Microblog Monday Food snobby

And now for something completely different.
This is not a political rant.
This is not something about adoption.

This--is about food.

I'm making Thanksgiving dinner this year.

I've been watching a lot of food network. Reading a lot of Pinterest. and I have a rant.

I am tired of food snobbiness when it comes to home cooking. 

I really am.

It's so off the cuff. "What like you're going to make franks in blankets for an appetizer?" Since it's on a web page I can't actually see the wrinkled nose or the "ewww" look that I saw every day in high school. It's implied though.
Yes. Yes I am. Moreover, if I didn't, there would be a revolt at my house by my husband, my daughter, and my father. I think that my dad would rather be without the turkey than the hot dogs in blankets.

Shall I continue? Of course.

I'm also serving sweet potato kugel (pudding)--yep, there will be marshmallows on top.
I'm also serving the green bean casserole. With canned cream of mushroom soup because I've never tasted anything better that it didn't take me for f**king ever to make.
So many articles I've read have had their guns blazing for these simple recipes you'd think that they were accused of sexual harassment. To be fair one article had a variation on the sweet potato pudding for people who aren't hosting over eight people and I plan to try that on a night when I'm not hosting so many people.

You know what? The last time I made this dinner there were hardly any leftovers. You know why? Because my guests ate those dishes that all of a sudden people are saying "ewww." You know why these are "classics"? Because people eat them and enjoy them.

If you're going to a fancy restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner and you don't want these dishes, don't order them. If you've been invited to a person's home, don't eat what you don't want to eat. Offer to bring something to serve. But that "ewww" look? That "this isn't fancy enough" sniff? That's uncivil and antithetic to what this holiday is about.

Be thankful you have a relative or friend who invited you to their home.
Be thankful that you are fed enough that you can decide what you want to eat or don't want to eat.
Be thankful that you're in a warm place.

Unless a rat crawls out of the turkey and bites you on your nose, say to your host, "Thank you, what a lovely dinner."

If a rat crawls out of the turkey---well tell about it!

Wishing you a happy thanksgiving with plentiful, good food.
Wishing you a happy thanksgiving with no awkward political conversations.
Wishing you enough in your life that gratitude is your default position.

Happy Thanksgiving.

P.S. What would your family have a fit about if it wasn't on the Thanksgiving table.

Microblog Monday--What is missing from my table

Someone just asked me for my mom's noodle kugel recipe.

I have to ask one of my nieces about it. Why? I loved most of the stuff mom made, but this was an exception. It wasn't a favorite. (Noodles should be savory, not sweet in my opinion.)

Well the person who asked was horrified. How on earth did I have Thanksgiving or Rosh Hashanah without mom's noodle kugel. It took quite a lot for me not to say, "We're having a lot more trouble dealing without having mom there, much less the kugel." I didn't.

I am wondering though, what is missing from our Thanksgiving--food wise, I mean.

Here is my menu.

Turkey
Gravy
Corn casserole
Dressing (made from Challah in the crockpot)
Green Bean Casserole
Roasted Veggies
Salad
Mashed potatoes
Sweet Potato casserole (for the four people who want it. but one of those is me so...)

What do others serve?

What we leave behind

I had a very nice birthday.

I spent some time alone with D while Lotus was at daycare.

I read a good book.

We had dinner at Benihana with a coupon and while it took us a while to get the check (seriously over 20 minutes!) we had a great time.

The cake Lotus and D made for me was amazing. Seriously delicious and I have been eating way too much of it.

And while I felt mom's absence--I felt her presence too.

I felt it when Lotus sang me a magnificently off-key happy birthday song.
I felt it when I ate my birthday cake--as this is her recipe.
I felt it when I allowed myself to be happy--and when I allowed myself to grieve a little bit.

Mom and I seldom talked about what would happen if the treatments didn't work--except one time.
That day I went with her to chemo and we talked about a lot. I said how I remembered when a family member lost her mother and how the grief took over. Mom gave me that look and her tone was severe--harsh even. I remember her next words as if she branded them on my brain.

"Don't you dare mourn me like that. Don't. You. Dare. You are not honoring me. You are not honoring my memory. Mourn--okay. Say Kaddish. Cry. That's fine. Then you dry your eyes and you hug that little girl that you waited so long to hold. You tell her about me. You tell her what you learned from me. You show her. You don't come to the grave with me, you turn around and let me go."

She might have said more but the doctor came in with the chemo and then we talked about other things.

Yesterday I ate mom's birthday cake. The one she taught me how to make--and I taught D. He baked it with Lotus.

Yesterday I went to the mirror and I smiled--and I saw my mom's lousy teeth in my head--and my smile is a mix of her smile and dad's.

Yesterday I mourned, I cried.  I laughed too. I sang. I smiled. I ate.

I think mom would have been proud.

Mom's teeth

I'm having teeth problems.

I have lousy teeth. I have had more root canals than most people and well, lousy teeth.

I found out that one of my crowned teeth needs to come out. I'm not happy about it.

