malarkey

After several years of fantastic dinners with no mistakes, this year was sort of a flop. I've been brining for years now, and this year is the first time that the bird has ever been over-brined. For the past couple of years, I've been using the W-S brine, which is salt, sugar, lemon & orange peel and herbs. It imparts flavor to the entire bird, and last year using a 15 lb bird IMO it was perfect and I loved it. This year I used a smaller turkey (smaller crowd, only 3 of us) an 8 pounder, and the brine flavor was pretty strong. I also missed the timing of the cooking. 15 minutes per pound (unstuffed) = 2 hours. Breast done at this time but not the dark meat. Breast carved off and rest of turkey stuck back in oven while everything else is put on hold on the stove top. Mashed taters with chives & garlic, giblet gravy with shittake mushrooms & sherry, green beans with crispy pancetta & sage. Dessert was a kentucky butter cake. My gravy was off this year (it's usually fabulous) and I'm not quite sure what went wrong there. All in all a good weekend spent walking by the ocean and beach-combing and lazing around reading books and playing games. There's always next year to try & get it right again!

I don't know. I thought opening a frites place right outside a club was a no-brainer....... ← Yes, and it was--The frites place did not close because of lack of business, but rather a seperate issue... ← then SOMEBODY needs to fill that gap... eh?!

Yep, Don & Joe's are my first pick at the moment - they have 3 1/4 pounders. I'm sure they'll do nicely. Next time I make this recipe I'm going to try to order one of the blue-foot chickens from D'Artagnan - apparently they're pretty close to Poulet de Bresse in taste. ← The Smart chickens at Metropolitan Market are usually of the smaller variety. I've been able to find 3 pounders there.

Thanks for the feedback, Kent. That thread about Hudson's on the Bend really made me think that should be my special meal while in Austin.

LOL All reality shows reek of this!

I'm going to be spending a week in Austin at the end of October. I'm interested in finding the following things: - The best places to buy fresh seafood, and to get an idea of the types of seafood available there. - I'd love to visit a farmer's market while there also, and I think I remember hearing about one that is near downtown...? But I'm curious about which ones you think are the best. - Any good asian grocery stores? I've been to the Whole Foods and Central Market, so am familiar with those. I will also hopefully get a few restaurant meals in. If I can have only one high end meal in town, where should I go? If I want interesting creative comfort food where should I go? Thanks for your help!

Daily Stuff: China: Woodland Spode. Simple el-cheapo stainless flatware. Speigelau stems, bordeaux or burgundy. Cloth napkins, always. Arranging food on the plate or platter?? Only when company comes.

Just like the first one on Capitol Hill. Great pizza, good people. What more do you need to know? ← That they are only open 4 days a week?

yep, it's still there. at least, it was when I went down there last summer.

Home Cooking, by Laurie Colwin great book!

586 Morris Avenue Springfield, NJ 07081 888-980-WINE (9463) Wine Library

Wow, I'm surprised about Frites. I thought he did a booming biz due to Nuemos.

Indeed, and it's fantastic. Had dinner there last thursday. So good to have it back, and... could there be a better location?! I think not!

probably. while you can get crabs year 'round, they are somewhat seasonal, and that season is winter. that being said, I've had dungies in the middle of summer and they were quite fine.

<raised eyebrows> Sure you didn't spend some extra time in Eugene??

You and me both. I covet them and wait for them to start showing up at the farmers markets. Then I buy a truckload and vac-seal them so I can have them all winter long OK, maybe not a truckload, but a freezer-full, yes!

Pacific Oyster is great, you won't go wrong there. Definitely casual and a good spot for a wee one. On the pier! Great fish 'n chips, too. Pacific Oyster

Wow their menu sounds great!

Where is this??

waahh!!

LOL! I read the title of this thread, and started thinking..."hmm I don't think I'm embarassed about any cookbook I own..." Then I read this post. Yes, I would be embarassed to own a RR book. Or Sandra Lee. but I do own many non-serious foodie type cookbooks. I have lots of church cookbooks, from communities around where I grew up in KS. To me, those are very interesting pieces of Americana.

but definitely some more than others. Boat St Cafe comes to mind immediately. Now, I love this place, but man, the parking is atrocious.

oh yay, I can't WAIT!!

Nice write-up cburnsi. Tell me about the chefs there, where were they before?

What happened to Pat's? did he sell? I used to be a regular there, (started when he was still running the espresso stand at the Thriftway), till I decided it was one of my daily cash outlays that had to stop. I've been curious.