suzilightning

stephanie, wow what beautiful food. i want those thanksgiving onions. i've loved the pictures of the animals as well. thanks for blogging on a decidedly busy week. suzi

oh, marlene. crispy fat and wonderfully prepared beef. there is a heaven. after work yesterday i made up some ragu bologenese and served it with a small side salad of radicchio and artichoke hearts in a pinot grigio vinaigrette and a mix of pasta for a warm dinner after a bit of a cool down here.

for thanksgiving for john an apple strusel pie and how he topped his - with vanilla toffuti. mine had sharp cheddar on it.

French onion soup. I don't like my soup loaded with too much cheese so I made a toasted Gruyere sandwich to go with it.

pille that beef and beer oven stew just went on my to do list. last night was chowdah night at the Bird Nest. one of the easiest of all the soups i make - except for opening the quahogs. a few minutes in the freezer and even the most recalcitrent one will relax.

Thanksgiving Eve Dinner at the Bird's Nest the vegetative assembly - plus a few sprigs of thyme capturing the clam likker and adding fish stock and water to make 4 cups the clams chopped up saute onion. add diced carrot and clam/water broth. cook until carrots are almost tender. add thyme and diced potato as well as undrained tomato. cook until potato is tender. take off heat add clams. serve when the clams are warmed through - usually 5 minutes - with oyster crackers.

There is a story here about the increase over same day sales in many restaurants by those travelling for the American holiday and in increase in take away pizza for those who are cooking. as we were talking about the traditional American Thanksgiving food do you have any traditional Thanksgiving Eve foods ? and please feel free to chime in if you are north of the border since it's about 1 1/2 months since your own celebration, eh?(sorry, guys - 4 years of college in nw ny and i can still sing o, canada in my sleep - and in french and english) i have just finished my family's traditional clam chowder. when i was a kid growing up we would be busy making breads(portugese sweet and oatmeal), setting the table, getting the turkey ready, chopping giblets, getting veg ready for the platters set out but we always stopped about 5 pm and had the chowder Pop had made and always with oyster crackers. That's a tradition I have carried out for the last few years for John. me? i'm eating bratwursts. i can't stand clam chowder.

i can empathise with the sawdust turkey(no, liz. it isn't ok to roast the turkey for 4 1/2 hours at 400 the day before then reheat). so i have taken over the cooking for christmas and this year will be a heritage bird, mil's sausage stuffing, green beans with garlic, baked sweets and for sandwiches later my family's contributions portugese sweet bread and cranberry compote... and miracle whip for me. actually this is the first year i haven't had to work the day after thanksgiving and the first time in about 8 years johnnybird will be here rather than up in his hometown. well, guess that blows my thanksgiving dinner plans - pigs in a blanket. only pigs in a blanket. and a bottle of champagne. in the past i have done lasagna and pizza, keemah and french onion soup. i do love turkey breast, though and make it throughout the year in several different ways so it isn't as if i hate the tastes... now off to finish the traditional thanksgiving eve dinner for john... and pull that free range chicken, cranberries and green beans from the freezer. good thing i have chicken demi and potatoes for mashing

Friday at the hawkwatch. First the meal list. Then the shopping list.

A simple dinner for John last night. Toast, salmon, poached egg, hollandaise with dill and a few slices of avacado. Then cut open to let the yolk run over everything.

i just got The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food by Judith Jones from work - as well as a risotto book...just because. i've read two different excerpts and enjoyed them immensely. i'm thinking that she may be as gifted a writer as she is an editor.

fat guy- we had a bit of a discussion about crusts vs hearts here earlier. give me crust anyday.... best as always

i grew up in a small town - actually an island- of 2100 souls (that was the year round number). we did have a grocery on the island(first was Bohacks then it was an IGA ) and then three small independent stores - Fedi's for meats and some groceries and Zavatto's for meat. during the summer there was also Island Food Market that sold incidentals, sandwiches and baked goods provided by our family primarily to the boaters who tied up at their dock to refuel. we went off island for "big shops" but mostly we grew our own food in a 1/4 - 1/2 acre garden with our "across the street neighbor" aunt belle and foraged. fresh wild aspargaus in the spring, cress, wild grapes in the fall for jams and jellies, wild blackberries and wineberries we froze. the first animals i hunted with bow and arrow when i was 11 were squirrel and rabbit(i didn't like the noise from mom's 12 gage shotgun). from the time i was able to swim at age 3 i went with the family to fish for flounder, blowfish, weaks and stripers, tautog and we scapped(caught scallops in a net since you could not dredge for them on the Sabbath), dredged for scallops, clammed for quahogs and pissers(hard and soft shelled). mom learned to gun and i cooked my first black ducks at age 7. we had mallard and blacks, canada goose - breast primarily and some venison every year. we would buy pork from the Bartilucci family farm and had a chicken coop we kept layers in until they got too old and became Sunday dinner. i remember the still room off the kitchen where we kept all the jams, jellies and other preserves and the freezer on the converted porch where we kept the frozen meats after they were butchered. i also remember carefully venturing into the cellar where the furnace was and a few of the legendary "exploding green beans" my grandmother had put up were still on the shelves.

