dumpling

Steven- What can be said about that cake? Amazing. By the way tell your sister the Wampanoag Indians did not wear feather headresses. Over the weekend, from the dinners- T-day I think it was one of the most beautiful turkeys I've ever made or seen. Perfect shape, beautiful skin, juicy meat. People were also quite fond of the sausage, chestnut, apple, sage and rosemary cornbread stuffing. But the hit was probably the butternut squash soup served in a pumpkin. Can't beat the presentation value. It had a great gingery piquant flair to it. People scarfed it up. Saturday, my friend brined a 20 pounder and cooked it on his Kamado. We were supposedly done with the dinner but me and the teens stayed at the table to pick at the crispy skin on the wings. We kept saying, "oh we're stuffed" but we just couldn't stop picking off that skin! That was the tastiest turkey. Between the brining and the Kamado, the juicy and the smoke, umm, umm! His wife made a lovely sweet potato pie not complicated but just straight ahead good. For dessert, I made some vanilla bean gelato with chocolate and walnuts. While a little icy, it captivated everyone with its flavor.

well the recipe calls for freezing the custard for an hour or two until its frozen about an inch away from the side of the pan. Then to take it out and mix in the chocolate bits and stir it up(At that point it's kind of part frozen part soupy). Then stick it back in and freeze until set.

Monday Grilled boneless chicken thighs, large shrimp and sea scallops served with a dal makhani sauce(lentils and red kidney bean curry) over jasmine rice Jim Dixon's Roasted Cauliflower with roasted yellow summer squash Semolina Bread Sweet Potato pie

I made some gelato the other day- taste was lovely. I used dark chocolate bits and glazed walnuts and some vanilla beans for flavor. The only problem was a little icyness. I heated the milk and cream and then mixed it into the eggs and cooked it on medium high over water for several minutes maybe about ten. I'm wondering if I cooked it too long. Any thoughts?

Thanksgiving dinner: I was assisted by dishes from my sister and one of my friends. We had ten people. Two salads- mixed green salad red cabbage, apple, walnut and pear salad Butternut squash soup served in two sugar pumpkins Sage and Rosemary Roast Turkey with sausage, apple, chestnut, sage and rosemary cornbread stuffing, some in bird some out. Also a veggie version. Turkey gravy. Also some organic(no antibiotics) turkey. Mashed potatoes Extra squash puree topped with marshmallows Cauliflower parsnip puree Green beans and almonds with breadcrumbs Organic cranberry sauce Desserts: Organic pumpkin pie Pecan pie Mixed berry pie Assoted cookies Bed is for sleeping. ZZZZZ....

Wednesday Mixed green salad with feta and black olive dressing with pears and glazed walnuts Veal osso buco with carrots and onions over Risotto alla Milanese, accompanied by young green peas. Came out really just right- lovely and warming. Apple crumble All set for tomorrow?!?

Not 4

Friday TURKEY! Pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving: Roast Turkey with Rosemary and Sage(Big gorgeous 16 pounder!) Candied Yams Green Bean in garlic butter sauce Stuffing Gravy Leftover Potato Latkes Cranberry Apple Pie

Thursday Roast Chicken and Orzo- white meat chicken, orzo, peas, carrots cooked in cream of chicken soup with salt, pepper and sherry. plated topped by a potato latke, then cranberry and carrot relish. Apple and walnut strudel

Irwin man, You ROCK! You are definitely crabby and have been everywhere. Alaskan King Crab in my youth in Connecticut Softshell crab Cayman Islands, Florida and all over Blue Crab with Old Bay in Maryland, in Gumbo in New Orleans Stone Crab from Joe's Stone Crab, Florida Dungeness Crab brought back from Seattle about two weeks ago, eaten cold accompanied by drawn butter. Also in various other forms most notably ginger and scallion. Dungeness Crab While all the crabs were great, Dungeness definitely rules. Mark, man, we have to find you some Dungies. There used to be this amazing place in Englewood Cliffs that sold Dungeness in Ginger and Scallion sauce. I could eat the whole thing. That was a true delight. I would dream of it. I can now make it but don't always have the opportunity to get good dungies. The ones I had recently for my birthday had to be right up there with the best I ever ate(the ones from Seattle).

Echo most of the other points made. I can appreciate the desire to make the whole thing from scratch. May be a little challenging if you haven't done before, but hey, rock on! I too would add the sesame oil. There are different things you can do and add, but try that first. Another suggestion- try at least a third of the meat being fatty ground pork. So if you get it from the Chinese store they will have lean ground and fatty ground. Some fatty ground mixed in will kick up the flavor a bit.

Steven I just got one of those two days ago with some Chinese food!

