As a 36-year-old man who lives for poker night with my buddies and bone-crushing football on Sunday afternoons, I would not call myself  huge fan of Martha Stewart’s.  Not that I have any particular thoughts about Martha Stewart. In fact it would be fair to say I had no particular thoughts about her one way or another.

But…

I want to thank you Martha, for the turkey roasting advice (in-depth instruction really) that I found on your website. As this year I was somehow cajoled into making the revered main course of the Thanksgiving holiday. News of this task was brought to my attention only after my girlfriend had already made arrangements with her parents (yes her parents) for me to perform this duty. Not to mention that this would be my first attempt…ever at cooking the famed fowl. 

Preparing the holiday bird for my girlfriends parents and assorted family and friends was, in my mind, a herculean feat. I spent a week pouring over recipes on the internet, I ony had two criteria. One, keep it traditional. I thought wildly exotic tastes or ingredients might not night be well received. And two, a recipe I could easily understand and readily follow. I found both and more on Martha’s website.

I followed her recipe for roasted turkey exactly. I used her method of cooking the bird to a tee. And I would like to say that it worked perfectly. Not only was the turkey picture perfect, as it sat looking succulent, waiting to be carved. It was also moist, tender and delicious. It was a hit!!

I have already had inquiries as to my ideas for the Christmas meal. Needless to say, Martha Stewart you have gained a huge fan. And although I have not committed to Christmas dinner, I do have ideas. More importantly I have more confidence in my ability to cook.

Thank You

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Cannoli are known as Italian-American pastries, although the origin of cannoli dates back to Sicily, specifically Palermo, where it was prepared during Carnevale season, and according to lore, as a symbol of fertility. The cannoli is a fried, tube-shaped pastry shell (usually containing wine) filled with a creamy amalgamation of sweetened ricotta cheese, chocolate, candied fruit or zest, and sometimes nuts. Although not traditional, mascarpone cheese is also widely used, and in fact, makes for an even creamier filling when substituted for part of the ricotta, or by itself. However, cannoli can also be filled with pastry creams, mousses, whipped cream, ice cream etc. You could also add your choice of herbs, zests or spices to the dough, if desired. Marsala is the traditional wine used in cannoli dough, but any red or white wine will work fine, as it’s not only added for flavor or color, but to relax the gluten in the dough since it can be a stiff dough to work with.

Despite not technically a “baking” challenge, I was SO excited to see this month’s challenge recipe at the Daring Kitchen.  I have only had cannoli a few times, but have always loved their delicate crispy shell and creamy fillings.  We had a choice of fillings, so I made half with vanilla and half with chocolate, and dipped the ends of both in melted dark chocolate.  For the cannoli with chocolate filling, I then dipped the ends into candied orange peel also for a bit of a jaffa flavour.  YUM YUM!!

Anyway, if you would like a printable copy of the recipe, you can find it here.

My first batch, I tried the forming them around the premade cannelloni tubes.  Unfortunately, they blistered and cooked along with the cannoli and I was unable to separate the two without smashing the entire thing into smithereens.  Luckily, I had some stainless cream horn shapes in my cooking stash, and they worked a treat.  Had they not worked, I would have opted for the flat, layered version aka millefeuille/napoleon style.  All in all, a great hit with the family and definately will be made again.  Am hoping Santa will bring me an ice cream maker for Christmas, as I can really imagine these with a yummy home made ice cream filling!!  Delish!

I woke up out of my hazy wine and self pity induced sleep on Thanksgiving morning to rather wonderful scents wafting into my room. I walked into the kitchen and the subjects/owners of those smells were there as tangible proof to their existence. Mumsey was nowhere to be seen so I just walked around with my mouth wide open in awe. She made a stuffed turkey, pumpkin pie, brown rice lentil dish with onions on top, a big green salad, baked mashed sweet potatoes, & cranberry orange bread/muffin. To me this shock of such extensive cooking was like her coming out of the closet. I had no idea she had the ability to do that. I was overwhelmed with pride. 

Po and Co came, and Po made another (apple) pie. And we sat down and ate merrily together. I learned about baby carrots from Po. She said they were a way of using and selling really ugly nubbly carrots. They are put through a shaving machine and in some sort of solution (kinda ew, right?) to keep them pretty. Esther was dressed up really cutely in her Thanksgiving “head-dress” and fun printed dress. Po read her paper from school listing all the kids ‘native/traditional/american’ names. It was a combination of the animal they love and activity they love. Esther’s was “Flying Butterlfy.” So cute. Our meal didn’t last very long (obvi; kids and all) but it was lovely. And I didn’t over-stuff myself .

