You see, my DH, Dave, has this book that lives in “his” bathroom. We have two bathrooms on our main living level. The half bath is where lots of people visit . . . but the full bath is really for guests who stay in the bedroom close by. Dave considers that bathroom “his.” And in that bathroom lives this book, Uncle John’s Unsinkable Bathroom Reader (Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader).  It resides on the floor just next to the  . . . ahem . . . throne. It contains a jillion snippets of stories, articles, jokes, and general miscellaneous information, suitable for a short read. My cousin Gary gave a similar book to Dave one Christmas, and it finally was so tattered and used it needed to be replaced, so last year I bought him a newer one. Thus.

So my DH brought the book out to me, as I was sitting at my kitchen computer (which I’ll just mention here, is brand new about 3 months ago and it’s already crashed and died this week, so I’m currently typing on my mini-laptop that I usually take on trips). Anyway, I was writing up a post, and he said “do you want to know how eBay got started? It’s not what you think.” I said “sure.” It was interesting. Enough so that I thought I’d share it with you.

The general myth about eBay is that Pierre Omidyar (the genius who did start e-Bay) was talking with his then fiancée (now his wife) Pamela, who was a collector and trader of PEZ candy dispensers and she said something like “wouldn’t it be great if there was a place online where people could trade?”

The real story is somewhat different. Pierre Omidyar is French-Persian, and moved to the U.S. from Paris when he was six years old. His father was attending a medical residency at Johns Hopkins University. Young Omidyar, became positively enchanted with computers and programming. Having graduated from Tufts University in Boston with a degree in computer science, he moved to Santa Clara, California. He did work as a programmer for awhile, then he and some friends started Ink Development Corp, and pen-based computer company. But he veered the company off to an area he thought would be a hot item – internet shopping. And he came up with the name eShop. It was successful (mildly so, enough that Microsoft eventually bought it). Omidyar then decided he wanted to look into starting an internet auction site. He thought that bidding on an object would create more interest, some excitement too. You can look at a more graphic history of Omidyar (and eBay) on eBay’s website.

Over Labor Day weekend in 1995, he stayed home, holed up, and wrote the computer code for an auction-based website. On September 3rd, 1995 he launched it – as ugly, clunky and awkward as it was – merely adding it to an existing website he had already for his internet consulting business. The address of that site was the company’s name, Echo Bay Technology Group. Omidyar tried to register his new “business” as EchoBay, but it was already taken by a Canadian gold mining company, so he shortened it and eBay was born.

At this point eBay was just a hobby for Omidyar. He was still working full time at his day job – until his internet provider forced him to change from a private account to a commercial one because of the volume of traffic. His fees went from $30/month to $250/month. So, he decided to start charging users a small fee – thinking that he’d hear a backlash about it. Not so – checks began arriving. So many checks he had to hire an employee to handle all the payments. By March of 1996 Auction-Web’s monthly revenue was up to $1,000. April it was $2500. May $5000. June it leaped to $10,000. That’s when he quit his day job.

Next he hired a computer geek, Jeff Skoll, who happened to have a master’s degree in Business Administration from Stanford. What he did first was make this auction web thing a stand-alone site. Up until then it still shared a website for his consulting business, and a site about the Ebola virus (yes, really). Early on, Omidyar had done just a little bit of “advertising,” if you could call it that, by mentioning his auction website on some bulletin boards. So he added a bulletin board at eBay too. Some people began asking questions on the bulletin boards – about how to use eBay, mostly answered by other, more experienced users. Thus giving eBay it’s own (free) tech support. One of the early bulletin board gurus was a man who called himself “Uncle Griff.” A curious questioner once asked him what he looked like. He responded, “I’m wearing a lovely flower print dress and I just got done milking the cows,” which put Griff (Jim Griffiths by name) into eBay lore as their “cross-dressing bachelor dairy farmer who likes to answer questions.” Uncle Griff was so respected on the bulletin boards that finally Skoll hired him as their first tech support employee.

The company was so successful it went public in 1998 – eBay was worth $2 billion that day. By 1999 it was worth over $8 billion. And somewhere in there Meg Whitman (currently hoping to run for Governor in our state) held the CEO reins for some years. What made eBay a bit more unique is that they kept updating the model – adding the feedback feature (rating the sellers) in 1998; then adding PayPal in 2002.

Omidyar and his wife Pamela are worth more than $7 billion (maybe not so much now since this book was published – I haven’t gone to look up the stock’s worth) and they devote most of their time to Omidyar Network, a philanthropic organization that helps poor people around the world get into business. They’ve pledged to give away all but 1% of their fortune over the next 18 years. Omidyar says: “My mother taught me to treat other people the way I want to be treated and to have respect for other people. Those are just good basic values to have in a crowded world.”

Amen. This certain was a departure from my usual food stories, but I hope you enjoyed reading about this as much as I did . . . Carolyn T

There’s another photo of our wine cellar – different angle. With a few empty wooden wine boxes on the lower shelves (they did contain wine, but we just keep them there for the looks). And if you have sharp eyes you’ll see on the left side a couple of little boxes of ScharffenBerger chocolate. I really need to bring those upstairs because they’ve likely oxidized down there in the wine cellar.

Back in my early wine-drinking heyday of the 1980’s I did drink Chardonnay. But I never really liked it – it’s too acidic for me. With the exception of one label – Kistler. That’s it. The only one, and a bottle of Kistler Chard today will set you back about $50. I think we have one bottle in our wine cellar, and it’s about 15 years old. We should be drinking it. Soon.

I also like Sauvignon Blanc, particularly Cloudy Bay (from New Zealand). And Fume Blanc from Ferrari-Carano. My DH keeps reminding me that I have a stash of Cloudy Bay (a very fresh, clean white wine from New Zealand) in the wine cellar that I need to drink.

Once in awhile we will enjoy a Riesling, as long as it’s not too sweet or acidic. Grey Riesling can be very dry, actually, so you can run the gamut of sweet to tart and low to high acid in that wine type. You can also have a sweeter Riesling that has a lot of acid. The kind that almost gives me sores on the inside of my mouth like I’ve overdosed on fresh pineapple (that happened to me once when we were in Hawaii – I had no idea that eating too much pineapple could cause mouth sores, did you? I mean, I didn’t eat THAT much!). Anyway, I seem to have a narrow spectrum of wines that appeal to me. My hubby calls me a cheap date these days. Most often when we go out I don’t even order wine.

But then there’s champagne. But I’m going to write up a separate essay about champagne, or sparkling wine .  . .

