kayb

Hot chocolate ... I swear, I believe this is the cutest kid ever. I want him.

I love Canon, though right now I'm shooting Nikon, when I get it out, which isn't often. How fast is that lens?

Here's an interesting story. I don't think it's behind a paywall (or at least, there are a certain number of stories free.)

@liamsaunt, what camera/lens do you use? Your close-focus work is just gorgeous.

I bought a kit, on a whim, from Target. We'll see how it goes.

Which brings up a question. I prefer my chicken salad with shredded chicken (best method I've found is to throw it in the KitchenAid stand mixer on low speed while it's warm). Who prefers shredded vs chunky?

The best part of Thsnksgiving, and a photo that DID get taken: Me and my tribe. Sons-in-law were watching football.

We had pecan trees. Pecans were plentiful, and my cooking shows it.

A mixed bag at my house. The turkey was absolutely wonderful, both the smoked half and the dry-brined and roasted half. It was the first time I'd dry brined, and as it's SO much simpler, I think it's my new go-to. Both bird halves boasted plenty of juciness, and excellent flavor. My gluten free dressing was much better than I had anticipated. And the son-in-law LOVED @Kim Shook's fig-apple-mascarpone tart; I think he ate three pieces. Green beans were meh (just cooked in water with butter and salt, so the little people would eat them). I forgot the vanilla in the sweet potatoes, and forgot to take the foil off when I baked them, so they didn't get crispy on top. Ditto the corn casserole, also inadvertently baked with foil on. But we were all full, the wine was excellent, and I am eating leftover cranberry salad for breakfast. And the very best thing was having all my girls and their families here.

I was foolishly excited about all that. I have to think my Mama would be pleased.

I love ham. Glazed and baked for Christmas or Easter dinner, cold on a sandwich, ground up as deviled ham, salt-cured as country ham, a slab fried next to my eggs, chopped up and stirred into mac and cheese, the bone or the hock in bean soup, and I could go on and on. But it has to be GOOD ham. Right now, my favorite is the Appleton Farms spiral sliced half-ham from Aldi. Consistently good, and cheap, too.

This is very similar to what we'll have tomorrow (and again Christmas, and very possibly between the two). Mine uses raspberry instead of lemon Jell-O, no celery (horrors!), pecans instead of walnuts, and adds chopped apples. We did, in fact, grind the fruit in the sausage grinder. I do it in a food processor now. I've had, but never made, the creamy one. Have also had one with a gelled cranberry base and a creamy layer on top. No recipes for either. @andiesenji's recipe sounds right.

I want this. And I don't mean the salad, either.

Status update: One turkey half plus one wing is smoked. Remainder of turkey is dry-brining in the auxiliary fridge to go in the oven in the morning. Gluten free dressing is made and ready to slide in the oven. I had not planned on this, but Child B, my fellow celiac sufferer, asked for it, so, OK. Gluten free corn casserole will be made up tonight to bake tomorrow; ditto sweet potatoes when Child C gets here in a bit, because I'm making a double batch for her to take to her hubby's family's dinner on Friday. Cranberry salad was made last weekend and stashed in the fridge. It keeps well. Chicken stock made and ready to have drippings added from turkey to make gravy (also GF). Rolls are baked and in freezer, to be reheated in the CSO just before dinner Green beans are topped, tailed and cut, ready to cook atop the stove. I decided to pass on the Brussels sprouts Wine (La Crema dry rose) is chilling in the auxiliary fridge Two desserts -- a gluten-free brownie that will be warmed and served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, and @Kim Shook's fig apple mascarpone tart -- made and ready to go Dressing (regular) picked up from a local restaurant, to have eggs added tomorrow and then baked So tomorrow, all there is is to roast the half-bird, make gravy, and bake three casseroles. Well, four, when you consider two different dressings. Children A and C will be staying here tonight (and shifting for themselves for breakfast). Child C's hubby, as well as Child B and her hubby and two littles, should show up around 10 or 11. We're planning dinner noonish. I don't think I'm doing apps, though there may be day-drinking going on. Happiest of Thanksgivings to all of you. Hope you're spending it with friends and family.