Most of my recipes are from Europe. I grew up surrounded by grown ups who always cooked and baked. There was nothing my mom and aunts couldn’t make in the kitchen. Those cakes are always my favorite. A lot of pies and cakes from the stores I find to be overrated-too sweet,same flavors and boring. They surely look good but taste nasty.SO even today I make my own cakes and pies that people can’t get enough of.
This is one of my favorite apple pies.It’s easy to make and you can play with it around as much as you want.
You need:
3 Eggs
Abt 1,75 cups of sugar
Flour 2 cups
1 tbs baking powder
200 g of melted butter
5 Big apples
Jam if you wish

How you make it:
First you make a dough. You separate yorks from whites. You beat yorks with .75 cup of sugar until creamy and add melted butter to it,1 tbs of baking powder.Also,note, you don’t have to add much sugar.Your filling and meringue might be sweet enough.Depends on the taste.Then you add about 2 cups of flower. Divide the dough on 2 parts. One part should be much bigger than another one. Small part we use for garnish. Then put the dough to the fridge for about 30 min. Meanwhile, prepare your filling. In the pan add water and sugar( 1water: .5 sugar), and boil until goldish; add peeled ,sliced apples and vanilla,a bit of wine if you wish. When you like the texture of the apples-it’s ready.
Then beat until ready whites and 1 cup of sugar. You know it’s ready when the bowl with the mixture is turned upside down and the mixture does not move.))))) IT’s fun to do. Or you can just check it with your spoon.
Take a round deep baking pan. With your hands smooth out the biggest part of the dough. And cook in the oven until ready (350F). It’s usually 20 minutes.After it’s goldish,take it out.. Add apples and then smooth out the whites mixture nicely on the top. After, garnish your left dough with the help of the slicer on the top of the whites. Place the pie back into the oven,but this time it should be 450F. It’s usually ready in 5-10 minutes. Take it out,let it cool.
Have your yummy pie!!!
p.s. you can use peach,cherry,cream cheese..anything you want for this pie.
The dough is one of my favorites..you can make cookies with it, cakes..possibilities are endless. It’s crumbly and melts in the mouth.Stick around and I’ll show you more of my fab. recipes.

Good pulled pork has to be one of the most satisfying meat dishes in the world. I often find myself dreaming of those beautiful strands of juicy, smokey pork mixed with bits of spicy “bark.” Beautiful moutainscapes of steaming pulled pork topped with coleslaw snow-caps. A place where North-Carolina style red sauce flows like a river…. mmmmm. After living in North Carolina for a while I really fell in love with pulled pork. Some of my fondest food memories were had in small BBQ shacks around Gastonia and Charlotte. I recommend that every teenager should move to NC for high-school because pulled-pork sandwiches go perfect with reckless-abandon. Ah, those were the days!

I may really love this delicacy but I don’t get to enjoy it very often. Those BBQ-shacks seem to be hiding from me on this side of the ocean. So left with no other choice I set out to make my own. First problem, what the heck do I ask for at the butcher? Cuts of meat are different in pretty much every land. I wanted a Butt (no, it doesn’t come from that end of the pig) but the butcher had no idea what that was. Thankfully Picnic was something that they know here. To my surprise they are typically about 6 kg. Pigs must be bigger here. I thought that was a bit big for my first try, especially since I don’t have a freezer to hold any leftovers. I ended up ordering a nicely trimmed and de-boned half picnic, weighing in at 2.2kg (4.85 lbs.)

For the first cook I decided to pretty much stick to some standard recipes out of Smoke and Spice. It was time to say hello to “the Renowned Mr. Brown.” I slightly altered the Southern Succor rub in the recipe by adding some onion powder and garlic powder.

• 1/4 cup black pepper (fresh ground)
• 1/4 cup mild paprika
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tsp mustard powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder

The pork was well rubbed with this mixture and placed in a ziplock bag. He hung out in the fridge overnight with the hops and yeast. The next day I started the fire (Minion method fire with a 3/4 full ring of briquettes) around 8am and took the meat out of the fridge. After another roll around in the rub I let the pig rest until the smoker was up to temp.

The swine went on the smoker at 9:10 am and in typical fashion it started to rain. Not wanting to get too wet, I decided to quickly take the burning smoker apart and move it under the awning at the back door. From there on out it was a pretty simple cook. One of the big questions with this kind of barbecue is, to mop or not? Seeing as I was using the water pan in the smoker with water (as opposed to dry, or with sand or terra-cotta pot coasters as some recommend) I did not need to use a mop to add moisture, but I did want to use it to help add flavor. So I only mopped the meat a few times starting a couple hours into the cook.