So now, down to the subject at hand. What do I use when I’m cooking:

WHITE WINE: If we happen to have some open, I’ll use that. But usually we don’t, because neither of us drink much white wine. So I go to other options. If I don’t have Vermouth available, then I’ll go hunting in the wine cellar for something – generally we have some generic kinds of white – maybe a bottle of Chardonnay (usually because somebody gave it to us since we don’t buy it). That works. Fume Blanc or Sauvignon Blanc are both almost herbal wines – they’re made from grapes – that’s not what I mean – but when you stick your nose into the glass you’ll almost smell an herb garden. I won’t use Riesling in cooking – generally it’s too sweet, and since most Rieslings are on the acidic side (even though sweet) you can’t add lemon juice with that to make it so. Just don’t use Riesling in cooking. But here’s what I DO use:

DRY VERMOUTH: First of all, I keep a bottle of Vermouth quite close to my stove. It’s nothing very expensive – somewhere I was told that Trader Joe’s vermouth is actually quite good. The best thing about Vermouth is that even though you open the bottle, it doesn’t deteriorate – it stays the same forever. With a normal bottle of wine you’d have to drink it or use it within a fairly reasonable time. Most likely Vermouth has been stabilized with some neutral spirits so it doesn’t spoil. That’s why it has a long shelf life, even when it’s been opened.

SUBSTITUTIONS: If I had neither a generic white wine or vermouth, I’d use some chicken broth. Maybe with a little added fresh squeezed lemon juice. Or if the dish could handle it, I’d use half apple juice, half water with a little lemon juice. I store a container of frozen apple juice concentrate in the freezer just for things like that. I also keep small cans of pineapple juice in the pantry to use in marinades and things like that. The other option is VERJUS – (means green juice) an unfermented grape juice from under ripe grapes. A perfect solution, I think, although it’s a bit hard to find and not inexpensive. It contains NO alcohol. And it’s on the tart side (some cooks use it in lieu of vinegar), so be careful. Use less than the quantity called for in your recipe and taste it before adding more.

There are resources abounding around the internet on this subject:

Gourmet Sleuth

About.com: Home Cooking – this site has an amazing list of substitutions for oodles of alcoholic beverages, including liqueurs.

The above is our wine cellar. It’s about 10 x 8, I’d guess, with room for the small table you see, although we’ve yet to sit down there except to catalog some wine (the room is below ground) and sip something because it’s too gosh-darned cold. We have a special refrigeration unit that keeps the wine cellar at a consistent 58. There’s also a little low cubbyhole off to the left (out of view) that can hold about another 8 cases of boxed wine. The cellar itself (with more shelving over on the left side) holds about 900 bottles. You can see that it’s nearly full. Everything you see above is red wine. White is over on the left side, and it’s only about half full since we drink so little white wine.

I got an email from a blogging friend the other day. She almost never drinks wine and suggested I write up a blog post about what wines I use when I cook, and also what are my solutions (in cooking) when I don’t have wine on hand – what do I substitute? Well, with a fully-stocked wine cellar in our home, that’s not likely to EVER happen. But there are times when I don’t feel like opening a bottle of wine – or what’s open is the wrong type for what I need. Sometimes I just ask my DH Dave if he’ll fetch me a bottle of something – so just read on about what I do. It depends on the situation, what I’m cooking, how important it is, and the cost of the suggested wine type. So, forthwith I’ve written up some info about my wine likes and dislikes, and offer some options for cooking. This post has ended up being way too long, so am going to break it up into several shorter ones. So, Nance, this post is for you . . .

When Dave and I married, lo these many years ago, one of our connections was about wine. We enjoyed sharing a bottle most evenings. We talked about wine, we did wine tastings in our home, we sought out restaurants, wineries and events that showcased wines. And one of the reasons we bought this home was the wine cellar. Previously we had a free-standing refrigerated wine cabinet, but it would only hold about 90 bottles (certainly not enough if you ask Dave!). The cellar in this house was a rustic shell, but it was refrigerated and we did have it outfitted with wine shelving, and had a new refrigeration unit installed a few years ago.

It was back in 1979 that I first took a class about wine appreciation, with my friend Kathy. I was newly single at that time and wanted to learn more about wine in general. It was 2-3 months long offered at the University of California: Irvine, and each week we had lectures, then wine tastings. Where we learned about taste (it was several years later that I learned about the different taste receptors in our mouths and why certain areas recognize sweet, salty, bitter and acid). I learned how to sniff (did the wine smell like a flower patch, an herbaceous garden, a summer afternoon, or, horrors, a pig sty or a barnyard – and yes, there were wines that DID smell like a pig sty). We learned to aerate -  swirl – to examine color and clarity, and finally taste, swishing it around in the mouth to contact all those different mouth receptors.And to pay attention to the finish – the last flavor receptors you register as the wine slides down your throat. All important aspects of wine drinking. And I was an avid wine appreciator for a whole lot of years. I still enjoy it, but I just don’t seem to have the appetite for it that I used to, or as my DH does. He drinks wine every night, without fail. I have a glass or two a week, is all.

Pictured left, one of our favorite wines from a small winery (Stephen Ross) here in California, from the region called the Central Coast. Dave buys plenty of wine from this winery as well as others in the area. They grow stupendous pinot noir grapes on the Central Coast. We had this with dinner two nights ago – oh my goodness was it wonderful, a 2004 Aubaine Vineyards Pinot Noir.

What I don’t enjoy is wine with an edge, with tannins, astringency or any bitterness. Which puts me in a difficult classification of wine drinker (not a respected one if you were to ask some wine experts). Most people who drink wine love the tannins and treasure the acidity, and the roughness of some varietals, vintages, like Beaujolais Nouveau. Or young Chianti. On the other hand, I don’t drink much sweet wine either. I seem to prefer the more floral types that have a sweeter edge. They’re not sweet wines by any means, but when you stuff your nose down into the glass you can smell the sugar-sweetness of fruit. And when you sip it you get a hint of sugar on the sides of your mouth. Like ones that have a hint of blackberries, strawberries or cherries. Even raisins or peaches. More white wines have a fruit scent – like peaches or apricots. Red wines more often have floral notes or the scent of berries. I like Merlot. I like the lighter style Pinot Noir. With a big juicy steak I enjoy a Cabernet. Cab is a wine you want to drink with food, not sip on its own. It’s too heavy for that. Zinfandel is also a heavy wine – or at least some of them are. They’re too stringent for me. Pinot Noir, I think, can be a sipping wine, but heavier ones need food to go with them. So you see, there’s no straight answer.

