For the nat/tar/gcam, from an abum review
"Being Scottish, their whimsy has less wit than their British peers, yet their surrealistic touches are more organic."
The 'Scottish/British' distinction is amusing. Where by 'amusing' I mean 'a sign of being an idiot'.
Early in the morning, yesterday, at work:
Co-worker, declaiming his love for Thanksgiving food: "I've always wanted to try making a turducken. I wonder what that would taste like?"
minneapolitan, after a beat: "Fowl!"
Sadly, I'm not sure that all present got the pun.
Sadly, I'm not sure that all present got the pun.
"You know, like John Madden ... Football ... orange flag ..."
The colonial nations are so proud of their small differences.
As usual for us, we're taking in friends for Thanksgiving instead of family. A lot of our friends have been having hard years what with divorces and health and health of families and whatnot. I'm thankful to have this circle of friends and see them all sharing their gifts and strength, and happy to know that they'll be around the next time I wake up in a filthy motel room with a dead hooker next to me.
Hope your turkey day is half as entertaining as mine's gonna be.
I'm spending mine in the home of a couple from rural Kentucky with a couple of Dutchmen, a few genderqueer Canadians, and some blues musicians. I've spent TDays alone in the past, and never imagined it would be as grim as it was. So: I'm very grateful for my misfit, family-less friends.
Misfit family-less friends are the best!
In the Turkish language, the turkey is called a "hindi" (they call the nation of India "Hindistan"). In Portuguese, it's called a "peru." I think there's another language where the bird has the same name as a country it has nothing to do with, but I can't remember right now.
11, probably several more such languages.
In french it's dinde or dindon, from d'Inde.
This article is a good review of some of the geographical confusions associated with the bird and the resulting words in various languages.
This will be an extremely low-key T-giving for me -- just myself, my aunt, my aunt's work buddy and my sister. But! Sister and I are going to an after-party with a lot of hard-drinking grad students after the big meal, so that ought to be fun. I made pumpkin pies, but sadly I did not do quite enough mixing, so they're a little uneven in texture. Oh well.
My smallest Thanksgiving was with my friend and his then-girlfriend in another city many years ago. We made a ridiculous amount of vegetarian food -- like 30 pounds, I shit you not -- which of course we barely made a dent in. Still, it wasn't a bad time. The cider helped.
Bird in oven.
We're having a family of clueless Germans, and the afore-mentioned kayak friend.
One of the Dutchmen was at our TDay last year, and he kept saying, "So, is this the part where, in America, you..." and then go on to describe various insane American-sounding TDay rituals. At the time, none of us knew he'd spent quite a few years in America and was obviously yanking our chains, but I think he got a kick out of watching us explain, "Oh, no, we don't go around the room and recite the names of the members of the Plymouth Plantation" or "No, we don't make special hats after dessert."
You don't make special hats after dessert? That was always my favorite part.
The apple pie is baking, the chestnuts are roasted, and a happy Turkey Day to you all.
However, it's all over the news that the Western Gobblers Association is on strike...
AWB: Ask your Dutchman if he knows how to get the English-language "Fokke en Sukke" cartoon book (retitled "Duck and Birdie.") Please. I've tried and tried and their marketing sux.
He will know what you mean.
I dunno. If it's for the kids' market. retitling it was probably a masterstroke.
No, it's adult humor. I think that they felt that the original name was so explicit it wouldn't even be be shelved in decent places. It still isn't shelved in decent places, and it's impossible to find, so they wasted their effort.
Here's the best intro I can find: Fokke e Sukke.
It really doesn't feel like t-day here, it's too sunny. At least it's cooled down to about 50, instead of 80ish a few days ago. So it almost feels like it could be fall....
We're about to hit the road. Have fun, imaginary friends.
It's just me in Maryland with my parents. Pretty stressful day, so it's nice to see even a little activity that I can escape to. Pretty hilarious story from AWB.
I'm taking a pie I've never made before to a houseful of people I've never met before. I hope it all works out and they're not cannibals or anything.
Happy thanksgiving, everyone!
30- What kind of pie? Who are the household of people?
I am hiding in the computer room in my parents' basement because shivbunny is stuck in Texas and won't be here today and I'm trying not to cry. Instead of crying, I should go upstairs and try to play Guitar Hero but my sister plays on Expert level and keeps schooling me.
I was supposed to plan and shop for dinner two nights ago, but we decided to spend the evening in the pediatric ER instead (everything's fine). Miraculously, we managed to pull everything together, including a turkey that someone had ordered at the store but neglected to pick up. My wife's abstemious family is coming, so the part of the day where I hang out in the kitchen cooking and drinking starts soon.
Happy Thanksgiving, peeps.
Aw, Cala, that stinks. I'm sorry to hear it.
That's a bugger, Cala. Tell your sister to go boil a squash and take over the Guitar Hero.
What kind of pie? Who are the household of people?
An apple cranberry pie with a caramel walnut topping (uncannily similar to AWB's recipe-so much so that I threw in some bourbon. The people are friends of friends, and I exaggerated--the friends they are friends of will be there, along with the 15 or so total strangers.
Tell your sister to go boil a squash
Sounds much ruder, in an old-fashioned sort of way, than it really is.
