Bruce and I are finishing up our two week holiday in Lincoln City, in a hotel right on the ocean. I spent much of yesterday thinking to myself, "I gotta turn off that noisy fan," only to remember it was the crashing waves and not noisy at all.
We spent one week in Bandon (southern Oregon coast) with Bruce's extended family, including his mom, two pair of aunts and uncles, two first cousins, two second cousins, one brother and one each in the niece and nephew department. I may have missed someone. Over the course of three hours I made green enchiladas for a CROWD and everyone ate them. I also participated in some questionable Beach Games ringmastered by one of the uncles, part of which involved a carrying horse poo on a spoon relay.
That didn't really feel like a classic vacation moment. It was more like a classic "What the hell?" moment. But I am a sport, and didn't want to be pegged as Bruce's Sissy SO, so I went along with it. I yelled and complained a lot, but I went along. And here I used to whine about my dad taking ages to take pictures of my family on vacations.
After these exciting times, we headed east to the isolated wilds of Crater Lake and I spent the better half of the day agog and open-mouthed with amazement at Such Natural Spectacularness! Bruce's photographer's assistant skills were very helpful and I'm looking forward to visiting the photo lab back in Omaha.
We drove up to Portland for a fortifying lunch at Bread & Ink on Hawthorne, one of my favorite restaurants and one where my mom and I often had lunch together. Although delicious and wonderful, I was still nervy; we were to stay at my dad's that night and observe the formal Meeting of Dad's New Wife. I had to further prepare myself by spending quality time at Powell's before venturing out to my dad's.
I lived through that experience and even spent the next morning with my dad + wife at the Japanese Gardens in Portland. And now we are in Lincoln City, where it is misty and 58 degrees (lovelovelove!) and things are very, very nice.
And now I shall stop and take up a book and a bottle of beloved Black Butte Porter (not available in Nebraska but on tap EVERYWHERE over here) (yay!) and relax.
I am back in Texas after a delightful (but cold) (and dark) (and rather damp) (if it wasn't misting, it was raining or snowing or a combination of the two) holiday visiting Susie in Washington. Eddie managed to drive up and we had a jolly time buzzing around Seattle and Bellingham and Olympia. We also cooked, and here I'd like to share a comparison.
Here is Susie reducing the port-dried cherry sauce for her pork tenderloin:
Doesn't she look lovely? That's an apron my mom sewed a few years ago.
Next, here is an image of me stirring risotto:
Not quite the same culinary sense, hmmm? And yet, a good time was had by all. The only thing lacking was Eddie's dishwashing skills; they are null, as he didn't do any.
At this time, I should be musing over my splendid time off (which technically lasts until 6am Thursday morning) but all I feel is angst about going back to work. I also feel angst over the piles of grading that Haven't Been Done and the Grades I Must Calculate. Report cards go home Friday (stupid, no?) and YES I've had weeks to do them and YES I had "ample" time but who wants to spend their break with a red pen in hand? Such an existence is preferable to spending the holiday season working at the pottery shop, as I did last year. Still ... teaching is such a pain in the ass.
Happy New Year and etc. to all--I'm trying to think large, all-encompassing, 2008-worthy thoughts about life and my existence, but all I can think of right now is the list of miscellaneous errands I need to run tomorrow. It would be nice to step out of the space-time continuum for a while and release my anxiety to the wilds of infinity.
And so my long Thanksgiving Holiday comes to an end. I am spoiled--last week's two-day workweek was wonderfully short. The past five days: full of preparing to eat, eating, digesting, and then eating again. I had many glasses of wine. I cleaned and sorted and recycled. I got a lot of work done. I can once again walk around my room freely; there are no piles of (clean) clothes, unsorted socks or stacks of papers & books to avoid. I can place my computer on my desk and type from it.
Ugh. I am most loath to go back to the classroom tomorrow.
I went in to work today for a couple of hours; two of my classes had tests last Tuesday (a great way to keep focus the day before break begins, by the way!) so I had to figure out what comes next. That was boring and horrible and I couldn't wait to leave.
On the good side of things, by turning the last page of Flatland, I completed my 2007 Required Reading (list here)! IN NOVEMBER!!!--where's that champagne? This is a great improvement over my 2006 Required Reading, still stagnant at 81% completion.
Of the twelve titles, I liked A Room with a View and The Maltese Falcon the best. Waugh and Dumas have been favorites for a while, but it was good to finish their two big books. Childhood's End reminded me how much I enjoy good s/f.
It is official: I am too cynical for erotica. I tried some Colette earlier and then Anaïs Nin and ... meh. Love stories are good. Sexual misadventures and manipulations of the addicted? Not so much.
Should I create a 2008 Required Reading List? Jury still out. I do like making lists ...
THANKSGIVING RECAP:
Roast Turkey: moist and tasty. Bonus points for CARVING it this time AND for turning the carcass into tasty tasty stock for future cooking delights.
Sausage-Maple Bread Stuffing: best stuffing I've ever had. The smoked ham hocks (intimidating but tasty!) added a subtle, well, smokiness, and then the spicy tang of the sausage layered with the sweet hint of maple syrup. So good.
