Thanksgiving Dinner for Fifteen

success.

RIP

We picked up our produce share yesterday.  This was a particularly exciting box, since Enterprise Farm just harvested their summer corn, and we were looking forward to it!

Sadly, though, our little box of fresh raspberries, inside the big box with all those heavier vegetables, got jostled too much :( Rather than shiny, plumb, pinkish-red berries, we ended up with:

Raspberries In Pieces

Not to be discouraged, since they were still very fresh, I made a tart :)

minted raspberry tart

Really, there are few things better than a berry tart. It's a little like a pie--with that lovely flaky crust--but without so much of that gooey overly-sweet filling (can you guess what part of the pie is my favorite?) :)

This is also a good time to share with you my favorite pie crust recipe.  There are probably thousands of pie crust recipes online these days, and most of them are fabulous. Some of them are perfection--if you have the time, patience, and skill to work with the recipe.

I do not possess such virtues.  Neither did my mother.

At least, not when pie dough is concerned.

So here is Merel William's pie crust recipe.  It's the one my grandmother used and the one Momma always used.  This is the crust she raved about whenever I made her a pie.  She always told me she ate pies for the crust, not the filling.  Like mother like daughter, they say :)

This is the dough I use when I need a crust that won't give me any trouble. It's great for pot pies and fruit pies and tarts and quiches and.. anything you need a super-quick-and-easy crust for :) It's even worked in my warm kitchen this summer--totally fool- (and humidity-) proof!

One more note: yes, it uses vegetable shortening.  This is why it's so easy--because you use hot water to melt the shortening into the flour and you don't have to worry about refrigerating it or freezing it or keeping it cool as you work with it. Take it or leave it, but it's still my favorite.

makes enough for one 8" pie pan with lattice top

2 c all purpose flour (I use white spelt flour and it comes out well every time)
1 tsp salt
3/4 c crisco
1/4 c hot water (nearly boiling is best)
1 T milk (or cream)

Combine flour and salt with fork.  If you want to add herbs or spices to the crust, incorporate them now.  Plop the crisco right on top of the flour and poor hot water directly over shortening.  Stir with a fork until combined, adding milk as necessary to reach pie-dough-ness.

On a floured surface (preferably unfinished wood/cutting board--formica counters and varnished tables don't work well at all), roll out half of dough to 1/8" thick (but not more than 1/4"--the thinner the flakier!).  Using a long spatula or cake froster, gently loosen dough from rolling surface and fold in quarters. Make sure there is enough flour on the top of the crust that it won't stick to itself when folded over.

Place folded dough in the pie pan (no need to grease the pan) so that dough lays properly in the pan when unfolded. Unfold. Presto pie crust!

Ease the crust into all the corners of the pan, leaving the overhang around the edges.  Add filling. Repeat process with other half of dough for the top of the crust. Lay the crust on top of the filling and pinch the top and bottom together. This woman knows what's she's talking about :) and she has more pictures.

Or, if you're super lazy (like I am), do a tart! Make half a recipe of crust, roll your rolling pin on top of the edges of the pie pan to cut the edges off the crust, add the filling, and bake.

Filling for Minted RIP Tart
1 1/2 c strawberry lemonade
2 T flour
1 c fresh raspberries
10-15 mint leaves, finely chopped
1 T honey
sugar

In small saucepan on the stove, combine lemonade and flour and whisk until combined. Heat until mixture begins to thicken (this is an improvised jam--if you have jam you want to use, do it!).  Add raspberries and mint and mash with fork or whisk until mixed into the gravy/jam/stuff.  Remove from heat.  Add honey.  Pour into crust.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  If desired, sprinkle about 1 T sugar on top of filling and broil to get a nice glaze on top.

Serve with ice cream :)

To the Full

We had a very full weekend.  Full of friends, good food, much laughter, lots of sunshine, and many, many memories.  It reminds me of Christ's words to His disciples: "I came that you might have life and have it to the full."  Truly the joy in Christ has animated our lives always, and especially when we can spend time with our fabulous companions on the way.

On Thursday night, since one really can't get an early enough start to any three-day weekend, T and I, plus Viv and Matt and Jen all went to see Toy Story 3.  [Great movie, by the way. Pixar has done it again... Pixar and that cute hopping lamp-guy.]  Matt got off work late so we went to the 9:45 showing.  We drove to the theatre and Viv and I (oh so sneakily) brought our own popcorn!  Y'know those huge, over-sized, ziploc bags? We filled one of those with popcorn.. and it was delicious (even though we didn't finish it).

