Thanksgiving, the Lazy Way

Our parents won't be in town until tomorrow (they're dining with another child today) so we are making this a lazy Turkey Day, and let me tell you, it's the best.

First rule - you must stay in your Pajamas for as long as humanly possible. I nearly ruined everything by automatically getting dressed this morning, but since I was able to jump back into my pj's before Holly woke up, only the dogs know that I messed up, so it doesn't count.

Second rule - start with pie. Yep, pie for breakfast. This year it's pumpkin as is fitting. Pumpkin, topped with a good dollop of real whipped cream, and a large glass of cold milk on the side.
While eating my pie I enjoyed reading Bittman's article on Pumpkin Pie.

"I believe in the theory that some people are cooks, while others are bakers. Some are truly, equally both, but that’s rare. Cooks are messier and improvise more, tasting and adjusting, winging it in spirit if not actually in practice. Bakers are more meticulous and methodical, measuring and weighing, careful not to overwork their dough."

I love that man. :) Given this definition, I'm certainly a cook, not a baker.

Third rule - no turkey. Lazy, remember? True, Bittman has two ways of making a no hassle turkey. The 45 minute bird and the braised bird, both of which we intend to try, but I just couldn't be bothered to fight my way through a store of last minute Thanksgiving shoppers to find a bird.
So, we're going to have a wonderful dish of braised brussel sprouts with bacon and shallots (sooo good!), James Beard's crispy stuffing with my own additions of cranberries, pine nuts and sausage, and - if we still have any carrots, which I doubt - a nice bowl of carrot ginger soup. It's one of my specialties. Odd, come to think of it, lots of my specialties have ginger in them. Hmmm... deep inner meaning time...

Fourth rule - consume all things dairy. As you've noticed, I already up a nice dent in my daily dairy quota with the whipped cream and milk - and that was just one piece of pie. I'm counting on hitting at least three pieces by midnight tonight. But to counter all the carbs (yummm... comfort food) I bought three lovely cheeses.
The first is a smoked, aged Gouda from an artisan farm in New York, the second is what appears to be a white cheddar with Jamaican jerk spices from Pike Street Marketplace in Seattle (I say appears because I don't think even they are sure), and finally our old standby a nice double creme Brie. (Does this sound snooty? They're all from Costco, my favorite cheese store!)

I'll be baking the Brie in our crock pot, topped with chopped hazelnuts, dried apricots and a brown sugar/balsamic vinegar glaze.

So far the Gouda is my favorite. It's rich and smoky and oh so smooth! But I have great hopes for the Brie...

We have crackers of all types (yipes) and good crusty loaves of bread and even a small jar of cracked seed mustard (although the cheese doesn't need it and Holly wouldn't eat it anyway!). The only thing we're missing is something to drink! We have mango juice but that just seems wrong. I need grape or cranberry with this much cheese.

Ah, the trials of a lazy Thanksgiving. I hope I'm up to the task. :)
I shall now snuggle up with some sleepy puppies, a good book and my nosh, thankful for a warm home, literacy and my family.

PS. I must note that our wonderful friends Evelyn and Rob invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, but we had to decline. I'm oncall this weekend and I detest throwing down my napkin in front of all the other guests and bolting out the door because my pager goes off. But I did want to note their extraordinary thoughtfulness and kindness to us. They're gems!
(Note: Evelyn's cranberry gelatin is a killer! You have to talk her out of some of it one day.)

Just One More Day...

Just one more day.
Simply one freaking more day!
Surely I can hold on that long, can't I?

No, no, I'm not talking about jonesing for turkey. I'm talking about keeping my promise to not sing ANY Christmas carols until after Thanksgiving. I know it's a silly little thing, but I have to stick to my guns here.

This year everything started too soon. I expected the retailers to haul out the Christmas merchandise early - but the day after Halloween? Yikes!

Then, two weeks ago, the radio stations began playing Christmas songs.
That was simply too much to bear. I swore I wasn't buying anything Christmas related or singing any Christmas carols, or decorating in any way until the appropriate day, which is, of course, the day after Thanksgiving.

Geesh, Santa has to show up at the end of the Macy's day parade or it's not official. Don't these people know the rules?

Sadly, I blew it, and gave in to buy Christmas rubber stamps and paper early. But that's a necessity given the number of cards I'll have to make for my family!

As far as decorations and singing goes, I have, however, held true.

Except...

Except I keep catching myself humming "Winter Wonderland".
Or leading the choir in a rendition of "Far Far Away on Judea's Plains" as I drive home from work.
Or raking leaves in time to "Let it Snow".