Haricots verts à la Maître d' Hôtel: these got short shrift because both this dish AND the potatoes required Last Minute Attention and Immediate Service. Now, what is more important on Thanksgiving--green beans or mashed potatoes? The beans don't stand a chance.
Purée de pomme de terre à l'ail: awesome and the first leftover to disappear. (really, it would not have lasted past Friday lunch but I made Bruce leave some for me.)
Pinot Noir Gravy: very delicious.
Final verdict: SUCCESS! The only thing missing was friends and/or family. Who knows where we'll be next November; maybe it will be geographically closer to some of you.
Thank heavens tomorrow is the last day of school before the Thanksgiving Holiday. It will be great to escape work ('tis been quite impossible lately) and get a jump up on the Thanksgiving Feast Cookery.
Oh yes, it is finally here: Sarah's Thanksgiving Menu!
I finalized it two weeks ago and, on Saturday, Bruce and I headed to the happy-fun awesome grocery store downtown to purchase ingredients. Last night I was up late making turkey broth and creating twelve cups of bread cubes for stuffing. (I was also asking myself why the hell I was up at 11pm slicing rustic bread into 3/4 inch dice to fill endless expanses of cookie sheet and pulling giant turkey legs from the stockpot when it is just me and Bruce to feed and would the extra work really make a major flavor difference anyway?) And tomorrow, ah, tomorrow I make a final trip to the grocery store to pick up dinner rolls, more wine, an extra lemon (be prepared, Scouts!) and a smoked ham hock for the aforesaid stuffing.
THE MENU
Roast Turkey; this is the upside-down method from Simply Recipes. T'was such a tasty success last year, I repeat. ***see note below***
Sausage-Maple Bread Stuffing from the November issue of Fine Cooking because, really, you want to get as much meat as possible on the table, right? [This was the first issue I bought and it was an instant favorite.]
Haricots verts à la Maître d' Hôtel out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking [I made these before, but with regular green beans. Then I found real haricots verts at the fancy food market and had to make them for Thanksgiving.] [Plus, I'm a total snob.]
Purée de pomme de terre à l'ail also out of Julia Child's book, same as last year. Best potatoes ever.
Pinot Noir Gravy also from the Nov. Fine Cooking. We got some Oregon Pinot; hooray!
Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce; it is so delightful.
Store-bought Dinner Rolls; because I am realistic.
The big difference this year is NO APPETIZERS. Who was I kidding?! You don't need MORE food! Also, there are only two new recipes. This is much better than the four I attempted last year.
Interesting bit o' trivia: I added up all the butter called for in ALL the recipes I'm making and it came to 31 tablespoons!
***NOTE: I foolishly thought I'd save time and buy my turkey a couple weeks early. There was a problem last year with buying a small breast of turkey (six lbs.), ie. it had no giblets. I did not find this out until I was all set to prep the dressing and could find not a giblet inside the bird! This led to less-than-stellar stuffing. Ah, I thought; I will not make the same mistake twice! So I didn't--I bought the smallest turkey with giblets (a hair under ten lbs.) in the store. I returned home and drooled over my chosen stuffing recipe. Unfortunately, the ingredient list did NOT call for giblets whatsoever (depending on various other meats and turkey stock)! Now Bruce and I have to find some way to consume all that turkey...
Feeling better, just in time to raise a ruckus in the kitchen. The Thanksgiving Day Menu has been finalized, and I'm posting it here to ensure I follow through and don't cop out on anything; I still need to sketch out a schedule for the oven and four burners to make sure the timing is correct.
Here it is, from appetizer to dessert. I've included links when possible.
Roasted Garlic with Crostini Wine - not sure what kind yet, but there's a bunch in the closet. Upside-Down Roasted Turkey Stuffing (from scratch!) Sweet Corn Pudding (I've made a slightly altered version several times and it's tasty stuff. Jo made it last year!) Ocean Spray Jellied Cranberry Sauce (sigh...I adore this) Purée de Pomme de terre à l'ail (garlic mashed potatoes out of Mastering the Art of French Cooking; it calls for TWO HEADS of garlic!) Romaine Salad with Coriander-Honey Dressing and Ginger-Glazed Almonds Dinner Rolls (store-bought; I have to cut some corners) Hot Spiced Cider Starbucks Java Chip Ice Cream
Bruce likes Green Bean Casserole, but it was never part of my family's Thanksgiving tradition, so I'm not super-keen on it; he is going to make a half-recipe himself.
Really, none of the things I'm cooking are part of my family's Thanksgiving tradition -- my mom tried new recipes every year. We had variations on the same basic dishes. Well, that's mostly true. I think we did have red Jell-o with fruit in it every year. It always stained the mashed potatoes pink on my plate. Every year was another effort to try to match my dad's mother's sweet potato recipe; I think she hit the jackpot two years ago at Christmas dinner...? We usually had a small ham to go with the turkey. Peas. Rolls. Stuffing. Cold sliced pickles, carrots, celery and olives on the table to clear the palate. Dessert was not a big deal because no one had room left over. We'd finish fighting over the bacon in the wilted lettuce salad. Mmm. I need to make that soon. But not tomorrow.
Happy Thanksgiving! -- I will try to post photos of my great turkey adventure. I'm doing as much as possible today so as not to freak out.
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