Katie Meadow

Mmm. I see a Date Nut Bread in my very near future. I haven't made one for a few months. In early pandemic times I was making it every other week, like some mysterious addiction. The King Arthur recipe is excellent, by the way. I guess if you are making a multitude you need to find an easy way to chop them. I've come to the conclusion that the best dates for date and nut bread are dates that are not too fresh and not too dry. Just right.

Who doesn't like babies? Geez.

I grew up eating Uncle Ben's and only Uncle Ben's. As far back as I can remember and until the day she died at 94 my mother never cooked any other kind of rice. Chicken and rice was her signature. She lived three blocks from the Halal cart at 53rd and Sixth Ave for her last 50 years and never once wondered what the line was about. That halal plate was always my pre-plane meal when I left after visiting NY. She was a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker who never ate street food.

Baby collard sellers take note. Kim's a comin' for y'all!

Exactly. But my experience is limited.

One baby veg that's awfully good is baby collards. They can be sautéed like chard, quickly, with no need to boil. I admit I am no fan of long cooked collards, but if you chiffonade the baby ones and cook them with garlic, then add some smoky broth and simmer for ten minutes or so, they are really good. Finish with a splash of vinegar and a tsp of Steen's.

Maybe the smaller one could be used as a sushi mold? I can't quite make out how the lid is designed.

After one turkey sandwich I'm done. The carcass goes into the pot. @Margaret Pilgrimit's hard not to want an ethereal dumpling. How do you make them?

If I were vegan, here's what I would want as a gift: really good vegetable broth. The store bought ones always seem strange to me, but a really good from-scratch broth can be delicious and useful. Then your friend can easily throw in some soft rice, greens, whatever. Half my husband's relatives are vegetarian and I always struggle to come up with good soups for them. Making my own veg stock has helped. I've noticed that many places that serve vegetarian or vegan soups just add a lot of pepper to get a flavor boost. Veg soups that really benefit from a good broth are leek and potato, which can be blended as desired,and any variety of tomato-rice soup.

Personally I am against too much uniformity in storage. When I started cooking in my twenties I used to frequent flea markets in New Mexico and picked up a variety of various older canning jars. I still use them. I've saved glass jars that appealed to me ever since, and probably own a more eclectic bunch than I even need. I do have a basic label-maker, which has pretty much replaced many of the cockeyed labels of my past. Too matchy-matchy? Not a good look, as far as I'm concerned. Rice. My comfort food. I usually have on hand three or four kinds. For sushi or Chinese stir fry I'm very happy with the Kokuho Rose. I like Carnaroli for rice pudding, some soups and risotto, but I haven't tried lots of different brands; most seem good to me. Most supermarkets stock only Arborio, which is fine in a pinch. My reliable gourmet/cheese/pasta shop often has a wide variety of esoteric Italiian rices, but lots I haven't tried. My mainstay for long-grain has been CA grown Lundberg organic white basmati. Often we have to settle for their regular non-organic as it the organic isn't always easy to come by, but the organic actually seems to taste a little better. I love the smell. I've tried various other basmati rices, some from India, but they have seemed dull in comparison. Maybe they have been on the shelves to long? I like if for curries, Mexican dishes, rice salads and any kind of beans and rice. I've tried Jasmine rice, since that makes sense for lots of Asian dishes, but I just like the basmati better. I can't quite get a handle on the Carolina rice varieties. Gold or not gold? Aromatic or not? Is it long-grain or medium? Really happy to entertain any suggestions about the differences, your favorites brands, purveyors, etc. The prices can be steep, so what about value? Seems like it would be nice to use it with Red Beans or any kind of southern style shrimp 'n' rice.

Unctuous. Is that supposed to be a good thing? Maybe, if you love Velveeta. 1 : having, revealing, or marked by a smug, ingratiating, and false earnestness or spirituality. 2a : fatty, oily. b : smooth and greasy in texture or appearance.

You're a crazy librarian. But it's good you are a librarian, because clearly that's the only thing keeping you from organizing your books by spine color. Happy Thanksgiving!

Okay, barley brain. My barley would be cited for contempt of court if it didn't end up in the Scotch Broth. However, I would consider leaving those turnips out. So you can be Barley Brain and I will be Turnip Head. Wow, I'm really enjoying being a couch potato the day before Thanksgiving. Pie is out of the oven and looking very good. Nothing left to do today except eat some of it while it is still a little warm. There was testy moment when my husband doubted the pie crust would be any good, since it was a new recipe for him. Live dangerously!

You're such a killjoy.

I love really fresh dates. Medjool are of course good, but my favorite is the Barhi date. When really ripe it has a liquid center. It's good cold. Wouldn't use that variety to stuff, but I too have a weakness for bacon wrapped roasted dates. I had them in Portland OR at a wonderful restaurant, but I've never bothered to make them myself. I like them best stuffed with an almond. We were in Portland during a freak snow storm and the restaurant comped us little glasses of Fernet Jelinek. A great combination, both firsts for me. Just what the doctor ordered.

