Thanksgiving 2011 - Year of the Pumpkin-ish

For a blog about food and eating, how can I not post something about Thanksgiving dinner in a non-timely manner? So for my favorite holiday of the year, I have gotten my lazy and very full self together to actually upload my photos and write up this post - don't you (whomever you may be) feel honored? =)

At some point my sister noticed that they sky was pretty and purple...so she made me run outside to capture the moment

So Thanksgiving is actually my favorite holiday of the year - and for the past few years, we've started a tradition where we invite family friends who don't have large families in the area to celebrate with or don't really do Thanksgiving the American way. When we were young, me and my sister used to get to pick a dish or two to make to help out with Thanksgiving dinner (this was before it got to 20-30 people at dinner). And gradually, we got to make more and more dishes until at some point, I think this might have been when I was in college, I started planning the menu and all the cooking was done before me and my sister - I have sometimes been referred to as a kitchen nazi and that I use Thanksgiving as an excuse to be Miss Bossy Pants =X

Bossy Pants aside, I did start thinking about Thanksgiving in mid-October, which was when I sent the Save-the-Date e-mails out...I got complaints because it wasn't even Halloween yet, but I wanted to make sure everyone was prepared! Then November 1st I sent out the reminders that I needed to know what dish everyone was bringing by November 10th so that I could properly plan my menu in my shared Google docs spreadsheet with a tab for the guest list, menu with every dish and when the dish was to be prepared, and another tab with a compilation list of all the ingredients needed! Phew! That was probably more exhausting than the actual cooking! 

But on to the best part - the FOOD! Dun dun dunnnnn! This year's menu (from our kitchen) and which had sort of a pumpkin theme was:

Appetizers

Layered Pesto Dip w/ Pita chips

Spinach Salad w/ Warm Bacon and Cider Dressing

Baked Asparagus

Entrees & Sides

Broccoli & Gruyere Gratin

Pumpkin Lasagne

2 Potato Tart Gratin

Green Bean Casserole w/ Mushroom Gravy

Twice Baked Sweet Potato

Cranberry Citrus Dressing

Turkeys - 2 of them!

Desserts

Libby's Pumpkin Pie - why fix it if it ain't broken?

Apple-Maple Galette

Pumpkin & Caramelized Pecan Pie

Nutella Pizza Pie

Drinks

Mulled Red Wine Sangria

In addition, we also had sweet potato rolls, crab cakes, deviled eggs, cocktail shrimp, crab, seafood paella, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, creamed spinach, green tea jello, chocolate cake and fruit punch. So much food, soooo gooood!!! Needless to say, everyone was absolutely stuffed by the end of the night and we were just full and exhausted after 2 days of cooking.

Now, on to the prep part. First of all, I am proud to say, that by 4:30 pm on Thursday, my sister and I were pretty much done with everything and just had one bird left in the oven and dishes ready for reheating before the guests arrived at 6ish. Prep actually officially started Tuesday night, when my mom and I started brining the turkeys. I dubbed our two turkeys Jay-Z and Kanye and decided that on Thursday, they would "Watch the Throne" from the dining room table. Jay-Z was the organic turkey marinated in a cajun rub. Kanye was the larger turkey bought from the supermarket and marinated in a citrus-cider mix which is generally juicy enough that we no longer make gravy - just cranberry sauce, and I think I must have had a bad experience with stuffing as a child, because I've never been a fan. So other than the year we stuffed the Asian-style turkey (we had 2 turkeys that year also) with sticky rice, turkey sans stuffing is maybe the one traditional Thanksgiving dish that we don't do. 

Day 1 - Wednesday prep covered pretty much everything but the salad, turkeys, baked asparagus, pumpkin lasagne, layered pesto dip and nutella pizza pie. Though I was awoken at 6 am because a certain someone had gone to bed super early the night before, I didn't actually roll out of bed until around 10:30, and by roll out of bed, I mean, was forced to get up by my family - in my defense I wanted to enjoy my day off and I never get to sleep in! Sleeping til 9 is a luxury for me these days =( But enough whining. After getting out of bed, armed with aprons, and catchy Top 40 songs blasting from my laptop, we were ready to begin cooking. 

er...this means we're ready?

I started with the pie crusts so that I had all my foundations ready - I was really trying to emulate all the cooking shows on TV where the chefs always have their ingredients in their correct portions in little bowls and they're all "next I need a cup of chopped scallions...oh look! Conveniently, I have at my fingertips here, exactly the one cup of chopped scallions that I need! **neatly dumps into the bowl**"

 

 

I needed pie crusts for my potato tart gratin and pumpkin pie w/ caramelized pecan as well as a maple crust for the apple-maple galette. For the Libby's pumpkin pies, I always figure, if I'm making the pie out of the can anyway, crust might as well be store-bought as well! Plus, as I mentioned before, why fix it if it ain't broken? 