The dentist recommends an implant after the tooth is removed. Basically if I try to put something else in, I will have to root canal and crown two teeth that aren't that way already.

And it stinks.

I find though, what I miss most is calling my mom after dentist appointments. I'd always fuss at her that of all the things she gave me she had to throw in her lousy teeth.

So I cried about that.

Now I'm thinking of things I specifically got from my mom.

Fearlessness about recipes.
I will always try a new recipe. Most of the time they come out okay. Sometimes they come out great. Sometimes they suck but we tried lots of new recipes from mom.

Love of entertaining.
I LOVE cooking for people. I love hosting the big dinners. I'm having 16 people for passover in a few weeks and I love it. In spite of the drama I liked hosting Thanksgiving. Mom loved to have my friends over for parties. I hope when Lotus gets older that ours is the home where the kids hang out.

Love of reading
I have no memory of not knowing how to read. I was around Lotus' age when I learned. I do remember reading Tales of a Forth Grade Nothing and getting lost in the book. I remember thinking --oh, that's why why mom is always reading.

In a few weeks it will be a year that we lost her. It doesn't hurt like it did. But there are days I just want to rest my head on mom's shoulder and be with her.  And today to complain about my teeth.

Booking and Cooking--Leaving Time, The Collector, and my favorite comfort food

This weeks books were very good. Both 4 stars, and I couldn't choose between them which to review on my blog.

The first is Jodi Picoult's Leaving Time.

Jodi Picoult is a unique author in my experience. She is consistently inconsistent. What do I mean by that? She's kind of like the literary equivalent of Star Trek movies--every other one is amazing. I can't  continue the analogy and say that the others suck--they don't, but they are neither as engaging or captivating.

Fortunately for me, this is one of the good ones. The twist at the end really knocked me for a loop and while I started to wonder about something off in the middle, I was surprised.

Leaving time chronicles the adventures of thirteen year old Jenna Metcalf who has been searching for her mother, Alice. Along on her search is a washed-up psychic, Serenity Jones, and the cop who botched the case in the beginning, Virgil Stanhope. Woven throughout is Alice's obsession with elephants and how they live, love, and grieve.

I gave this book four stars.

I love Nora Roberts. I was anxiously awaiting this one's paperback release, but I found it in the library and couldn't resist. The Collector is about Lila Emerson who--Rear Window like--witnesses a murder from the apartment where she is house-sitting. The victim is the brother of Ashton Archer, artist from a wealthy family and when she meets with him sparks fly as they try to find why his brother was killed. Trailing them is the murderer.

This started slow, so slow that I was wondering if I should put it down and then we got a scene from the murder's POV and it started to gel.  I definitely recommend.


Cooking

It astounds me how often people think I don't like pasta or can't eat it when they hear I'm allergic to tomatoes. I love pasta. I eat tons.  Then people think, Oh, you like Macaroni and Cheese.  I do, but my favorite pasta sauce is one of my own creation.

I was living in England and my British Mum was making tomato sauce for pasta. She was caramelizing some onion and sautéing some garlic and realized that she didn't have canned (or fresh) tomatoes (Pronounced, of course, as to-mah-toes with the appropriate British Accent). She was going to throw it all out but I said I'd eat it and I did.

I added shredded cheese to it-and YUM!

I will make a picture post of it later. I suppose I am curious--what unusual things do you all eat?

Booking and Cooking

Booking

So this week I read two books. One was interesting, one was great.

I'm going to talk about the great one.

Heroes Are My Weakness by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Rating: 4 Stars

Will I reread? Probably not

I've been a fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips (also known as SEP) for a long time.  Not from the first book, I actually didn't care for the first book I read of hers. Yet I was intrigued enough to try her again and I was glad I did. Some of her books I reread over and over, some I don't, but that doesn't mean I didn't like them, I just can't imagine rereading them.

That is the case with Heroes.  This is more gothic. It was obvious that this was her writerly tribute to Jane Eyre but with her own cutesy touches. The main character is a ventriloquist and her characters talk to her. The hero is someone who had a past with the heroine and may or may not have killed his sister. The setting is almost another character unto itself--an Island off the coast of Maine which is totally buried in snow. Mix these ingredients together and you have a wonderful book that will make you want to be buried under blankets while reading it.

Cooking

This Sunday was my Super Bowl Experiment Day.  I experiment on different kinds of apps and finger foods.  One was good, one wasn't.

The good:

These French Onion Soup Wonton Bites.

Oh Dear Lord.

These were amazing.  I saved three to freeze but even if they don't freeze well, I know caramelized onions freeze well so I will give it a shot.  These came out AMAZING.

The bad:

This Beer Cheese Dip.

A Caveat here. I don't like beer.  (Rhyme not intended.)
Why then did I make this? Because I often love Beer-cheddar things. Beer Cheddar soup, beer cheddar fondue etc, I am THERE.  This one though--no, it wasn't to my taste.