I've tried.
Really hard.
I just need to hold on for a few more hours!

Then I can let myself sing "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" at the top of my lungs while putting up the lights on Friday. :)

We missed it!

Did you see the fireball?
Dang. I didn't either. But lots of people in Canada did!



When I was little a huge fireball flew across the sky over Idaho. I remember sitting on the neighbor's porch and looking up...wow! It was called the "Great Daylight Fireball of 1972" and started skimming the earth's atmosphere above Utah heading north. It finally exited the atmosphere over Canada.

I love meteors. :)

PS. *sigh* That rather dates me. I was little, ok?!?

Corb Lund and the Hurtin Albertans

I just have to share this one!
A really fun video by a band out of Canada.
This one is good for the whole family.

Tribute

I have to admit that I'm a Glenn Beck fan.
I've never heard his radio or TV shows, but I've read "An Inconvenient Book" which still cracks me up whenever I think about it.

His conversion story is very interesting and he has a dry sense of humor that I just eat up.

I ran across this video clip and thought I'd post it here in case someone else hasn't seen it. It's Glenn Beck's tribute to President Hinkley, delivered on his TV show. Enjoy!

Where's the bread already??

What happened to the No Knead Bread, you may ask?
Well, here it is!!



The whole episode turned out to be a Comedy of Errors. But to be fair, most of my cooking involves one mishap or another. (Don't worry, you'll read about it here, first.) So I'm not phased by it. Want to hear what happened?

I'd fully intended to start the bread on Thursday, as I wrote, but soon found out that I needed to get my ducks in order. You see, this bread takes a fantastically minimal amount of yeast - a quarter teaspoon. That's NOTHING when making regular bread.

Well - it's something.
And, it's a whole quarter teaspoon of something that I didn't have ready at hand.

Don't get me wrong, I have yeast. It's just in one of those huge bricks that I've got socked away in the back of the fridge as part of our food storage. You know - so I can continue to bake if there's a major outbreak of cholera in the area or if Mount Hood goes blewie.

I didn't want to break into my brick (let's not talk about rotating stock, ok? I'm in the middle of a rant right now…) so I decided to wait and get to the store where I could buy a couple of the little envelopes of yeast instead.

Shopping, sadly, did not happen until Saturday afternoon, but Saturday evening I started my dough using the teeny little amount of yeast.

Once I'd made the dough (which is dead easy) I dropped it into a big Tupperware bowl for the fermentation phase -and then reality hit. The recipe warns you to keep the dough in a warm room so that it can ferment properly, preferably 70 degrees or above.

Yikes! During the day we keep the heat in the house at 67 degrees, tops, and let it drop down quite a bit at night. How in the heck was I going to get the yeast to ferment?

I ended up wrapping the Tupperware in a set of my flannel winter sheets and keeping it in the upstairs guest room (possibly the warmest room in the house). I also cranked the heat a bit, but don't telly my sister. It seemed to work! Nice bubbles had appeared when I opened the Tupperware on Sunday morning.

Then, after church, I got to the next part of the recipe which is basically a light punch down and then a second rise for 2 hours. It really can't even be called a punch down. Turn the dough twice, let rest, then wrap in a floured cloth (not terry) and rise for two… wait… not terry cloth??

The only dish clothes I could find in the entire house are terry cloth. I have linen and cotton dish towels - somewhere - I know I do. But do you think I could find them? Nope.

I decided not to worry about it and put the Tupperware back in use, sans dish towel.

Two hours later I dumped the dough (which had NOT doubled as expected) into a 450 degree, preheated dutch oven, slammed down the lid and managed to transfer the whole mess to the oven without burning myself. The recipe state that you should just wiggle the pot a bit if the dough doesn't form a nice round, but it stayed put when I attempted the maneuver.

However... I'm happy to report… YUM!



After 30 minutes I took the lid off and I could already see the crust was going to be a success. It was gorgeous! 15 minutes after that I hauled the dutch oven out and there it was - my lovely, misshapen loaf!

Fortunately I got pictures before the cry of "MANGA! " rang out. My sister ate hers plain with butter and I had mine with some lovely apple butter that I made a few weeks ago. The dogs, of course, got several bites of the soft warm stuff. They're still nuzzing me, asking for more.

I'd say this was a success. It was dead easy, smelled and tasted fantastic and is already half gone. The top crust was all I could have asked for, although the bottom was a bit thicker than I'd like. Also the crumb was beautiful but much more moist than I'd expected. I was told this can happen when it's humid (which it is right now) so I'm not overly concerned.

