Stuff it!

I was recently at the 2nd Annual Chicago Food Film Festival where I engaged in a conversation around the topic of whether to stuff the bird with stuffing, or to stuff elsewhere.

The gentleman I was talking to was of the bird stuffing persuasion. I, on the other hand, recognize that to get enough stuffing for 26 people, I would have to stuff at least five birds. This is not practical. As well, isn't there proof that will kill you?

Mixed up the stuffing today in a pan. After it is cooked, it will be lovingly stuffed into this fabulous tureen.

I'm Thankful for Mr. Hooper

I am thankful for our neighbors Jon and Charity Ross.  They deliver groceries to my door every Tuesday.  I completely look forward to this because a fresh bag of groceries that I was not responsible for picking out, delivered to my door along with neighborly banter about what our kids are doing in school, whose birthday party is this weekend or what we are making for dinner, is basically one of my new favorite things.  In a life of three kids, a full time job and a demanding blog ;), it is so nice to just receive something without having to put together a timeline.

Jon and Charity introduced me to the Local Matters program here in Columbus, Ohio called the Veggie Van.  It drops off bags of local produce ... well not all local because I got some oranges in today's delivery ... to area schools and their son's preschool is one of them.  I am grateful for the Ross' and that they so graciously have signed us up and stop by every Tuesday.

I started calling Jon our personal Mr. Hooper.  And there's nothing like getting a bag of groceries and 20 minutes in your week that resembles Sesame Street.  And for that I'm thankful.

P.S. I brined our turkey.  It was everything I thought it would be.

Curse of the Cranberry Chutney

It is a fact that every Thanksgiving I make a cranberry chutney. I often spend a lot of time and use a lot of ingredients to make something that will be perfect. Sometimes I add exotic fruit, sometimes booze, sometimes more savory ingredients. It is always the start of my Thanksgiving preparations.

The other thing that is consistent with my chutney is that it is NEVER actually served. Inevitably it ends up in the back of the fridge and isn't even noticed until Friday afternoon when leftovers start coming out of the fridge.

I think it is time to break the curse (not sure which of my family members gave it to me, but something tells me it the Italians). Anyway, I was able to discover a way to break the curse. It is 7 steps. And should be done at transition times during the day. How about now.

1. Fill the tub with water. Temperature should be comfortable for a long soak if the target is a living thing. -- it isn't it is Cranberry Chutney!
   
2. Open and hold up the container of sea salt.
3. Clear your mind and say the following words while concentrating on what they mean to you. Say them slowly, confidently, and meditatively: "In the names of my ancestors, my gods, and myself, I call upon thee, oh creatures of Earth and Water. Come forth, cleanse Cranberry Chutney of all evil and alien magicks, and restore them (me, it) to balance and health. By our wills combined, so mote it be."
4. Pour the salt into the water. Use a lot.
5. Keeping your mind in that calm and meditative state, submerge or wash the target (Chutney) slowly. If you are the target, get in the tub and simply lay back and soak. Relax. Let everything slip away.
   
6. Do this for at least ten minutes. When you are done, drain the water away down the drain and rinse it off the target (Chutney). It is absolutely necessary that all of the saltwater is washed off of the target (Chutney)!
7. When you are done, say the following in the same way you did step 3: "I thank thee, oh creatures of Earth and Water, in the name of myself, my gods, and my ancestors. Be released to your homes, doing no harm on your way, and return to me with glad hearts when next you are summoned. By our wills combined, so mote it be."

The chanting got a bit of a reaction from the family -- but this has got to work!!!

Five

Five days to Thanksgiving.

Can you believe my store was out of parsnips? Hmmm...maybe this blog is catching on. Not to worry....the store is getting me some for Tuesday. I am making Tricia's soup as the starter for our Thanksgiving meal. I made it all by myself a week or so ago. It was good, a little too thick and frankly too parsnipy. So for the big day I am going to use less parsnips and maybe add a little apple cider to the soup.

Here is the menu for Thanksgiving Dinner.

• Parsnip, leak and apple soup
• Turkeys (one in the fryer, one on the smoker)
• Cranberry Chutney
• Brussels sprouts/cauliflower gratin
• Stuffing
• Mashed Potatoes
• Sweet Potatoes with Cranberry and bourbon sauce
• Kale with garlic/caper butter
• Mixed greens
• And of course rolls and butter and gravy.

Cooking starts tomorrow. Stay tuned for the play by play as I count down the days to Turkey Day.

Gobble! Gobble!

PSA: Don't Drink and Mushroom

WARNING: Do not eat OYSTER mushrooms and consume alcohol.

Did you know that some wild mushrooms, when consumed with alcohol, can be POISONOUS? Me neither until I woke up this morning with a wicked "hangover".

From Wikipedia about a toxin contained in OYSTER mushrooms:
A more unusual toxin is coprine, a disulfiram-like compound which is harmless unless ingested within a few days of ingesting alcohol. It inhibits aldehyde dehydrogenase, an enzyme required for breaking down alcohol. Thus the symptoms of toxicity are similar to being "hung over" -- flushing, headache, nausea, palpitations, and in severe cases, trouble breathing. Coprinus species, including Coprinopsis atramentaria, contain coprine. Notably, Coprinus comatus does not,^[17] but it is best to avoid mixing alcohol with other members of this genus.
It was a two-day mushroom/martini bender that took me down. I made some fabulous wild mushroom dishes. It is unfortunate however that I will never eat them again.

SATURDAY: Made a wonderful miso soup with noodles and wild mushrooms. It included shiitake and OYSTER mushrooms. Lots of them. See, ingredients on the left, soup on the right.

Washed that down with a gin martini on the rocks. Woke up Sunday feeling kind of icky. But was going to a flea market so didn't stop to think about why I didn't feel good. There was too much junk to discover.

SUNDAY: wild mushroom (including OYSTER) and thyme frittata. And again, unknowingly washed it down with a gin martini.

TODAY: Sick, sick, sick. A pretty big hangover with all the fixins mentioned above except trouble breathing.

I am just so happy it wasn't the martini that made me sick. That would have really been a tragedy. This is just a mere "poisoning". Whew!

Wild Mushrooms!

No build up to this announcement.  Just announcing it loud and clear.  I'll leave all the puns up to Megan, because she is such a Fun-Gi.

Let me tell you why this is so exciting.  Last week, I had a super ripe papaya.  I dashed it with cayenne pepper, a drizzle of honey and a squeeze of lime juice and had it for lunch (February challenge).  I made an Asian soup and thought to myself, this could use pink pepper corns (September's challenge).  I made an eggplant and potato curry and served it over black rice (May's challenge) instead of brown.  What's the point you ask?  The point is, this food challenge has made me a much better cook.  More confident for sure.  I am actually using the ingredients I am learning about in my everyday cooking without thinking twice.

So I'm very excited to work with wild mushrooms.  I want to be more confident with them.  I want to be forced to buy some of every type,  shitakes, morels, chanterelles, cremini, oyster, porcini, enoki* and see how and where to put them.  Cook them with wine, with cream, in a tart, who knows what.  But I'll know by the end of the month.  And then I'll use them all year round.

Still no camera.

*O.K. some of these are cultivated.  But I am going to do the best I can with the food chain that we live in.