The one I'll always remember was one I saw when I was little. It wasn't necessarily the misspelling that struck me although I believe it may have been misspelled. The thing was how it came across. At Ting Fu Garden they used to have their menu under the glass tabletop to peruse while you ate. So as you read it your eyes could light with desire upon "Boiled Intestine and Things". I always wondered what the "things" were but was a little hesitant to find out.

I have always had good success with the stovetop/oven method. I will slice up the apple(not just half it or quarter it) and arrange it around in the pan on top of the butter and the sugar. I don't like moving it once I've arranged it in the pan but I will rotate the pan on the stove. I'll cook it for about fifteen minutes until it is somewhat brown but not real dark otherwise it will start to burn on you, so watch your heat. Then I'll put the pastry on and cook in the oven for about 18 to 20 minutes. Comes out perfectly golden virtually every time. Only time I lost it was when I had to go away from the stove to chase down the niece and nephew.

Thursday night Chicken in wine- chicken legs upper and lower dipped in milk, floured and fried then cooked in chicken broth, sherry, shallots, garlic and mushrooms. over buttered spaetzle with young peas and baby carrots. Previously had made the chicken with some marsala as well as the sherry, and some Misson Figlets. This time came out nice but I rather preferred the flavor before with a little less wine but a mix and the figlets really gave it a greater depth.

"La Choy Makes Chinese food, duh, duh, Swiiinng American!" Is that the one you're talking about jo mel? I actually remember those commercials(despite my youthful mien). Hey Ed, how are you? When can I kidnap you and take you out for dumplings? There's two places that I can think of near me that have something akin to it. One, has the right topping but no noodles, and so is sold as chop suey. The other place is fairly close, has noodles which are browned and a little crisp. I'm fond of the Guangdong Chow Mian, but there is a little place in my heart for the comforting nature of the Western version. And my mother actually used to serve it to my Cantonese father and he liked it too.

What's the best meat you have ever eaten and why? Where?

If you are serving in the pumpkin. a French pumpkin is good because it has more of a tureen shape and just makes a beautiful presentation. I've done butternut squash in pumpkin for Thanksgiving in the past.

Cha gio(vietnamese spring rolls). Grilled Chicken Wings with JJ's Rub Broccoli with garlic Lo Bot Go(Fried Turnip cake) with oyster sauce and for a couple of folks that didn't want chicken wings- Nathan's Hot Dogs on Foccacia slices Niece and nephew came in in the Halloween costumes in the middle of my cooking and I was slightly distracted. Well they are the most gorgeous children on the planet- Thomas the Tank Engine and a Barbie Princess. My little niece Ana, she's three, is very blunt, if she got a piece of candy she didn't like, she was telling people, "No, I don't want that" and giving it back to people. Her mother was trying to explain to her the greater subtleties of manners, that if she doesn't like it she should just take it anyway and not be rude. But to a three year old that seems not logical; if she doesn't want it, why should she take it? Did the Halloween thing and had people talking local politics to me. Ugh!

Hey Jason, what's the address on the place? Looks good-those cookers look really interesting.

Thursday Grilled Shrimp that was marinated in sesame and ginger, plated atop a sweet corn patty that was laced with West Indian Hot Sauce. All surrounded by a drizzle of honey mustard and lime juice sauce. "Bahama Mama Pork Chops"- Combination of Tonkatsu prepared pork chops, covered and cooked with a bahamian pineapple chili sauce based sauce. Served over long grain and wild rice accompanied by sugar snap peas. Low on food, so only frozen yogurt for dessert. Gotta go to the store! Need Food!

Hey, formerly, can completely get into the craziness. Once made a tofu with ginger and scallion dish decorated with all the elements of the environment. It came to me in a dream. I had a cultivated garden- a tomato basket with herbs including purple basil; an asparagus woods with cucumber mountains and a little cucumber sampan with a scallion roof and two chickpea people on a sea of mashed chickpeas. Yes, I am insane

That stuff is a conspiracy. Is it really asparagus? Well, the white asparagus is pulled from the sinus passages of the members of the Privy Council of Europa and Iao at the Jovian solstice. But only if it's marked "Tradizionalle". Otherwise, there's no telling. Oh. I thought it was from the Illuminati.

Tuesday- Gambas al Ajillo(Shrimp with garlic) Paella Valencianna Acorn Squash Three Ways- Baked with cinnamon Chilean Squash Sopaipillas with Pebre Sauce(Green Cilantro based sauce) Sauce came out fairly sharp, even without chilies but it kind of grew on me and other diners The same sopaipillas with powdered sugar

Sunday Went out to a reiki circle, where everyone brought potluck- so I brought apple walnut strudel Monday Artichoke and pepper spread on semolina bread Pollo al Mattone(Chicken under a brick) Asparagus sauteed in EVOO, lemon juice and garlic Couscous pilaf Red potatoes sauteed in EVOO, rosemary and shallots Pumpkin Pie and pumpkin bread that I made yesterday