• 1 cup cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp black pepper (fresh ground)
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tbsp paprika
• 1/2 tbsp cayenne
• 2 tbsp remaining rub

Since this was a somewhat small hunk of meat by pulled pork standards, I took a rough guess that it would be on the smoker for about 7-8 hours until it reached the magic “pullable” tenderness. Seeing that dinner was planned for 7:30 pm this seemed like ample time. Unfortunately I suck at these types of estimations. As we approached dinner time I ramped up the smoker temperature from the 110-120C range (230-250F) up to the 140-150C range (280-300F) to try to finish the pork faster. After 10.5 hours of cooking I had to take the meat off the smoker.  Now I was aiming for an internal temp of around 87-93C (190-200F), but I had to pull the meat off at 84C (183F). The real test isn’t the internal temp but taking your temp probe or a skewer and seeing that it slides into the meat easily, like butter. Mine was almost right there, but I couldn’t wait another 45 minutes or so. Fortunately the pork did pull apart very nicely and easily.

To accompany the meat I whipped up some coleslaw, some cornbread, and a salad. The coleslaw was also a first for me. I was so used to buying it back in the US that I never bothered trying to make it before. I have to say that is was quite tasty! The cornbread was again baked on the OTP. This time I was able to improve the cooking technique and get a very nice browned top on the cornbread, however the new recipe I tried out was not so great. It was just too darn dense. Next time I will use the recipe I used the first time and just cut back on the sugar… and perhaps use a touch more cornmeal.

Of course I also had to make up some Carolina red sauce. I used the recipe straight from the Smoke & Spice cookbook. I have to say though that I remember most sauces in North Carolina being just a touch thicker and spicier, but that was a long time ago.

The final accent to the meal was a bottle of Hop Nest IPA. The hops were able to cut through the spice, vinegar and smoke and really worked out nicely.

Of course I didn’t take any good photos of the final product, so you’ll have to put up with a slightly blurry photo of some of the leftovers.

All in all I was highly impressed with my new found pork pulling skills (please don’t take that out of context). I think everyone really enjoyed it but the black pepper spice may have been too much for them. The cornbread wasn’t so much of a success. The meat was absolutely fantastic! Super moist, full of smokey flavor, wonderful rich spice notes and melt in your mouth tenderness. I will definitely be cooking up more of this. Once we get a freezer it will be stocked with pulled pork for those times when I have THE craving.

For more photos of the cook click on the photos or here

Four burner cook top manufacturing is one of the modern manufacturing aspects that facilitate ladies to cook the food easily and quickly. Cook top manufacturing comprises of one, two, three, four burner cook tops that people buy according to their need.

Four burner cook top due to its multiple burners, provides an ample scope of fast cooking when suddenly you get news of arrival of the guests.

Lalit appliances manufactures single to multiple burner cook tops.

Today was Thanksgiving and Melissa and I have gone from turkey novices to what I like consider ourselves as  bird experts.  Started out clueless but over the years have got our day of thanks routine down to a well choreographed dance.  Start with clean kitchen armed with ingredients and end with a clean kitchen eating a well cooked meal.  One thine we’ve found is neither of us are fond of dark meat so we just but the smaller, cheaper, not having to cook as long, white meat turkey breast

The first time we cooked Thanksgiving on our own was in 2003.  We’d just moved out to Indy and Melissa Brother came out to join us for the holiday.  Long story short you need to thaw the bird out COMPLETELY before cooking it.  See, frozen turkey won’t cook like unfrozen turkey so when the instructions read cook at “375 for an hour for every pound” that’s for meat that not in ice form.  I didn’t eat much neither did Melissa but John, who loves turkey, got through half the bird before exclaiming “What the F!CK!  This bird is straight up raw yo!”

He’d eaten quite a bit on way under cooked meat luckily he was OK.  Pretty sure he spent quite a bit of time on the porcelain thrown that night but he was no worse for the wear the next day.

Sorry John.

That was then, this was now.  Here are few snap shots from this years preparation and final prepared meal….and witty comments you’ve come to expect.

Melissa had to deal with unpacking the bird. It was to gooey and grossed me out

Mmmmm, raw bird punch. Grab a ladle, a few cups and some ice. Let's all have a glass.

