Friendsgiving dinner out

Happy rainy Friday morning!  The rain should taper off in a little while, or so I hope.  Van and I are heading up to Santa Barbara after work today so that we can go to a concert there and then enjoy a day up there tomorrow before coming home to Conrad (who is in Chicago right now) on Sunday.  An inch and a half since yesterday morning!  Goodness!

The rain (and the chilly weather - yes, chilly for us, but live here for a year, and you would agree) didn't prevent us from making it to Julienne last night for another of their Thursday dinners:  Friendsgiving.  There was protection from the rain and some heaters on blast (Van and I each had to remove our sweaters).  A nice night.  We're not doing US Thanksgiving this year, so it was my one chance to have a turkey dinner,

and it was enjoyable.  Some freshly baked rolls,

a salad (that I didn't photograph), and then the turkey meal.  I won't gripe about cranberry on my plate - I don't HATE cranberry sauce, but I never eat it with my turkey.  Van opted for the swordfish, which is a great option - I've really enjoyed that one before.  Pumpkin cheesecake for my dessert,

an appropriate meal ender.  He had a glass of Lambrusco,

I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir,

and neither of us could finish the very generous portions.  Sated, we headed back up to his house to rescue Olive and feed her, then have a chill evening on the couch.

The tree is up! The tree is up!

Is it only Saturday?  Is it still Saturday?  This long weekend has me confused and confounded - no sense of routine, seemingly non-stop in the kitchen.  But come on, it's worth it.  I mean, look....

Leftovers turned into mashed potato soup (garnished with caviar - Natasha came over, and we like to give her that treat when we can).

Leftovers turned into turkey pot pie.

Giving myself a pat on the back for using up leftovers so well.  And my gosh, is there a lot more in the fridge.  We'll do what we can with it.  Tomorrow, though, I swear that it is microwaving things only.  I have cooked enough this past week.

Enough complaining.  We had a nice evening.  Van showed up wearing his Christmas fox tshirt, and that inspired me to put on a fleecy Christmas bunny sweatshirt. 

The table was set simply but nicely. 

And, best of all, we have a tree. 

Yes, that is a tree, a modernish tree that Van bought for his former place in Rancho Mirage and that we now keep in storage here.  We decided to go with that this year.  I'm happy we did.  Oh, I will love seeing all the ornaments in a future year, but for this year, a much simpler and easier Christmas in terms of decor.

14 more cards done today.  I should do more before bed, but I think I won't.  Yaaawwwwn.  I'm a little fatigued, I confess.  Happy long weekend - I hope you all have trees up by now!

US Thanksgiving 2024

Two warnings:  1) I am my own worst critic, and 2) I was rather too busy in the kitchen to take many photos.

Hello!  Happy Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving.  A day for many to shop, though I just walked back from picking up lattes at Amara, and Old Pasadena was not exactly hopping, not yet.  A day to recover for others.  A day for me to get to work on Christmas cards!  And a day to blog about dinner yesterday.

Look, after many years of not really doing well and asking Merp to take over turkey duty when she was with us, I found a recipe that works for me for the most part.  I had that bird in the oven at 5:35, and I basted regularly.  Looks great, right? 

It was overcooked, alas.  It came apart beautifully, but that meat was dry as anything. 

Sigh.  On the plus side, I felt like a made a good gravy this year thanks to pan juices, a roux, and a stock that I had made and then enriched with the giblets.  I do love me some gravy!

It was a nice dinner, though.  Van and Olive were there, of course, and Van brought his late husband's young cousin, Heath.  It was good to include Heath while his wife was back in Texas with family, and it's always nice to include Van's loving memories of Doug and Doug's family.  I hope we meet Nicole one day, too.  We also invited Stephen, who is always welcome company, and Paul came up from the desert with his dog, Voltaire.  Six men, two dogs - not a packed house, but plenty for us.  I made them all cocktails and sent them to the living room to stay out of my hair, and at a reasonable time, got dinner on the table.