Aw, go boil a squash, you old so-and-so!
It's very polite to help out in the kitchen, Ben.
The Turducken is for babies. Taste my chicken-duck-turkey-pig and KNOW THANKS.
The homophone works well there too I suppose.
Bye, dears. I'm late! Enjoy your excellent dinners and friends/family.
"My sister's off boiling her squash, IYKWIMAITYD".
OK, C is doing holiday preparations and googling travel methods in NYC. We can get a 1 day or 7 day 'Metrocard', but is there really no child discount? Although it seems cheap anyway.
I am hiding in the computer room in my parents' basement because shivbunny is stuck in Texas and won't be here today and I'm trying not to cry
I'm sorry, that sucks. My wife's grandmother died the day before yesterday, so she flew out this morning for the funeral. Gone till Saturday. Maybe I'll roast one of the kids for dinner.
I just made mulled wine. This is a traditional holiday treat, but I actually made it because the stores are all closed and I don't dare start in on the official Thanksgiving green-bottle beer. The reason I mulled it is because it was an awful acid chardonnay sitting around the house. It really worked! It's drinkable! (Sugar + cloves + cinnamon + heat).
32: Not fun at all, IMX. I'll suggest living inside your head for the duration, let your body take care of reality on automatic.
Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.
Sorrow for all whose days are going badly. Emerson's path is an excellent one. It suggests a pun about mulling, best left unsaid.
Cala: make her reverse her handedness. Handicapping for everyone!
re: 50 and 32
Does actually playing the guitar help with Guitar Hero?
Good day to all, whether they's spending it with a turkey or spending it with vegetoibles or any and all of the above.
Happy Tgiving! WE had a most excellent meal, followed by arguments with my cranky uncle about:
- global warming: it doesn't exist!
- they've found proof that people and dinosaurs lived at the same time! (This one is weird--the man is not especially religious.)
- the damn state wants to take grandpa's house, now that he's dead, as reimbursement for grandma's MediCal expenses (Me: That fucking sucks! Uncle: You know it! Me: So I guess you'll be voting Democrat in the election, to support nationalized health care? Uncle: Bah! They'll just make it worse!)
- you know what's got us in deficit trouble? welfare and social security! not the war!
Hilariously, though, when Mr. B. helped Uncle take apart his Mercedes Kompressor's cd changer, which had gotten jammed and stopped working, he found that the cd's that had gotten jammed in were . . . Joan Baez.
What can I say, the man's a character.
Military brother: "I know this is gonna sound gay, but guys shouldn't get plastic surgery. Lines add expression, you know?"
My mom, referring to her recent China trip and a phone call home to my dad: "No, no. That call was the time we had Skype sex."
I hastily poured a second glass of wine, and then we all burst out in laughter.
I would like to give my thanks to the people willing to work in restaurants that charge less than $30 per person today, without whom I would have nothing. To those few Chinese restaurants and that awesome Mexican place in Andersonville, I salute you.
This is why nation's die without the vitalizing power of immigration.
I chalk that typo up to extreme hunger. Now off to the north side for fajitas!
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Afternoon naps after a big meal are the best.
Yeah, happy turkey day everyone
Nothing real special here, but a better than average day, and cold in Dallas to mark the occasion. Hope all the social types enjoyed the socialness and gluttony and whatever other cardinal sins y'all celebrate holidays with. Everybody we know who isn't dead is a thousand miles away, but that's cool, since we don't like them anyway. Just kidding.
How the hell did we end up in Dallas, and the others ended in the Southeast and Southwest and even overseas, when we used to have 50 at Thanksgiving dinner? Not sad or lonesome just weird how time goes.
I had a lovely Thanksgiving, deeply in tune with my WASP roots. There was two-hand touch football, televised football, strange side-dishes with deep family roots, poorly executed card games, molds (Jelll-O and otherwise), crackling fires, an enormous turkey that may have been an Ostrich or Emu, and a general sense of benificent thankfulness. I performed manly tasks involving firewood, pigskins, and knives. The company enshindigged were fabulous to a one. The inevitable injuries seemed easily healed. The autumnal palette was, if anything, a little overdone. I remain in a state of quite outstanding fullness.
Let me share my postprandial glow with you, the put upon and otherwise shivbunnyless!
Thanksgiving at my new SO's mother's house. Odd moment of the day was the pompous neighbor requesting that I recite my c.v. out loud to him. Nicest moment of the day was new SO having bought a special german wheat beer just for me, and serving it to me in a glass with a lemon in it.
So that was pretty fun. There was a pie per person. Turkey and a goose. Favorite joke of the evening: What do you get when you cross a mafioso with a deconstructionist? Least favorite joke of the evening: what do you get when you cross a rock climber with an anopheles mosquito? There were only the two jokes, thank god.
64: you're obviously not going to leave it there, mm?
What do you get when you cross a mafioso with a deconstructionist?
An offer you can't understand?
Gonerill is correct.
2nd joke: Nothing. You can't cross a scalar with a vector.
Oh yeah, all fifteen of us walking down to the beach was also really nice. The weather here in eastern MA was lovely.
mcmc your friends are nerds.
69: I love the coast in the fall in New England. Very evocative.
