Giving Thanks

It all began on Wednesday when the turkey plopped in the brine:

  • 1 1/2 cups kosher salt
  • 1 Onion cut into large chunks
  • 6-8 Bay leaves
  • Sprigs of rosemary, thyme & sage
  • 10 black pepper corns
  • 1tsp or so of Mustard Seeds
  • 2-4 cloves of garlic ( I meant to put this, but forgot!
  • 24 cups cold water
Combine the salt, onion and spices in a saucepan with 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Let cool. Basically, you're going to take the brine and mix it with the remaining water. I didn't want to pour hot liquid on my un-cooked turkey, so I filled my brining bag with half of the water first. Then I poured a little of the salt mixture into a measuring cup and filled the rest with cold water to temper it. I repeated that until all the salt mixture had been used and the Turkey was covered in water. (I don't think a little more or less water is that big of a deal here.) Then he just sat in the refrigerator until 11pm when I turned him over. I took him out to warm up at ten, prepared him for the oven with butter and herbs, and popped him in around 11:30.

Friend arrived early to help, watch A Christmas Story and keep each other company until the food was ready. Garth made an amazing trifecta of mashed potatoes: garlic mash, fennel mash & rutabaga & carrot mash.

I swear this photo is taken every year!

Team Brussel

During the cooking we decided we should take Thanksgiving Portraits. I think we really only got Garth & Niegel:


At one point I turned around to find my official Thanksgiving decorating committee raiding my room to make a beautiful display for the food. For some reason we always drag my dresser out to act as a kind of buffet. It looks quite charming with food all over it, I have to say, but I try not to imagine my socks and unders though! Kj & Niegel realy went to town with my trees, candles and even an old empty picture frame. (Check out the FLickr Set for more photos!)
Then came the FOOD!
  • Herb Roasted Turkey
  • Brussel Sprouts with Lemon & Walnuts
  • Roasted Cauliflower
  • Pumpkin Gratin
  • Pomegranate Carrots
  • Cranberry Sauce
  • Sweet Potato Pie
  • Mac & Cheese
  • Garlic Mash
  • Fennel Mash
  • Rutabaga & Mash
  • Stuffing
  • Buttermilk Biscuits
  • Gravy
  • Apple Pie
We ate and ate bits of everything with my new favorite beverage, Pear Cider! Our tums got so full! We played games and then ate some more! Three plates?

This years experiment: pomegranate carrots. First I cooked the bigger guys in a bit of butter. Then I added the baby ones and let them cook a bit. Then I added freshly made pomegranate juice made by tossing the seeds in my food processor and straining. I let this cook, then added some stock and brown sugar. It thickened a bit, but tried adding a little flour/butter mix to make the sauce more gravy like. I think next time I'll skip the flour adding. The dish was a savory alternative to candied carrots. Not my favorite, but a general thumbs up was given.

The next day was a riot. Everyone showed up again to lounge and work together eating left overs. Here we all are each on a computer. We spent a lot of time playing online scrabble! I think it's about 3pm here and I'm still in my nightgown!

We finished up our Brooklyn Thanksgiving with a rooftop photo shoot.

Steak frite

Last night I made this for dinner. Steak, French fries and yummy salad. Then I watched two rented movies. Ahhhhhhhh
Here's what I did:

Fries
Usually people freak out over the thought of frying but I like to make my own fries and it's pretty easy. I use a wide skillet, so I don't have to use too much oil since I never know how to best dispose of it afterwards. I cut the potatoes with the skin on because it's yummy that way and make sure the fries relatively the same thickness and size. This is not just an anal, Martha Stewarty thing, it's essential in making sure they cook at the same rate. The oil has to get pretty hot, but once it's heated you might want to turn it down a bit so it doesn't smoke. This is highly unlikely if you use canola oil. For heavens sake, don't use olive oil! It has a much lower tolerance for heat and will burn if it gets too hot. I learned this somewhere, but notice it most when I try to make popcorn on the stove and all I have is olive oil. It pretty much always burns the popcorn. Anyway... toss the fries in and wait until they're golden on the edges. They get brown quite quickly after this, so be ready to remove them if you don't like dark fries! Work quickly, but carefully- you don't want to burn yourself. To get them out I use my pasta scoop. It's pretty amazing at grabbing the little guys and draining off a lot of the oil. (I'm the queen of using things for reasons other than what they were designed for) You should let them cool on a plate with a couple of paper towels underneath, just like you would bacon. Sprinkle on the salt. Then try to wait until everything's done to gobble them down- good luck with that!

