there, because here cannot possibly be made ready in time.

3. Talk with grown ups, play with children, reverse and repeat.

4. Get on the outside of some good food, and on the inside of some good hugs.

5. Surrender to gratitude.

And the food discovery of the week?

Slow Roast Pork! Nothing profound, but really quite yummy, and I learned alot.

I tried the Pulled pork recipe, and wow!

Lesson 1.

Experimenting with food is fun.

I decided to lessen my ignorance about cuts of meat with the following experiment:

The recipe calls for a pork shoulder roast, so I bought one, and also bought a pork tenderloin.

both under $3 a pound!!!!

I prepped the salt water mixture according to the recipe, and both roasts went into the briney deep on Friday night.

Saturday morning, massaged those slabs-o-meat with the dry rub, thinking "mmmm. pork sandwiches for lunch." 

Lesson 2. or rather, Mistake 1.

Thinking that it was a good idea to double the dry rub recipe, so that I could store the extra for another day.

 I had this much leftover....

and was about to save it, when I thought

"wait a sec...I'm pretty sure I just dipped my goopy raw porked hands into this bag. Over and over."

So, I weighed the risk of salmonella against tossing $1.50 in spices, and decided that from now on, every raw meat thing gets it's very own, single use, ungermified batch of seasoning.

 Lesson 3/ Mistake 2.

Thinking we'd have pulled pork for lunch.

I put the shoulder roast in the oven at 9:00, and the smaller tenderloin in at about 10. They needed to cook at 220 degrees until they reached an internal temp of 200 degrees.

This is the shoulder at 12:30 (not for lunch then...)

at 2:30 (hmm. what can we snack on?)

and at 4:30  When I lost patience with the whole thing and turned off the oven.

was it worth it? Oh yes indeed. After 1 1/2 hours standing time, this was dinner:

That's the tenderloin on the left, the shoulder on the right.
both were wowza, but the tenderloin was
just that little bit wowzier.

   We'll be trying this again, and soon. Maybe even next week, when my carnivorous adult-type children will be making me happy by bringing their hungry tummies to my house. (yay!)

I know, I know, craziness lies ahead. Still, I hope.

I hope that maybe twice this week, you are epiphanically struck by the truth that this season is, at its core, about loving, and being loved. And that you're an important part of the loving.

I hope that maybe once a day, you're gently aware of the kindnesses that salt your days.

And that the awarness unfolds into gratitude for those whose kindness you receive, and whose company you enjoy.

even, and especially, if the company you find yourself enjoying is your own. 

Menus on Wednesday!