Odd moment of the day was the pompous neighbor requesting that I recite my c.v. out loud to him
??? Did it have to be in any particular meter?
I had a nice dinner with the neighbors. My bacon sprouts were a hit, as were the mashed potatoes, which of course I am capable of making better than anyone within a five hundred mile radius. Now the kids are in bed and my wife's on the other side of the country for the funeral, which is a bummer. Why don't I own a Wii or an Xbox?
yeah, a nice day, for which i am thankful.
did the usual thing--took in some strays. grads, undergrads, generally foreigners, whoever can't make it home to family.
good food, some games, dragged out the atlas to see where you're from.
it's a good holiday.
72: what the hell are bacon sprouts? You pluck the immature pig as soon as it sprouts from the Earth?
??? Did it have to be in any particular meter?
I just gave him the abbreviated version, begging off to go (re?)learn how to play rummy.
Also: bacon sprouts?! Do tell about this wonder.
75: Thanks for asking that question, Sifu. I was picturing tender little slices of bacon uncurling like fiddlehead ferns.
77: a succulent, semi-translucent piglet no bigger than your pinkie.
I made about 75% of this year's Thanksgiving dinner and it was damn good, if I may brag. The gravy, especially, was the best we've had in years.
My aunt and her fiancee are in town and she was disappointed that I only made pumpkin pies and no chocolate pies. I explained that in our tradition, pumpkin pies were for Thanksgiving and chocolate pies were for Christmas. When my grandmother called later this afternoon and it was turn to talk to her, before I could even wish her a happy Thanksgiving, she chewed my ear off: "You didn't make chocolate pies?! What on earth have you been doing all day that you didn't make chocolate pies?" Her level of outrage was quite hilarious.
Armsmasher made some meat for us once (duck?) that involved "bacon nails". He sliced bacon into small bits, froze them, and then hammered them into the already delicious meat before he put it in the oven.
79: chocolate pies get filed in my brain in the "things to throw at people" category; this is incorrect, I am guessing?
Pumpkin pies are named for their secret ingredient, bourbon.
80: that is entirely amazing. I may ask Armsmasher to crucify me with bacon nails if I make it to DC.
Those are cream pies that get thrown at people, Sifu.
84: chocolate pies are different than Chocolate cream pies? How? Is it just like a big slab of chocolate? Do you slice up the chocolate like an apple? Is it mixed with suet? I need to know more.
Perfunctory googling reveals a world I could never have imagined.
Sifu, the one most beloved in my household is Jamie Oliver's Simple Chocolate Tart. (scroll down). He's right about the quality of the chocolate.
Perfunctory googling also suggests that "bacon sprouts" is a deprecated term referring to brussels sprouts browned in bacon fat.
There are also some creamier-type chocolate pies in this excellent book. Mmmm, ecstasy.
My bacon sprout perfunct-o-google leaves me with more questions than answers, fm. We need Goneriill to come back and explain.
90: there's no chocolate pie! You're trying to trick me!
chocolate pies get filed in my brain in the "things to throw at people" category; this is incorrect, I am guessing?
Exactly.
Chocolate pies in my family are completely white-trash affairs: Jell-o chocolate pudding put into a pre-baked pie crust with no whipped cream. (Why my aunt was clamoring for them when I had beautiful homemade pumpkin pies, I do not know!)
They are traditionally eaten in my family for breakfast on Christmas morning.
Blume I think we're keeping the blog alive single-handed right now. Should we do some improvisatory theater?
94: did you put bourbon in the pumpkin pies?
96 originally to 94, but perhaps better to 84 + 95.
I guess "improvisatory" is a performative word?
Improvisatory? My brain is well full of stuffing.
86 - Oooh -- on my mom's side, my grandmother used to make black bottom pies, kind of like in Sifu's link above. It's a pie with a thin layer of dark chocolate on the bottom topped with a vanilla-bourbon custard. (Looks like this.) A lot of work but delicious.
They are traditionally eaten in my family for breakfast on Christmas morning.
Now that is an awesome custom.
via 90, the french seem quicker than most to reach for a pie. I think that's what they do instead of voting.
102: see? Bourbon. Now that's a fuckin' pie. I'd eat chicken pot pie with bourbon in a minute. Shepherd's pie? Bourbon?
98 - No bourbon in the pies. I've never tried that before. I was tempted based on all of the recommendations but some of our guests this year are In The Program so it's not the time to try it.
Also: bacon sprouts?! Do tell about this wonder.
Preheat the oven to 400F. Now, for as many pans worth of this as you think you'll need to feed people ... Take a cast iron pan. (Or a cookie sheet, if you must.) Estimate how many brussels sprouts it would take to just cover the pan --- not too crowded. Take that many sprouts and for each one remove the hard bit at the bottom and chop in half. Put some olive oil in the bottom of the pan. Enough to cover the bottom, but you don't want 'em swimming in there. Put the sprouts in the pan. Salt and pepper if you like. Cut up several slices of decent quality bacon (I like uncured applewood smoked bacon) into inch-wide pieces and place the pieces on top of the sprouts. (Not individually on top of every sprout -- just have a generous amount of bacon sitting on the top.) Place in oven. Check after 15 minutes and give them a bit of a poke around, turning them as needed. (The bottoms will cook faster.) Don't worry about keeping the bacon on top. Do this a couple more times at shorter intervals until the sprouts are nicely blackened all over and the bacon is well cooked. Maybe 35 minutes altogether, but can vary with kind of oven and cooking surface etc. Put in a dish and serve. Result: intensely-flavored caramelized bacon sprouts. Delicious.