Steak
Super easy!!!! Rub her with salt and stick her in a fry pan. Get both sides... to your liking. My steak happened to come with a peppered edge. I got it because it looked like a good cut, I didn't really want the peppered edge, but it turned out to be good! You could do that yourself, if you wanted.


Salad Dressing
I'll just do dressing because you can figure out on your own what you want in your salad, right? For dressings lately I've been doing a little bit of mustard, vinegar, salt/pepper, a dash of chili powder and finally olive oil. Put them all together and then shake or stir. The mustard acts as an emollient to keep everything together. I like the added spice of the chili pepper, especially with arugala in my salad! Spicy city! You can use lemon instead of vinegar, that's nice too. (Did you know that olive oil looses it's good-for-you qualities once cooked? It's really good to eat it in dressings or on bread then, isn't it?) Make sure your greens are dry so the dressing will stick to them. Salad spinners are good for that or you can do this little trick I learned from Martha- place your wet greens in a clean dry towel, draw edges together and then whip that sucker around!! I do it out the window...would Martha approve? I don't know, but I don't want my house covered in water!! It works really well!

Summer Favorites

Today I got totally inspire to make some of my very favorite summer flavors. It's pretty much all about the lime!!

Fresh Salsa!!!

I like it very limey with just a little bit of spice. I put it in my tacos and I love a very cold spoonful or two on my eggs in the morning! I don't cut anything up that small because I like it chunky. They key is adding salt, which draws the water out of the tomatoes and makes it all juicy. It's pretty great as soon as you make it, but gets better as it sits. Ingredients: 3-4 tomatoes, juice of 2 limes, 1 pretty colored pepper ( I choose yellow today), 1 onion, 1-2 spicy kind of pepper, cilantro (which the store didn't have today!) and salt. Mix it all up people, it's that simple.


Holey Guacamole!!!


For all of you sillies who think a pastry blender is just for making pie crust... think again! I use it all the time for 'creaming' ingredients like butter and sugar for cookies and guacamole! It is an awesome tool, as long as you get one with sturdy blades that are a little sharp. I love my grandmas vintage pastry blender, but the wires don't work as well as my newer, more modern version. See, you can use the side of the bowl to your smooshing advantage...

Limeade & Coffee Ice


I totally can't make it without my summertime iced coffees! What makes them even better are coffee ice cubes! There's a place on Grahm Avenue called Cafe Capri, right across the street from Treehouse that makes the best iced coffee ever. They crush up their coffee ice and serve it up with milk and sugar. I think I'm going to start doing that...

Limeade: 8-10 limes, 1/2- 3/4 cup sugar, water. I usually squeeze all the limes, fill half way up with water, add 1/2 the sugar, mix it and then taste. Then I know what more to add. Usually a little of both!

!!!!!!TACOS!!!!!!!

I put all of these fresh, limey items to good use in my dinner tonight! T-A-C-O-S Tacos!

Jewelry displays...

As the craft fair approaches, I've been thinking up ways to display my jewelry. I didn't want to spend much $$$ on fancy displays so here's what I came up with:

The frame on the right is fabric slipped into a brass frame and the one on the left is one I made out of cardboard! I put a little batting in there to give it some puff and it's important to use a fabric that's easy to poke through. For mine I use a terribly distressed old silk slip that I cut up and then some pretty vintage lace to cover up the card board edges. It's pretty ghetto, but I like being resourceful!

Idea #2 was so easy I thought I'd give you how to instructions.

Materials needed: Regular scissors, Wooden spool, Floral foam or Styrofoam, 24 gauge copper wire:


Step 1
Cut wire 14" long. Fold wire so ends are together, leaving a loop at the top.