Here's a run down - no photos, alas:

• Turkey and gravy
• Dressing (since I didn't cook it in the bird, so it's not stuffing - I love being pedantic!)
• Brussels sprouts - a new recipe for them, made with pancetta and in a balsamic glaze.  The dish went over well, but I would dial back the balsamic in the future, use a bigger cut for the pancetta (it was a packaged dice that I felt got lost in the glaze), and cook the sprouts less.
• Carrots, steamed and buttered and sprinkled with fresh dill
• Roasted white onions
• Roasted delicata squash - I love this squash because of the colour of the skin, which I leave on.  I drizzled with a light dressing made with pomegranate molasses before roasting.
• Roasted (see a theme here?) slices of Japanese sweet potatoes.  I am not fond of the overly sugary sweet potato concoctions that are usually on offer, and don't get me started on marshmallows!
• Cranberry relish - a recipe from when I worked at the restaurant (and a relish we served with pork), consisting of four ingredients placed in a food processor, no cooking.  People enjoyed that one a lot.  My confession:  I have never liked cranberry with turkey.
• Buttermilk and chive mashed potatoes
• Cloverleaf rolls - my first time with this recipe, and while I will make them again, I will make them day of, not a day before then reheat.  I think they suffered for that.  I also think I needed to let them rise more.  They were ok.

I feel like I am forgetting something savoury.  Ah well.  That's plenty, right?

Van, Conrad, and I picked up apple and pumpkin pies from Jennifer's on Tuesday, and we had them ready for dessert.  But Stephen has a gluten intolerance, and I wanted him to have dessert, too.  I found a pumpkin parfait recipe, and then spruced it up (it would have been too much bland sweetness otherwise) by layering in a cranberry caramel sauce that I made. 

I was pleased with the dessert for the most part, but it's another I would make closer to serving if I were to do it again.

Heath brought Champagne, and we all toasted with that.  The others went with some red wine, but I decided I would open a white, a BC white, and enjoy that.  Folks left by around 9:30, and I hope a good time was had.  I got back into the kitchen and back to work, and with Conrad helping out, we had everything clean before 11! 

Oh, sure, there's a dishwasher full of dishes to be emptied and a load of dishtowels and such in the drier from last night as well, but we'll get those done at some point!  On to Christmas cards here shortly....

Chicago, quickly

Wednesday morning I did not head to work, no.  It was Burbank Airport for me. 

A flight to Denver, and then a flight from there. 

Final destination:  Chicago.

Look, I love Chicago.  Yes, I was a little tired and kind of peeved

by the transient person smoking on the Blue Line, but I love Chicago.  I always appreciate any chance to visit.  But one day of meeting (that could have been a Zoom!)?  Come on.  Make my long trip worthwhile.

Enough griping, though.  I am in my favourite USian city, far and away.  What even comes close?  Nothing.  And how is this for adding to that feeling:  a welcome bowl of junk food in my hotel room. 

I shan't say how much has been devoured already.

Yesterday morning, after a choppy night of sleep, started out with a good walk with a friend. 

Chicago was kind of socked in, and we had a lot to catch up on, so I didn't grab photos, sorry.  But a welcome walk after a day on a plane.  I put on my official bow tie (insert eye roll emoji),

and headed off for the meeting.  We were done by 3:00.

And then it was a relaxing evening.

I met a former boss of mine for dinner at Purple Pig. 

It was nice to see him, but bittersweet.  We all diminish with age, I know.  I'll leave it there.  The restaurant - his suggestion - was unfortunately loud, but the food was good.  I savoured the confit turkey leg,

and I can only wish that my US Thanksgiving turkey in two weeks will be as tender.  And then back to the hotel with me to grab a boulevardier at the hotel bar and call it a night.

I can't wait to go back to Chicago, for longer.  Please.  But I will be glad to be home as we draw closer to the holidays.

a bit of the feast yesterday

The day after US Thanksgiving, and I'm a bit of a wreck.  In my younger days, even then it was tough working in the kitchen.  At my age, and in the terrible shape I am in, two days of being in the kitchen for hours leaves me worn out and achy.  Not fun, and I will take it very easy today (including a massage).  And maybe at some point I will actually want to eat.

