chromedome

Pretty much the same for me, as I believe I've mentioned here in the past: not a huge fan, and my parents outright disliked turkey, so I didn't grow up with it. I make it for others, basically, and because if I'm the one doing the bird I know that a) it won't be overcooked; and b) it'll be food safe. I like it better as leftovers, truthfully. In bygone years my usual thing was to buy one while they were on sale for cheap at the holidays and then break it down. I could easily coax a dozen meals for my family of four out of a single small- to mid-sized turkey, all of them more interesting than the plain ol' roasted bird (to my taste, I hasten to add).

The batch I make is big enough for several meals for two. I scoop them from the water onto a sheet pan that has been sprayed, but otherwise use no oil. I just let them cool, then freeze them on the sheet, and vacuum-pack the frozen spaetzle into individual portions for later meals. I would expect that if they're cooled quickly under running water, then drained and turned out onto a pan, that would work just fine in a to-go scenario.

I have an 80s-vintage Vitamix, the old-school kind with the stainless-steel jar. It sounds like a piece of construction equipment. I use it primarily for breaking up ice, because "blendering" isn't a big part of my life other than pureeing soup (and I have an immersion blender for that).

I follow Craig "Meathead" Goldwyn on Twitter, though I don't visit often. There's a thread today following this article on Slate, about Google's algorithm for displaying recipe search results (and its deleterious effects)... https://slate.com/technology/2020/12/why-googles-recipe-results-are-meaningless.html

I've contemplated those Vitamix soup recipes more than a few times, but just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. The thought of listening to that beast bellowing away on my countertop for more than a few seconds at a time deters me.

My only food-related gift this year was a cheapie Starfrit french-fry cutter from the parents-in-law. I will make a point of using it so I can tell them I have, but usually I just cut my fries by hand. Truthfully, I dread getting kitchen gadgets for the holidays. There just aren't that many I actually covet, and on the whole I'd rather choose those for myself. In fairness to the in-laws, mind you, I have gotten a lot of use out of the dehydrator they got me a couple of years ago.

I'm playing a bit with indoor gardening right now, more or less just to scratch the itch while I wait for spring to roll around again. In my current rental solar is just not a possibility, and I also don't have a lot of natural light (our windows face N and NW). So this means artificial lighting, but with frugality top-of-mind. At present I have a mixture of broad-spectrum bulb-style grow lights from the building supplies store. They're okay for starting seeds and suchlike, but aren't really cutting it for full-sized plants. I'm looking at probably picking up a few Sun Blaster LEDs from my local garden-supplies store, the kind that are a drop-in replacement for their fluorescent tubes. I think those will do what we need. I have at present one tomato plant that's just begun to blossom, plus some beans in a large-ish planter (they're only a couple of weeks old, but growing well) and a couple of windowsill planters with lettuces and lettuce-adjacent greenery (ie, a package of "mesclun mix" seeds). I also have a hanging planter with nasturtiums, to go into the window of my GF's office for aesthetic purposes and also because I like nasturtiums as a salad ingredient. Still early days for everything except the tomato, which I planted as the outdoor gardening season was coming to a close. In the longer term I see indoor growing as something I'll do more of. My GF and I hope to build out a "forever home" in Nova Scotia's relatively mild Annapolis Valley a few years from now, and gardening is a big part of the picture for me. Unfortunately the reality is that I'll be in my 60s by the time it happens and will need to plan around declining mobility, potential illnesses and suchlike. So I intend to borrow the notion of purpose-built interior growing spaces from the "Earthship" builders, though I'll implement it in a way that makes sense in my own climate (which, of course, is the opposite of their hot and arid conditions). That opens up the prospect not just of more reliable growing conditions, but potentially growing things that otherwise would be out of the question. I know of at least one farm family in that part of the province who grow enough indoor figs for their own use, for example, and also a limited quantity to sell at the farmer's market (and supposedly they're now playing with citrus as well). Aside from the culinary value of the indoor growing, and the mental-health/physical fitness aspects of gardening as an activity, my cold-loathing GF is also looking forward to having a warm and sunny space where she can bask and be surrounded by green and growing things. Sounds to me like a sure-fire fix for SAD.

