Thanksgiving Dinner in Maryland

Dad and I returned to Maryland for another Thanksgiving dinner with the T.s. I began driving on Thanksgiving day and picked Dad up from the airport in Baltimore. Traffic was generally not bad and we made it to our old neighborhood during the daylight hours. The T.s were our across-the-way neighbors for pretty much my entire life. They and my parents went to Royal Ascot together for quite a number of years, and I really appreciate their ongoing family friendship and their willingness to include us in their holidays. Here is a very cute cream cheese Dorito pumpkin that B. made.

Here is the dinner table.

There were two kinds of turkey this year...I think one was a bourbon glazed variety, grilled...and the other perhaps a more traditional roasted turkey? I feel like this was the first year I really tried stuffing with oysters...I've never been a big stuffing person, but I have to say that particular stuffing (there were about 6 different varieties) really spoke to me.

As in past years, the birthdays of R. and me fall quite near the Thanksgiving holiday...so we each had the opportunity to blow out some candles and sing the 'happy birthday song to one another.

Mmmmmmm. Sweet heavenly dessert.

B. and T.'s nephew and his wife recently had a baby, who did quite well during the entire evening, I would say. Here is a picture of him meeting his cousin-uncle for the first time.

I really am thankful for being able to spend this holiday with a great group of folks whom I have known in one way or another for quite a number of years. I'll have to post some of the photos that B. and D. gave me for my birthday...major throwbacks from childhood, and images I feel like I've never seen or only saw at the time. Very neat.

Lamb Tacos

We had a properly late dinner as a result of our delicious afternoon cheese plate and the fact that it takes a more than a minute to put together taco fixin's from scratch (or at least mostly from scratch). The meat portion of the tacos was predominantly lamb with a little bit of beef thrown in for good measure. I must admit that while I did add a little salt into the meat, most of the flavor work was done by Rick Bayless's chipotle lime skillet packet.  I was also unable to find already ripe avocados, so I bought the grocery store's relatively fresh guacamole instead.

The pico de gallo, however, was entirely of my own making. I seeded the tomatoes and chopped them. Then chopped red onion and cilantro to add into the mix before adding lime juice, a smidge of olive oil and a tad pinch of salt. Let that marinate for a minute and you get magic man. Magic, man.

I also cooked rice and heated up some black beans.

Oh yes and also some fajita like peppers and onions for good measure.

I'd say a pretty satisfying eating experience. The leftovers of which made quite a number of additional meals for me in the days that would follow.

Final Tamarind Cottage Day and Lobster Dinner

 My last day on Eleuthera was generally a pretty one, though I would say that some of my time could have been better spent. It started out lovely and sunny, so I figured I'd try to take a few extra photos of the property. See the top little window? That's where my bed was/where I could look out in the morning and see what kind of day it was going to be.

 Down the hill at the dock there were all these volunteer tomato plants that made many of my meals just a bit more special.

 Tamarind Cottage as cyanotype.

 Bromeliads I believe?

 More tomatoes.

 A view of the cottage from a different vantage point.

 The last day involved a trip to Governour's Harbour for cash as well as Ben Bay and Gaulding Key. On that day I actually went farther out to the far side of the rock and got to see a wider variety of fish. And I found this neat-o thing, which I took out of the water for a photograph before returning to the sea.

 Just a little god-light.

 So perhaps the thing I wish I had figured out much, much sooner, was the fact that there was a dude right in Gregory Town selling a variety of seafood. Frozen, but local. I knew that if I was around at a certain hour I could potentially go to the harbor and buy fish directly from fishermen, but I was generally still on some beach around the time they came back to shore. The point is I was able to buy two lobster tails for my last night's meal, but I should have been buying lobster tails and other such treats from the very first day instead of eating macaroni and cheese. In any case, these were Caribbean lobster tails that I steamed in a combination of Sands beer, butter and garlic and served over spaghetti with a fresh tomato/garlic/basil pseudo compote. Tomatoes were from the property.

Yup. The life. I was living the life.

