tryska

definitely a dutch oven.

the best i've had in all my many mojitos was at a fusion place on 74th (i think? maybe 75th and amsterdam - Citrus Bar and Grille. a year ago. loved their free-range grilled chicken salad as well.

i've got no problem running that experiment. actually i just scored a free bottle of erm..kosher nutella-analog from work. i've decided to do a chocolate-hazelnut icebox pie for t-day instead. but like i said, ii will gladly test different alcohols to discern which goes best with cardamom. in the name of science of course.

hey..then he could have stuck it in a spare can, and called it "cranberry sauce" and everyone would be happy.

yeah, me too, altho the brandy is compelling. i'll stick with what i know tho, and use the bourbon. thanks!

decided to switch up my recipe a bit and use golden raisins and cardamom, alongside vanilla. what liquor can i use for the sauce? does bourbon still go? perhaps brandy? or should it be rum?

this is true - whenever i've had to work on a holiday the employers always been gracious. it's a shame you're on call tho - it's really easy to get to our house from I-20. btw - you threw me off with the roux and the LSU ref in your sig. i'd forgotten about the food festival thread.

i'm sorry to hear that. on the bright side, you'll most likely get to have jello. if you're up to making that 10-hour trip to Atlanta, we'd be happy to have ya!

there's a home depot right down the street from my house. considering i've got a date tonight, and another date tomorrow night, perhaps getting the store-bought kind is my best bet.

i did read the egci unit on stocks as a matter of fact. :-) and yeah - yeild was something i was just thinking about - i'll need about 2 cups for the gravy, since you can never have too much gravy. and it's a 3-4qt cooker. so i'm looking at 2 qts, possibly? before reduction - and i'm guessing reduction will bring it down to one quart? i should do okay with a quart of stock.

i should have the time - it's not going to be used for anything else, and if i start it tomorrow mid-afternoon, it should be done by sunday, no? did y'all use put it on low or high? or perhaps i should put it on high for the first couple of hours, and then drop it to low for the long slow simmer through the night?

good point lady T....i shall bake before freezing - and another stupid, basic question that i am not able to find the answer to - I can make stock in a crockpot, right? (i'm worried she'll commandeer her good stockpots for the hell of it, and my one pot is pretty thin on the bottom) thank you all so much for your help!

thanks dave - i will do as you suggest with the potatoes. now with the parker hosue rolls - same as above applies? freeze, then allow for the final rise before baking?

yay parkerhouse rolls! works for me.

thanks dave - the stock for the dressing just occurred to me too - 2 birds with one stone always works for me. re the mashed potatoes - should i do the "precook", cool, put into the fridge the night before, then do the final cook, or do both steps, and then reheat while the bird's resting and mash? and thanks for the bread tip - so then considering the rest of the menu - parker house rolls or this interesting multigrain involving oats and bulgur that i found in an old Martha magazine last night? (i like parker house cuz it has butter )

thanks suzanne - i appreciate the vote of confidence, because I am sort of in panic/battle mode now. and i will be making stock this weekend, that's an excellent way of getting the flavors that will complement the dressing, corn and potatoes. that was my main concern with the lemon-garlic-bacon - that it would do battle with the sage-rosemary-thyme-poultry.

why not a vegetarian pot pie of some sort? it would keep in the them of traditional thanksgiving meal, you can use the same seasonings, a cream sauce with vegetable broth, peas, potatoes, celery, carrots, and use that fake chicken from boca as the protein part. put it in a pie crust, and voila. the vegetarian cassoulet sounds good too.

by rip i meant someone else's work - i should have said riff, i think - i didn't mean jsut out and out steal - but yeah it was the licensing thing i was concerned about - i don't know that i want to run the risk of seeign the same picture elsewhere.

sherri - thanks so much for the input! i was actually wondering about the rolls too. I could make dough this weekend, and form and freeze it, but I have no experience with that either. so any input would be appreciated. i agree on the casserole i can do everything but top with ritz crackers, which i can do before baking it off. i was wondering about the stuffing too - basically it's sausage, celery, bread cubes, and broth - imo - it always tastes better the next day - so perhaps i could make that beforehand, and again heat it up prior. but then again, it's a 30 minute thing. fried corn is basically sweet corn sauteed with onion in lots of butter with pepper. i think it's another thing that mgith have to be done a la minute, but if anyone has any experience with doing it beforehand, i appreciate it. (i could have that going as the stuffing's going, while the turkey rests) the mashed potatoes - i've always done them a la minute, but considering jackal's method from the potao primer, i'm thinking perhaps they could be done the night before - and then heated, creamed, and seasoned just prior to dinner. one other thing i forgot to mention before - i forgot to discuss gravy with her - considerign the rest of her "traditional european" meal, i'm worried that gravy doesn't make an appearance - if i need to make it, can i do with just a roux and some "better than bouilloin" do you think it will work? do i use broth, water or milk, in that case? (the lemon garlic bacon drippings concern me a bit - and i've always used a little milk, broth and water along with drippings for my gravy - but my drippings have always had butter, and the traditional poultry herbs as well as celery, carrot and onion) and sherri - no dirty looks, i believe the ultimate comeuppance will occur at the table, and it won't be coming from me. ;)