What I like to call Anal Stuffing. Relax, it goes in the bird while it cooks. There's Apples, onions, carrots, garlic, all spice berries, peppercorns, oregano, basil, garlic power, cumin, cinnamon sticks, salt, pepper, and candied ginger

The Anal Stuffing is in place

Next comes the Flavor injected marinade. A hit for the bird......

.....and a hit for Eric

Another hit flavor injected hit of buttery herb oil for the bird........

...and another for me. Tying off to find a vein is what makes the holidays magical

Seven hours of slow cooking later the turkey is ready

Stuffing and garlic range mashed po-tat-ars

Looks good eh? No, not the turkey. My forearm. Looks like I have hair on it huh? Sometimes the camera captures strangers images

I didn't carve this off. Melissa is like the Tasmanian devil when it comes to turkey

yes, this IS what happy tastes like

asalaam aleikum

So my mom has been married to her husband for almost a year now. He’s quite lazy around the house. My mom cooks and cleans constantly and I will clean too. He does nothing, absolutley nothing. They both work jobs five days a week…sometimes my mom works more than he does. And since today is Thanksgiving she’s been cooking and cleaning non stop since yesterday. He  hasn’t offered to help, not once. All he has done is sit around and watch tv and eat. I don’t know if he holds old fashioned values…that it’s the womans job to cook and clean, or if he’s just lazy.

I didn’t realize I had feminist views until after my mom got re-married. It makes me so angry that he’s like this. I’ve noticed that he only does things that seem to be manly, such as taking out the garbage or carrying a peice of furniture from one part of the house to the other. I don’t like this at all. It bugs me that there are men out there that seem to think it’s the woman’s job to cook and clean and serve her man like she’s a maid or servant. I see no equality in that.

If I ever get married I will make sure it’s to a man that agrees to do equal housework and but also works and has no issue with me working also. If I later find out he’s not like that…divorce. I can’t be with someone that thinks certain things are “a woman’s job” and other things are “a man’s job”. Women can do the same things a man can do and vice versa.

So I guess I’m a Muslim feminist…is that ironic??

之前在家拿在餐廳打包的白飯煮粥,味道不錯,跟大家分享一下.

材料都是家中現成的:

1. 赤味增
2. 白味增
3. 海帶芽
跟這一樣 http://tw.page.mall.yahoo.com/item/p0703760322
4. 韓國泡菜
5. 烹大師少許
6. 白飯

作法:

1. 用大鍋煮水,將兩種味增用溫水拌勻後加入,赤味增用量約為白味增兩倍
2. 水滾後加入海帶芽少許,韓國泡菜煮沸幾分鐘後,再加入白飯
3. 灑上一點點烹大師讓湯汁更有味道
4. 最後大火收汁,將湯汁濃縮 (因為不想喝這麼多湯)

好吃又簡單,又無油煙.
材料在大百貨公司的超市應該都買的到喔 ^_^

There’s a lot of completely useless kitchen gadgets on the market and I used to be a gadget slave, thinking life could not possibly move forward without purchasing something new to help lighten my load. Experience and age have taught me to stop this nonsense! Some are good, most are rubbish. I’ve recently bought a couple that I deem really quite good that I wish to share with you.

While doing a catering job in someone’s home, my eyes were fixed on a tool in my client’s drawer. She spotted this straight away and launched into a speech singing this gadget’s praises. The gadget was a very odd looking knife sharpener and she had bought hers in the USA. “I’ll get you one from a friend of mine in the States”, she said. Thinking no more about it, months later, I received my AccuSharp. Wow – she wasn’t wrong! I have been slaving away, sharpening my very expensive knives on various steels for years. I have even done a carvery course at Leiths Cookery School, being shown how to use a steel properly AND went and bought a really quite expensive one in Lakeland. But now I can proudly announce my AccuSharp, is without a doubt, the best knife sharpener I have ever used. Some of my old knives, that were half way into their coffin have been brought back to life. Check out the website in Britain, I don’t know if they sell them here and if they do I don’t know the cost but if you’re ever in the USA, most good hardware shops stock them at around $10. You won’t regret this purchase!

Apologies for this next gadget – it’s one for a slightly more dedicated cook.

In the butchers today, I was patiently standing in line, watching Steve of Stephen’s Fine Foods in Hinchley Wood, beaver away at his burgers! He put a splodge of ground beef onto a round piece of film and put a round, heavy, steel press over the meat, stamped his palm hard down on the spring in the centre of the press and there snug underneath the press was the perfect looking 5inch round, pressed burger. All these years I have been making with my own hands, moulding and shaping, never looking quite like they should. Butchers up and down the land, I know use far more complicated machines, but I’m glad to say that old fashioned Steve (and I like that bit) uses an old-fashioned gadget that works a treat! They are quite pricy (around £47) and I have placed my order with Steve for one.