Good story. Not sure I'd make it as an Inuit, though. Don't think I could live in that cold and six months of dark.

I have a recipe for a really good tuna salad with canelli beans and capers. Want it?

Down here, the canonical sweet potato (yes, yam) pie has nutmeg. Not necessarily any other spice. I'm not sure if they use corn syrup or sugar.

Have not seen any new KitKats in these parts. However, my all-time favorite KitKat is the green tea one you can buy everywhere in Japan. I recently ran across all-caramel Milky Ways miniatures. Nice oozy caramel.

I buy my turkey from a local farmer. This year, in fact, I have two turkey halves, as their processor cut too many of them apart, so I'll roast one and smoke the other. Should work nicely. I have gotten fresh turkeys from them before, but the issue is that, since it has to go to the processor the week of Thanksgiving, you get a turkey that's however big it got before it got slaughtered; thus one year, for six people I had a 24-pound turkey! USDA regulations for farm products require turkeys to be processed by an approved slaughterhouse, and those are not always in big supply for smaller farmers; my folks drive about 80 miles from their farm to their processor, so a 160 mile round trip to take them, and another 160-mile round trip to pick them up. Big poultry processors which process hundreds of thousands of birds a day will switch over to almost exclusively turkey in advance of Thanksgiving and Christmas to accommodate the demand; it's just not possible to process enough fresh to meet the demand. So my turkey halves are currently thawing. I may smoke one half tomorrow, and I think I'll smoke all the dark meat, maybe save one drumstick. The other half will go in the oven Thursday morning. This afternoon, I'm going to make @Kim Shooks fig, apple and mascarpone tart, except it'll be in a springform pan, as I do not possess a tart pan, and a pan of gluten-free brownies for Child B and me and anyone else craving chocolate. Tomorrow, I'll pick up my dressing (from a local restaurant whose dressing is dependably good; mine is either good or not fit to eat, and one can't have bad dressing) and get my sweet potato casserole and corn casserole ready to bake, and make and par-bake my rolls, in addition to smoking the turkey half. So that leaves me Thursday to roast the other half-turkey, cook the green beans and brussels sprouts, make the mac and cheese, and bake the dressings and casseroles. Oh, and also must make curry dip as a spread for day-after turkey sandwiches! I probably won't do appetizers, as no one seems to want to fill up on them. In fact, most years the desserts aren't touched, either. We are definitely a turkey and sides...and sides...and sides crowd. I perused the dry rose offerings from the local liquor store, and went with La Crema, as I like their pinot noir and this professes to be a pinot rose, which I've never heard of. We also have hard cider and a red blend, and soft drinks and sparkling water.

Welcome! This is a good week for home-cooked goodies, as most of us will be hard at work in the kitchen leading up to the Big Day Thursday!

Huh. I didn't read the article closely enough to notice a date (got it from a FB post). It may have been an old one.

Here's one I think I will have to try when it comes out. I love soul food restaurants. I have never had a sweet potato pie fit to eat outside a soul food restaurant. Never seen backbone and dressing outside a soul food place, but for my mother's kitchen. Never had neckbones and rice outside a soul food restaurant. Now, the chitlins, I can leave alone.

That makes sense. I'll try that. That would require more forethought that I generally use. H'mm. Similar to NickRey's suggestion. Must see if I can make that work. Perhaps with a turkey leg, after I dismember this critter.

As I use a relatively cheap Food Saver vacuum sealer, it's difficult if not impossible to vacuum seal a bag with protein and sauce inside. I have done specifically pork loin roast just in the way someone upthread suggested, SV'ing it to within 10 degrees of the finished temperature I want, then cooling, then putting in a baking dish with sauce and finishing cooking in the oven. If I still had a slow-cooker -- I gave mine away when I got my IP, and now don't slow-cook much of anything with that -- I suspect I could use that just as effectively. I suppose you could also use a zip-lock bag and the displacement method to seal it with sauce in the bag.

If you wanted to send me a box of those, that would be a fine thing! Sorta-kinda a toll house cookie, but I can imagine richer.