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eG Foodblog: slkinsey's Thanksgiving Week Diary


slkinsey

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I'm really happy your ambitious plans were satisfyingly realized! Amazing feast! And thank you for sharing it with us (if only there were teletaste...)

Now, what are you going to do for Christmas? :hmmm::laugh:

Michael aka "Pan"

 

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Wow, Sam. I am bowled over. Care to share your pecan tart recipe? It looked beautiful.

I made pecan pie for the first time yesterday (well, I baked it Wednesday, actually), and something didn't work. I used the recipe on the back of the dark Caro syrup (I can see how Steen's would be more interesting -- a good Louisiana product :wink: ). Anyway, I know the filling ran over the edge of the crust a bit, and got between the crust and the pan, which made it hard to cut, but in addition to that, the filling didn't "gel" at all. I'm open to suggestions.

Bridget Avila

My Blog

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I didn't rate a place at the slkinsey Thanksgiving table, but was permitted after much review of my petition to sit in a corner on a three legged stool the next day and sample a few leftovers. A single brulee from the "Brussels Sprouts Four Ways" dish remained, as did K's apple pie, E's chocolate truffles, and S's bread pudding. All were superb. Tomorrow I am to be permitted a taste of cheesecake, or so I'm told.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I am simply blown away by the work (and love) that went into that meal. WOW!!!!! You could almost taste it all. Looking forward to seeing what you do for Christmas! I hope Begerka gets to rest for a few days (months) after that cleanup!

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WHEW!

Sam has said just about everything there is to say about dinner - I just want to add that it was spectacular. Everyone was blown away - I especially loved the brussels sprout crème brulée, the turkey, and the soup.

Here's the start of the cleanup - no pictures. I do not want you to know what the kitchen looked like last night. I will say that using dish bins was a stroke of genius on Sam's part (one of many) - everything was together and organized, and the food was, for the most part, already put away by the time I got going.

I put away the turkey and any ingredients that remained out - vinegar, oil, etc., and put the empty bottles into the recycling bin. Then I cleared out any dishes in the sink and stacked them on the counter pretty much in order of course and made a pile of dirty dishcloths in the corner.

The order was pretty much as follows:

1. All of the dishes, washed, dried, put away.

2. All of the silverware, washed and left to dry in the silverware basket.

3. All of the serving pieces, pots and pans, washed, dried, put away. For the copper pieces, this meant washing the inside with soap, then scrubbing both inside and outside with Barkeeper's Friend (miracle invention!) to get them shiny, then drying them completely inside and out before hanging them back up.

4. Put roasting pan in sink to soak overnight.

By this time it was 4 am and all that remained were the roasting pan and the glassware. Because I knew I had a job Christmas caroling today from noon to 2 pm, and it was by then 4 am, I did one last look-through to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and hit the hay.

Around 7:30, the ferrets decided it was time to play with their new toy, the Wiggly Giggly (a ball with something inside that makes "meep" sounds when it's rolled around), so I woke up just long enough to laugh at them and then fell asleep again (this has nothing to do with cleaning, per se, but it was just so adorable I had to tell you about it).

I got up at 10:30 to make it to my gig on time, caroled till 2pm, had lunch with the parents and then came back to the house, where I put away the silverware, washed, dried and put away the roasting pan and scrubbed out the sink in preparation for washing the glassware.

I cleaned off the countertop with bleach, then spread out clean dishcloths on it and washed and dried the glassware by type of glass, so I could make sure everything was together.

Then I cleaned the stovetop and we went out to dinner.

Now that we're back, I'm going to put away the remaining glassware, sweep and mop the kitchen floor, sweep the dining room floor and clear the lace tablecloth and napkins to get them ready to go to the dry cleaner (unlike that one year when I forgot to take them in...until the next Thanksgiving). I bought them in Belgium. I love them. :wub:

Then I'm going to go into our bedroom, fall down on the bed, and not move until tomorrow sometime.

K

Basil endive parmesan shrimp live

Lobster hamster worchester muenster

Caviar radicchio snow pea scampi

Roquefort meat squirt blue beef red alert

Pork hocs side flank cantaloupe sheep shanks

Provolone flatbread goat's head soup

Gruyere cheese angelhair please

And a vichyssoise and a cabbage and a crawfish claws.