Last week, selling my wares at a fair, and being entertained by the lovely Jane from GastroNicks, a chap to my right, was selling silicon kitchen ware, amongst which was what I can only describe as a pirate’s knife. It had a good solid black handle, and a wide silicon style knife head (obviously no blade), which looked like a cross between a knife and a spatula. It was £5 at the fair with a sign next to it saying that it is sold for £9 at the shops. I tried it at the weekend when I was making breakfast, on the scrabble eggs, and it worked a treat! Better than a spatula!

If you have any couldn’t-live-without gadgets I’d love to hear what they are!

There are many great quotes referring to the delicious cannoli.  The two below are my favourites.

“Leave the gun, take the cannoli”… Clemenza from The Godfather.

“I’ve never had cannoli before.  But if they are supposed to taste this good, I should have had them much sooner.” - My husband’s exact words when he tried the cannoli I made for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge…

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Leave the gun... take the cannoli - Clemenza from The Godfather

Lisa has also been kind enough to put in PDF the  Cannoli recipe.  The only change I made was to increase the amount of marsala wine (I added another 1/4 cup) and an egg until the dough was wet enough to knead.  Unfortunately my first batch was too dry so I had to start over – but it was worth it!

As for the filling, I used a combination of candied oranges and dark chocolate.

Daring Bakers Challenge: Cannoli

Grazie Lisa for a great challenge!  Your detailed instructions made a world of difference – it gave me so much confidence to tackle the challenge.

Do you know cooking?  What is the best thing you have cooked so far ? What have you prepared for the thanksgiving dinner ?

From http://news.nationalgeographic.com/

It may be called Turkey Day, but the U.S. Thanksgiving Day is about more than just the bird. Learn about a holiday myth—the first “real” Thanksgiving wasn’t until the 1800s—and how we celebrate Thanksgiving dinner today.

Key to any Thanksgiving Day menu is a fat turkey and cranberry sauce.

Some 250 million turkeys were raised in the U.S. in 2009 for slaughter, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Those birds were worth about U.S. $4.5 billion.

About 46 million will end up on U.S. dinner tables this Thanksgiving. (See the Green Guide’s suggestions for having a greener—and more grateful—Thanksgiving.)

Minnesota is the United States’s top turkey-producing state, followed by North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, Virginia, and California.

These “big six” states produce two of every three U.S.-raised birds, according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

U.S. farmers will also produce 709 million pounds of cranberries, which, like turkeys, are native to the Americas. The top producers are Wisconsin and Massachusetts.

The U.S. will also grow 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes—many in North Carolina, California, and Mississippi—and produce 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins.

Contrary to legend, the amount of the organic protein tryptophan in most turkeys isn’t responsible for drowsiness.

Instead scientists blame booze, the sheer caloric size of an average feast, or just plain old relaxing after stressful work schedules.

What Was on the First Thanksgiving Menu?

Little is known about the first Thanksgiving dinner in the Plimoth (also spelled Plymouth) Colony in October 1621, attended by some 50 English colonists and about 90 native Wampanoag men in what is now Massachusetts.

We do know that the Wampanoag killed five deer for the feast, and that the colonists shot wild fowl—which may have been geese, ducks, or turkey. Some form, or forms, of Indian corn were also served.

But Jennifer Monac, spokesperson for the living-history museum Plimoth Plantation said the feasters likely supplemented their venison and birds with fish, lobster, clams, nuts, and wheat flour, as well as vegetables such as pumpkin, squash, carrots, and peas.

If you want to eat like a Pilgrim yourself, try some of the Plimoth Plantation’s recipes, including stewed pompion (pumpkin) or traditional Wampanoag succotash.

Where Did Thanksgiving Come From?

American Indian peoples, Europeans, and other cultures around the world often celebrated the harvest season with feasts to offer thanks to higher powers for their sustenance and survival.

In 1541 Spaniard Francisco Vásquez de Coronado and his troops celebrated a “Thanksgiving” while searching for New World gold in what is now the Texas Panhandle.

Later such feasts were held by French Huguenot colonists in present-day Jacksonville, Florida (1564), by English colonists and Abnaki Indians at Maine’s Kennebec River (1607), and in Jamestown, Virginia (1610), when the arrival of a food-laden ship ended a brutal famine.

But it’s the 1621 Plimoth Thanksgiving that’s linked to the birth of our modern holiday. The truth is the first “real” Thanksgiving happened two centuries later.