Roasted Arugula Butter Chicken

I think I've been watching the C. dogs for about three or four  years now. It's kind of a recurring annual gig ... usually in a fall or winter month, and somehow it very often involves chicken. The first time was in November 2009, and I came up the night before their departure to get the lay of the land and the dogs' overall routine. D. made the most delectable chicken for dinner and I was enthralled - enthralled I tell you! - with its juiciness and the overall power packing flavor it had going on, which led me to finally understanding just how awesome brining can be. Since that meal I have become a complete brining convert, which in turn has changed my approach to dressing the bird. Back in the day I'd make a cilantro butter and liberally insert it between the chicken's skin and flesh. This led to a solid tasting chicken, but it was a lot of butter. Now that I brine, I hold the butter and generally do a slightly simpler preparation. It's good to evolve and change your cooking habits, especially if the results don't impact taste at all but may be slightly better for your heart or arteries. That said, when D. noted that she had left a chicken in the fridge if I was interested, I was very much ready to turn that chicken into dinner. This involved a brine of salt/sugar/lemon/garlic/thyme and about four-ish hours of brining. Then, because I had a huge bag of arugula, I figured that I might see how a brined chicken with arugula/garlic butter might work out. I'll tell you what, it worked out pretty good.

I also threw a few potatoes into the mix, which soaked up a lot of the juices of the pan. I did a better job than I sometimes do of patting the chicken dry after its time in the brine, which allowed for slightly more crispy skin than I sometimes manage. The house began smelling so tasty it was difficult to wait til the chicken was actually cooked to dig in. But of course I managed to hold out; salmonella and I aren't friends. We've never really met and I'd definitely like to keep it that way. The remainder of the Chateauneuf du Pape went quite nicely with the heartiness of this chicken dish. I was grateful for the ready ingredients and glad it turned out well. Thanks to the C.'s for the well stocked pantry and relaxing and quiet weekend away!

Christmas Eve Lasagna

On Christmas Eve I did a fair amount of work, took a shower, and then turned my attentions to making Dad, NC Catherine and J. my mushroom lasagna, which is nothing if not extremely decadent. I made a basil/garlic ricotta, whipped up a proper amount of bechamel sauce, sauteed portobello and button mushrooms with garlic and rosemary and then started the layering process in earnest. The end result? A decadent and overflowing pasta dish that, with NC Catherine's guidance, I actually left in the oven long enough that it got that browned look on top (usually I get too impatient and take it out after it's cooked but not browned).

Yup. A lot of cheese going on in there. A lot.

Chicken, Okra and Pea Curry

Another country day found me making green chicken curry. I consulted a few different recipes before ultimately going my own way a bit. Started with freshly grated ginger, chopped lemongrass, three hot peppers and plenty of garlic. Added to that mixture chicken, then chicken broth. Cooked and simmered before adding additional spices, coconut milk, peas and okra.

I was quite pleased with the result. I should have used far more peppers if I wanted the dish to have any heat, but as it was it had a great lemongrass/ginger overtone and the chicken didn't dry out.

The one drawback was the lemongrass bits, which were many and yet not good to actually chew on and eat.

Rehearsal c/o City Tavern, Gza c/o the Trocadero

After the wedding rehearsal wrapped up, we hopped back on a trolley and made our way to City Tavern. There we enjoyed a dinner hosted by C.'s parents. It started with drinks and mingling, and then we all found our seats and enjoyed a welcome and a little historical context by one of the folks who served the room. He told us about the history of the location, as well as the different breads laid out on the table. 

Then we raised our glasses to the bride and groom and their families.

These were our water glasses. J. has the funny eyes in this photo, but she didn't have funny eyes during the evening itself.

S salad with blue cheese, walnuts and bacon.

C. making a speech.

L. making a speech that left many a bridesmaid a bit teary eyed.

And her dad too.

There were a few different options for our main course. The gentleman sitting next to me asked if anyone wanted to split two to get the best of both. I jumped on that particular wagon and was thereby able to try both the pork chop and trout. Both quite delicious. I think the guy liked the trout better, it was definitely a bit more subtle while the pork was just so hefty and salty. Satisfying all around.

And dessert!

A few more speeches.

Once dinner was concluded we all went to a Gza show. It was LB's mother's idea. Ok. That is 100% nonsense, but god it would be so funny if true. In actuality, I had won free tickets from Philebrity to see Gza perform Liquid Swords at the Trocadero. Knowing I had the reception and dinner, I was bummed to realize the two things were pretty much totally overlapped, so I offered the tix to my ertswhile friend G., who was totally down for free tickets. But when I went to the box office, it was more like my name was only on a list, so I couldn't just pick them up and hand them over. Instead I added G.'s name to the list. In retrospect I should have been less shy about seeing if I could have put both tickets in his name, but as it turned out the dinner concluded and I was tipsy enough to know that going to another bar that night with that group of folks might make the wedding day a little intense. So I decided to go to a rap show and sober up.

