And a stainer in every kitchen...
Nov. 26th, 2005 08:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fenchurchWe stopped by a kitchen store today, one of those sort in a mall that sells highly overpriced items but often has things you can't find anywhere else. However, the store is nice if for no other reason than it's a great place to browse and see what we might like to order online... though we did end up picking up a really nice meat tenderizer (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
julietvalcouer, I should see about sending you a picture of it, because it looks almost, but not quite, like the one Alton used in the episode "Flat is Beautiful II").
The best part was when we were back in the section for strainers... they had three or four brands, but one manufacturer had obviously had a really bad day, because every single one of their many different size strainers was actually labeled Kitchen Stainer. Hee!
Thanksgiving went really well, I think, despite the fact that we'd never actually done a Thanksgiving dinner before, and certain not for eight people! We misjudged the cooktime on the bird and ended up cooling our heels for an extra hour while it finished cooking. We used Alton's Roast Turkey recipe and have decided that brining meat truly is a marvelous thing. I think that was the best turkey I've ever had... flavorful and tender (to the point of still being tender two days later after sitting in the fridge).
I made my family's traditional fruit salad recipe and totally failed at my goal of preparing an amount for fewer than 30 people. Fortunatelymekle and textualdeviance took some home with them or we'd be heartily sick of it by now. We made some of Alton's stuffing, though we cooked it separately and not in the bird... and we used the leftover vegetable stock from soaking the dried mushrooms as part of the base for the turkey gravy which turned out beautifully. On a fairly last minute whim, we also worked up some of Emeril's Cranberry Compote -- it was very easy and delicious, a definite keeper! taradaktyl and her family brought some yummy sesame green beans, a whole bunch of fresh rolls, mashed potatoes, and some homemade cornbread stuffing... and I may be forgetting something, there was so much food!
For dessert, we'd picked up a pumpkin pie over at CostCo, so we decided not to make our traditional Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe. However,rackham did make his usual Eggnog Pie and ended up throwing together a fantastic apple pie using extra pie crust dough and some apples we still had leftover from our trip down to visit tomte and gidgiddoni in Oregon. Taradaktyl and her family brought along a scrumptious cheesecake and a cranberry tart.
Needless to say, our fridge is still crammed with leftovers.
Yesterday, we braved some of the stores to pick up a few things on sale... a new cordless drill, a shop vac, and a fake Christmas tree (our first one ever). We wound up getting a cheap one over at Target... it's even pre-lit, for only $30 (frankly, we figured that even if we discovered it sucked, we could live with it this year and then get rid of it, and it wouldn't be any more expensive than buying a real tree). Surprise, surprise, it's actually a pretty tree! Definitely going to be useful for those times when we aren't sticking around here for the holiday (which is pretty much every year) and just want something to put up for the few weeks in December before we head out (we haven't had a tree at all in the last two year because it was too much of a hassle for such a short amount of enjoyment).
This has led to one big problem... there's no smell! So, today we braved the Mall (and it was *packed* to the brim) and hit the Yankee Candle store to pick up a Balsam & Cedar scented candle. Yeah, it seems a bit silly to me, too... but it's working. It smells much more like Christmas in the house now.
Yesterday marked a big day on the calendar... it was the first day of the year for Pagliacci's Pear Primo Pizza! Guess what we had delivered last night!
Now we're working on making turkey stock out of the carcass left over from Thursday -- it's boiling away on the stove (with a great big thank you to Taradaktyl and hubby for loaning us a larger stockpot, and for sharing some fresh thyme from her garden). Rackham made his family's Turkey Quiche recipe for dinner tonight (one of the BEST ways of dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers ever!) and we'll probably have my family's Turkey Noodle Soup tomorrow. And then we're done. Anything not consumed by then will head for the freezer, because that's about all the turkey we can handle in one week!
julietvalcouer, I should see about sending you a picture of it, because it looks almost, but not quite, like the one Alton used in the episode "Flat is Beautiful II").The best part was when we were back in the section for strainers... they had three or four brands, but one manufacturer had obviously had a really bad day, because every single one of their many different size strainers was actually labeled Kitchen Stainer. Hee!
Thanksgiving went really well, I think, despite the fact that we'd never actually done a Thanksgiving dinner before, and certain not for eight people! We misjudged the cooktime on the bird and ended up cooling our heels for an extra hour while it finished cooking. We used Alton's Roast Turkey recipe and have decided that brining meat truly is a marvelous thing. I think that was the best turkey I've ever had... flavorful and tender (to the point of still being tender two days later after sitting in the fridge).
I made my family's traditional fruit salad recipe and totally failed at my goal of preparing an amount for fewer than 30 people. Fortunately
mekle and textualdeviance took some home with them or we'd be heartily sick of it by now. We made some of Alton's stuffing, though we cooked it separately and not in the bird... and we used the leftover vegetable stock from soaking the dried mushrooms as part of the base for the turkey gravy which turned out beautifully. On a fairly last minute whim, we also worked up some of Emeril's Cranberry Compote -- it was very easy and delicious, a definite keeper! taradaktyl and her family brought some yummy sesame green beans, a whole bunch of fresh rolls, mashed potatoes, and some homemade cornbread stuffing... and I may be forgetting something, there was so much food!For dessert, we'd picked up a pumpkin pie over at CostCo, so we decided not to make our traditional Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe. However,
rackham did make his usual Eggnog Pie and ended up throwing together a fantastic apple pie using extra pie crust dough and some apples we still had leftover from our trip down to visit tomte and gidgiddoni in Oregon. Taradaktyl and her family brought along a scrumptious cheesecake and a cranberry tart.Needless to say, our fridge is still crammed with leftovers.
Yesterday, we braved some of the stores to pick up a few things on sale... a new cordless drill, a shop vac, and a fake Christmas tree (our first one ever). We wound up getting a cheap one over at Target... it's even pre-lit, for only $30 (frankly, we figured that even if we discovered it sucked, we could live with it this year and then get rid of it, and it wouldn't be any more expensive than buying a real tree). Surprise, surprise, it's actually a pretty tree! Definitely going to be useful for those times when we aren't sticking around here for the holiday (which is pretty much every year) and just want something to put up for the few weeks in December before we head out (we haven't had a tree at all in the last two year because it was too much of a hassle for such a short amount of enjoyment).
This has led to one big problem... there's no smell! So, today we braved the Mall (and it was *packed* to the brim) and hit the Yankee Candle store to pick up a Balsam & Cedar scented candle. Yeah, it seems a bit silly to me, too... but it's working. It smells much more like Christmas in the house now.
Yesterday marked a big day on the calendar... it was the first day of the year for Pagliacci's Pear Primo Pizza! Guess what we had delivered last night!
Now we're working on making turkey stock out of the carcass left over from Thursday -- it's boiling away on the stove (with a great big thank you to Taradaktyl and hubby for loaning us a larger stockpot, and for sharing some fresh thyme from her garden). Rackham made his family's Turkey Quiche recipe for dinner tonight (one of the BEST ways of dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers ever!) and we'll probably have my family's Turkey Noodle Soup tomorrow. And then we're done. Anything not consumed by then will head for the freezer, because that's about all the turkey we can handle in one week!