--"Johnny Saucep'n," by Moxy Früvous

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There's really nothing to say that hasn't already been said, but this was truly spectacular in every way. Congrats to all three of you. Would that I were half as organized and efficient. Genuinely amazing, and thanks so much for sharing.

THW

"My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne." John Maynard Keynes

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You both will serve as my inspiration and role models for my next Thanksgiving! Beautifully done, both the real meal and the running dialogue ... ah, to have been a Kinsey ferret under the groaning table that day! Magnifique!

Melissa Goodman aka "Gifted Gourmet"

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Sam and Kathleen, this was the most awe-inspiring blog about Thanksgiving turkey I could ever imagine. Thank you for your many efforts here and congratulations on your successful dinner.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

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My sister and I have been sitting here reading through this marvelous journal completely mesmerized. We're speechless & drooling.

Selamat & Terima Kasih*

*Congratulations & Thank You in Indonesian.

Yetty CintaS

I am spaghetttti

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I'm waiting for Sam's Mom's kvelling.

"Some people see a sheet of seaweed and want to be wrapped in it. I want to see it around a piece of fish."-- William Grimes

"People are bastard-coated bastards, with bastard filling." - Dr. Cox on Scrubs

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For the copper pieces, this meant washing the inside with soap, then scrubbing both inside and outside with Barkeeper's Friend (miracle invention!) to get them shiny, then drying them completely inside and out before hanging them back up.

You wash the pans - and then polish them??!

Generosity doesn't cover it. True love doesn't cover it. Saintly smelling of roses and hovering three feet off the floor doesn't even come close. Holy moly, how does he repay you? Buff your Manolo's using only his breath and a weasle? :laugh:

"Gimme a pig's foot, and a bottle of beer..." Bessie Smith

Flickr Food

"111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321" Bruce Frigard 'Winesonoma' - RIP

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You wash the pans - and then polish them??!

Generosity doesn't cover it. True love doesn't cover it. Saintly smelling of roses and hovering three feet off the floor doesn't even come close. Holy moly, how does he repay you? Buff your Manolo's using only his breath and a weasle?  :laugh:

BWA HA HA HA HA HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! :biggrin::biggrin::biggrin::laugh:

Ok, that was hilarious. I'm going to go to bed tonight with the image of Sam buffing my shoes with...Issachar.

No, seriously - the thing about Barkeeper's friend is that it's so FAST! It takes almost no time, and then they look all shiny and new. Believe me, if it were at all a pain in the ass, I just wouldn't do it and he could polish the damn things.

K

Basil endive parmesan shrimp live

Lobster hamster worchester muenster

Caviar radicchio snow pea scampi

Roquefort meat squirt blue beef red alert

Pork hocs side flank cantaloupe sheep shanks

Provolone flatbread goat's head soup

Gruyere cheese angelhair please

And a vichyssoise and a cabbage and a crawfish claws.

--"Johnny Saucep'n," by Moxy Früvous

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So, to continue...

We woke up relatively late on Friday and continued with the cleanup. Then the parents came over and we went out to Grand Sichuan International Midtown for dinner. Had spicy beef tendon, spicy dan dan noodles, green parrot with red mouth, freshly killed kung pao chicken, stir fried pea shoots, au-zhou beef, shredded potato with vinegar and salt & pepper shrimp. We had Sonny, our favorite waiter, and everything couldn't have been better. The kitchen was really on its game. It was a good idea for the day after Thanksgiving because nothing could have been more different than what we had eaten the night before.

When we got home, I had two things I had to take care of before we went to sleep. First was making a batch of ferret food. The ferrets eat, among other things, raw whole chicken (including bones) that has been ground up.

gallery_8505_390_1101691744.jpg

Is that your partner in the wood chipper there?

gallery_8505_390_1101691715.jpg

Looks a bit like ground veal. The pink color comes from the bones.

gallery_8505_390_1101691683.jpg

(From left) Asher, Zebulun and Issachar chow down

I also wanted to make a stack of crêpes to use for the brunch we had planned for Saturday. So I banged out around 50 crêpes before going to bed.

gallery_8505_390_1101691651.jpg

Start with a good French steel crêpe pan. I find that the nonstick ones don't give the color I like.

gallery_8505_390_1101691622.jpg

In goes a ladle of bergerka's crêpe batter.

gallery_8505_390_1101691591.jpg

Flip it over after a few seconds

gallery_8505_390_1101691556.jpg

Before you know it, you have a big stack of crêpes.

--

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