The Keeper:
Martha Stewart's Black Beans and Sausage

While I didn't make this for Super Bowl Sunday, I made this last nigh. And a few weeks ago. And a few weeks ago. It is one of our go-to recipes.  It takes about 40 minutes and it isn't a big to do--never mind the fact that Martha Stewart's name is on it.
I HIGHLY Recommend this one for a quick dinner.

Compromise

Star Trek Deep Space Nine might be my favorite part of the Star Trek Franchise. I love the characters, how they rubbed each other the wrong way, and a myriad of other little things.

One of my favorite scenes involves Odo--a fish-out-of-water alien growing up with people who are not like him.

Transcript:

Odo: I'll never understand the humanoid need to... 'couple.' 

Quark: You've never... coupled? 

Odo: Choose not to. Too many compromises. You want to watch the karo-net tournament; she wants to listen to music, so you compromise - you listen to music. You like Earth Jazz; she prefers Klingon Opera so you compromise - you listen to Klingon Opera. So here you were ready to have a nice night watching the karo-net match and you wind up spending an agonizing evening listening to Klingon Opera. 

--From IMDB.com

I don't think it would be so funny if it weren't true.
I've been married close to nineteen years and there's been a lot of compromise--both ways. However, if I were to be honest, it does veer strongly in my direction.

Which leads us to the Super Bowl.

D was born and raised in Western PA--also known as Steeler Nation. That being said, while he enjoyed watching football it wasn't the cathedral it is to most born and raised in Western PA.  Which meant I wasn't a football widow.

I don't know how long we were married when I caught him watching some football. I should note when I say, "watching" I mean yelling at the coach and the refs as if they could somehow hear them and make the changes he wants them to.

I realized that he missed football and wanted to talk to him about it. Of course, being me, I wanted to talk to him during the game and I didn't realize how that just wasn't going to work.

Anyway after the game he kept saying that he really didn't care much about football--but he missed the Super Bowl. I compromised--and we started watching the Super Bowl. We went to a few Super Bowl parties.  When we moved out to where we live now, and we didn't want to travel too far for the Super Bowl, I decided to try new apps and dips for our next party and a tradition was born.

This left us with what we do now. I find a bunch of new apps that I want to make for Super Bowl and we try them. We have had some hits. Our Bacon wrapped Pineapple has been a hit at every party I have thrown since. We have had some misses. For reasons passing understanding the chicken-sweet potato kabobs were so awful that after two bites we threw the whole lot into the trash. In fact, every one I made that year was such a miss we wound up going to our freezer to get some frozen hot dogs in blankets.  But it keeps it interesting for me.  And D--he watches the football.

Sometimes, when the Steelers are in the Super Bowl--he cares who wins. This year he's rooting for the Seahawks because he just doesn't like Bill Bellichik.

So--Go Seahawks.

In that spirit--if you haven't seen this xkcd --see it and enjoy.
Hooray for Snacks!

Booking and Cooking

So, I'm recovering from the Blizzard that wasn't. I did it by reading a lovely new book and then by cooking, a lot.  so I thought I would review what I have read and cooked.

Booking

Secret Relations
by Shelia M. Goss

Full disclosure, a friend and former co-worker edited this book. I probably would not have picked this book up without that in, and it would have been my loss. For one thing, reading this book can definitely raise the temperature in a cold room. It's a contemporary romance with an African-American main couple that has amazing chemistry.

Charlotte is a talent manager and Sean is a major talent. They have duffel-bags full of baggage from former relationships and yet they see something in each other that makes them take the chance on love. The dialogue is witty and the sex scenes are shift-in-your-seat hot.

What I think I liked most about this book, besides the chemistry and fun romance, was the support system of the heroine. Often the friends of the heroine are two dimensional--not in this book. You felt for them and loved how they rooted for Charlotte and Sean and still had their own lives. I'm glad this is the first in a series, so we can see the others get their own loves.

I give it a three of five stars on my goodreads account. I have the feeling that the next one will be a four or a five.

Cooking

Ree Drummond aka The Pioneer Woman

Go to her blog to read her story. I can only tell you my response to her recipes.

1. They looked beautiful. So beautiful that I thought I'd give them a try. 
2. When I tried them. Oh. My. Gd. 
3. Since most of these tend to take a long time, what I wound up doing is when there was a blizzard or bad weather predicted, I went to her cookbooks and found something yummy to cook. 

For this weekend I made her beans and cornbread. I've done it before and it is yummy! I think this might have been the first recipe I made from this blog. It has since become my go-to lousy weather recipe. This was the first time I made it where Lotus would try it. I wondered if she'd like it.
Answer= YES! She loved it. I will have to note that the "Beans Beans" chant was quite true. She was a gas molecule for the next day.

Yesterday I made the Ranch Style Chicken for the first time. I made some changes. I didn't grill it--I pan fried it in the same pan I used for the bacon. I separated one for Lotus as she's not a big meat fan. She loved the bacon, and the cheese. The chicken--not so much. That didn't matter, my husband and I enjoyed it a lot and finished her portion.

I might try another new one from her cookbook soon. I might even take pictures.  We shall see.  That being said, I highly recommend anything from her blog, cooking show, and especially her cookbook.