Everything we know about the three-day Plimoth gathering comes from a description in a letter wrote by Edward Winslow, leader of the Plimoth Colony, in 1621, Monac said.

It had been lost for 200 years and was rediscovered in the 1800s, she added.

In 1841 Boston publisher Alexander Young printed Winslow’s brief account of the feast and added his own twist, dubbing it the “First Thanksgiving.”

In Winslow’s “short letter, it was clear that [the 1621 feast] was not something that was supposed to be repeated again and again. It wasn’t even a Thanksgiving, which in the 17th century was a day of fasting. It was a harvest celebration.”

But after its mid-1800s century appearance, Young’s designation caught on—to say the least.

U.S. President Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Day a national holiday in 1863. He was probably swayed in part by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale—the author of the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”—who had suggested Thanksgiving become a holiday, historians say.

In 1941 President Franklin Roosevelt established the current date for observance, the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Turkey-in-Waiting

Each year at least two lucky turkeys avoid the dinner table, thanks to a presidential pardon—a longstanding Washington tradition believed to have originated with U.S. President Harry Truman.

Since 1947 the National Turkey Federation has presented two live turkeys—and a ready-to-eat turkey—to the President, according to federation spokesperson Sherrie Rosenblatt.

“There are two birds,” Rosenblatt explained, “the presidential turkey and the vice presidential turkey, which is an alternate, in case the presidential turkey is unable to perform its duties.”

Those duties pretty much boil down to not biting the President during the photo opportunity with the press.

In 2008 the vice presidential bird, “Pumpkin,” stepped in for the appearance with President Bush after the presidential bird, “Pecan,” had fallen ill the night before.

After their presidential encounter, the birds share the same happy fate as Super Bowl winning quarterbacks.

“For the last five years,” Rosenblatt said, “They’ve gone to Disneyland”—living out their days at Big Thunder Ranch in the California theme park’s Frontierland.

Talking Turkey

Pilgrims were familiar with turkeys before they landed in the Americas.

That’s because early European explorers of the New World had returned to Europe with turkeys in tow after encountering them at American Indian settlements. Indians had domesticated the birds centuries before European contact.

A century later Ben Franklin famously made known his preference that the turkey, rather than the bald eagle, should be the official U.S. bird.

But Franklin might have been shocked when, by the 1930s, hunting had so decimated North American wild turkey populations that their numbers had dwindled to the tens of thousands from a peak of at least tens of millions.

Today, thanks to reintroduction efforts and hunting regulations, wild turkeys are back.

(Related: “Birder’s Journal: Giving Thanks for Wild Turkey Sightings.”

Some seven million wild turkeys are thriving across the U.S., and many of them have adapted easily to the suburbs.

Wild turkeys, Meleagris gallopavo, can run some 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 kilometers) an hour and fly in bursts at 55 miles (89 kilometers) an hour. Domesticated turkeys can’t fly at all.

Pass the Pigskin

For many U.S. citizens, Thanksgiving without football is as unthinkable as the Fourth of July without fireworks.

NBC Radio broadcast the first national Thanksgiving Day game in 1934, when the Detroit Lions hosted the Chicago Bears.

Except for a respite during World War II, the Lions have played—usually badly—every Thanksgiving Day since.

Consumers Rejoice!

For those who love marching and music, turkey takes a backseat to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, originally called the Macy’s Christmas parade because it kicked off the shopping season.

The tradition began in 1924, when employees recruited animals from the Central Park Zoo to join the parade.

Helium-filled balloons made their debut in the parade in 1927 and, in the early years, were released above the city skyline with the promise of rewards for their finders.

The parade, first televised nationally in 1947, now draws some 44 million viewers—not counting the 3 million people who actually line the 2.5-mile (4-kilometer) Manhattan route.

Thanksgiving weekend also boasts the retail version of the Super Bowl—Black Friday, when massive sales and early opening times attract frugal shoppers.

The National Retail Federation reports that some 130 million Americans, give or take a few million each year, brave the crowds to shop on Black Friday or on the following weekend.

Planes, Trains, and (Lots of) Automobiles

It may seem like everyone in the U.S. is on the road on Thanksgiving Day, keeping you from your turkey and stuffing.

But just 33 million of about 308 million U.S. citizens drive more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) from home on the holiday, according to the American Automobile Association.

Thanksgiving North of the Border

Cross-border travelers can celebrate Thanksgiving twice, because Canada celebrates its own Thanksgiving Day the second Monday in October.