The funny thing is, I took a plate yesterday with a little of everything (except cranberry, which I don't care for with a turkey dinner), and I couldn't eat it all. 

I started on the sides and didn't make it to my drumstick.  Oh, the leftovers we have!  Pot pies on Sunday, I think.

But it was a nice meal.  Five of us - Geoff and Kent came up from the desert with their dog.  Turkey, stuffing, squash, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, Brussels sprouts, pearl onions, glazed carrots and parsnips, cranberry relish, rolls - we had it all.

And sorry, but I will pat myself on the back:  look at that bird!

Maybe I should begin Christmas cards today....

two Peters are better than one

I am not the only Peter out there, you know.  Shocking, yes, but believe me.  There are others.

My favourite other Peter and I had dinner last night.  We've seen plenty of each other at conference these past days, but it was terrific to get together and just have the two of us enjoy food and gossip about everyone else.  I exaggerate a little, only a little.  Certainly, we enjoyed food!

Peter and I hopped in a car and headed to a neighbourhood away from where I normally get whilst in New Orleans.  Our destination:  Toups' Meatery. 

Isaac Toups was a contestant several years back on Top Chef.  He was kind of fun, and he did win Restaurant Wars, though I admit that I rolled my eyes at the conversation he had with his wife on one episode where they talked about him making sure he didn't come home all Californian or something, as if New Orleans is all and only good and California has nothing of merit to offer.  No matter.  I'd been curious to try his food, so Peter and I set off to enjoy a meal there.

Cocktails first.  I had the Sloe Poke,

and after Peter tried it, he had that as his second dish.  We had some fried turkey necks,

pickles,

and cornbread

to start with.  And you know, those turkey necks were pretty freakin' awesome.  And plenty of food.  We should have stopped with those three items, but no, we underestimated portions and - curious for two generously-proportioned gentlemen - overestimated our appetites.  Out came my lamb neck

(necks were a theme, I guess), and oh, yep.  A lot.  No photo of the brownie we shared (it was fine, maybe a little dry), but um, yeah, we had dessert.  I also had a cocktail of pork fat washed bourbon, and that was fine, but the Sloe Poke was better.

I woke up this morning remembering that I don't usually eat that much food, let alone that much rich red meat.  Gosh.  My kingdom for a cauliflower or a big stalk of broccoli.

But in the end, hooray for seeing Peter!  I'm looking forward to the next time.

turkey breast

This will be a short post. I have plan B in the oven right now, baking for an office function tomorrow. And while I'm not hugely confident in how it will turn out, I will say that the kitchen is beginning to smell really awesome.

So then, while it bakes, a photo and comment on dinner tonight. I came home, put season 2 of Big Bang Theory on the laptop on the kitchen table, and set to work on roasting a turkey breast for us. Seasoned, browned it, chucked it in an oven for a while. Took it out, checked the temperature/juices, rested it. Sliced it up.

In fact, I was pleased. Turkey is often so dry, but this was fairly moist even before I drizzled some pan drippings over it. I plated slices atop parsnip-leek puree and added mustard-glazed Brussels-sprouts to it all. A simple, compact plate. We sat in the living room and ate, sipping a Foxen 2006 Pinot Noir.

last cooked dinner of 2007

You know, I've blogged a lot this week, gosh darn it. I'll keep this one brief. Besides, the shots don't really make the food look as appetizing as it really was. No, honestly.

Turkey breast is such a bland meat, you have to admit. Consequently, I partnered slices of breast with braised red cabbage and a squash puree - stronger flavours that could mix and be absorbed by the turkey. Also helpful was the sauce made of reduced liquid in which I'd oven-braised the breast.

Conrad and I polished off the glass of wine in each of two bottles. And that, essentially, was the last dinner I'm cooking this year. I wonder what kicks (vegetable purees, radishes, walnuts, feta), I'll be on in the year ahead.