106: amusingly, we had one woman this year who has been In The Program for nigh-on two decades, and she was inordinately excited by all the desserts that had booze in them.
107: what do you do with the actual slices of bacon?
107: what do you do with the actual slices of bacon?
As 107 says, "Cut up several slices of decent quality bacon (I like uncured applewood smoked bacon) into inch-wide pieces and place the pieces on top of the sprouts. (Not individually on top of every sprout -- just have a generous amount of bacon sitting on the top.)"
I did not put bourbon in my pumpkin pie, either. But I did make it without a recipe. *And* it was fuckin' delicious.
The bacon sprouts sound yum, I'll have to try that. I made greens, which, like okra, my southern-raised husband won't eat (don't ask).
110: no, I mean, do you serve the bacon with the sprouts, or save it for yourself, or place it gently upon an altar to B'aal, or what?
Seriously, guys, put bourbon in the pumpkin pie next time. I swear, just try it. Unreal.
110: no, I mean, do you serve the bacon with the sprouts, or save it for yourself, or place it gently upon an altar to B'aal, or what?
Oh, you eat it all together.
Kayenta: still bustling. Thriving, even. I was talking to my Navajo cousin about Greater Kayenta, and he described it as the Tri-City Area (Kayenta, Chilchinbeto and Dennehotso). Speaking of Chilchinbeto, another conversation involving my mom and a different cousin was about how the people there are thieves and probably witches.
Present at dinner:
- My mom, my sister and I.
- Our cousins who live here.
- Our cousins who live in Prescott with their adorable little kids, including a niece whom they're in the process of adopting.
- Two random employees of our cousins here, one a Navajo guy from Betatakin and the other a Slovak guy from Bratislava.
I asked the Slovak guy if there was anything in Slovakia he would recommend seeing, and he thought for a minute and answered that Bratislava and the mountains are okay, but that a better place to go would be Prague.
My sister remarked to me at one point that the most noticeable difference between Thanksgiving with my dad's family here and with my mom's family in Philadelphia was the amount of alcohol present. Here it was limited to two bottles of wine. Part of this is due to the fact that the Reservation is dry, but only part.
All in all, a good Thanksgiving. Ya'at'eeh keshmish yazhi, everyone.
I am pleasantly agape at the thought of bacon nails.
That's pretty much how I do brussels sprouts every T-giving. Chestnuts in chicken broth for a while, steam the sprouts, fry some bacon, a bit of the bacon grease plus a bit of butter in skillet---reduced broth + chestnuts + sprouts + maple syrup. Bacon sprouts is pretty close to the mark.
I'm thinking of making an unholy amalgam of animal parts held together with fusilli screws and bacon nails.
I'm also thinking of simulating a digestive track with a coil of sausage inside my frankenbirdmonster.
Other stuff that worked well this year--a celery root puree plus the gravy came out really great for some reason. Fried apples and mustard with cabbage was also pretty decent, always a tricky thing to get right. Turkey since I've been brining it is a no-brainer. I lost my awesome stuffing recipe I clipped from somewhere so I tried a new one that I didn't like so much. Next year something else.
Roast a whole bulb of elephant garlic with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Mash it and put it on anything at all.
Gravy has become three times as delicious and five times as easy since we started (1) brining the turkey and (2) putting some celery, carrots, and onion in the roasting pan to flavor the drippings. Do both of those and gravy becomes almost unscrewupable.
What does that mean, Teo?
And I'm glad to hear about your Thanksgiving. It's not easy to get through special days the first year after someone dies, especially when you have a lot of memories of spending the holiday with them.
Oh! And great story from this year's Thanksgiving: my aunt has two biological kids, a 13 year old girl (who is white) and a 19 year old son from a previous marriage (who is half American Indian). They also have two foster kids, a Hispanic girl and a boy who is half African-American.
The whole family went to my 13YO cousin's school for some function and my cousin introduced everyone to her teacher "This is my mom and my dad and my brother and my sister and my other brother." Seeing the teacher's face flitting between the kids faces trying to add it all up, my cousin leaned in and whispered to explain: "My mom's really charitable."
What does that mean, Teo?
"Happy Thanksgiving." The Navajo term for "Thanksgiving" is "keshmish yazhi," which literally means "little Christmas."
Also, "The shelling of Wake Island will begin at dawn."
Some photos of Kayenta that I took today. I also took some pictures of Thanksgiving itself, but I'm not going to put them online because of privacy concerns.
And: "Kill whitey when he falls asleep after the turkey."
Whitey is not a major presence out here.
Yeah, he liked the turkey too much.
The pictures are really interesting; I've been to Phoenix and Tucson, but never in NM or out into the country.
A fine dinner. Girls beat boys at Charades, boys fared better at Risk. Only one picture turned out.
