turkey

turkey
Originally uploaded by meganursula

We hosted a quite small Thanksgiving in our home. Josh smoked a turkey. Smoking turns out to be a wonderful way to go - the turkey turned out really nicely, and was pretty low effort, and left the oven free.

We ended up with a nice spread, including some donations from Chris and George and Rachel. (Some of which aren't pictured here.)

We got to sit down to a wonderful meal, and a beautiful table, with great friends and family. Life doesn't get better than that!

tomatopie

tomatopie
Originally uploaded by meganursula

On a whim i tried to capture my dad's green tomato pie that i remembered growing up with. Lacking a recipe (my dad couldn't access his), this was the result of some web searches and some improvisation. I hope to improve the quality next fall, but i think this one looks quite pretty.

this place sounds like fun

http://www.pastafreska.com/

restaurant gossip

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/allyoucaneat/2010140240_harvest_vine_whats_going_on_jo.html?cmpid=2628

I feel a bit gossipy posting that, but, people who read this blog may care. I sure hope the quality of the restaurant stays up there, while wishing the owners the best individually. Its been too long since we all went and got happy on sherry.

This feels less gossipy, but also very very interesting:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/allyoucaneat/2009928822_the_swinery_mom_pop_butcher_sh.html?obref=obinsite

Also, if you don't want me to post stuff like this, someone needs to upload more photos.

basement cheese #1 2009

Made in a vaguely "Swiss mountain cheese in one-gallon miniature" style: thermophilic cultures, and Propionibacter but I didn't get any CO₂ evolved. Tastes... buttery, smooth, with some booty to it.

From basement cheese #1 2009

Bacon Bun Burger

I promised to upload pictures of the burgers we made with the bacon buns a while ago, and finally got around to getting them off my phone.



Ngh. That looks good. I also have a couple shots of our liquid accompaniment. First, the beer:



I've never had anything bad from Stone, and this was no exception. I don't remember the Tripel being exceptional. Meanwhile, we had a lovely red recommended by my boy Emile at Champion Wine Cellars, one of the treasures of Seattle:



A bright and fruity Medoc, it was lighter than many Bordeaux reds, but still had plenty of heft. Stood up the burgers nicely, and these were serious burgers.

smoked whale

CIMG1057
Originally uploaded by meganursula

While i Norway Josh and i tried some smoked whale. We both felt sort of weird about eating whale, but it is something traditionally Norwegian, and legal there. It was really pretty good. Although, since the foremost flavor was 'smoked' i don't think its something i'll miss never having again.
At that same meal i had some salt cod - really tasty, a bit too salty for me to eat such a large quantity. Josh had Elk. Over all, the food was really good. The presentation reminded us of a much more traditional time in the US - very meat and potatoes - but it tasty food. I was struck by how good the vegetables were - they all seemed to have a lot of flavor.