My husband drinks more (red) Zinfandel than anything else, but he will drink almost any wine except for sweeter types.  When I open a bottle of wine that’s meant just for me, I may have one glass and that’s it. And I’ve never had more than two glasses anytime. But nowadays one glass is enough and I don’t want any more, even the next day. We have the small pump that removes air from the bottle and it will keep for a few days, but generally Dave will drink up whatever I haven’t, so I shouldn’t worry about it. So, first we’re going to talk about red wine. In coming days I’ll talk about other wines too. So stay tuned.

RED WINE:

COOKING: Red wines offer a stronger body and depth than white wines, so keep that in mind when you cook.You wouldn’t want to use red wine in a delicate sauce for mild fish. It would overpower the fish. I don’t use the cheapest of wines for cooking, but I also don’t use very expensive wines, either. Nor would I ever use Two Buck Chuck in anything. If it’s not something I’d drink, then it doesn’t deserve to be in my food. But if I need red wine I generally will open an inexpensive (let’s say $8-10) bottle like Blackstone Merlot. We almost always have that in the cellar (because I like it and Dave doesn’t). It works. Merlot is a mellow wine – with no strong flavors one way or the other. If the dish I’m making can handle some sweetness, I might even use Sweet Vermouth – a red version of the more well-known white Vermouth. But I rarely use the sweet stuff – it’s too sweet usually. But it will keep on the shelf for months without deterioration. So I keep it around. Cabernet doesn’t normally get used in cooking around my house, but I will use an inexpensive bottle of Pinot Noir. I have one recipe on my blog that calls for an entire bottle of Zinfandel. If you’re interested, it’s called Zinfandel Sausage Sauce for Pasta. It’s a sensational recipe, and the wine is boiled down, reduced, yet the intense wine flavor is still there. It’s just a different type of red Bolognese sauce (spaghetti sauce), but made with the wine. It definitely has a winey flavor.

SUBSTITUTIONS: Actually I only have a few suggestions to substitute for red wine. Grape juice is far too sweet – it’s sweetened before it’s bottled. Way too much sugar for cooking. Some online recommendations suggest using grape juice with vinegar or lemon juice added. Well, maybe that would work. I haven’t tried it, so can’t make a recommendation here. There are some non-alcoholic wines out there (Ariel, I believe is one) but I’ve never used it. Apple juice could be substituted for wine, but I’d mix it half juice and half water, maybe adding a bit of lemon juice to tone it down. Chicken broth (or beef, vegetable) would also work, but add a little lemon juice (about a tsp.) to that as well. If the dish you’re making is a braised type, or soup, tomato juice would also work too. I read online that someone uses baby-food cherry juice (I would suppose it’s not sweetened). Another option is pomegranate juice – just try to choose one that’s less sweet (check the nutrition label for sugar). If the recipe you’re using is recommending the wine/juice be reduced by half (or whatever amount), remember that whatever sugar is in juice will be more concentrated – so it will be sweeter than the original. Same goes for salt (for instance if you used V-8 juice – I wouldn’t – but let’s suppose you did – it contains a huge amount of sodium – so if you reduced that liquid, it would be inordinately salty and likely inedible (advice: use low-sodium V-8). Whatever you do, though, make sure you substitute the same amount of juice/water/broth as wine measurement.

There are resources abounding around the internet on this subject:

Gourmet Sleuth

About.com: Home Cooking – this site has an amazing list of substitutions for oodles of alcoholic beverages, including liqueurs.

Pictured left, two Navel oranges in the back, a blood orange front left, and a Valencia at far right.

When you live in an agricultural area, you tend to take fruits and vegetables for granted. We certainly do. And oranges might be the pivot for that since where I live, in Orange County, California (oranges, Orange County?) we used to be THE center of orange growing. For a long, long time. But now more of them are grown in Riverside County, the next county over (east) from Orange County. There’s still lots of rural land in Riverside County. Not so much here in Orange County.

When I first moved to Orange County back in 1975 (I’m a California native but hadn’t lived in Orange County before), many of the outlying roads were lined in orange trees. Thousands of acres of orange groves. Most owned by the Irvine Company, a huge – I mean gigantic – family-owned, many-square-miles area. Much of Orange County is still owned by the Irvine Company or by the Irvine family, mostly in the hilly areas about 10-15 miles inland. Piece by piece they sell off chunks, mostly developed into planned communities. And I nearly cried when the last orange grove bit the dust about ten years ago (I don’t think there are any commercial groves anymore). They wrote it up in our local paper. A grove they’d left there as “show” just so the locals wouldn’t get upset. But we did anyway. Real estate is worth more than any long-term orange grove, unfortunately.

So, it’s very appropriate that I write up a piece about oranges. Which comes from the book I’ve used before to share with you interesting tidbits about the growing of some fruits and vegetables. A book written by Russ Parsons, one of the writers/editors of the Los Angeles Times Food Section. The book: How to Pick a Peach: The Search for Flavor from Farm to Table. So here’s the story from Russ. Here’s a photo of the Valencia tree in our garden. It’s old and produces quite bitter fruit.

The orange we know today came about by a “circuitous route,” which began in China, where the first sweet oranges were cultivated. Spice traders brought the orange to Europe in the 1400’s. The Portuguese particularly loved them, and they even were known in the western world as “Portuguese oranges.” It’s believed that Columbus brought oranges to Haiti on his second voyage to the New World in 1493. From there they went to Central America and Mexico in the early 1500’s. And not long afterwards they came to Florida and California.

But, when the Spanish influence waned in the 1700’s, citrus growing in Florida declined. A new generation of farmers in Florida found mostly wild, old trees. But they were enterprising, and grafted newer varieties onto the old trees. In short order Florida became the leader in orange production, with California a distant cousin. Then two events happened: a new kind of orange, the Navel, was introduced in California in the mid 1870’s. Called a Washington Orange. The other event: in the winter of 1894 a bad cold snap hit the citrus orchards in Florida, destroying all the trees down to the ground. It took more than a decade for Florida to recoup, but in that interim, California, and the Navel orange, took hold. There are still oranges grown in Florida, but they’re nearly all juice oranges.

It was interesting to me that the Navel orange has been around for centuries (mostly in Mediterranean climates) and is known for the “bellybutton” at the flower end of the fruit. It’s actually another tiny orange embedded in the larger orange – ever noticed that when you cut open a particularly large Navel, there’s a kind of roundish thing that must be cut around or removed. It’s mostly skin, gnarly, bitter – that’s the tiny orange imbedded inside. But mostly Navels are seedless, easy to peel with firm flesh. When Florida growers tried to raise Navels they found the fruit coarse and granular. And when the fruit was juiced a compound called limonin turns it bitter within 30 minutes. Hence Florida concentrates on Valencia types.