As in the U.S., the event is sometimes linked to a historic feast with which it has no real ties—in this case explorer Martin Frobisher’s 1578 ceremony, which gave thanks for his safe arrival in what is now New Brunswick.

Canada’s Thanksgiving, established in 1879, was inspired by the U.S. holiday.

Dates of observance fluctuated, sometimes coinciding with the U.S. Thanksgiving or the Canadian veteran-appreciation holiday, Remembrance Day—and at least once it occurred as late as December.

But Canada’s colder climate eventually led to the 1957 decision that formalized the October date.

I was sick and in need of some easy and good comfort food. Even though there wasn’t a great deal in the fridge, thankfully there was  chicken stock and chicken breast in the freezer, and a carrot in the fridge.  This porridge made me feel miles better. It’s so easy to make it probably doesn’t really need a recipe, but he goes anyway.

Ingredients:

½ cup rice
2 cups chicken stock
1 carrot, sliced
1 chicken breast
fried shallots

Method:

1. Add the rice and chicken stock to the rice cooker. Slide the carrots atop the rice and sit the chicken breast  above the carrots.
2. Start the rice cooker. Check back every few minutes. Fish out the chicken breast once the mixture boils and set it aside.
3. When the chicken has cooled, shred it.
4. After about 20 minutes, check on the porridge. The carrots should be soft and the rice cooked. If it’s turned into rice, simply add water and stir till you get the right consistency.
5. Add salt, soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Top with fried shallots and serve.

Serves 2 sickies.

Popular teen-themed channel 4 television show Skins is due to begin broadcasting its fourth series in January 2010. The show, which began broadcasting on digital station E4 in 2007, has built up a large number of devoted fans. Every two years the cast is replaced with a new set of core characters. About A Boy star Nicholas Hoult starred in the first series as Tony Stonem. The new series will be the last featuring the current cast, which includes Kaya Scodelario as Effy Stonem. There will be eight episodes in the new series. The show is also a hit in the states where an American version, set in Baltimore, is currently in development. A big screen version may also soon be made as it was announced, in May 2009, that Film4 and Skins production company, Company Pictures, are in preliminary talks about producing one. I’m looking forward to the new series and will be disappointed if it proves to be the last one they make. Thanks for reading.

Okay, so it’s not quite Thanksgiving yet, but I’m darn excited. I have today and tomorrow off, so today we cleaned the house and made the brine for our turkeys. Don’t worry, one’s for my dad.

Later, once the brine is properly cooled, we’ll add the ice water and the first turkey (weighing in at 24 lbs., the other at 18 lbs.) At some point today, two of our friends, Sean and James should get here and we’ll be gaming. (D&D that is) Whilst destroying foes and raking in the dough, I’ll be knitting away at the second of Kim’s slippers. After showing her the first, I’m proud to report that they’re “exactly right!” This quote may not seem like much to you, but try making something someone’s late grandmother made with no pattern, why don’t you.

Anyway, I’m confident that I’ll have the slippers done by this time tomorrow and I’ll be working away at the pompoms, which will be small, but I have yet to create a good pompom…at least the cats will have new toys. ^^

Sometime tomorrow, we’ll stick the turkey in the oven. (The second turkey will hit the brine at that point.)Since our 21 lb beast last year cooked in about 2 hours, we’re thinking 2 1/2 hours this year. Once we finish dinner and dessert and have had time to properly digest, we’ll put the second turkey in and promptly deliver it and all the fixings to Dad. Speaking of that guy, I’ll probably be able to start his socks before the end of tomorrow…yay!

I shall post tomorrow night to update on all relevant info. Ta!

Yay! One more days until we stuff ourselves with goodies.

About my last post…where we made all sorts of pumpkin delights in Gourmet cooking? At first, everybody was saying, “Oh, yeah, this looks so good!” And afterwards we were all groaning because it was SO much pumpkin and SO much sugar. Almost no one finished their plate. But a lot of people got hyper. I started laughing and I couldn’t stop, and another girl at my table complained that she was dizzy. Eli, a boy in my group, said, “Try spinning around slowly” as a joke. But Sreevidya didn’t know he was joking and did it anyway. Funny! And Eli was the Dishwasher and I dried the dishes. He filled the empty cups with water and stuck utensils in them and gave them to me to dry, saying, “Here’s your martinis. Oh wait, did you order the cherry martini?” I nodded, playing along. He filled a cup with “pumpkin water” (because the dishes had been washed in the tub and turned orange) and put a fork or two in their and handed it to me. “Here you go!” And I just started to crack up, mostly because I was hyper, and partly because he wasn’t this hyper normally either. It doesn’t sound very funny here, but it was there, mostly because I was hyper.

