photos

Enjoy snapshots of our life from the last month or so…

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gov’t mule

A few weeks ago for our neighborhood progressive, we tried to recreate Woodberry Kitchen’s “Gov’t Mule” drink. We didn’t have the beaten copper mugs for added flair (we’re still working through those compostable plastic-like cups that we had at our wedding ages ago), but we mix a tasty drink:

• 3 shots ginger beer (we liked goslings and barritts best, with final nod to barritts)
• 1-2 shots vodka (1.75 was optimal, according to the tipsy guinea pigs — we used Prairie Organic vodka that we got at the wine source)
• a scant 1 shot of lime-ginger syrup (based loosely on this recipe)

Sweet, but not too much so. And deliciously tart and gingery at the same time!

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(little) men at work

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ringing in 2011

Nothing says new year quite like a fresh haircut.

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thanksgiving redux

I’ve been slowly digesting the thanksgiving menu, from our recent 10th* annual 6thandcollege thanksgiving gathering. Wanted to make a few notes for safe-keeping, so we can revisit next year. Those interested can read the gory cooking details or check out the photos.

Overall, I thought quantities were spot-on. More leftovers would have been eaten, but I think people were happy to get to move back to seafood, especially since Ali whipped up another amazing chowder on Saturday with a turkey stock base. This was an unexpected highlight of the weekend for me. But onto the annual fare breakdown…

As usual, we brined the turkey overnight. Then Aaron split the bird (17lbs, for 7-9 people, depending on how you count 1-year-olds and those who showed up for leftovers only) in half and we tied ‘em up into two nice bundles and roasted the halves over big pans of stuffing. The flesh was super tasty — nice and juicy — and the outsides were tasty too: one bird dry-rubbed with herbs and the other with a honey/cider/maple glaze. Definitely worth considering this method for future birds, although, as you will hear about below, I missed the in-turkey stuffing.

We made the same three cranberry sauces as last year, with similar results. One bag of cranberries for each recipe. We ran out of the raw sauces way before the cooked one, and too early, for my tastes. I think we would have gone through at least another bag’s worth of sauce, if not two. Of the two raw sauces (which were combined, upon leftover space-optimizing), I think consensus was that the ginger one was more widely liked.

Gravy was DE-LISH. Still not sure that it was worth three burners going for 5 hours to get every last brown bit and drop of fat from the turkey, but, I guess I can’t complain, given how much people LOVE themselves some gravy. Note to kitchen-elves: be sure to distinguish caramel sauce from gravy in leftover containers. There were unconfirmed reports of plates of turkey/stuffing leftovers being dumped in the trash after being inadvertently sauced with caramel.

I’ve been having mixed reminiscences about the stuffing. We made two batches this year — one with oysters (!!) and another that was nutty and dried-fruity. They all had some turkey-ness in them because all the stuffing fit into two pans, both of which were dripped on by cooking turkey for 3+ hours. Both had distinctive and good flavors (although one — the oyster one? — came out a little too salty). However, I missed the juicy, sticky uber-flavorful stuffing that you get from inside the bird — even if it means I just get a spoonful or two. I also wonder if in our attempt to make delightful and slightly adventuresome stuffing if we haven’t gotten away from something simple and delicious. I had one of the last nibbles of stuffing from my folks’ thanksgiving and it was scrumptious. Lots of crushed savory flavoring, a little mushy, and totally delicious. Note to self to push a pan of simpler stuffing next year.

Onto the veggies. I feel like we did a good job giving a diverse array of good veggies. Although honestly, I basically don’t remember much of them. I was glad to have them, they fill the edges and a bite or two takes the guilt away from all the other stuff. I think we did a good job of not spending too much time on any of these things (except maybe the sweet potatoes) this year.

• Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Banana and Brown Sugar was a winner.
• roasted brussels sprouts — cooked entirely while the turkey was cooling/being carved. These were awesome. Don’t believe anything anyone else says.
• green beans w/slivered almonds.
• salad. (great, but, after much argument about how much was needed, more was dressed for the big dinner than we needed and we ended tossing some out the next day. Moral of the story — as I see it at least — lots of salad is good, pre-dressing is bad.
• Mashed potatoes were good, as usual. Nice to have two versions, one which seemed to be more artery-crushing than the other. I missed the ritual of cheesy mashed potatoes, but my stomach appreciated having more room for other things too. Not sure how many pounds of potatoes we ended up getting. Anyone remember?

Desserts:

• Pumpkin bread pudding with caramel sauce. Need I say more?
• Pumpkin pie.  if sewer rat tasted like this pumpkin pie…
• Apple pie. This joy of cooking holiday staple got lots of compliments. Perhaps because it was square. Who knows?

Anyone else have thoughts to share for posterity and later recollection?

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eats shoots and leaves (and pretty much anything else that is in arm’s reach)

You may notice, among other changes from the last set of pictures (that we posted 5 months ago), that we’ve been inadvertently feeding Oscar rogaine instead of his anti-oxidant, organic, omega-3, iron-supplemented, vegan multivitamins.

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busy busy busy

It’s been a busy few weeks here at the 611. We’re learning to eat with our hands and from a spoon, look like a zombie when we’re done eating strawberries, spend lots of time on our bellies and play with friends.

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Pics from the Europe trip

Miraculously avoiding serious travel snafus surrounding the volcanic ash, we’ve made it back home safe and sound. Lots of good visits with friends and family in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany.

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laughing fit

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A new rolodex

And now for something completely different.

I’ve spent a few hours these last few days going through my digital address books and trying to sync them up. We’ll see if the system maintains itself. That’s the key — that I don’t really want to have to think about it much going forward other than the occasional adding/changing of an address. More details below the fold for those of you who want to skip to the baby pictures (I don’t blame you).

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