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Riffed by Dr. Geek |
| pies! pies! pies! |
Both Thanksgiving and its Friday sequel went pretty well. As you can see, I managed to put together not one pecan pie but two... one for both Thursday and Friday. You can also see a skilletful of cornbread that was used in a cornbread and sausage stuffing I brought over on Friday. It seemed that nearly everything I cooked was last minute and in a bit of a hurry, but, came together on time. Aside from turkey and all the trimmings on Thanksgiving, Mrs. Geek's Stepmom R. got out something special: 20 year old grappa made by her uncle B. R. is Italian American in backgroud and I've come to discover that grappa is essentially Italian moonshine. It is the seeds and skins leftover from wine-making fermented with sugar and water, distilled, and then aged. I must say that Uncle B. knew what he was doing when it came to wine making and grappa. It had the color and clarity of tea and must have been about 120 proof based on how it moved across the tongue. R.'s son-in-law G. and I had more than a few small glasses of that, let me tell you. I'm hoping to take a sample back with me for my Dad to taste after Christmas. We also had a couple vegitarians with us on Thanksgiving Day, including one vegan. The vegan was a good cook. He brought some vegan mashed yams, some cranberry sauce with roasted pecans and honey, and a store-made vegan mocha cheesecake. All three were actually quite good. While I can't bring myself to give up meat anc cheese, I grow more impressed all the time with some of the vegetarian and vegan alternatives available out there today. True, I don't think there will ever be good vegan alternatives to everything -- soy bacon, for example -- but I think there are a lot of very tasty non-directions to go in. As someone told me once, if vegetarian food is boring, it is because it is not being cooked right. Friday at D. and J.'s was a good time. D. made a plain roast duck that was quite delicious. Accompanying it was my cornbread and sausage stuffing with some turkey gravy I made. I think there was a vegetable... but all I rememeber is having these carrots that had roasted with the duck. Carrots roasted in duck fat is probably just an incredibly delicious way to clog your arteries. We had "Old Vines" Zinfandels from Renwood (mine) and Rosenblum (theirs) with the dinner... and then my Compass Box Eleuthra afterward. Mrs. Geek brought along our DVD of the Crosby and Kaye opus "White Christmas" and we settled down after dinner to watch that. I did relatively well in portion size control for most of the food. True, I did have desserts on both days... but dinner portions were of moderate size. Where I failed completely in terms of calorie count (and hangover duration) was in the alcohol department. Between wine, grappa, and whisky, Thursday and Friday made for small to moderate hangovers on Friday and Saturday. The worst was on Saturday. D., J., and I all had over a bottle of wine a piece, plus whisky. Well, holidays come only once a year, right? It's probably best to just ease back and enjoy. said drgeek on 2004-11-28 at 9:55 a.m. |
those first two estates - 2009-02-04 12:58 p.m. |