Yeah, that's probably what she said. at least the first couple of times...

one of those "as seen on TV" combo wisk/tong things. a gift from my mother. she said it was useless, but since they had 2 for some reason, i needed to take one. i might find a use for the useless thing. actually maybe i could use it as a litter scoop, now that i think about it.

calphalon has some cool graphics...very creative. fatguy i was thinking about this stuff last night on the long commute back home 1. why not use stock photography? - i mean there's nothing specific i need to communicate with the pictures - just "we sell wine and we we sell cheese - click on the wine for wine, click on the cheese for cheese", so it would be easier. I wasn't sure what the ramifications were of ripping someone else's photograph tho. 2. the splashscreen heavy effects on the front-end side isn't necessary - people just need the front page as a portal for the back-end. no point in runnign them through graphics to get there. I still want the pics tho. can i use stock photography pics and tweak them how i want? it will be much less of a headache that way. and no i haven't actually used PSP since v2.0 that came free with an html book i got in the late 90s. it's still on my old 486 tho, and i still prefer manipulating graphics with it. most of the companies i've worked for have been microsoft/corel shops so i've never used it for work stuff.

first off - to all of you who have mentioned that people are very tied to tradition when it comes to thanksgiving meals - truer words have never been spoken. I had a conversation last night with my roommate regarding the menu for T-day. if it were just she and i, then the menu could have been whatever, since it makes no difference to me one way or the other. however now that we've got guests coming, menu is of utmost importance. this is when i learned that apparently in her head, Thanksgiving is "the way she's always had it" or you don't eat. This would be fine, if it were somewhat close to a traditional menu. Her's apparently is "European" and that's the way it's gonna be: Roast Turkey with lemon and garlic on the inside and bacon on the outside - (no problem here) Ground Beef and Olive stuffing (problem) Roasted Potatoes (she "doesn't have mashed") Mashed Sweet Potatoes (cool, but they don't taste good with gravy) Green Beans Almandine (fine) Lemon Meringue Pie ("cuz that's what i eat for dessert") No Bread ("I don't eat bread") anyone else notice lot's of "Me" and "I" in this conversation? I mentioned that most people, specifically the people coming over expect a more traditional Thanksgiving - she got upset and said "This is how i've always had it" i said that's fine, but why would you deny anyone else the privilege of having a meal they are accustomed to? she says fine you make thanksgiving then, and started pouting - i of course played stupid, and secretly jumped at the chance - she wasn't prepared for that tactic. Finally she says, fine - here's a compromise - you make the dishes you're used to, and i'll make the dishes I'm used to. I said that's a brilliant idea let's do that. She was still pouty and we started discussing exactly what we were going to be cooking. then she throws the curveball - "Well when are you planning on doing this, because I can't cook with other people in the kitchen." (spiteful - the main reason we chose this apartment was because there was room for 2 people to be cooking at once). Well i'll be damned if someone tries to sabotage me and they see me sweat. Also, knowing my friends, there is no way i'm gonna get ragged on for the rest of my life for hosting "that wierd thanksgiving". So here is my menu: rolls (they're gonna have to be prefab, because i doubt i'll get the opportunity to actually make from scratch) sausage stuffing mashed potatoes corn (possibly fried, but maybe just steamed in the micro if it winds up being easier) cranberry sauce (yes the canned kind) broccoli casserole (a bow to the "traditional", but with bechamel instead of canned soup - will keep the ritz crackers) bread pudding with bourbon sauce or perhaps a chocolate pie or cake - not sure there's allegedly a sweet potato pie coming, but i may grab a shell and some pumpkin pie filling just in case. so here's where i need the advice - anticipating kitchen hogging, what can i prepare ahead of time, and what needs to be done a la minute? help! EDIT - i really must proofread a vent.

first off - i love "tryksta"! that's the best version anyone's come up with yet.. anywho, i understand what you're saying - i guess i should explain exactly what it is i need them for - we're updating the website, and ideally i wanted these 3 shots as the entrypoint.....well actually what i had in mind is the picture of the cheese kind of taking over the screen, and then shooting off into it's site entry, and the wine doing the same (very powerpoint presentation) and then revamping from there. I'm trying to rescue the site from the 90s. from there it goes to the main content of the site (which isn't much as it stands, but until we get a new back-end app it's how it is. and this update is preparing for that new back-end actually) so basically i just need 2 slides. altho i still want the olives - haven't figured what to do with them, but i can always use them as gifs in banners and whatnot. and i actually agree with you on PSP - one of my favorite home-use apps from my desktop publishing/graphic design days. i prefer "candid" shots myself, but the people that pay the bills will most likely prefer the slick "marketing" style shots.

ummm. yum. and thank you. i shall be doing your mash technique for thanksgiving this year.