So Magpie and I had a very pleasant time with her family and her brother's in-laws.
And now we've returned home... to discover the bathroom door (to the only bathroom in the house) LOCKED. It's got one of those pinholes next to the handle you're supposed to be able to use in situations like these to unlock the door, but no matter how hard I try to press on the release, it won't unlatch.
When Magpie called the locksmith, the dispatcher laughed.
I've been to Phoenix and Tucson, but never in NM or out into the country.
Yeah, people often don't realize that northern Arizona is nothing like Phoenix and Tucson. New Mexico is even more different.
Becks, it was a venison roast, not duck. Venison (but not veal) is very lean and has to be larded for a roast, especially if you didn't hunt the meat yourself. I think that goes for most all game. In fact, I marinated the whole roast in buttermilk for two days, and it was still on the dry side.
That was a nice feast. Figs wrapped in boar prosciutto, drizzled with honey, and grilled, for an amuse bouche; rabbit sausage bangers and mash; squash puree with brown sugar served in halved acorn squashes; and the venison roast.
We should do a goose again, Becks. I have another recipe for knuckles of pork with sauerkraut that calls for goose drippings—no other fat will do. Actually, you know, I could build a wax cast for making true goose-fat nails.
It was a fantastic meal, 'Smasher! And it makes sense that it was the venison and not the duck -- duck and goose have plenty of fat as it is.
I could build a wax cast for making true goose-fat nails
This makes me think "crazy delicious meets Matthew Barney".
Nice pictures Teo. Really interesting landscape.
A happy Thanksgiving to all. It's a good holiday.
I do hope Cala ended up enjoying the time with her family.
There's an escarpment, right? Big change in elevation between lower and upper?
Nice pictures Teo. Really interesting landscape.
Thanks. It's a lot more impressive in person; pictures don't really capture the scale of it all. And Kayenta is actually one of the least picturesque places in the area.
There's an escarpment, right? Big change in elevation between lower and upper?
Where do you mean?
we made turkish flatbread as an appetizer & i didn't even get the pun until just now.
my & my husband's first time hosting; everything turned out pretty well, to my surprise. (we cook a lot, but not the traditional stuff). I am thankful that the joy of cooking can be trusted.
Isn't there a big increase in elevation at about halfway up AZ? I remember hearing about this escarpment, but of course what sticks in my mind about Arizona is the low desert.
Well, there's the Colorado Plateau. You may be thinking of the Mogollon Rim, which forms the edge of it. Note, however, that the part of the state south of the Rim is still pretty high, so the difference isn't huge. And Phoenix and Tucson are both in mountainous areas.
Bathroom: LIBERATED. And our hero the locksmith took off the pin that locked us out.
117: In re Slovakia, consider going to Horny Smokovec.
Up in the Slovak mountains, there are several Smokoveces (Smokovi? Smokovecy?), but for the sake of the Mineshaft, isn't Horny the one you really want to go to?
Up in the Slovak mountains, there are several Smokoveces (Smokovi? Smokovecy?), but for the sake of the Mineshaft, isn't Horny the one you really want to go to?
Definitely. Thanks for the tip. But what's a Somokovec?
Will you kids keep it down in here? Some of us have to go to work tomorrow.
ZOMG. So much tasty food and leftovers. Also, Ridiculous Kentucky moonshine, from which I am become crunk.
Ah, yeah—bed time. I have to work Friday too. I give thanks it isn't in retail. I've done my time there.
I encourage all of you to make friends with people whose uncles are hairdressers in Appalachian Kentucky, where people don't pay with money, but with disgusting moonshine instead. It might have been the Woodford Reserve bourbon that brought me to the brink, but it was the moonshine that did me the fuck in. Arg.
Okay, brief second wind based on dish-washing and trash-taking-out (do the trash folks work tomorrow?): good moonshine is excellent probably not legal. Yessir, DHS. Woo! America! Holidays!
Venison (but not veal) is very lean and has to be larded for a roast, especially if you didn't hunt the meat yourself. I think that goes for most all game.
You know, I was talking to someone about larding some time ago—someone who comments here—and the person in question seemed to think it was a completely antique practice that no one actually performed anymore. (I, too, was using bacon nails, but I had soaked them in armagac first.)
The obstler+cardamom pie was a success!
Missed most of this thread. I made a pumpkin tart this year instead of a pie (yes Sifu it had bourbon in it). I don't like the texture of straight pumpkin pie, but the tart has a walnut and candied ginger streusel that cuts the creamyness of the pumpkin nicely.
I got shit for not putting marshmallows in the sweet potatoes. Marshmallows! I ask you! Nasty nasty nasty.
re: 159
Last days of the Roman Empire time, people.
159: y'know, I came to grips with that as a conceptual thing, this year. It isn't that different from putting sugar in the sweet potatoes. Just with that additional frisson of jet-whipping.
Pumpkin pie is and remains a spectacular breakfast food.
And you know who gave me the most shit? An Irishman and two Germans.
I adore pumpkin pie for breakfast, but right now I find that I am still too full to enjoy this tasty treat. Alas. Maybe pie for lunch.
I got shit for not putting marshmallows in the sweet potatoes. Marshmallows! I ask you! Nasty nasty nasty.