Though, really, I guess theatres don't really care anymore.  I remember going to the theatre when I was a kid and they'd search your bag!  So it was a total stealth operation if you wanted to "smuggle" in your own candy, rather than paying (a whole $2!) for their candy.  And popcorn? C'mon, people--movie theatres could give away seats for free if everyone bought popcorn.  Such a racket..

Um, anyway :)

On Friday, we went over to Matt's house for a terribly delicious BBQ get-together.  I think there was a sporting event on in the living room, but I mostly stayed outside.  Friday was my idea of a perfect summer's day.  It was cool in the morning, delightful in the afternoon, and cool again in the evening--but not too cool.  Not the kind of cool where you want a long-sleeve shirt or a lightweight jacket, but the kind of cool that's the perfect relief from the heat of the day.  Though even the sunshine was great that day--there was a fresh breeze dissipating the heat, but the sunlight was plentiful enough to warm buildings and sidewalks, which residual heat balanced the cool of the evening.

We had fresh burgers, home made salmon burgers (so tasty!), with enough crisp vegetables to satisfy even the largest mouthed burger eaters! There was avocado salad, strawberry salad, grilled corn on the cob (with an entire stick of butter for rolling the corn in), and delicious, creamy, coffee-y ice cream for dessert (from my favorite creamery, too).  Tim was good enough to go get me brownie mix for my intense and un-reasoned craving.  What a guy :)

And there was music, and gin and tonics, and good beer, and lots of smiles.  I always love gathering to eat with friends and family.  What better way to nourish your body than along with your soul?  Our life is blessed.

M@'s BBQ

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Saturday was mostly spent out.  At a friend's house and at the mall.  I gathered up the ingredients for oatmeal pancakes (my breakfast favorite, definitely) and some spicy Italian sausage, and we headed over to help him move his gigantic new TV.  All things considered (y'know, forgoing a breakfast en suite with my Love, lazing away the morning together..), it was a great morning.  While we ate, we watched part of Baraka, which was a stunning film.  It has led T and me to the conclusion that we definitely prefer the pace of life in "undeveloped" regions rather than life in the city :)

Big news for me is, while we were in the mall (outfitting Burke's new kitchen, etc), I got a sushi-making kit!  Now all I have to do is figure out how to make sushi rice and we're in business :D  Stay tuned for updates--I plan on attempting said feat tomorrow.. we'll see how it goes!

In the evening we made popcorn and watched MOON on Burke's new TV. Another good movie--thought provoking.

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Ok--Sunday!  The whole purpose of the weekend, right? since it's the reason we had Monday off.  What did we do?  Well.. did you know that Boston's fireworks are the ones that are televised nationwide for the 4th?  So next year, if you want to join us in our revelry, tune it to "the hub's" fireworks :)

our view for the fireworks

We went to Mass in the morning, all our picnic gear in tow, and ate lunch at Pavement (best chicken salad ever).  It was hot on Sunday, and we only had salami from home, so we also stopped by the store for fruit and bread and hummus and cheese and water.  What more could you ask for, sitting on a blanket in the sunshine (with an umbrella)?  We also brought books--my pick was a book about my new camera.  Dorky? Yes. Do I care? Not particularly :)

A summary of our Sunday would go like this: Mass, Lunch, find a spot, sit (sit sit sit sit), cool off, sit some more, wait for the fireworks to start, take pictures, watch fireworks, more pictures, shuffle to the T with thousands of other watchers, decide to walk the whole way home (4 miles), crash into bed (which I thankfully thought to clear off before we left in the morning!).

That sounds worse that it really was--it really was a looong day--but we had a lot of fun and it was good to be down there, "in the throng" as it were.  We had a good time chatting with friends and it was nice to much on goodies all day, with nothing else to do.

And the fireworks--once they started--were really awesome.  I didn't bring my tripod, because I didn't want to carry it around the whole day, but I will definitely have it next time I watch fireworks. I learned a lot, and even got some decent shots. Hope your 4th was just as fun :)

4th on the Esplanade

House Full

When Daddy was a younger man, he tells us, he always wanted to live in a house full of beautiful women.  Wouldn't y'know it? He forgot to specify: "whom I'm not related to."  :)  Instead of a houseful of wife-like women, he got a houseful of daughters.  "Even the tortoise turned out to be a girl!" he'd say.  Now, most of his grandchildren are grand-daughters :) Ah well.