In addition to the Navel and Valencia, though, there are others in the family: blood oranges (love those!), and the Cara Cara. The latter was a chance mutation found in 1976 on a Washington Navel in a Venezuelan orchard. The Cara Cara is a sweet low-acid orange whose flesh is a deep pinkish orange, closer, almost, to a ruby grapefruit. There are also kumquats (picture above from our garden). They’re probably not a true orange, but they sure look like them.

Russ Parsons included a recipe for one very simple dish, Oranges with Vanilla Syrup: Make a vanilla-scented syrup by boiling 1 1/2 cups water and 1 cup sugar with a split vanilla bean until the syrup is clear, about 10 minutes. Refrigerate. Peel the oranges and slice into a bowl, then pour the cold syrup over the top. Remove the vanilla bean. (Stick the vanilla bean, once dried, in your sugar canister where it will make vanilla-sugar). Serve the oranges with crispy cookies.

He included three full recipes in this chapter: (1) Orange and Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and Walnuts; (2) Old-Fashioned Orange Cake; and (3) Candied Orange Peel.

I do have a lot of orange recipes, this being an orange mecca here. I had to go look and see what I did have. All these recipes include more than just the juice or zest – either the flesh and/or the peel and juice.

Chicken, Arugula, Corn & Parmigiano Salad (contains a salad dressing using whole oranges)
Cranberry Relish (made with fresh cranberries and whole oranges, including the skin)
Poached Kumquats and Asian Pears in Vanilla Scented Syrup
Pecan-Crusted Chicken with Orange-Rosemary Sauce
Roast Pork Tenderloin with Onion Orange Pan Sauce
Cornish Game Hen (or Chicken Breast) Salad
Orange Jalapeno Vinaigrette
Watercress, Belgian Endive Salad with Black Olive Vinaigrette
Tangerine Vinaigrette

- – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - -
A year ago: Southwestern Squash & Corn
Two years ago: Mustard & Herb Chicken

Every year Epicurious does a prediction of what’s going to be UP and DOWN as far as food for the coming year. Where I live we’re not really in the epicenter of the food biz. We certainly have some good restaurants within a 20-mile radius. We could drive to Los Angeles more often where we might find a more serious mecca of dining, but the traffic is awful. What used to be a 60-minute drive in moderate traffic, is now usually a 90-minute tortured drive of brake lights and flaring tempers. So we stay closer to home and enjoy what good restaurants we do have. There really are many good ones, but they’re not necessarily at the forefront of gastronomy. California offers more healthy alternatives – from Pacific Rim cuisine, to that eclectic kind of California-esque cooking that’s ever so popular. Lots of salads, vegetables, even tofu and sushi. We have ample barbecue, steak in all forms and sizes, burger joints, and pho (Vietnamese soup). There’s comfort food, formal food, cheap and high-end Italian food too.

So, I read the predictions with a slightly askance eye. Will it have any bearing on our eating habits? I’m not sure. You decide:

MOVING UP: Fried Chicken

Really? Hmmm. I’m not so sure we even HAVE any restaurants that feature fried chicken. Fried food doesn’t feature much in most California restaurants. Sure there’s some – like calamari, zucchini sticks, jalapeno poppers and french fries. But not many others. Seems to me that most appetizer menus feature fried food. I rarely order any of those things with the exception of calamari. But maybe I need to dust off some of my 1960’s era cookbooks and find some new methods for making fried chicken at home. It’s just not very healthy, which is why I never attempt to make it.

MOVING DOWN: Burgers

Somehow I doubt burgers are going to take a back seat in most places in our neck of the woods. Everybody loves burgers. And with fries. What is popular here in California is turkey burgers – I do order one on occasion.

MOVING UP: Mini Whoopie Pies

This surprises me. These aren’t popular here at all. As I recall, they’re quite the thing in the midwest somewhere, near their origin. You know what they are? Two soft cookies sandwiched together with a kind of marshmallow filling. I’ve made them, but they’re altogether too much sweet/sugar for me.

MOVING DOWN: Mini Cupcakes

Personally I’ve not even SEEN mini-cupcakes. With the popularity of places like Sprinkles, where the regular-sized cupcake reigns supreme, how could mini-cupcakes even be on the radar?

MOVING UP: Lamb

Hmmm. Maybe so, but it certainly is a pricey ingredient here in our stores. Costco has good deals on lamb, but I think they only carry boneless legs from Australia and racks of lamb. I do enjoy Colorado lamb, though, and seek it out when I can. But have you looked at the fat content? That’s why it’s normally a big treat for us – not only for cost, but for calories.

MOVING DOWN: Pork

Barbecue certainly has made a big impact here in California. We find barbecue (beef and pork mostly) in lots of places. A few restaurants that truly do the barbecue thing (long, slow smoking) are quite popular still.

MOVING UP: an Immunity-Building diet

This has to do with eating foods that are now known to be helpful for building your immune system. I’ve read some about this, but not enough as I couldn’t recall any of them. Apples, onions, organic tomatoes, chicken soup, broccoli, green tea, Vitamin D rich foods (salmon, sardines, tuna), yogurt and chiles all feature large in such a diet.

MOVING DOWN: the Omega-3 foods

I was surprised to read this, but the reason is logical – so many of the Omega-3 fish contain so much mercury, that it’s considered almost more like a health hazard. Some are recommending pills rather than eating the real thing. Besides, we’ve so over-fished our waters there are only so many kinds of fish we can eat. Sad.

MOVING UP: Butchers

It’s becoming a new “in” profession. I’ve been quite disappointed of late when I have visited a store with a real butcher – sometimes they have no idea what I’m asking for. Has made me wonder if the apprenticing has changed its methods so greenhorns are allowed to wait on customers and only one real butcher even works there. I wish I knew more about it.

MOVING DOWN: Mixologist

All those fancy drinks (like martinis and other blender drinks) are apparently going to move out of fashion. We’re not much into trying all the fancy drinks as we’re mostly wine drinkers. We don’t even sample beers much either.

MOVING UP: Homemade beer

Speaking of beer, guess there are now kits for making your own rather than paying the premium prices for some of the boutique brews. This doesn’t even figure on my food radar. Sorry.

MOVING DOWN: Mad-Science Cocktails

Kind of a repeat of the Mixologist downturn. People have been oversaturated with the fancy, crazy cocktails.

MOVING UP: Vancouver

Partly this is because of the Winter Olympics, but Vancouver has become a new mecca for fine dining, I guess. We were even there this past summer for about an hour (before our cruise ship headed out to sea), but had no time to seek out a restaurant.