I started with the potato tart gratin because it was to be baked at the lowest temperature, and then I moved on to the apple-maple galette, then the pumpkin and caramelized pecan pie. The libby's pumpkin pies actually weren't popped into the oven until after dinner because I had been planning on making it Thursday. But then after baking dinner (pizza!) I thought, hey, why not today and just reheat tomorrow.

While I was working on those, my sister was working on the broccoli gratin and twice baked sweet potato which ended up taking her almost 2 hours because we don't have the most efficient food processor...it's actually rather old.

Was having a full-on phone convo by the last hour...

As I let my citrus cranberry dressing simmer, we took a dinner break (which really ended up lasting until Thursday morning). Dinner was simple since we were prepping for a giant feast. And what's more simple than pizza? Just toss a bunch of things onto a pre-made crust and bake it for a bit. I even got to use the lone egg yolk that was leftover from my glazing of the dessert crusts.

pre-baking

post-baking

Day 2 - Thanksgiving Day is here!!! Started with my pumpkin lasagne, which I've been super excited to try (and turned out to be a big hit!), and then Turkey time! During which, of course, I was playing the Watch the Throne album. While the birds were in the oven, I also prepped the layered pesto dip.

Turkey Kanye marinating in the mini-fridge

Cajun Jay-Z

Citrus-Cider Kanye

Last (at least last before the guests arrived - the nutella pizza pie was simple enough to prepare right before serving) but not least, mulled red wine sangria!

Final outcome:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Dinner Plate #1

Nutella Pizza Pie!

dessert spread - photo borrowed from bluetifulangel

Been super thankful to have been able to have such a food and friend-filled Thanksgiving again this year and hope everyone had a most enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend without too much family drama! 

~Cheers!

Post-Hurricane Irene Eating

Just when you thought all the hurricane nonsense was over...and by that, I mean it is, but I just stumbled upon some photos from the Monday after the hurricane when the weather was beautiful but the trains weren't running, so I was able to spend the day at home with my sister.

We were trying to make it a super productive day, so lunch was quick and easy - Velveeta, meet whole grain rotini. As a whole I really don't care for whole grain pasta - it has a different consistency that feels more grainy to me. But I'll eat it, and if there's nothing else, then...well then I really have no other choice, do I.

 

ew, looks so gross

better? I'm not so sure...

so gross and so enticing at the same time

 Some more time and effort was put into dinner, using fresh cucumber and tomatoes from our garden, as well as something found in the fridge. I'm not sure what it is in English, but I boiled it when I really should have baked it, so it came out as a blobby mess - but still good. The cucumber and tomatoes I mixed cold with some tofu and what I think they call the thousand year old preserved egg? Somehow, they do something to eggs where they turn black, and in my opinion, taste even more delicious than regular eggs. I know many people would beg to differ though, whether it's based on the actual appearance of the eggs or the unique taste. But hey, less competition for me! Also mixed in some avocado, and drizzled in sesame oil with a touch of hot chili oil. I also made some of my favorite corn soup.

 

The meal

 Oh, and did I mention that the weather was beautiful and we spent the morning out on the kayak in the Sound? Well, we did.

Late Night Panda Snack

I once told people that I was going on a panda diet, and I was surprised at the number of people who thought I was going to eat pandas - BLASPHEMOUS!!! What I really meant was that I was eating a lot of fibrous bamboo...like a panda would.

However, tonight, my stomach has been yelling at me to be fed, but my brain has been trying to tell me that it's too late at night to eat anything that is too solid, when I was given the idea of having a cup of ramen! Not the disgusting sodium laden (and yet still delicious somehow) ramen cup noodles in the white and orange Styrofoam containers that have a circle of neon yellow chemicals after you finish your soup. No, they now make mug sized portions that you can drink as a quick and light (but probably still very high on sodium) snack. Even better, they have little flakes of something...I haven't quite figured out what they are but they taste good...I think they're fish cakes? Anyway, they're shaped like pandas! They come in packs of 4, with 2 pandas and 2 shaped like puppies.

Sushi on the Train

Exactly one week ago, I got out later than I expected from class and I was starving (what else is new). I was debating what I should eat when I finally got out of class at 9:15 pm, and on my way to the train station passed by this small sushi take-out place that I've been to before and I had my eureka moment - SUSHI!

I got a combo of three rolls with a salad for $10.95 and the sushi is actually pretty good. I couldn't be more excited to eat it - I actually waited until after my transfer so that I could have an uninterrupted 40 minutes to eat instead of having to pack up halfway through. Believe you me, it was a tough wait, I was so antsy for those 20 minutes...I kept peeking into the bag, as if that would give me a taste of what deliciousness awaited me.