I don't think I've ever had sweet potatoes that didn't have marshmallows as the crustato on top. Unless they were individual baked sweet potatoes.
No, Sifu, marshmallows are vile in any context and under any circumstances. After the withering away of the state there will nevertheless remain a specialised inquisition for dealing with marshmallows.
Pumpkin pie can be eaten satisfactorily at any time of the day or night.
Marshmallows are sugar and egg whites, though. That seems to inoffensive. Oh, okay, there's a bit of gelatin (or, traditionally, mucilaginous plant matter), but c'mon what could be more inoffensive.
Also, marshmallows just do belong on top of sweet potatoes.
Satan himself invented the marshmallow.
I am increasingly compelled by the existence of an actual Marshmallow plant, and a traditional recipe using that plant's root in lieu of gelatin.
Also, kosher marshmallows are made with fish gelatin? Grody!
Our whole Thanksgiving was a resounding success. By day we did some cooking and watched some of the BBC Smiley's People. Dinner and surrounding festivities went from 4 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. We met new people at dinner, other friends of the hosts, and they turned out to be excellent people whom I would like to befriend. I was very happy with my pie; the not-canned pumpkin was delicious and tender, and worth the trouble. The baked pasta was also a hit (this will also be enjoyable as leftovers). Today we will be very lazy and attempt to return to homeostasis.
Most boring 24 hours on unfogged, ever. </grump>
You know, I'd realized gelatin was sort of gross, but I'd never gone so far as to actually read the wikipedia page. It is gross!
170: I yam what I yam, Yamsmasher.
172: quit complaining and eat your squash.
"The name Althaea is derived from the Greek altho, meaning to heal, and its medicinal qualities have been recognised since Ancient Egyptian times. Theophrastus reported that the root could be added to sweet wine to relieve coughs; Horace and Martial mentioned the laxative properties of the leaves and root; and Pliny wrote that 'whosoever shall take a spoonful of the Mallows shall that day be free from all diseases that may come to him'. Marshmallow is mentioned in the Bible and in Arabic and Chinese history as a valuable food during times of famine. In rural France, the young tops and leaves are eaten in salads for their kidney-stimulating effects. All members of the mallow family, such as the hollyhock and common mallow, have similar properties and can be used medicinally."
This anti-marshmallow sentiment fills me with anger at all the snobbery which up until now has merely posed as reverse snobbery or ironic snobbery.
What would you prefer to roast on a stick over a campfire? Cherimoyas?
What would you prefer to roast on a stick over a campfire?
Sausages.
Most boring 24 hours on unfogged, ever.
Come back and bore us in return on Burns Night.
I got shit for not putting marshmallows in the sweet potatoes. Marshmallows! I ask you! Nasty nasty nasty.
Wrong. Delicious.
Our Thanksgiving was a success. We had tons of food. Everyone enjoyed the wine. (Except the kids.) After everyone left, my son and I watched
Apocalypse Now. Every day I eat sweet potatoes without marshmellows, I get weaker. Every day Charley eats his sweet potatoes with marshmellows, he gets stronger.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday by far.
172. ttaM, don't be so mardy. Let them have one day a year to celebrate their fundie roots.
Everyone enjoyed the wine. (Except the kids.)
They had too much?
re: 181
I am sitting bored at work, with all my colleagues gone home, and nothing really to do. Hence the grumpiness when unfogged isn't sparkly and entertaining.
re: 179
I have shite all time for that, either. Although I do think haggis and whisky are quite nice.
Cryptic Ned, where do you stand on borscht? Maybe you and flippanter and I should make dinner.
Hence the grumpiness when unfogged isn't sparkly and entertaining.
Make your own entertainment. Restart Glaikit feartie, it was a good read.
164:
My brother's wife is Russian. Thankfully, she didnt bring broscht.
re: 185
Yeah, I mean to, although probably with a slightly different emphasis. I just don't quite have the time at the moment. I have quite a few things saved up [mostly intemperate rants, mind].
Happy belated Thanksgiving to all and sundry. The Ruprechts dined chez the health nut friends, where the food was unexpectedly delicious. The brussel sprouts, alas, contained no bacon.
In the evening we were invited to a birthday party at a neighbor's, where hot tub soaking was said to be on the agenda, but I was feeling a little under the weather and only made a perfunctory appearance before returning home to take some codeine and drift into opiate-enhanced dream-sleep.
Fleur and I have not yet communicated with the MIL to find out how Thanksgiving with Axl Rose went.
Hats off to AWB for trying the Kentucky moonshine. It puts hair on your chest, you know.
Intemperant rants are the meat and drink of blogging. The rest is mere marshmallow.
The Pilgrims did not put marshmallows on their yams. Therefore, this is out in our household. They would, however, have used Cheez Whiz in their creamed onions, had it been available, and so this has been ruled permissible (although it made no appearance this year).
I got all my carbs from wine this year, consuming pies and spuds only by sight and smell.
In Virginia, at Berkley Plantations, marshmallows were a staple. Thus, any good Virginian uses marshmellows. Napi's is a descendant of German interlopers and, thus, is not to be trusted.
