Not because I'm wishing the winter away (although some snow would be nice), but because
I WANT TO WEAR THESE!
How groovy are these fabulous gardening shoes that Aileen sent me for Christmas? They're lightweight, waterproof, have really good treads, and they fit beautifully. I can't wait to put them to good use. I don't think dashing out to the compost bin in the rain, which I did today, really counts.
Speaking of Christmas, Daniel has been good enough to share some Cherry Ripes with me from the stash of outrageous goodies that Frog sent. Yay!
We invited our friend Chris over and we had olive and artichoke pies, ham, green beans, tartiflette (a fabulously sinful potato dish, the recipe for which is here), and then Daniel made ginger creme brulee for dessert. Oh, and here's the recipe for the pies. I'm sure I don't really need to mention that they're both from taste.com.
To top things off (as if that wasn't enough), we visited our friends Shannon and Henry for more dessert on Christmas night. Shannon had made a chocolate and walnut pie similar to a pecan pie that was to die for. Needless to say, much exercising has been going on since then!
We had a lovely, relaxing day, as did the furry folk. Although, to be honest, they rarely do anything else these days.
Oh, and we had the best Christmas tree ever. We didn't get it until the Thursday before, so all the trees were on sale to the point that we got ours in exchange for a donation to charity. Double bonus, in my opinion.
Pretty cool, huh? It takes up lots of our admittedly tiny living room, and almost reaches the ceiling!
Hope you and yours all had a lovely Chirstmas, too. I'm off work this week... trying, and almost succeeding, to do some productive things around the house.
Cheers!
So since I'm having trouble moving photos from the camera to the computer (I suspect dead batteries), I thought I'd share this little Sad But True tale with you.
Daniel went to the store to get the bits and pieces we needed for Christmas, which included some fresh green beans. Can't have ham without green beans! He was sorting through them when a woman approached him to ask him how he was going to cook them. Read that again if you need to double-check, but yes, she wanted to know how he was going to cook the beans! She then went on to say she'd never had a fresh green bean because... wait for it... SHE DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO COOK THEM!!!! Seriously. How sad is that?
Even worse, it reminded me of a time I had a similar experience at the green bean stand. And when I explained to this particular person that, apart from steaming or stir-frying them, I also eat them raw in salads, you would have thought I had just killed and eaten her firstborn child.
Sad. Very sad. But unfortunately very true.
I have some recipes to share with you all, but before I do, I want to crab about this here blog-thing.
I spent AGES writing a post about the holiday Daniel and I took in northern Idaho at the beginning of October. I waxed lyrical, wrote witty photo captions, and selected some lovely photos to share. I previewed it to make sure everything was okay, hit the "publish" button, and then watched as most of it failed to publish... AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGH!
Not only that, but I couldn't retrieve it. There simply are not enough swear words....
It is probably out there in the ether somewhere at the moment feeling very lonely and scared, so if you see my post, could you please send it home? Thanks.
In the meantime....
Here it is, The Best Turkey Recipe Ever. There's a radio show over here called Splendid Table, and the recipe hails from their website.
I'm always a little nervous about cooking the Thanksgiving turkey. I don't often roast things, and Thanksgiving is my favourite American holiday so I really don't want to stuff it up. I'm not sure this recipe is completely stuff-up proof, but I did manage to navigate it successfully and roast a bird that I was very, very pleased with. I will warn you, though, it's time-consuming; so make sure you have plenty of said time before you commit yourself.
A few things I discovered:
- The recipe itself is a little scattered, but it's not difficult to work out what is intended. It's also fun to read, which is a nice change from all those terribly serious recipes out there.
- I had a 17-pound turkey, and the seasoning mix was a little more than I thought was really necessary. It definitely seasoned the meat, though!
- Don't skip the gravy, but make sure you have a decent sized shallow tray to roast in. Mine was a little small, and it took forever to reduce the stock down to the point where it became gravy. The gravy itself doesn't need thickening; it's very, very rich and a little goes a long way, unless you're Daniel.
- When the recipe calls for lots of lemon, it means it. I think that made all the difference to the seasoning.
- It doesn't have stuffing, but I'm sure you could add that yourself and adjust the cooking time accordingly.
I can safely say that it was the most tender, juiciest turkey I've ever had. Daniel and Chris, both of whom have had more Thanksgivings than me, said it was the best turkey they'd ever had. Yay! And it wasn't even a fancy turkey, just one from the supermarket.
Now I know it's hot over there, and stew is probably the last thing on your mind, but I also wanted to share this recipe with you from our friends at Taste.com: Catalan Beef Stew
Chocolate and orange in a stew; who'da thunk it? Apart from the Catalans, of course.
It is absolutely delicious, and this is from someone who thought she didn't really fancy stew all that much. Pop it into your mental filing system and drag it out the next time you get a yen for some stew. You won't regret it.
