Thanksgiving 2013

I'm a little late in getting this posted, but here are a few photos from Thanksgiving this year. I had planned to post recipes and lots of detail, but am so far behind on blog posts that I figured better a few pictures than nothing!

As always, thanksgiving was lovely. We were missing a couple of family members who could not come, but I felt really grateful to be sitting down with friends and family and yummy food. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

happy thanksgiving!

appetizers...for those who needed snacks before the main meal

delicious stuffed mushrooms with pancetta

canellini bean and caper topping for the crostini

homemade crostini

goat cheese, homemade pesto, and sundried tomato terrine

shrimp 'scampi'

on to the main meal now...delicious turkey with an herb-butter rub

acorn squash

brussels sprouts

butterhorn dinner rolls

hope you saved room for dessert...old fashioned pecan pie,
sweet potato pie, and an apple tart with homemade puff pastry

Bye for now...

Cucumber & Red Onion Salad

My mom used to make a yummy cucumber salad when I was little. I tried to recreate it here...It was good, but not like mom's.

The ingredients are simple: cucumbers, red onion, olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, salt, sugar. I think mine wasn't quite like mom's because I used balsamic vinegar instead of white wine or rice vinegar. I'll have to experiment with a different vinegar and see if it comes out better...or I guess I could just call mom.

refreshingly delicious

simple ingredients for a quick and easy salad

my favorite balsamic vinegar...next time I'll probably go with
white wine vinegar though

slice the cucumbers as thinly as you can

toss with a little lemon juice

add the thinly sliced onions

add the remaining ingredients:
vinegar, olive oil, salt, and a pinch of sugar

voila! ready to enjoy

Bye for now...

Homemade Butter

OMG, I made butter from scratch (hat tip to Crunchy Chicken Cooks blog for the inspiration). Who knew it was so ridiculously easy?! I think I am much more impressed with myself than the situation calls for because when I proudly told my husband, he said "oh yeah, I think I did that in school when I was 10" ...hmmmm.

Anyway, I was super proud of my homemade awesomeness...and the butter was delicious! The by-product - buttermilk - can also be used (pancakes or scones, anyone?). Making butter is like a science experiment in a jar and would be a fun project to do with kids as well because it is so easy! Plus it was fast and you get to see the results in less than 30 minutes.

how better to enjoy fresh butter than on a toasted English muffin!

Directions: pour some heavy whipping cream into a mason jar and start shaking. And...that's it! (Well, that's almost it.) Before you start shaking, let the heavy cream sit at room temperature until it reaches about 60 degrees. I used about 1 cup of cream, but didn't measure.

Depending on the temperature of your cream and the vigorousness of your shaking, your butter will be ready in 20 or so minutes (mine took about 15 minutes and then some additional time at the end pressing the remaining liquid out).

I realized this would also be a super easy way to make a small amount of whipped cream, as it reached whipped cream stage in just a few minutes.

After about 6-7 minutes it looks like clotted cream (yum on a scone!).

very tempted here to stop, save, and make scones

After about 5 more minutes, you can see the buttermilk has separated out and it's starting to look like...butter!

I was so excited that it was really working...I am making real butter!

At this point - when the butter has separated into a large ball - pour out the buttermilk. And then keep shaking.

shake, shake, shake a bit more

After about 5 more minutes, it will look much more smooth and butter-like (below). At this point, pour out any additional buttermilk and dump your butter into a bowl.

so impressed with myself at this point

Using a spatula, smoosh the butter against the side of the bowl to get out any remaining buttermilk (you can see a little pooling there at the bottom of the bowl).

nearly done

When no more liquid is released, you're done! Are you as excited as me?

my butter and buttermilk

I scooped the finished butter into a ramekin, covered with plastic, and stored it in the fridge. It made about 1/4 or 1/3 of a cup but didn't last long.

creamy, pale yellow...beautiful!

Bye for now...

Apropos of Nothing

Just a few photos from the last year that I thought were worth posting.

My sweet cat, Asta, died this summer from feline infectious peritonitis (FIP). It was very sad, not only because it normally only affects kittens and she was 6, but also because we basically had to watch her die and there was nothing we could do about it. Our veterinary clinic, Arlington Animal Clinic, was really wonderful though throughout the 5 weeks or so from when we got the diagnosis until she died. And after Asta died, they sent us a condolences card signed by every person in the clinic. It was very sweet. Anyway, here is a picture of her in better days, before she got sick. She was the sweetest, kindest kitty. I miss her.

sweet Asta

This praying mantis was waiting for us one day on the screen door of our back porch. It was super cute and patient and let us take a ton of photos, including lots of close-ups.

quite the surprise when I went outside

I'm ready for my close up!

This photo is from last winter. Beautiful icicles glistening in the sun.

it's hard to believe these will be back soon

A bright red visitor from this summer. It's definitely a male and I think it's a "Northern" Cardinal. So pretty!

cardinal on a wire

up on the roof, checking out the birdfeeder from afar

feeling more comfortable, coming in to see what's for dinner

I think he spotted me through the window

just hanging out...

poised to fly

These photos are just some close-ups of condensation on a wine glass.

the light coming through the glass was so pretty

a drop runs down the side

My sister-in-law and niece made this cute origami animal zoo.

adorable!

Bye for now...

Gâteau Breton

time for a bite...

This Gâteau Breton is another recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum from Rose's Heavenly Cakes cookbook. One of the things I love about this cookbook is the variety of types of recipes. There are really complex cakes that take a couple of days to complete which I love, because sometimes I am just in the mood to bake something complicated and intensive that requires me to go out and find special ingredients or a new pan. But I also love that there are really straightforward - yet delicious - recipes, for which I am likely to already have all of the ingredients...and this is one of those. Simple, easy, yummy.

This dessert is sort of a cross between a shortbread, a cake, and is baked in a tart pan. As it bakes, the outer edge forms a flaky sort of a crust. The middle is lighter than a shortbread, but heavier than a cake and not too sweet. I recommend serving it with coffee and some whipped cream would be lovely too.

mise en place for the cake

the toasted almonds and some of the sugar...

are ground together

the butter and sugar are combined

and creamed for several minutes until nearly white in color

the eggs are added and beaten until fluffy to incorporate more air into the batter

the rum, vanilla, and almond mixture is added, then the flour mixture
is added in four parts

the finished batter is very stiff...

smooth the batter into the tart pan and brush with an egg wash

score the top with the tines of a fork

and voila, done!

it makes such a pretty presentation

lovely flaky crust

ready to serve

dense, but still flaky...delicious!

Bye for now...