the picture really was blurry but for john's breakfast today a variation on eggs benedict toast, smoked salmon, poached egg and hollandaise with dill. told him what he had for breakast, lunch(chicken fried rice) and snack(blueberry coffee cake). he said "can't you make something other than that c&%p?!" as a joke. this time i didn't throw anything out into the backyard - just told him he was really lucky i could cook and it saved him money so he could retire earlier.

and now on Publisher's Weekly (PW) list of Best Books 2007

not a pretty picture jamie but here was the autumn stew

courtesy of a patron who knows i love spicy food. the ingredients : all put together: bun bo hue

dinner last saturday. boubon glazed salmon fillets, rice and sage honey carrots.

I'm in. I'll even bartend for all of us. Bourbon has a wonderful soothe-the-savage-She-Beast effect at certain phases of the lunar cycle, doesn't it? ← ok- second saturday in may at our condo down the shore..... i'll even get rid of john for a few hours

anne- how about using this recipe - unless you need a cold recipe. Tomato Rice soup Submitted by: suzilightning Keywords: Soup, Vegetarian, Intermediate, Vegetables Servings: 4 as a soup 5 large tomatoes peeled, cut in half and seeded 2 T olive oil 1 onion, diced 1 carrot, diced 1/4 c Arborio rice 4 c hot vegetable stock 2 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp white pepper 2 sprigs flat leaf parsley 2 sprigs thyme Freshly chopped flat leaf parsley for garnish Peel the tomatoes with a vegetable peeler. Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise; scoop the seeds into a strainer set over a bowl. Chop the tomato pulp and set aside. When all the tomatoes are seeded and cored stir the seeds in the strainer to get as much liquid out as possible; discard the seeds. Heat the vegetable stock in a pot. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot. Add onion and carrots, sweat until the onion is softened but not browned, about 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir until coated with the oil. Add the tomatoes and stir. Add the tomato water, hot stock, sugar, salt and pepper, parsley sprigs and thyme. Bring almost to a boil then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove the herb sprigs. Recheck for seasonings. Serve with parsley garnish.

Arkady, the chef/owner at Plaza Bistro is Lithuanian. Expect some food from that area on the menu - including stuffed cabbage. They openened a "fast food" place in the hotel up at the ski place in Vernon called Noah's Ark. the menu looked more family friendly and had desserts, burgers as well as hanger steak, etc.

nothing on the level of zoe's for lunch i'm afraid. Doc's has a sign out they serve lunch Wednesday through Friday. i'm thinking of investigating that if i get a rain day on a Wednesday or Friday. Plaza Bistro is nice and BYO. I guess that opening the new place up in Vernon would have stretched them a bit too thin.

that was from our local Appletree which is a green grocer, meat market, italian deli and sushi place in one. the onions will be gotten at the grocery store when i pick up the cold cuts on my way home tonight. you'll notice that we will be eating the same thing friday, saturday and sunday night. as i explained in my blog, i work 3 nights a week(and sometimes 4 if i'm filling in for someone) so right now i actually "cook" one or two days per week and we eat leftovers. that's how i got the bratwurst for saturday's lunch at work. john will have leftover pizza at the hawkwatch. he also ususally has to eat at his desk or in a meeting so wraps, sandwiches, salads are the best thing to send with him for his lunches.

well, our last visit to zoe's was documented in my foodblog. last night i took johnnybird out for his birthday dinner. he started with a whiskey sour and they brought the amuse. this was the one and only time i touched but did not eat the amuse. it was a pate of chicken and duck liver. now i used to make crock upon crock of country pate when i worked in the kitchen at The Chequit but had my boss taste it. i have tried and tried and tried liver in all forms but the taste just puts me off. The bread basket was served and we both headed for the rosemary rolls. they are wonderful. John ordered the smoked wild salmon with artichoke and tomato salad. The spiced and smoked meaty fish filled the plate and went very well with the bottle of Cline Old Vines Zinfandel we shared. Entrees were pecan crusted grouper with lobster, asparagus, spinach, tomatoes and shallots with a Grand Marnier beurre blanc. They were out of lobster so subtituted 4 shrimp and held the beurre blanc. I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I got my entree. Perfectly grilled breast of duck with candied sweet potatoes, shallots and brussel sprouts with a blueberry gastrique. The wine and the gastrique melted through the duck fat and the sweetness of the veg. No dessert and we took home half of my meal, half of John's appetizer and half the bottle of wine. 107.00 plus tip for 1 drink, 1 appetizer, 2 entrees and a bottle of wine.

Planning for the next few days produces this list: What I need at the stores. What's missing off the bottom of the list is cold cuts. And what I have picked up so far. That's .64 for red potatoes, .73 for the crimini mushrooms, .57 for garlic, .50 for 3 limes, .59 for green onion and .64 for red pepper. 3.67 total