Viv and I flew out to CA last weekend because, you see, Summer was visiting from CO  and we thought it'd be fun to have all the sisters together again.  It was :)

The weekend before we flew out was Daddy's birthday.  My sister Bethany, who teaches at our old high school, thought it'd be a good idea to take Daddy out to an encore performance of a Johnny Cash play the school was putting on.  It was awesome!

We went to sushi for dinner and Daddy even tried a piece of raw fish! He didn't particularly like it, but that was fine--it left more for me.  We sipped tea and talked--about theology of the body, music and lyrics, dividing things up, visiting at Christmas--and laughed. It was also nice to sit down to eat dinner that 1) we didn't have to make and 2) we didn't have to clean up.  It was a great meal.  I think sushi should become a tradition in the family now.. one of those things that's developed without Momma around to orchestrate large meals.  It's easy to order, pick up, serve, fill us up, and clean up after.  Addenda to the meal are easy too (rice and miso soup), and (my favorite reason) I'm mostly not allergic to anything in sushi. Hooray! How 'bout it, Family--New Tradition? :D

After dinner we headed over to the high school and sat through a wonderful performance of Ring of Fire, a musical about Johnny Cash.  It was, of course, a high school musical production, but it was wonderfully done--and the troupe is going to Scotland to perform it in a competition!  Well done, alma mater :)

After the concert, Daddy treated us all to ice cream.  We went to Baskin Robins and each got a scoop, which we ate outside--the weather was so nice [really, there's nothing like summer nights in the desert].  I got daiquiri ice, a favorite of mine from childhood.  I love real ice cream, but on a hot summer day (and "hot summer day" where I'm from translates to 120+ degrees with no humidity and glaring sunshine), the cream is just too much. Daiquiri ice was the most refreshing thing out there :) and it hit the spot.

I love my family.  We're all a little nutty, but that keeps things interesting! It was good to see my sisters again and hang out with Daddy a bit.  We really missed you Ray (et al.)!  Hopefully we can all meet up for Christmas--it's been too long since we've all been together (grandkids and spouses included)!

Here's hopin' :)

Rich Memories

Memories are rich. The last week has been especially rich with memory for my family.  One week ago, Taylor and Viv and I celebrated the anniversary of Momma's death.  We had a nice Tea Party "Brinner" (that's Breakfast for Dinner) of scrambled eggs, bacon wrapped sausages (baked in brown sugar and maple syrup), potatoes O'Brien, and guacamole.  For "dessert" we had the Bass Cottage Inn's oat scones, which were delicious, and bacon shortbread cookies, which were also delicious, and tea.

It really was a fitting celebration.  I knew Momma was there with us--her first tea party at my house in Boston :)

Each of us went in turns telling one memory we had of Momma, which, of course, led to other memories and stories and jokes.  At the end of the evening, we said a prayer of Thanks for Momma's life, and that we were able to know her and Love her.

Then yesterday, the anniversary of her funeral--St. Patrick's Day--we had a traditional Irish boiled dinner.  My first ever.  We has corned beef brisket, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage.  I even grated a little Dubliner Irish cheddar cheese to top things off, but the flavors were all so beautifully simple that not much garnish was needed.  I'm happy to report that it went well.  We had four people over, bringing the total eaters to seven--the number in my family.  We had a jolly evening.

St. Patty's Feast

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And so, we go on and on.  A year has past. Before we know it, it will be two years, then five.  But we won't forget.  And we look forward, with great hope, to the day when we can all enjoy a Sunday High Tea as a whole family once again.  And it will be Beatific.

A Night Before Christmas

We had some friends over for dinner last night, a night before Christmas, and one more chance to spend some quality time with awesome people.  I made fig and olive roast chicken, apple sausage stuffing, and a spinach salad.  For dessert, I made a quick "dump and stir" chocolate cake, which was a big hit with the ice cream Kendra brought!  

We did, of course, have plenty of fine and tasty beverages, which we shared and sampled throughout the night.  

I have to admit, I've been very happy with the new arrangement of our living room--it lends itself much better to mingling and socializing without cutting off groups of people.  And because we have the table out of the kitchen now (a smaller butcher block prep cart in its place), there's even room for the inevitable friends who always seem to congregate in the kitchen :) Obviously, they think that's "where it's at." 

Finally, after much catching-up, conversation, and general good cheer, we settled down to play paper charades.  Anyone interested in the rules?  My sides hurt again from laughing so hard! What a great game for a fun group of friends :) 

Enjoy the pictures, folks!