Step 2
Twist wire together leaving a 2" loop at the top. Just do a little bit at first to hold the place and finish the rest after top loops are made.

Step 3
Smoosh top loop as shown in picture then twist into two side loops as shown.


Step 4
Finish twisting base and cut even.

Step 5
Cut floral foam into a tiny rectangle and press into hole of wooden spool. Use your finger to make foam level across top of spool.

Finish
Stick the earring stand into the foam and enjoy!

Over time, with wiggles a jiggles , the hole in the foam might grow bigger and not hold your earring stand up properly. Push out the old foam and replace it with new. These would look great with thread still on the spools too!

So smart, it's stupid!

As I was browsing the interweb this morning, I came across this awesome idea.

It might just be me, but I often am at a loss as to how to best sew on a four-holed button... like a box? Like an X?
Neither has ever satisfied me, but what more could I do?

Check it out:

How abouut a beautiful little flower? Why didn't I think of this?????

Needless to say, my buttons will look like this from now on!

The best meatballs EVER!!!!

With the help of friends, I've developed the best meatballs EVER!!

It all started when Niegel and I decided to make meatloaf one night. I mentioned our plan to someone... "Oh, you've gotta use this..." she said and so it began. I'm totally stealing the best parts of all these family recipies and secrets.... but I guess that's what this is all about, so enjoy.

I'll tell you my way, because I think it's pretty jiffy. I'll do the whole meal, it makes more sense ingredients wise.

THE BEST MEATBALLS & SAUCE EVER!!!!!

Preheat oven to 400

Ingredients:

1lb ground sirloin
1 lg hot Italian sausage
1 lg sweet sausage
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1 can whole peeled tomatoes

Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Coarse salt
Your favorite pasta...
Parmesan cheese

In a large bowl mix onion, parsley, sirloin, sausages (remove casings), 1 clove garlic, some salt, 1/2 of the beaten egg, bread crumbs, some parmesan and a little of the juice from the can of tomatoes (about 2 Tbl). Mix with your hands until just blended. Don't over mix or the balls will be tough. Mix just enough so that sausages are incorporated, the breadcrumbs are spread around and every ball has a bit of everything in it. Roll into 2" balls and set aside.

In a frying pan, heat olive oil over med-high heat. Place meatballs in oil and cook, flipping until at least three sides are browned, about 3-5 min. per side. Remove from heat and pour meatballs into baking pan, juices and all. Place the pan in the oven to bake until everything else is ready, or about 20 min. (Meatballs should be cooked through)

Using the same frying pan (don't worry about brown bits etc. it adds flavor!) add a little more olive oil, and place over med heat. Add remaining onion and garlic. Cook until onions are tender. Add can of tomatoes. Simmer over medium heat. Do not boil. Stir occasionally. (I use my spoon to cut up the tomatoes and press them a little bit while they cook.) Add salt and basil to the sauce to your liking. The salt will help draw out more liquid in the tomatoes, plus it tastes good.

Now is the time to make the pasta.
Once pasta is done, pour a little bit of the pasta water into the simmering sauce. (This adds a little starchiness to the and helps it grip to the pasta better)

Basically, you're done.
Put all the pieces together and in your tummy!!!!!

You can cook the sauce anywhere from just ten minutes to an hour. The longer you cook it, the thicker it'll get. I like it more on the less thick side... so that's more of what you'll get here. If you want it to cook longer, wait to make your pasta and keep the balls warm in a low temp. oven.

Have fun and tell me what you think!
It's totally worth a try!

Jewelry Nerd



My recent obsession= Making Jewelry!

My even more recent obsession= Antiquing...
I love this solution because it has turns shiny gold into a aged brown. It's fun and easy to do, just make sure you use plastic containers!

Step 1: Place item in bath of solution and leave in until desired color is reached.


Step 2: Remove from solution and place in a container of water to stop process. I use a plastic fork to do this and not my hand.

Step 3: Use steel wool or an SOS pad under running water to remove most of the finish and create highlights. Dry on paper towel.

Before steel wool

After steel wool

Dinah helping me with my jewelry nerdiness.