MOVING DOWN: Barcelona

Seems like there aren’t all that many people who would be affected by this – I mean – flying to Barcelona just to eat? Kind of an expensive trip, I’d say. We’ve been there once, and were quite amazed at the fine dining available. Enjoyed it a lot, but it isn’t exactly going to figure strongly in any of my travel plans in the near future.

MOVING UP: Potluck Dining at Home

This sounds like a great idea. Especially with our current economy and less expendable income at our fingertips.

MOVING DOWN: Formal Dining at Home

So few people do formal dining anymore. We here in California probably started the trend toward casual dining at home about 15+ years ago, so this isn’t news to us.

It’s not often – in fact, very rare – that I use this forum/blog for talking about something . . . perhaps . . . controversial. But having just watched this movie, I’m wanting to join my voice with those of many, many others who abhor what’s happening with the quality of the food we buy. There are perhaps lots of different segments of the food biz that could use some overhaul, but in this case, I’m just devoting these words to the subject of this movie.

This isn’t just about Monsanto Corp., the public behemoth of an agribusiness. It’s also about very normal, hard-working farmers from around the globe who got themselves into the crosshairs of that big-bad-business with loads of bucks. Monsanto has tried, and is still trying to destroy them. Their farms. Their livelihoods. And in the process they [Monsanto, IMHO] decided to go down a road that is, in my opinion, on the “wrong side of the tracks.” They became the bully. But it’s a lot more powerful than that, actually. There are other companies who have also patented seed too, but Monsanto may have been the first. And the bully with the biggest fist.  And the movie is about more than just this one farmer. But the specific case is interesting enough to focus on . . .

Now I’m the first one to proclaim I’m all for business. For capitalism. For competition. Having invested money over the course of the last 30 years in a variety of public companies (stocks) I’m happy as heck when said companies make money. But I want no part of companies that use their strongarm tactics to control. To dictate. To destroy. Or ones who lie, cheat, steal, or otherwise misconstrue the facts. Or hide the real reasons.

So, here’s what happened. Back a long time ago Monsanto began doing research with canola seed. Undoubtedly Monsanto invested millions of dollars into this endeavor. They decided to push the envelope – they created a genetically modified version that would resist treatment with “Round-Up,” that ubiquitous herbicide that kills anything that grows. And makes the ground it’s been treated with unusable for a very long time – except for canola seed. So when Monsanto developed this Round-Up resistant canola seed, it meant that farmers could spray Round-Up all over their fields and it would not kill the canola plants, but it would kill everything else. Farmers thought this was the most wonderful thing since tractors. But, before Monsanto put this product out for sale, they decided, in their infinite big-business mentality, to get a patent on the genetically-modified canola seed. They were refused at the Patent Office because as we all know, it’s declared in our U.S. Constitution that you can’t patent food. Food is for everybody. But Monsanto didn’t take “no” for an answer. They took it to court. The court ruled in Monsanto’s favor. That yes, indeed, GM (genetically modified) or GE (genetically-engineered) canola seeds were, in fact, patentable. Which of and by itself allows the patent holder (Monsanto) to sue anybody who uses the patented product (the GM canola seed) without paying for it. On the surface that doesn’t sound so bad. . . Keep reading.

Cut to a few years later. The GM canola seed is being bought up in millions of tons. Farmers love it. Well, most farmers love it and pay the price to buy it. You see, you can’t hold over seed from this Monsanto-engineered canola. Not permitted. Buyers have to sign a contract to that effect. So, farmers do have to buy new seed each year. That seemed not to bother most of the farmers.

But some farmers didn’t buy Monsanto’s seed – they used their own seed – harvested from their own plants. The way it’s been done since man figured out how to save seed and plant it the next season. One such couple, the Schmeisers, of Saskatchewan, Canada, used their own seed, which they’d carefully bred and fine-tuned over their 40 years running their farm. They were extremely proud of their canola seed breeding, actually. Anyway, I’ll cut to the chase here. The couple was sued by Monsanto for growing some of Monsanto’s GM seed in their fields. (According to Schmeiser’s website: Canola fields were contaminated with Monsanto’s Round-Up Ready Canola. Monsanto’s position was that it didn’t matter whether Schmeiser knew or not that his canola field was contaminated with the Roundup Ready gene, or whether or not he took advantage of the technology [he didn't]; that he must pay Monsanto their Technology Fee of $15./acre.) Schmeiser didn’t buy any of Monsanto’s seed, yet there were some plants found on his property. They guess that the wind, and perhaps the truck that delivered Monsanto seed to the neighboring farm, blew some seed into the Schmeiser’s property.

But Monsanto lied about their testing techniques. And did everything in their power to destroy this couple and their farm. But the Schmeisers decided to fight it. Unfortunately, in the courts, then, Schmeiser lost. Schmeiser has no idea, really, how the Monsanto seed got onto his property. He didn’t/doesn’t WANT it on his property. But Monsanto decided to make a point about Schmeiser’s plants (perhaps because he was very vocal in his dislike of Monsanto’s tactics). Monsanto wanted nothing better than to shut Schmeiser down. Well, the case went to appeal and the court determined that Monsanto’s patent is valid, but Schmeiser was not forced to pay Monsanto anything as he did not profit from the presence of Roundup Ready canola in his fields. After that, Schmeiser sued Monsanto (wanting Monsanto to clean up his fields, remove the Round-Up ready seed/plants). The court upheld the part about Monsanto’s patent on the canola seed, but told Schmeiser he was not responsible for paying any of the fees or fines to Monsanto. (From Schmeiser’s website: Monsanto has agreed to pay all the clean-up costs of the Roundup Ready canola that contaminated Schmeiser’s fields. Also part of the agreement was that there was no gag-order on the settlement and that Monsanto could be sued again if further contamination occurred. Schmeiser believes this precedent setting agreement ensures that farmers will be entitled to reimbursement when their fields become contaminated with unwanted Roundup Ready canola or any other unwanted GMO plants.)

Just to be fair, I did look around the internet for any differing opinions regarding this case and the film/documentary. I found almost none. It appears that no one can refute the facts of the case. Bottom line: it’s scary. What a behemoth company like Monsanto will do to control the selling of its seed in the world. The problem is that right now we’re only talking about canola seed and corn. It has far-reaching tentacles into the future. The EU decided that they would not permit Monsanto to sell GM seed within the EU. (Good for them, I say.) Undoubtedly Monsanto is working diligently on developing other GM seed types. The movie also dealt with a group of farmers in Central America who are growing Monsanto GM corn. Monsanto sells the seed at a very reduced price there – an inducement to get them to start the GM seed machine. Because once it’s started, it’s very hard to turn back the clock or shut the door – the movie questioned whether Monsanto would also strongarm nearby poor farmers, forcing them to pay fees when GM corn happens to pop up on their lands. Who knows. And you also need to know that other companies are working on GM seed too, it’s not just Monsanto. They just chose the lawsuit scenario and became the spokescompany for the bullying techniques that could be utilized.