That's because Virginia has marshes in which to grow the mellows. Germany has dark forests instead.
...in which to grow the chocolate cake.
Everyone knows that the coconut is evil.
Coco = excellent
nut = excellent
Coconut = Two great things that go horribly together.
Everyone knows that the coconut is evil.
Very early in life I ascertained that the world is divided into those who like coconut and those who do not, and that the latter are not to be trusted.
The correct division is between those who have a strong opinion about coconut, and those who do not. We call the latter Enlightened.
I like to see the world more as a spectrum of people who have nuanced views on coconut. I myself enjoy a Mounds bar or pina colada, but wouldn't fret if they became scarce.
Speak out against coconutrarianism!
Mounds bars are awful, but coconut milk is proof of a benign Creator.
I had some delicious marshmallowless sweet potatoes last night, so good that I cannot frame why anyone would put marshmallows thereon.
The bad part about biking to and from tday dinner is that, unless you come armed with tupperware, it's hard to take leftovers home. Thus I have none.
I realized this morning that there was NO PUMPKIN PIE at our Thanksgiving. None! There are pumpkin pie haters in my family and I suspect their pernicious influence.
The pumpkin pie deficit will be addressed by the end of the weekend. (Recipe recommendations welcomed.)
202. Horrors. Our pumpkin pie was OK, but we had no mince meat pie (without meat of course). I loved that stuff. So I need to go shopping.
If you didn't have any mincemeat pie, how can you be certain it didn't have meat?
Puréed chipotles with adobo sauce are excellent in sweet potatoes. JM is right about marshmallows.
I would make turkey pot pie, but we are still ovenless. Range/oven recommendations are welcome; I'm fantasizing about spending far too much money on a fabulous one.
Puréed chipotles with adobo sauce are excellent in sweet potatoes.
That sounds so, so good.
I used to inisist on marshmallows on the yams every year until one year I suddenly realized how very disgusting that is, and I have never looked back. I shall try the chipotle/adobos, or some other spicy variation, some day when PK has come a little further along the "acceptance of spicy foods" scale, although yesterday's yam/sweet potato/carrot puree with ginger and pecans wasn't half bad.
Magpie, try putting cardamom and ginger in your pumpkin pie along with the usual nutmeg and cinnamon. Teh yum.
Also Ttam's complaint reminds me of my study abroad year, when I made thanksgiving dinner (for the first time!) for all my British flatmates. Sadly, I was still under the impression that marshmallows belonged on top of yams, and I didn't know that British marshmallows taste weird. Oh well.
As for chipotle, the prophet Tom got it exactly right already.
I have _never_ heard of this marshmallow-on-yam custom. Is it particular to certain areas of the country?
We have already gone through all four pumpkin pies I made. ("We" mostly meaning "my little brothers".) I'm making another round, plus the chocolate pies for which I was scolded, this afternoon.
Becks, I love 126.
You'd really like her, B. I swear to god when I started reading your blog, I had a couple of weeks when I wondered if you were her. She's a professor, my uncle was staying home to raise the kids like Mr. B at the time, and you hold a lot of the same opinions and have a very similar "voice". Were it not for your stuff about PK, you might have gotten a "Aunt J---?" email from me. (And, even then, I wondered at the time if PK was a composite of other kids or if you were telling stories from when he was younger.)
Aww, that's a really flattering comparison. Thank you!!
Oh my god, we ate last night. We drank lots of terrible things that might have been made in prison toilets. I may recover. The leftovers are exquisite.
Oh wow, yeah, apparently I commented when I got home last night. I don't remember much.
I did have a good time. I did not tell my sister to boil a squash, for we had boiled all the squashes the day before. But we had an excellent turkey and wine and so many things with pumpkin in them that I'm all pumpkinned out.
shivbunny's flying home tonight, so I woke up early and drove back home and now we will eat leftovers..... with pumpkin!
I would make turkey pot pie, but we are still ovenless.
Turkey & dumplings made on the stovetop would still be an option. Personally, I prefer to make an oven baked version that really amounts to a turkey pie with biscuit topping more than true dumplings, but the authentic version is also good.
Ooo! Idea. I made some too-sweet New Mexico green chile sauce the other day; my ex left five pounds of green chiles in the freezer when she left, and I've been slow to use them. The sweetness makes them a bit odd (it said add some sugar to cut the heat, and I overcompensated). But mixed into the delicious sweet potatoes my girlfriend made (with coconut milk to stay pareve for her parents' table), perfection (aufhebung, even) might be very close at hand.
Thank you 206 for the inspiration.
Also: for those pitiful few who have supped on the Tofurkey, a friend innovates. Beer batter + deep-fry = very very good.
Magpie, my grandmother's pumpkin pie recipe works well: a plain custard pie (hot milk into eggs, bake in an uncooked shell) flavoured with pumpkin, a good deal of ginger, a small bit of cinnamon and some orange (juice or rind or both) brown and white sugar, and salt. You can make the pumpkin mixture the day before and season it to taste; it shouldn't be too sweet. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, then down to 350 for 30-50 minutes until a knife comes out clean.
This pie consistently rocks out year after year, even with people who are full or don't like pumpkin.
