Slicing Away at the Holidays

Midnight: Thanksgiving has begun

No matter how many times I remark upon it in October, Thanksgiving always slips up on me. On October 15, I'm sure I can get it all done, and then suddenly Thanksgiving is a week away, the menu is random notes on post-its, no shopping has been done, no cleaning, and I'm thinking, Wait a minute, how did this happen? Every single year.

I continue to believe that despite having a writing career and another career that, combined, make weeks go by in which tiles have come up in the bathroom floor and I haven't noticed, I should be able to display a gift of organization and time-conjuring for which I have hitherto shown absolutely no talent whatsoever. 

Which brings me to last week. 

My husband and I doubled down, and decided on a "bridge too far" menu. We had an excuse after all. Our friend Mariann is a vegetarian, and comes to stay the weekend with us every year. She's inspired us to eat much better, so we want to give her terrific dishes at Thanksgiving, not just the same old "sides" while we eat turkey. This year, we'd outdo ourselves with a half dozen new recipes. Yes, right, new. As in never tried before, and so are guaranteed to 1) fail; or 2) provoke locked-jaw remarks because somebody didn't read the part where it said the dish had to be marinated for 6 hours; or 3) both. 

However, David decided the way to avoid this was to test the new recipes last week. On Friday, it was the potatoes au gratin. Layers of thinly sliced potatoes and onions, drenched in a sauce of cream, rosemary, thyme, sage, and grated Gruyere. Topped with grated Parmesan and baked till bubbly and crispy brown on top. 

I was upstairs in my office that evening, working the other career -- financial editing -- slicing away on some unbaked prose: "Clearly, for the one-year period two years before the observation years, the HPA experiences vary for all three periods."  (In my line of work, when they start with "clearly", get the red pencil out.)

Then from the foot of the stairs, I hear, "Honey, where are the Band-aids?"

And so we ended up in the urgent care clinic where we were seen by a rather dishy-looking doctor in a garnet turban and a nurse who called us in by asking the waiting room chipperly, "So, who's bleeding?" 

The Suspect

 

What do you do when an important digit is out of commission for days? 

You ratchet back (we do not use the phrase "cut back" around here these days). 

We decided on far fewer dishes, and recipes we'd done before. Recipes that either take little time to prepare or can be made up to the point of baking/roasting or adding the dressing the day before.

Stuffing with wild mushrooms (finished product below; it will be reheated today); cauliflower roasted and dusted with cumin and paprika; a spinach salad with pomegranate seeds and blue cheese. 

I made cranberry sauce (shown here at 9am Wednesday morning, simmering for 10 mins with sugar, before cooling and being folded around orange slices and zest). It's so easy. Raises a person's confidence when there's still all that cleaning and table-setting to do. If you make cranberry sauce from scratch, just make sure the oranges are sweet. Save the bitterness for your relatives. 

Uh, yeah, we are doing the potatoes au gratin, too. Hey, it was creamy sauce with cheese. You understood that part, right?

And the assailant was released from custody yesterday as part of a work-release program due to extenuating circumstances (the finger guard had been ignored). 

So, I'm headed to bed.  With visions of store-bought pecan pie dancing in my head. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sheila York & David Nighbert

Copyright 2014

Tales of Creation, Not Murder

Feeling overwhelmed by all the tributes to Haute Cuisine by my colleagues here and on Jungle Red, I took a look at some old friends, Fannie, Pierre, Craig et co.…

Saw them as they really are: not utensils, like pots and pans, but as Books! Stars! Celebrities. On TV and the Big Screen. Lauded by eminent authors in the Grey Lady. The eminences grises of the culinary world!

I opened my ancient Boston Cooking School Cookbook by Fannie Merritt Farmer (as of 1935—1,686,000 copies sold) and selected a few lines to share with you!

"With the progress of knowledge the needs of the human body have not been forgotten... the time is not far distant when a knowledge of the principles of diet will be an essential part of one's education."


"A flavor should appear only once on a menu."

"Nothing adds more to the attractiveness of a table than a sense of space."

"Certain foods possess health-giving factors, although other foods of nearly identical chemical composition do not possess them."

"A cupful of liquid is all the cup will hold."

"Baking is cooking in an oven."

"Tea is used by more than half the human race."

"Coffee made with an egg has a rich flavor which egg alone can give. Many use a pinch of salt to bring out the flavor of the coffee."

"Cold water, being heavier than hot water, sinks to the bottom, carrying grounds with it."

"To cook pancakes, heat griddle or frying pan; grease or rub over with a cut turnip."

"To stir, hold the spoon upright and move it in wider and wider circles until all is blended." (Sounds like a dance routine!)

" To split a live lobster—cross large claws and hold firmly with left hand. With sharp pointed knife, held in right hand, begin at the mouth and make a deep incision and with a sharp cut draw the knife quickly through body and entire length of tail."

N.B. Here I drew the line and turned to Pierre Franey!

"Most of the first rate chefs I've known are gentle and meek. They like to ski and dance and make love."

"Some things are made for each other, like Moet and Chandon, Lea and Perrins and Crosse and Blackwell."

"The time to start to cook is before you start to cook."

"In kitchens, as elsewhere, the motto is—don't do as I do; do as I say!"

Another delightful book I have read often is by Vogue columnist Henry McNulty—Drinking in Vogue!

Introduced to alcohol at age 3, when his parson father mixed the communion wine with water, he long associated alcohol with health and well-being.

"Alcohol relaxes the nerves and so a judicious quantity will improve most social occasions."

His skills go from Aperitifs to his affair with coffee in various forms. His style is charming and fun. Chapter titles include Whisky or Whiskey; Vodka - It's Wonderful!; The Bold Approach to Sherry Drinking; Champagne, Psychological Magic; A Liquid Form of Summer; and How to Be Happy But Temperate!.

His humor and grace are so contagious you may want to order this book for yourself or a dear friend!

Now, I've shared my little kitchen secrets with you… So, tell me who you turn to in your culinary flights of fancy and high cuisine!

Thelma Jacqueline Straw