Today I’m going to attempt to make Iced Pumpkin Cookies for a Thanksgiving celebration tomorrow. I’m going to my grandparents’ house with a bunch of other relatives and we’ll play and eat and have lots of fun.

ibby out!

Okay, I know this is Martha Stewart-ish. But, I can’t be the only one wondering how to use up those little slivers. Well, there’s a vid about it, so obviously not. Yay, YouTube!

One tip I’ll mention in addition to this vid is something I read online: to grate the soap beforehand. I believe it ensures a smoother end product.

Find the original YouTube vid here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0m69EiNy77s

I am a true believer in quick weeknight meals, which can be very difficult for a foodie. But I would much rather spend time with my husband and daughter on a Tuesday night then spend an hour in the kitchen which means I needed to figure out some shortcuts to help me whip up quick and delicious meals without sacrificing flavor and nutrition.

I find preparing foods on the weekends, when I tend to have more time,
and freezing them for later can save me a lot of time during the week.
The trick is knowing what will freeze well and how to use it up. A
couple weeks ago I made one of my favorite recipes, Apricot and
Jalapeno Pulled Pork. I used up some of the pork that night and froze
the rest in 3 individual portions to use later in the month. As
promised, here are all the meals I made with this delicious pulled
pork!

Pulled Pork Tacos
First I made pulled pork tacos and served the Apricot Jalapeno Pork on warm flour tortillas with fresh cilantro and a lime wedge.

Spicy Quesadillas
A week later, I thawed out some pork and make quesadillas complete with black beans, fresh corn and pepper jack cheese.

Pulled Pork Nachos
The next week we unexpectedly had friends over for the Packers/Vikings game (oh, Brett Favre). I needed a meal that would please a crowd and it needed to be made quickly. I thawed the frozen pork in the microwave and then simmered it in a mixture of bbq sauce and broth. Next,  I layered chips, shredded cheese, green peppers and the pork on an oven safe tray and baked them for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

BBQ Pork Pizza
Finally, we used the last bit of pulled pork on a bbq pizza. I used my favorite whole wheat pizza crust and topped it with with bbq sauce, cheese, thawed pulled pork and green pepper rings then baked at 400 degrees for 12 minutes.

A little bit of planning led me to 4 easy weeknight meals that I was
able to throw together each in under 20 minutes!

Tips for freezing food:

Invest in some good tupperware or ziplock freezer storage bags, both work great to store food.

Always be sure to properly label the contents of the bag, including the date it was made.

I make it a rule to eat anything I freeze within a month to ensure it will still taste great and will be safe to eat.

Move the food from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before
you intend to use it or thaw the food in the microwave immediately
before cooking with it. Never leave food out on the counter to thaw.

I am so  not an expert here, what with Sundays turkey being the first I’ve ever cooked, so here’s a couple links to help with figuring out timing etc.

• USDA’s guide to safely thawing, roasting, and storing the turkey.
• Here’s a Good Eats recipe that I thought looked really good but then totally ignored when it came to actually cooking the turkey.
• Butterball’s list of How To’s.
• And because all the other links pretty much give out the same advice and everyone here can google (I assume,) instead of posting more of the  same timetables, here’s a list of the 18 Naughty Things You Can Only Say On Thanksgiving.  That should get you in the cooking spirit… maybe.

=] Ariel

Nov 24, 2009
They said, they saw Samak Sundaravej ghost in the council… Everyone saw the same thing…

ASTV wrote that Samak wore his full white dress. The image was appeared in the middle of LCD monitor. He respected in Thai style. Then, all lights were shutting down… They do believe that what they saw is real Samak Sundaravej, because there is none of Samak’s photo in any computer. All is 4 seconds.

Samak Sundaravej died with liver cancer at Banrungrach Hospital at 9.33 AM. He had been 25th prime minister of Thailand, and Bangkok Governor. He is famous in cooking, but I do not know how he cooked to get the cancer in himself.

I would like to let you know that everyone has to die someday. We cannot brougth any money with us. The only thing that we can leave for this world is our name. Notorious or Honorable. We should not pay our honor to get dirty money. We should not be selfish. We are not materialism. We will be happy when we can make others happy, rather than be happy on others’ sadness.

Please think, when you die, what kind of liquid will be dropped on your corpse, tear or savila?

—

I did draw something for him long time ago.
Thai people call him, Rose Apple, because of his nose.
You may look up wikipedia to read his stuff.

Drawing for Samak Sundaravej about age ago.