Given the number of things I learned, next time it will be even better (and less nerve racking).

But before we try the No Knead Bread again I'll be doing Irish Soda Bread.
Stand by!

Minimalism - Bread

If you've never been introduced to Mark Bittman you're really missing out.
The man is a food critic and columnist with the New York Times. He calls himself and his column "The Minimalist". His cookbook series "How to Cook Anything" is a great gift idea for the beginning cook - heck, I like to read them myself!

I first saw him on his show "Bittman Takes on America's Chefs". Bittman would go to a restaurant and a famous chef would show us how to make one of his signature dishes. Then, with much ado and kibitzing, Bittman would take the challenge to make the same dish, but with ingredients that the typical home cook would have access to, and to prepare the food in a way that the average cook could actually copy at home. It was great fun!

He also has a three to five minute video clip each week that shows wonderful food, easily prepared. I love his stuff. Try this one!

Now, why am I telling you this? Because one of the things that Bittman espouses is a great way to make a delicious loaf of bread without the work. It's called "No Knead Bread" and it replaces kneading with 12 to 18 hours of fermenting time.

I've decided today is the day to put this bread to the test. I abhor white balloon bread and I'm tired of paying the price for a good loaf of ciabatta, so I'm taking the plunge.

The one thing standing in my way - you bake this bread, in the oven, in a preheated heavy covered casserole. The steam that is held inside the casserole is the key to the amazing crust that the loaf develops. However, all I have are dutch ovens, and I'm not sure I want to sacrifice my nicely seasoned surface for a loaf bread. *grumble* Decisions, decisions...

I'll let you know how it comes out.
In the meantime, watch this for more information.

Blissful Ignorance

It's now 12:45 pm on the day after Election Day, and I am still blissfully ignorant of the outcome of ANYTHING.

Last night my sister and I turned off our computers and sat down to watch a BBC drama (rather heartrending I might add). Then I headed for bed and read "Breaking Dawn" for a few hours.

I've avoided papers, radios, televison, gossiping coworkers and sky writers. (Heh, it's raining, I'm at least safe from sky writers.)

How long can I avoid the inevitable? I don't know.
Somehow I feel like crouching down and hiding for a week.
If only I could sign up for a two week sleep study!

Am I mad? Yes, indeed.
Will any specific outcome make me happy enough to rejoin the human race?
Nope. Not a one.
Have I ever felt this (irrational) way before.
No. I'm either getting older or I've finally had it with the stupidity.
Maybe both.

You'll know when I finally hear the answer. I'm sure there will be a shriek of some kind.

Update: It's not 6 pm and I'm home from work. I've enjoyed my day as an ostrich with my head stuck in the sand, even though I had to go to some lengths to maintain my innocence. (There are some rather loud people in the bullpen across the hallway and whenever they'd show up I'd put my headphones on and play something loud - preferably Beethoven.)
But all good avoidances must come to an end, and I'm poised to rip the bandage off! Here I go!

Foooooood

What is it about Fast Sunday that makes me want to cook?
Yeah, I know - it's probably the whole hunger thing. But honestly, I don't want to eat, I want to COOK.

Yesterday my sister got Creme Brulee out of the deal. Yup, I tried the crock pot version.

I'd found some ramekins sitting in the sideboard and since I couldn't find any other baking dish that would fit in my 4 quart slow cooker I used these guys.
They fit. Kinda.

I put one on the bottom, shoved to one side, and the other sort of scrunched in on the other side. (Can you scrunch ceramic?) I ended up with one ramekin about a inch higher than the other, but they both fit and I could put water in the crockpot with no problem.

When I whipped up the custard I realized that my little ramekins weren't quite big enough to hold a full batch, so I did a three quarters version. A bit too much egg and a bit too little sugar went in. I love it when cooking is an adventure! =)

Two and a half hours later the custards looked done!
Then I found out the problem behind my plan. I now had two very hot ceramic ramekins, submerged half way up their sides in near boiling water - and the weight of the custard had forced the top ramekin down, effectively wedging these little darlings in place.

Grrrrrrrr.....

Archimedes and two long handled spoons later - voila!
Two nice custards and no steam burns. I love it when a plan comes together.

The dessert was very yummy, even if the custard was a bit soft. Holly likes it that way, I like mine more firm, but this time she won.

Only problem is, my broiler didn't do a very good job of carmalizing the sugar topping. I'll have to put "Butane Kitchen Torch" on my "Gimee Gimmee" Christmas list. hehe

If you'd like to try your hand at this wonderful recipe, go here:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008/02/crockpot-crme-brulee-recipe.html