My sister posted pics of the greenery in Vancouver, where she lives, with the rhetorical caption "Is it even Christmas if you don't go to the beach?" (Not to indulge in one-upmanship, but in Vancouver the mountains are right across the harbour and you can catch a city bus to the ski hill...)

...and would also deprive the auto-didacts of an opportunity for a bit of happy Googling.

"The rest" being those who grab popcorn and enjoy the crackling flames...

My introduction came from my sociology prof, back when I was 15 or 16, so I was just the right age to appreciate his humor. He's in his 90s now and still hanging in. I think of him occasionally, and hope he's safe and well cared for in the Year of the Pandemic. In the 80s, when I lived in Vancouver, a random chance-met stranger pegged me as a Lehrer fan because I apparently channeled his tone perfectly while making a snarky comment. I considered that a compliment.

A Tom Lehrer fan, I presume?

https://notalwaysright.com/you-have-to-be-specific-with-children/222526/

Minus the attachments, that looks very much like my elderly Braun. Cost me $18 at Walmart, 18 years ago, still use it at least a few times a month. Pretty good value for the dollar, in my estimation.

Among the new species to gain "official status" in 2020* is an oddball scaly shrub found on searingly hot, saline plains in Namibia (the Greek root of the species name refers to a frying pan). Genetic analysis demonstrated that despite its cactus-like exterior, the plant is actually a brassica. Once you know that, its appearance makes some kind of sense...it looks like a Brussels sprout as designed by Tim Burton. http://novataxa.blogspot.com/2020/04/tiganophyton.html *ie, it has been genetically profiled, described authoritatively for the record, and given a formal name

Mine also gets used several times a month. After a couple years of keto-ing, my GF is REALLY enjoying breaded cutlets again.

We had a wood-burning range when I was a teen, living in northern Newfoundland (electricity came from a few truck-sized diesel generators, and was thoroughly unreliable). It's a whole other approach to cookery, that's for sure. When I first read about the AGA and its mantra of "you don't *set* the temperature you want, you *find* the temperature you want" it made perfect sense to me. Obviously on a cookstove you do have some control over the temperature, if you manipulate the vents and dampers and choose which woods you burn (we always had some poplar set aside for lower-temp cooking and baking, for example). It frustrated my mother terribly at times, because she didn't grow up with a wood-burner, but my father was very skilled at maintaining a stable temperature.

I would say "prudent," rather than "paranoid." After you've tried this one, and have a sense of how it was progressing, you can try another and let it go a bit longer. Eventually you'll find the point of diminishing returns.

Mealiness in apples is almost always a matter of how long it has been since they've come out of cold storage. It sounds like either a) your local Walmart has only middlin' turnover on produce; b) the produce staff aren't good at FIFO; or c) there's a supply chain issue.

I haven't done a moulard myself, but with poultry the usual rule is that the bigger the bird, the better the yield. I think it's probably safe for that many people. As for cooking method I'd probably low and slow for most of the cook, with a blast to crisp the skin at the end, but that's just an educated guess. Think of the crisping and cooking as separate activities and use your best judgement.

Yes, sweet-and-tangy is always a good combination with beets. I'll often drizzle a bit of pomegranate "molasses" over roasted beets.

I eat a lot of beets, and love them. Comments upthread are correct in that roasting in-skin (or steaming or boiling if you prefer) is the best way to minimize mess and a generally Dexter-ish ambience in your kitchen. If you want to venture beyond that, you can take your cue from Dexter as well...set down plastic or foil on your work surface, glove up, and wear an apron to stop splatters from permanently re-patterning your clothing. I rather like shredded/julienned beets as a salad, it captures something of the same fresh sweetness as juicing them. Another guilt pleasure is to julienne them or use my rotary mandoline/"spiralizer" to make beet noodles, and then deep-fry "nests" of them until crisp and have them with a spicy dip (a remoulade, or a well-seasoned sour cream mixture, or at times I'll just use creamed horseradish).

Welcome to you both. I've learned a lot here over the years, and there's an astonishing quantity of information contained in these threads if you have the time to winkle it out.

LOL We must be rough contemporaries. I can affirm that Cold Duck was also popular at parties involving naval personnel in Atlantic Canada at roughly the same time period. The men were mostly beer, whisky and rum drinkers, IIRC, so I'd guess the wine was favored by the wives (and stealthy children the next morning, curious to learn what the fuss was all about).