The other really frightening thing is that here in the U.S. the government has not whispered a word to food distributors about labeling. I’d like to avoid eating GM corn. Or GM canola. But I can’t, because nobody makes the producers/farmers/packagers label products as GM. And it’s not likely to happen anytime soon, either. The documentary also detailed the extremely high number of high U.S. government officials who used to work for Monsanto. We’re not talking USDA underlings, here, but very top officials in many areas of the government sector (including John Ashcroft, among others). I don’t know whether buying organic will assure me of eating non-GM foods. I’ll need to look into that.

The documentary is available in a variety of places. Online you can watch it for free. I got mine through my Netflix membership. The movie production company’s site also contains good info. Schmeiser’s website contains a ton of data, including a “what if” essay about the possible implications of the use of any GM seed. It’s worth reading. But whatever you do, do see the movie/documentary.

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A year ago: My cousin Gary’s Turkey Chili

The other day I wrote up a post that started out about cranberries, but ended up being a long story about how I lived in Rhode Island when I was about 14-17. In the process I did read a bunch of information about cranberries, and thought I’d share it.

• Cranberries are from a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs. The word derives from “craneberry,” from European settlers who thought the flower of the cranberry resembled the neck, head and bill of a crane.
• They grow in acidic bogs in the Northern Hemisphere.
• Cranberries are pollinated by honey bees and in any form we eat them, they contain good antioxidants.
• Henry Hall, an American Revolutionary war veteran, was credited as the first cranberry farmer on Cape Cod, about 1816. Wisconsin is now the leading producer of cranberries. Nowadays cranberry bogs are constructed with sand and the surface is laser leveled to provide perfectly even drainage. The bogs are frequently drained.
• A misconception is that the beds/bogs remain flooded throughout the year (like in the Ocean Spray commercials). Not so – they’re only flooded during harvest, or when the temps dip very low (the water protects them from completely freezing). If it does freeze, they drive trucks onto the ice to spread a thin layer of sand to control pests and rejuvenate the vines.
• White cranberry juice is made from fully mature cranberries, but done so before they attain the characteristic bright-red color.
• Fresh cranberries should be frozen in a home freezer for no longer than 9 months. Use the fruit directly without thawing.
• Canned cranberries are generally the below-grade fruit. The cream of the crop are the fresh bags we find in November & December.
• There was a scandal in 1959 when that year’s crop was tainted with traces of aminotriazole, an herbicide. The cranberry market collapsed. In years following, the cranberry industry introduced more year-round products (so they weren’t so dependent on a 2-month selling season) like mixed juices, and more currently dried cranberries.
• Ocean Spray (originally a cooperative with the A.D. Makepeace Company) has been in continuous production since the late 1800’s and is still the world’s largest grower of cranberries.

If this has been fascinating, you might want to look at the following:

University of Wisconsin cranberry website

Wikibooks: Cranberry

Wikipedia’s site

OceanSpray (main site)

OceanSpray’s most popular recipes

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Two years ago: Gulliver’s Creamed Corn

This post started because I took some photos of cranberries just before I made my usual cranberry relish (with oranges and apples, plus ground ginger) just before Thanksgiving. Cranberries make such a pretty photo, don’t you think?

When I was a young teenager my parents and I moved to Newport, Rhode Island from our home in San Diego, California. My dad was in charge of the technical team (of about 8 families who all moved there) that built the first military computer for the Naval War College* there. A computer that was quite a jewel in the Navy’s crown, for performing strategic war games. It was a huge project, and the computer was housed in a building several stories high, about half the size of a city block. This was in 1955. How technology has changed since then, huh? We moved there for about 2 1/2 years, when I was 14. Having never lived on the East Coast, it was a big cultural change. I went from a junior high school here in California (8th grade), to being the youngster in a high school there (also 8th grade). I began wearing plaids. Wools. Heavy wool coats. Woolen socks. Galoshes. Yuk. Boots didn’t exist back then. We attended a Methodist church. We learned the nuances of clam chowder. We visited the first outlet stores from the woolen mills. I wore Daniel Green shoes. Fluffy petticoat lined skirts. We took lots of weekend trips, which didn’t excite me much back then, but now I realize how fun they really were. We went to Boston, into the hinterlands of Vermont, New Hampshire, Cape Cod, and to New York.

Perhaps I’ve told this story before, so pardon me if I repeat myself. My parents leased an apartment, sight unseen, by mail, a couple of months before we drove across the country. We took a nice driving vacation through the South en route. Across Texas. Biloxi. Key West. (No, Disney World wasn’t there at that time. Neither was Cape Canaveral.) Gettysburg. Washington, D.C. for just a day. Finances were a little tight, I think, so we stayed in motels, ate at very moderate restaurants. We did stay in New York City for one night too, and I got to see the Rockettes. We also ate dinner at an automat. I thought that was ever-so cool.

Finally we arrived in Newport. The apartment was one of two in a converted stable/carriage house on a palatial estate called Chastellux, along Newport’s Wellington Avenue of stately homes (built in 1854 by Richard Morris Hunt). The carriage house apartment was up a flight of steep stairs, had 2 bedrooms. Not a particularly attractive apartment, although it did have some character with a few nooks and crannies. No view, but it was a beautiful location. When it snowed, we were virtually captives because the elderly woman/landlady, Mrs. Lorillard Spencer**, who still lived in the palatial home didn’t want to pay for somebody to clear the interior road, although eventually she was forced to. I thought it was so fun to be snowed in. No school, etc. (That year there was a blizzard that left 5 feet of snow on the ground.) I befriended the older woman who was the landlady’s cook. She was from Sweden, and loved to bake. I remember visiting the cook on numerous occasions. She’d make a pot of tea and I’d help her cook. Well, mostly I watched, but we had a convivial conversation and I enjoyed listening to her stories about her homeland. The only thing I truly remember making with her was apple strudel. On the huge marble countertop in the palatial home’s massive kitchen island (back then palatial home kitchens did have islands). The landlady was not a happy person (as years have gone by I’ve realized that, certainly didn’t at the time). She was grouchy; she was a widow, I think, and lived there and in New York with just her and the cook. The cook went with her when she went to NYC. She did have a groundskeeper too, with the upkeep of several acres (probably 10, I’d guess). Occasionally the landlady would pop into the kitchen. And sometimes she didn’t like me even visiting the kitchen. Mostly because she thought if I was there, the cook wasn’t getting her job done as fast as she should. So I knew if there was any flak from the landlady, I was to leave immediately. And eventually the landlady said “no,” I couldn’t come visit the cook anymore. Sad for me.