Our recipe, Magpie: 1 qt pumpkin, 4 eggs, 1/2 cup butter, 1tbsp cinnamon, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 cup cream, 2 1/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup bourbon.
Seperate the eggs, mix the egg yolks with the balance of ingredients, beat the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks, fold them into mixture, pour into unbaked pie shell, bake at 425 for 15 minutes, lower the temperature to 350 and cook another 50 minutes.
I will not be offended if you use Penny's recipe, but if I were you I'd take both of ours (plus whatever trickles in) and do a cook-off.
My pumpkin pie was basically straight out of the Joy of Cooking, but with a graham cracker crust. I tried to caramelise some pecans to put on the top, failed utterly to get the sugar to behave the way I wanted it to, and ended up with sugar-becrystalled pecans which I declared good enough, dammit. And so it was.
I usually do a regular crust for pumpkin pie but one year I did a pecan crust (much like a graham cracker crust) and that was delicious.
222: Wow, that fits in one pie shell?
All of these pumpkin pie recipes are going to ensure that our house smells of pumpkin pie for weeks.
I hate you all.
My apple pie was a hit with the people, but the crust was far too tender. I used whole-wheat pastry flour, as the co-op was out of white, and the whole thing just fell completely apart when I tried transferring it from the counter to the pie. Plus, it was so flaky and light that it had just about zero toothiness. I know one doesn't want a tough crust, but my crust surrendered if you looked at it too hard.
Very bourbony, and the cherry caramel was a hit.
225: oh, uh, yeah, makes two pies. Thanks, rfts!
Any time. You can feel free to send the surplus pie to me.
Our recipe for pumpkin pie: 1 big can Libby pumpkin (shut up, haters), 4 eggs, 1 c. brown sugar, 1/2 c. white sugar, 2 cans sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated), 1 tsp. salt, 1-1/2 tsp. ginger, 1/2 tsp. nutmeg, 2-1/2 tsp. cinnamon. Bake at 425 for 15 minutes then turn it down to 350 for 50 minutes. This recipe usually makes enough for 2 pies.
I'm pretty sure that's the recipe, as I just made them, but it's reconstructed from memory so caveats.
I made a pumpkin pie with kabocha squash. It is a little denser and drier than sugar pie pumpkins, which is nice, I think.
AWB, what is cherry caramel? I am intrigued!
Instead of sprinkling the pie apples with sugar, I cook down some brown sugar in butter with dried cherries and a little water, add 1/3 c. of bourbon, and then toss the apples in it while waiting for the shell to bake. That's the filling for the pie.
Plus, it was so flaky and light that it had just about zero toothiness. I know one doesn't want a tough crust, but my crust surrendered if you looked at it too hard.
"The fatal flaw in my pie-making technique is that my crust is just too perfectly light and melt-in-your-mouth. IYKWIMAITYD."
And on the topic of food, It Has Been Decided* that Ben's Chili Bowl takes the hot dog championship away from Tony Packo's.
*by me
233: Oh come on. Crust needs to, like, exist to be noticed by extremely moonshine-drunk Thanksgiving diners.
The absolute best "pie" I ever made was an apple tart. The crust ended up just disappearing, and the whole thing sort of turned into a caramelised apple flatcake thingie---pure sugary, buttery, melting deliciousness, about four milimeters thick. It was a failure by so, so many standards (what happened to my crust?!), but so very good. I've never come close to reproducing it.
But my crust surrendered if you looked at it too hard.
Just like...... oh, never mind.
Home-distilled spirits have been unfairly stigmatized in this thread (but remember, kids: distillation without a license is illegal). I wrapped up my 12 hours in the kitchen with some very pleasant grappa.
I have found that it's possible to obtain very acceptable distilled spirits in exchange for reasonable quantities of currency (US and other).
My family does Thanksgiving on Friday, so I'm still recovering from ridiculous eating. I truly think this was our best Thanksgiving meal ever, and I'm going to brag about it here:
Sweet potato soup
Turkey, with sage/orange compound butter under the skin
Stuffing with sausage, parsnips, and apples
Garlic mashed potatoes
Roasted root vegetables (parsnip, carrot, turnip)
Cranberry sauce (homemade, of course)
Roasted asparagus (drenched in turkey fat)
Dessert:
Baked apples with toffee, molasses, and bourbon
Brandied cranberry and white chocolate chip cookies
No pumpkin pie this year, but it turns out I'm the only one in the family who likes pumpkin pie, so...
POP QUIZ! If you have two tablespoons of butter and an annual interest rate of sage and orange, compounded monthly, how much butter will you have after two and a half years? Show your work.
221, 222, Wuh oh, if there's going to be any kind of a cook off with Sifu I need to warn you to put the hot milk (2c) into the beaten eggs (3) very very slowly while stirring so they don't scramble. You might know to do this, but just in case. I use a 19 oz can of pumpkin. No hating on Nana's pie!
I'm obviously worried, as Sifu's sounds kick ass.
I'm going to make AWB's good sounding apple bourbon one today as a way to use up these Northern Spies and for an excuse to go to the liquor store.
Aw, it's not a contest, Penny. I'm just trying to get them to eat more pie.
I'm really disappointed with your performance on this quiz, everyone.