Which is exactly what I did. Talk about the other side of the coin as far as everything. A night of contrasts is perhaps one way to describe it. But both sides were so much fun. No down side.

Poached Salmon

The evening after the art I made myself a piece of wild caught Alaskan King Salmon. Basically I poached it with onions, rosemary, garlic, lemon and white wine. It was generally a success, though the wine I chose wasn't quite right.

Still, I managed to not overcook the damn thing, which is a constant struggle I face as a home cook: overcooking meats of all kinds.

Seafood Times

I could have sworn that I wrote about these meals yesterday and posted it successfully, but it seems as if I have lost my mind or that Blogger is suffering some kind of technical brain fart.In any case, here's a quick summary of what I wrote yesterday: On my way back from Delaware I stopped at a farm stand and seafood market, picking up a nice variety of things to enjoy over the days that followed. The first meal I enjoyed was rockfish with a cherry tomato, garlic, caper and lemon compote type thing, along with littleneck clams steamed in white wine and with some leftover salsa fresca I had made the week before. I overcooked the rockfish accidentally, but on the whole each dish was to my liking.

A day or two later I made this pasta feast for me and AS to enjoy. AS recently departed Philly so she can pursue graduate studies in NYC. This is a sad loss of a friendly face in Philly, but I'm excited for what this educational opportunity/change of location might inspire in AS's larger life. In any case, to get a bit of face time with her before she left, I invited her over for dinner. This dinner was: fettucini with a similar cherry tomato/garlic/caper/lemon element with the addition of fresh corn, jumbo shrimp, a drizzle of truffle oil, a liberal amount of parmesan cheese and just a dollop of heavy cream.

I will not lie to you, this was an absolutely delicious dish. All the ingredients were fresh and I did very little to any of them, letting them really just speak for themselves as far as flavor was concerned. Oh yeah. Tasty stuff.

A nice final evening of conversation and camaraderie with AS before her departure!

Tis the Softshell Season

I believe I may have mentioned the fact that in addition to stopping for a few plants, I also stopped at the last seafood joint before Wilmington and picked up four soft shell crabs. It was father's day, and the place was bumping. Service was a little brusque, but hey I was only there for ten minutes, so who cares. The following day, Monday, I came home from work and went about the process of turning two of the crabs into my dinner. I coated them in an egg/flour/old bay/salt/pepper kind of batter and then shallow fried them in vegetable oil.

I also made a quick green bean, radish, yellow pepper and garlic salad, which turned out quite nicely. Then I went about devouring it all in record time while sitting on my deck.

Unpictured is that evening's later visit with E. and B. who were in town because they're very smart and lots of people want them to be smart in Philly. And then a sponataneous from Mr. Ass to boot. I insisted that E. and B.'s presence be a surprise, but what would have really been neat is if I had a big enough box in which  to put E. and B. Because Mr. Ass wouldn't be at all suspicious if I suggested he take a long look into a weird box on my deck. Hm.

In any case, I knew it was a little gluttonous to buy more crabs after such a seafood-heavy weekend. But I am glad I did, because they were delicious.

Pizza on the Shores of Cayuga Lake

AS's family knows how to do pizza. In fact, the pizza I enjoyed as a result of their efforts made it to the Best of 2009. So I was glad to learn that Saturday's dinner would be a second opportunity to enjoy their pizza stylings. While AS's mother worked the dough, many of us enjoyed hummus with red peppers and cucumbers. I think later there was a stinky cheese?

The dough, rising. The sausage, browning.

I helped a little as far as putting toppings on the pizza. Or I cut basil and added goat cheese. That's really it.

I think four pizzas were made for the crowd. A nice mix of white and red, vegetarian and not vegetarian.

Mmmmmmm.

Complete with a nice green salad and a white wine. 

And soon after the meal came to a close, a fire came to a beginning.I was so glad to be lucky enough to return to this spot and a great, and often repeated, thank you goes to the whole S. family for being so welcoming!