I thought the big house, the carriage house, the stiff, unsmiling landlady were all very interesting. My parents didn’t. So promptly at 11 months renting, my dad wrote a letter informing the landlady that we’d be leaving in 30 days. We moved to a small 3 bedroom house closer to town. Where the roads were plowed. We lived there until my dad’s project was complete, then we moved back to our family home in San Diego, where I lived until I graduated from college.

I started out this post thinking I was going to write something about cranberries. All this was leading up to the fact that while we lived in Newport we did VISIT a cranberry bog. It think it was in Massachusetts. I found it fascinating – owned by Ocean Spray. So, tomorrow I will give you some info about cranberries.

In case you’re interested, I did a bit of online sleuthing:

* The [Naval War] college’s Center for Naval Warfare Studies is central to the Navy’s research efforts in maritime strategic thinking. One of its departments, War Gaming, introduced at Newport in 1887, allows students, joint and fleet commanders, and representatives of the Department of Defense and various governmental agencies to test operational simulations and advanced strategic concepts more than 60 times a year. Utilizing off-the-shelf technologies of video teleconferencing, computer simulation and World Wide Web capabilities, the Decision Support Center offers users an unparalleled selection of information gathering tools to support critical outcomes. . . .[from the Naval War College’s website]

In 1947, the NWC acquired an existing barracks building and converted it to a secondary war gaming facility, naming it Sims Hall . . . In 1957 Sims Hall became the primary center for the Naval War College’s war gaming department, serving as such until 1999. . .  [also from the Naval War College’s website]

** Mrs. Lorillard Spencer (Katherine Force Spencer) was the 2nd wife of Lorillard Spencer (married 12/7/1922). But they were very much “in” the New York City crowd. The 2nd wife apparently never had children. She was our landlady, I believe. Her sister was married to John Astor at one time, so the family was definitely connected. The 1st Spencer wife divorced her husband “on grounds of neglect and failure to provide,” according to the ancient newspaper clip I found online from the New York Times. Such interesting, wicked webs we weave.

A year ago: Chocolate Almond Saltine Toffee (oh, SO yummy)

Two years ago: New York Special Slices

Since I’m going to be ultra-busy on Thanksgiving Day, I’m posting a little whimsy for you this morning. I’m not a huge poetry fan, but this one just seems apropos.

The Pumpkin

. . . Ah! On Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,
From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,
When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board
The old broken links of affection restored,
When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,
And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,
What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?
What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie?

Oh, fruit loved of boyhood! The old days recalling,
When wood-grapes were purpling and brown nuts were falling!
When wild, ugly faces we carved in its skin,
Glaring out through the dark with a candle within!
When we laughed round the corn heap, with hearts all in tune,
Our chair a broad pumpkin, our lantern the moon,
Telling tales of the fairy who traveled like steam,
In a pumpkin-shell coach, with two rats for her team!

The thanks for thy present! None sweeter or better
E’re smoked from the oven or circles in platter!
Fairer hands never wrought at a pastry more fine,
Brighter eyes never watched o’re its baking, than thine!
And the prayer, which my mouth is too full to express,
Swells my heart that thy shadow may never be less,
That the days of thy lot may be lengthened below,
And the fame of thy worth like a pumpkin-vine grow,
And thy life be as sweet, and its last sunset sky
Golden-tinted and fair as thy own Pumpkin pie!
. . . John Greenleaf Whittier (1807-1892)

This post is mostly a repeat from last year. I’ve updated it with some new additions (from a year of posts). But just in case you need some ideas for planning Thanksgiving, here are my suggestions.

If you want to see all the recipes on my website, check out the Recipe Index page. It’s huge – maybe too huge. But if you’d like ideas that I think make for a delicious but traditional Thanksgiving dinner, then look no further. Certainly, I return year after year to some favorite recipes, but most likely I introduce something new to the menu equation each year. As I write this I haven’t decided on my menu for Thanksgiving 2009 – yet. We’ll have 6 adults and 3 grandchildren for Thanksgiving dinner itself.

So here’s my roundup of recipes that are sure to please, have been taste-tested and some can even be made ahead:

Appetizers: It’s my opinion that too many appetizers will spoil your appetite for this feast-of-a-meal. Generally I’ll put out some raw vegetables and a dip, or nothing at all. Maybe some nuts. But that’s IT. Besides, if you’re anything like me, I’m buzzing around the kitchen with way too many things to do to take time for appetizers (either preparing, serving or eating). We definitely don’t serve a fancy drink, either. Wine or champagne and soft drinks will be around for anyone who wants them, but that’s it. Maybe some sparkling apple juice for the kids and non-drinkers. But, if you insist on something to serve ahead, here are recipes that would work. The first crostini happen to be a real favorite but they take a bit of fussy work to make them at the last minute – assign the job to one of your guests if possible. And the herb dip (which you’d never know is made with tofu) is relatively light, so serve with fresh veggies to dip or crackers. The onion brushetta – oh my, delish and not all that heavy. And the last crostini is very different, but not particularly light.
Crostini with Apples & Blue Cheese & Honey
Hot & Spicy Tofu Herb Dip – because it’s not heavy or filling
Mahogany Sweet Onion Bruschetta
Gorgonzola, Grape & Pine Nut Crostini

The Turkey, the Main Event: Having tried every single solitary type and brand of turkey out there over the years, I’m now totally devoted to Kosher turkeys. They’re brined, you know, already. So you don’t have to do it. Kosher brining is just a salt and water brine, no added herbs or anything, but it’s fine for me. It’s not too salty, either. Sometimes Kosher turkeys are hard to find, but they ARE carried at Trader Joe’s (the turkeys arrived last week here in So. California, and trust me, they’ll be gone fast if you don’t get one soon – they have a long shelf life) and at Whole Foods. I missed out at Trader Joe’s one year, so ended up buying two Kosher birds at Whole Foods. They were outrageously expensive (certainly more than at Trader Joe’s) but they were off-the-charts delicious. Even my husband, who isn’t crazy about turkey but eats it, said it was very, very good. So, get thy self to a market where you can get one of these birds. Know, however, that you may not be able to make the gravy from the drippings – generally the broth is too salty. You can try, though. You also don’t want to stuff a brined bird – too much of the salty brine leaches into the dressing.

