Food

Christmas Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 cup lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda
4 large eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup nuts
1 tsp salt
2 cups of dried fruit
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bottle Jack Daniel’s Whiskey

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Sample the Jack Daniel’s to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the Jack Daniel’s again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.

Turn on the electric mixer….Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar…Beat again. At this point it’s best to make sure the Jack Daniel’s is still OK, try another cup…Just in case.

Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit, Pick the frigging fruit off floor… Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the Jack Daniel’s > ;> to check for tonsis ticity.

Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Check the Jack Daniel’s. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven.

Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. ; Don’t forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the Dack Daniel’s and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher.

CHERRY MISTMAS!?

Back from Enid, we’re now enjoying the remainder of this holiday weekend to relax, do some holiday decorating and catch up on a few chores. Reflecting on the Thanksgiving celebration that was, it was as good as we could have hoped it would be. The only thing that would have made it perfect was if my brother and his family could have joined us, but it didn’t work out this time. Fortunately, barring any unforeseen intervening circumstance, we’ll get to see them during Christmas week when the whole family will be able to gather together.

By all accounts, the Thanksgiving feast was a success. It was a lot of work, and that’s even with a couple of the items prepared in advance. Karla and I arrived in Enid a little after 8am Thursday morning and successfully met our self-imposed deadline for the main feast scheduled for 2pm. Now I know that Karla, my mom and others have done it many times, but that’s the first time I was in a kitchen, working non-stop for six hours. I just don’t think I’m cut out for “woman’s work,” as my mom calls it. Seriously, I certainly have a greater appreciation for the work of putting together such a grand meal and for those who’ve done it faithfully year-after-year.

Based on the comments made after the feast, the work was well worth it. There wasn’t a single complaint — other than my own self-criticism. (Frankly, I didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else because my tastebuds were numb from all the taste-testing throughout the cooking process.) Being the perfectionist and worrywart than I am, I was fretting about how everything would turn out. According to the experts — my mother and Karla who’ve done this many more times than I have — the meal was a resounding success Continued

Today is one of my favorite days of the year. It’s a day that we set aside the normal cares, stress and grind of every day life and focus on family, reflect on our many blessings and eat way too much food, feeling miserable the remainder of the day.

This morning, we’re getting ready earlier than normal for a non-working day as we prepare to drive to Enid, where my parents live, to celebrate Thanksgiving with them and my sister’s family. I’ve volunteered to prepare the feast for today, with the (more expert) assistance of Karla, which means we have to gather all the fixin’s for the meal in addition to the usual impedimenta that goes along with our entourage (a family of four plus three canine kids). We’re leaving early enough this morning (6:30-ish) so I can get the turkey in the oven to begin its 4-hour-plus roasting and then prepare the various side dishes.

This year, I’ve chosen to brine the turkey using a Williams-Sonoma recipe that features its signature pre-made turkey brine blend of seasonings — coarse sea salt, dried apples, juniper berries, lemon peel, Spanish rosemary, three varieties of peppercorns and other herbs — and buttermilk. The turkey has been brining since Tuesday evening. I’ve become a brining devotee ever since my brother turned me onto it a couple of years ago — it makes such an amazing, succulent difference to the turkey (and other meats that I’ve brined).

To accompany the turkey, we’re trying something different from our family’s traditional dressing recipe. After a failed experiment with another Williams-Sonoma recipe (Smoky Bacon-Biscuit Dressing), Karla found a pre-made stuffing mix that we’re going to try: Cranberry & Pecan Stuffing. It’ll be the first time we’ve tried it, so I hope it’s good and that everyone likes it.

We’re also fixing classic mashed potatoes, snap beans with caramelized shallots and roasted mushrooms, and molded cranberry sauce — the latter two being Williams-Sonoma recipes as well. (Are you noticing a Williams-Sonoma theme to this Thanksgiving menu? That place has become like a toy store to me!)

One other item we’re including is another new addition to our traditional Thanksgiving menu as a first-course to hold people over until the main meal is ready. It’s yet another Williams-Sonoma recipe: Roasted Pumpkin Soup with Cider Cream. I actually made this a couple of weeks ago to try it before springing it on the rest of the family; I’m glad I did. The recipe makes alot of soup — and I mean, alot. We ended up taking two-thirds of the batch and freezing it to save for today. We’ll reheat it on the stove and it should taste as good as the day it was made! It was really good, by the way.

So, it is going to be a very busy and full morning as we start preparing the feast. I have no doubt that I will be miserably stuffed by the time the annual Dallas Cowboys Thanksgiving Day game kicks off this afternoon, no matter how much I pace myself throughout the meal. I’ll let you know later how the meal turned out and how well it was received.

Until then, have a wonderful, gratifying, satisfying and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.

Courtesy Andrew Sullivan who says the photo is “an Obama pie sent in by an Ohio reader whose sister-in-law baked it for an election party tonight.”

Last post, I showed you my favorite version of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” featuring the California Raisins. Here are some more commercials featuring these sun-dried sensations…

With Ray Charles…

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With Michael Jackson Continued

I like food. I like to eat. I like to eat a lot. But this just makes my stomach hurt!

It took Brad Sciullo 4 hours and 39 minutes to finish a marathon. A meat marathon, that is.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pound western Pennsylvania chef is the first person to eat a monstrosity called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser: a 15-pound burger with toppings and a bun that brought the total weight to 20.2 pounds.

Do you have a problem with a greedy, sticky-fingered co-worker stealing your lunch out of the break room fridge? Then here’s the anti-theft product for you…

Stealing your co-worker’s lunch is a downright contemptible act, that is, if it’s perpetrated by someone other than you. But, if you’ve ever had your lunch stolen, you know the the frustration and anger it causes. You know the revenge and ill-will it inspires. And you know that no matter how well you try to hide your lunch bag at the back of the refrigerator, something’s gonna be missing when you open it. Well, lament no more. The Anti-Theft Lunch Bag to the rescue . . .

Anti-Theft Lunch Bags are regular sandwich bags that have green splotches printed on both sides. After your sandwich is placed inside, no one will want to touch it.

Laughing Squid posted a picture of the winning entry in The Cupcake Decorating Championship…

These wonderful iPhone Cupcakes by Nick Bilton and Danielle Bilton were the winning entry in The Cupcake Decorating Championship hosted by Bre Pettis at tonight’s Ignite NYC II.

Does the 5-Second Rule apply for pizza?

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