Okay, let's see if anyone can come up with a menu as short as this one; we are two on Thursday. Cocktail. TBD Apps: whatever rises to the top of the drawer in the fridge. Kohlrabi in paper-thin slices w sea salt. Nuts? I have to say that deviled eggs sounds awfully appealing; maybe that will happen, probably not. Save it for next week when pickings are slim. Whole roast 11 lb. turkey and gravy Roasted Melting potatoes with roasted green chiles Fennel salad Cranberry-orange fresh relish Sweet Potato Pie that DOES NOT INCLUDE PUMPKIN PIE SPICES. Fluid schedule: We are baking it today! In other words, leftover pie for thanksgiving. Prep today: pie. James Beard red wine roux for making tomorrow's gravy. Home baked Pullman loaves for sandwiches, breakfast toast, etc. Friday: going to the family beach house to have lunch with BIL, SiL and their daughter. Extend the table that accommodates 15 in a crunch and spread ourselves out 6 feet apart at least. We bring up leftover turkey, which they don't all eat, and cranberry relish. They will make some kind of veg entree. My SIL is a terrible baker and is going to make pumpkin pie which I won't eat because I really don't like pumpkin pie or pumpkin anything, but the three of them seem to require it. This will be a rare social event, since we are not sheltering with them, but the drive is short and we won't be in contact with any other humans, only their cat, who is not an endearing creature, if I do say so myself. Shh. And I have a secret. I am liking a tiny no big-deal Thankgiving.

I had no idea anyone made mac and cheese as a traditional side until two years ago, when someone joined us who ISN'T FROM MY HUSBAND'S FAMILY (OMG!) and his son contributed a really delicious one. So exciting, since the usual mashed potatoes never interest me. I don't care much for the turkey, but I admit I like to sneak a bit of crispy skin in a not-obvious location when it comes out of the oven. I'm really in it for the carcass.

I butter my toast once, but I believe I use enough butter to get the same effect. Et tu, @Kim Shook?

I can't imagine using a disposable pan for roasting a turkey. Making gravy after the bird gets to sit on a plate isn't a fast process, and involves, at least in my experience, a series of slow processes: deglazing with stock, cooking away excess liquid, adding some type of brown sauce or roux to taste depending on whether you like a thick or thin gravy. When my husband's family was all together, we cooked a turkey big enough to be in a pan that could be simmered on two burners at the same time to make the gravy. Also if you are going to baste the bird every so often, wouldn't that be a not fun chore to pull out a flimsy pan with a big heavy turkey?

That little interview was very sweet, thanks to whoever posted it. In case you have never tried the Domingo Rojo bean they are back in stock at RG. They make the best Red Beans and Rice ever. Just saying! And Steve, here's my plea (again!) The situation with Rattlesnake beans is getting dire. They are disappearing from the planet. My only two sources for them became one, and now it's none. Maybe they are a good candidate for the Xoxoc project?

What's for dinner? That would be something made by somebody else using the processor or the blender. And if you did have pics of your appliances would you remember where you stashed them? You would need to note: 3rd shelf left side garage. 2nd down SE cabinet behind ice cream maker. Pantry. You'll see it when you get there. Is there a pantry?

My mother, who passed away at 94, usually went out for Italian food. That was partly or mostly because her boyfriend/ companion was Italian and wouldn't dream of eating any other kind of food. Yep, a snob! He never oooked a meal in his life as far as I could tell, and if my mother wasn't with him, he would be found at Patsy's. Which isn't really isn't relevant to the fact that up to the day she died she would order an espresso at a restaurant after dinner, with a lemon twist. It didn't seem to keep her awake at night, any more than anything else did. As for Elaine's dad, who grew up in a traditional household run by his Taos born mother, he made that red sauce in his sleep. Whenever I was over for dinner it was in something or next to something. I've never been able to duplicate it. Hot, slightly bitter, perfect. These days if I bother to make a chile rojo from dried chiles I dole it out like caviar. At their house it seemed like it came from an bottomless well. I'm telling you, this pandemic is like a highway to the past. Is there just more time to drive on it? What else do I miss in NM? So many things, but right now I miss hearing the geese migrate in Vee and Vee overhead, following the Rio Grande..

We have two appliances we don't use, but one is a ghost and will haunt me to the grave, for no good reason. The first is one of those electric drip coffee makers which came free with something. It's large, like for a party. We used to have parties. Maybe we used it once or twice. Besides the fact that big parties are a thing of the past, our friends no longer drink coffee in the evening. And we have always had several other ways of making coffee, so who cares. It is still sitting up on an unreachable shelf that's basically a boring museum. The second appliance, the ghost, is a sixties era crock pot. Avocado green or plaid; if it existed in this reality I could tell you. When I lived in NM during the late sixties and early seventies my best friend's father, who grew up in Taos, made the best beans ever in his old crockpot, and then the best red chile sauce to add to them. After I moved to CA I started to miss those crockpot pinto beans. What should I happen upon in my in-laws' garage but a sixties crockpot still in the box. My MIL didn't even know where it came from. It promptly went into the basement of our own house and I forgot about it. Time passed. Lots of it. Then it surfaced, just when I was feeling nostalgic and bored with my own cooking. I was ecstatic! I Vintage! Still in the original box! I carried the box upstairs to the kitchen, opened it and grabbed the crock pot. It slipped and fell onto the tile floor. Faster than you can say @JoNorvelleWalkerit shattered like an old thermos. I think about it more than I should, like the fish that got away, but you've never eaten a fish before. Or the ice cream scoop that falls to the pavement when you take the first lick. Some things are meant to be buried, even if they require more than one burial. In this case, the third was charm. I've never wanted a replacement. I loved that one. Beans are a stovetop operation now and forever.

Hope you get to the Desert museum. I love that place! Haven't been in years. The Heard Museum in Phoenix is truly amazing for Native American artifacts. No idea what their covid restrictions are. Most magical time of year in Arizona and NM. Look for big hawks on telephone poles!

@liamsaunt: you are eating turkey a week before Thanksgiving?