Finally, got on my second train, and unpacked my dinner train style...on my lap. Classy, I know...it's kind of how I roll (get it? roll? like...sushi roll?) And of course, since I was wearing a white tank top, and I have what my sophomore year roommates from college dubbed as the "Nita-Pull," I instantly dropped some of the orange salad dressing on myself. This was pre-Tide To Go, which happened the next morning after class and after spilling coffee all over my white long-sleeve shirt because I obviously had not learned my lesson to not wear white. But moving on - the sushi was delicious and the night ended well on a full stomach.

Happy Halloween

After pigging out all day on all things sweet at work, I figured now would be as good a time as any to finally add a new post! Sadly, this seems to be the trend in how all my latest posts start as school and work are kicking my butt. 

But enough of the sob story, moving on to better and more interesting (at least I think so) things.

While today is actually Halloween day, most revelers celebrate over the weekend as Halloween partying tends to hamper productivity in work or school the next day, and despite what the 99% occupying Wall Street are saying, most, or at least many people do still have work during the week. I've been debating what to do over the weekend and if I really wanted to make the trek all the way out to Brooklyn or not - I know, it's really not THAT far, but I'm really THAT lazy. 

Lucky for me, Mother Nature gave me the perfect excuse. While I was at work during Saturday day, it started to snow. Part of me is like, wtf Mother Nature, really? Snow before Halloween? And the other part of me is celebrating, because it made for an excellent excuse to not make the trek to...anywhere outside in the cold - even though I had back-up costumes that were pretty warm, considering Halloween has become an excuse for girls to...not really wear clothes. 

What I did instead was, as soon as I got home from work, change out of my work clothes and into leggings and a comfy sweater, don my fluffy robe, and settle down on the couch with my laptop and some movies. It's a wonder that I even got up for anything, but, my stomach rules all, and I did end up getting up a few times for food. What sort of food you ask? Well, even if you didn't ask, I'm going to tell you:

First things first - Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate w/ mini marshmallows. I mean, c'mon, it's the first snow of the season! Hot Chocolate is a must. Pair with the hot chocolate was a bag of Sea Salt Baked Lentil Chips - makes me feel like I'm being healthy because they're so light and because the bag is telling me that they're good for me...and oh so delicious! I ate the entire bag...and it was no "mini" bag either. Next, I found some curry ramen into which I added an egg that was cooked just right - not too fully cooked, but cooked enough that the yolk was thick when I broke the egg. Mixed in perfectly with the rest of the soup and noodles. What's a meal without dessert? Next came some tea with some Strawberry Rhubarb pie from Briermere Farms (it's like my family's mecca - we make at least 1 or 2 trips out there every year...once in the spring, once in the fall). However, 2 movies and an episode of How I Met Your Mother plus buffer time (they were online), is quite a long period of time, and near the end, my sweet tooth was acting up again. So, being that it was Halloween weekend, I nabbed the candy basket and proceeded to dig in. 

I haven't figured out yet whether it's a good or bad thing that I don't have any picture evidence of what transpired that night. When my family came home and looked over the scene in disbelief, my only explanation was, "I celebrated Halloween by myself...this had to happen."

And now today, with my giant spider earrings, I'm at it again (though in a much smaller scale) with bagels, munchkins (I stopped myself from going after actual donuts), and this pile of candy and a mini cupcake.

My work stash

Happy Halloween!

E&E Grill House

A few months ago, I received an email from Tasting Table featuring E&E Grill House and classy looking steak and potatoes along with grilled bacon caught my eye. So I took the opportunity to take my mama out to an early birthday lunch (before our dinner at Bryant & Cooper).

I tried to get the side of Twice Baked Potato, but unfortunately, it's only on the dinner menu - the server was nice enough to ask the chef though. I can't complain about the cottage fries that came with the hanger steak though, they were like little rounds of fried potatoes lightly salted w/ sea salt - mmmmmmmmmm, love me some potatoes! The grilled bacon appetizer that we went with instead was also a good choice. But then again, when does one go wrong with bacon? And the poached egg on top of the grilled asparagus was just fahncy. Will have to go another time to try the dinner w/ side of twice baked potato!

Grilled Bacon!

Grilled Asparagus w/ Poached Egg

Grilled Asparagus w/...broken poached egg

Pretty Silverware

Cottage Fries

Hanger Steak

Wordle

Ok, so this isn't a post directly related to food, but it is related to this blog in general.

Came across this neat app, Wordle, that takes words from blogs and various sites - or just words in general (i.e. the lyrics to Bohemian Rhapsody), and creates an image from them.

Here's what happened when I entered the URL for this blog:

Pretty nifty!