The Gravy: Because I use a Kosher bird that is heavily salted, usually I have to make the gravy separately. My friend Stacey sent me a recipe last year for a Turkey Gravy Without the Turkey. It was a great find, as you can make the gravy the day before! How about them apples! Everything I can do ahead is a good thing in my book.
Turkey Gravy without the Turkey

The Stuffing (Dressing): Over the years I must have made dozens of different dressings. I’m not overly committed to any one flavor (like cornbread, or oyster, etc.) but prefer a very moist, flavorful dressing. That’s all I ask. Last year I made an Italian sausage dressing that was one of the best I’ve ever done, so will likely make that one again. I’ve also made a Rachel Ray recipe called Stuffin’ Muffins one year – and they were also very good.
Italian Sausage Dressing
Rachel Ray’s Stuffin’ Muffins

The Potatoes: Well, mashed potatoes are a necessity for me. And I was thrilled one year to read a recipe for making them several hours ahead, piling them into my big crockpot where they held very well for the ensuing hours. You do have to doctor-up the recipe a little to make them particularly moist, but otherwise they’re so simple and I like the fact that all the work can be done ahead. If you don’t want mashed, but prefer another type, there are a couple of other scalloped-type suggestions listed below the mashed.
Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
Goat Cheese Potato Gratin
Monterey Scalloped Potatoes with Jack Cheese
Mashed Potatoes with Bacon, Cheddar & Chives

The Sweet Potatoes: You won’t find a single one of those icky sweet potato casseroles here. I can’t stand them. They’re simply too darned sweet. But I do have a couple of sweet potato dishes that would be quite nice. Generally I fix either mashed potatoes OR sweet potatoes, not both.
Sweet Potato Bake
Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Yam Slices with Garlic & Rosemary
Yams, Carrots & Ginger

The Vegetables: Over the years I’ve served just about every kind of vegetable. Some to acclaim, and some not. I happen to love Brussels sprouts (steamed, halved and tossed with salt, pepper and butter), but since Thanksgiving is often a family and multi-generational affair, my DH and I have learned to eat our Brussels at another meal. I like peas, but they’re not very exciting, and besides since this is an overly-rich carbohydrate meal, I don’t serve them anymore. Same goes for corn. I used to serve a baked corn casserole nearly every year, but no longer. So what do I serve? The garlic green beans fit well, although some might not like the garlic with this meal. It’s fine with me. Here are some suggestions:
Broccoli Casserole
Garlic Green Beans – may be too garlicky for the subtle turkey
Baked Fennel
Green Beans, Shallots, Balsamic
Ina Garten’s Zucchini Gratin
Baked Onions
Cauliflower, Bacon & Mushrooms
Brussels Sprouts with Cream
Green Beans & Hazelnut Butter
French Green Beans with Pears & Parmesan

Bread: I don’t serve bread at Thanksgiving any longer. I mean, really, with dressing, potatoes and pumpkin pie, you hardly need any more carbs. But if you insist, here are a few recipes that will work:
Herbed Biscuit Ring – made with the canned biscuits – very easy
Drop Biscuits
Goat Cheese Chive Biscuits

The Salads: Since I grew up with Jell-o salads as a staple at the holiday table, I actually like them, as long as they’re not too sweet. Also, I like them because they’re easy and can be made ahead. You can also make them not-so-sweet if you add vegetables instead of fruit and/or whipped cream. I’ve never blogged about them because you, my loyal readers, might cancel your subscription! One of my favorites is a peach flavored gelatin with a waldorf set of ingredients (diced apples, celery and walnuts). Or, in recent years we also make a green salad. We have family members who still love a green salad anytime, anywhere. They’d almost rather eat green salad than the rest of the meal. So, with that one I would add some of my peppered pecans, or walnuts, pomegranate seeds or dried cranberries. Those additions make it more festive and holiday-ish.
Green Salad with Peppered Pecans and add some dried cranberries too
Cranberry (Jell-o) Waldorf Salad – I’ve never blogged about this one, but you can get the PDF recipe by clicking the recipe title
Apple, Cherry & Walnut Green Salad – very rich, but would be perfect for a holiday dinner
Celery, Date, Walnut & Pecorino Salad – green type, but perfect for this meal

The Cranberry Thing: Some of our family members still like the canned stuff. (They have to bring it if they want it at my table.) No canned stuff for me. So I always, I mean always, make my favorite cranberry relish that has ginger, apples and oranges ground up in it. Make it a week or so in advance then you don’t have to worry about it except to put it out in a serving bowl.
Cranberry Relish – made in the food processor and oh-so easy

Dessert: Well, what can I tell you but we always have traditional pumpkin pie. As far as I’m concerned that’s all that’s needed, but generally somebody else brings the pies at our family get-togethers, and they bring both pumpkin and apple. With real whipped cream, thank you. And the pumpkin usually is Libby’s recipe, Libby’s pumpkin. That’s it. End of story. But, if you don’t really want pumpkin, here’s a really special dessert that will put your carb count into overdrive.
Cinnamon Raisin Apple Bread Pudding

Leftovers: Well, other than reheating the different components of Thanksgiving dinner, I generally make soup.

THE STOCK: I remove most of the turkey meat from the carcass after the big feast. The bones go into a large, deep soup pot (you may have to break them up some), cover with water and add an onion, some celery, a bay leaf, maybe a garlic clove or two (no salt), put a lid on it and put it in the oven overnight at about 225F. In the morning you’ll have a wonderful turkey stock from which to make soups. Strain everything through a colander and cool and chill. The only down side for me is that on Friday morning the whole house smells like turkey, and sometimes that’s not so appealing at 7:00 in the morning. But, that doesn’t ever keep me from doing it because making that stock is just so easy.

Go from there . . . Here are my leftover favorites:
White Chicken Turkey Chili
Chicken Turkey Posole
Turkey (free form) Tortilla Soup
(Another) Chicken Turkey Chili
Southwestern Turkey Chili - my favorite turkey soup, and I’ve never posted the story, but click the title to get the recipe (PDF)
White Turkey Chili (what I did with the leftovers last year – maybe my best turkey chili)
Roasted Sweet Potato & Black Bean Salad (if you have plain sweet potatoes left over)

SANDWICH BREAD: And then, last but not least, I’m telling you about a bread – a bread that you should use for turkey sandwiches. I’ve been making this bread for years and years and years. It’s not difficult (easier if you have a stand mixer), although it IS a yeast bread, not a tea bread. It’s a pumpkin flavored bread, with some raisins and chopped walnuts in it, but it’s more a savory bread and goes just great with leftover turkey sandwiches, especially spread with just a little bit of cranberry relish, crisp lettuce and nice slices of turkey.
Pumpkin Raisin Yeast Bread for Sandwiches