Time for a walk, I think!

Thanksgiving dinner

Okay, that was a much-needed breather from blogging after a very busy long weekend in BC. Back at work, and as of this morning, back at swimming. Only 2000 yards, but my arms will make me aware of their displeasure tonight, I am sure. Ah well.

Another small set of photos to blog from the recent BC adventure: Thanksgiving dinner. No, Jeph, not AMERICAN Thanksgiving. But also not a big deal in some ways. Thanksgiving is a long weekend in Canada, and turkey is traditional, but it's hardly the big occasion that it is in the US. Of course, I never complain about the four-day weekend in November, believe me! Still, it wasn't an especially big celebration for us.

We made our way over to Vancouver under sunny skies, though by dinner time things had clouded over. Marie was draped on the couch, suffering a bad cold. Her dinner was Neo Citran, I think. Poor Marie.

No, what made it a nice occasion was that Dad and Bella were able to come down to Vancouver for a handful of hours. Bella was off work that day, so that took advantage of that to come see us, and we were happy to treat them to dinner. Dad had suggested ordering in pizza, but Marie was so miserable that we decided to cast around for a nice place to dine out and leave Marie alone. Hence, Griffins at the Hotel Vancouver.

I thought this might be a nice but simple meal in a the more casual restaurant at this grand old hotel. It's a handsome building in a great location across from the art gallery and within a stone throw of the countdown to the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Olympics (man, do I hope I can get some tickets - especially to curling!)

Well, surprise! Because of the holiday there was a special table d'hôte menu. An appetizer buffet, choice of two soups, and a lovely dessert bar. For the main course, we selected from among four menu options. Conrad and I opted for traditional: turkey.Dad and Bella each had a nice-looking piece of salmon.
None of went home hungry, and I have to say that the buffet food was smartly planned so that none of it was dry or the wrong temperature. Oh, and the desserts were really quite tasty. A bottle of a Quail's Gate Chardonnay helped us along, and we had an altogether pleasant time of it before we had to drive them to the ferry at Horseshoe Bay.

chiles rellenos

The first thing to tell you is that the wine we opened was terrible. Just not good at all. It was a Texas wine we'd bought when we were in Austin, a Chenin Blanc called Jacques Lapin (Get it? Huh? Huh? Get it?).It's never a good sign when white wine reminds you of Corona with a twist of lime. We quickly abandoned it and went for a Lang Vineyards Pinot Meunier instead. Not stellar, but far more drinkable. So much so that we killed the bottle while looking for old Chicago books in library catalogues. It's what we do for fun around here.

I've been trying to moderate my dining out, especially since we're committed to a few food events this weekend. Sunday night will be especially good, I think. Faced with that, I very much wanted to cook at home ttonight.

"Mexican" food tonight. I made a quick pan of refried pinto beans and seared some zucchini and onions seasoned with cumin, salt, oregano, and lime juice.

The main thing was the chile relleno we each enjoyed. I cubed up a turkey thigh (those things are huge!) and sauteed it with salt, oregano, and onion. After I turned up the heat, I added some chicken broth to braise the meat and to reduce down. I also coarsely crumbled a bunch of dried porcini mushrooms into the mix. I must have added more chicken broth three or four times, letting it reduce into a thick brown sauce as the meat tenderized.

Meanwhile I had two lovely poblano chiles under the broiler, roasting so that I could peel them. Peeled and seeded, they were stuffed with a bit of some nice creamy sheep's milk feta and a bunch of the turkey. I then dredged the chile in flour, dipped it in an egg and milk mix, then rolled it in coarse cornmeal. Into a pan of hot oil it went. The felicitous result is what you see in the photos.



Conrad found the poblano to be kind of spicy, but he's a bit of a wuss (and he knows it!). A decent dinner, though it grew to be curiously cool outside. Happily, by that point we'd finished our dinner, our wine, and the last of the New Zealand macadamia buter toffee crunch.