Well, plans have changed. My stepmother doesn’t feel she can have everyone over foe the holiday thanks to home-renovarion “chaos” (cue the twice as long/twice the cost refrain, along with some unexpected developments like insulation work in the attic dislodging part of the 100-plus-year old plaster ceiling in the study/spare bedroom; luckily not their bedroom or it would have been directly over their bed).
Because it’s a bit late to plan for. an optimal restaurant meal on the day, we’re going to have a celebratory dinner at a local Italian place on Friday. If the restaurant’s copacetic, I’ll bring the tart and we’ll pay any cakeage fee.
I will join my mother and her friend, and we will have a “sidesgiving” meal. No roasted turkey or turkey parts, but my mother’s classic stuffing/dressing, with mushrooms, apples, and bulk turkey sausage and turkey gravy to provide that Thansgiving flavor, along with sweet potatoes and the roasted Brussels sprouts am\nd cranberry sauce, with pumpkin pie for dessert. Now that I’ll be there and covering the non-stuffing end of things. I may do the sweet potatoes with bitters from Gourmet Today instead of simply roasting them hole to have with hutter.
I find the signature shape kind of fussy, so I shape them into 15 round balls with a cube of butter sealed inside, nestled 5x3 into a 9x13 pan. Ethereally delicious.
I was rummaging through my chest freezer today, looking for last year’s turkey drippings, when I stumbled upon a whole frozen turkey breast. This is annoying because four days ago, I bought the exact same item to have on Tgiving. It’s going to be small this year bec my brother and his wife are traveling for their milestone anniversary.
Inspired by 2023 @Phoenikia 's Canadian Thanksgiving traditions, I’m adding small spanakopita to my appetizers this year. I’ve made them before using a filling recipe from a Chowhound poster. I had another “something different” planned - pea/ricotta/basil creamy filling in a parmesan “cannoli” on page 24 . But today’s trial run, while tasty was a) far more work than it appeared when I read the recipe and b) not all that good looking - my baked parm rounds wrapped OK but refused to actually stay tube-shaped and became taco-like cradles.
I didn’t actually use a recipe. 1 large sweet onion, sliced across, caramelized in oil in my wok. When the color had deepened, I added probably what added up to 1/4 cup sugar and let that melt and caramelize too. Few pinches of red chilli flakes and salt to taste, and towards the end I added some dark rum (I’ve run out of brandy and cognac), and finally a splash of balsamic vinegar. I did splash in some water along the way to keep it syrupy.
CBC Radio (Canadian radio station) used to broadcast a popular variety radio show called “The Vinyl Café”. Every year they would play a Christmas themed show and one year, during an episode called “Polly Anderson’s Christmas Party”, Dave and Morley, the main characters in the show, went to the neighbours house for a family Christmas party. Two bowls of punch were available and Dave, who is accident prone, was delegated with adding alcohol to the adults’ punch. When the time came, he accidently spikes the wrong one and they end up with a houseful of tipsy children. The story is told in slapstick style and is quite humourous. If you would like to listen to the episode it is here. The episode is 26 minutes long but I think the lead up to the spike punching is around the 10 minute mark. But if you have 26 minutes to spare, the show is really quite funny.
I decided to organize and clean out the fridge a bit yesterday, and put all the pate (5 containers worth) “safely” in the microwave so the counter stayed clear for the fridge exercise. By the end, I was so tired, I put everything back and went to bed.
Well, not quite everything – in my exhaustion, I forgot the pate was in the microwave, which is where I found it this morning.
Tossing the lot.
If I stop being annoyed at myself, I’ll make a new smaller batch to take with me tomorrow. If not, I’ll carry the salmon components and let rillettes be my app contribution.
(The onion jam is intact, so that’s something.)
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ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
277
Oh, no! We took some leftover smoked trout dip back to our cabin from our wedding welcome party. And then the cabin lost power. And that was the end of the leftover smoked trout tip.
1 Like
ChristinaM
(Hungry in Asheville, NC (still plenty to offer tourists post Hurricane))
281
Here’s where I’m at so far for the menu:
Sparkling pear + ginger cocktail
Relish tray w/ Speck, Salami, no-knead Focaccia, Burrata
Wine-braised short ribs with soft corn spoon bread [DH’s request] Jellied cranberry sauce w/pears and apples
Garden chard w/balsamic glaze + toasted pumpkin seeds [might axe this] Winter salad [using red grapes, green cabbage, and underripe pear]
Milk Street dark chocolate tart w/homemade whipped cream Claire Saffitz’s pumpkin creme brulee