A Night Before Christmas

A Waif-Away-From-Home Thanksgiving

Because T and I were in town for Thanksgiving this year, we decided to invite to dinner any of our friends who were unable to go home for the holidays.  A collection of waifs (first definition).

Now, that's not to say that we (or our guest) don't have any friends in Boston. Obviously not since we had 11 people for dinner last night.  But it's hard not to feel like a waif when you can't go home for Thanksgiving.  It was good to be surrounded by friends :)

We woke up early to get a good start on our day.  The best start, actually--we went to Mass.  What better place to begin the a eucharistic feast (as in: eucharistein--to give thanks) than by celebrating the Eucharist?  What a blessing it is to have our Lord in our midst, so clearly and so readily.

Refreshed from the Feast, we headed home and I started prepping the turkey.  We got a 21 pound turkey from the same farm where we get the rest of our (naturally raised, grass-fed, wholly organic and sustainable) meat.  It was a beautifully huge bird. And it was running around, happy as a... turkey.. just one week ago!  I used the maple-butter recipe that Momma used for Viv's Golden Birthday dinner last year.  Truth be told, I think I overcooked the turkey.  But the gravy was pretty tasty, and even overcooked turkey makes great leftovers.  Better overcooked than underdone, right? Finally, this is only the second turkey I've made. I'm not ashamed to admit I can keep improving :)

We also had apple sausage stuffing. I made a double recipe (well, we need leftover stuffing for our leftover turkey, right?).  I used a sour dough bread and did half ground beef/half sausage for the meat.  This was the highlight of my Thanksgiving.  I've never had better stuffing (sorry, Momma).  It was delicious!  We finished one (13x9") pan last night and T and I finished half of the second (13x9") pan for lunch today... so try it :) It's pretty tasty.

I also made (coconut milk) scalloped sweet potatoes, which were also very scrumptious.

Next on the menu: cheese (mmmm)

(no further description necessary, right?)

So are you wondering how we fit 11 people at our table?  We got two additional folding tables (raised with corks stuck in their legs (and still a little too short)) and put them next to our bitty table.  It was a squeeze, but we managed (and hey, we're all friends, right?).   The magic of squeezing is Friendship!

Again, a big thank you to our parents who have so graciously completed our china service for 14. The crystal was a wedding present, too.  We are indeed very blessed :)  Someday, probably when we have our farm, I'll have a big dining room with one table that can seat all our guests and you can all come over for a meal.  We will use the china and the crystal and have a good ol' traditional sit-down dinner and stay up chatting late into the night.

Which is what we did last night.  Our last guest didn't leave until after 1, and I (for some silly reason?!) decided I needed to start the turkey stock.  I picked all the meat off while our guests were still chatting and got the bones in the pot soon after they left.  What took so long was bringing the pot to a boil before reducing it to a simmer.  At 2 o'clock in the morning (this morning!) I turned off the lights and headed to bed.

All in all, I'd say it was a tremendous success.  For dessert we had a chocolate pumpkin pie, sugar cookies, a blueberry tart, a traditional pecan pie, a chocolate pecan pie, an ice cream cake, and ice cream.  Frankly, with a spread like that, who cares if dinner was a success? :)

If we are in town next year for Thanksgiving, I hope we can host another gathering.

And next year, I'll make a better turkey.

Happy Feast, everyone!  (and to all a good night)

Coconut Milk Ice Cream

I love coconut milk. I've made scones with it, and soup and sauces and pancakes. But then I found a recipe for coconut ice cream :) I had to try it.

So I did.

And it was delicious!

Here is the ice cream recipe:

[I have a 1.5 qt. ice cream maker, adjust the amount of liquid in this recipe if yours is larger or smaller]

1 15-oz. can coconut milk (I never buy the "lite" versions. Coconut fat is really good for you)

Milk to make 3 c. liquid (I used hemp milk--I'm sure you could use soy milk, too)

1 tsp vanilla

1/4-1/2 c sugar (I put in a 1/2 c and it was a little too sweet for me. The cocunut doesn't need much sweetness at all. You could also use agave nectar or maple syrup. I've never tried honey in ice cream--anyone know how that works?)

I also added candied coconut pecans (I like nuts in my ice cream). So here's the recipe for that:

1 c pecans, roughly crushed or chopped

1/2 c shredded coconut (mine was unsweetened)

1/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp salt

In a shallow baking sheet, toast the pecans and coconut gently in a 350 degree oven (about 10 minutes). Put the sugar and salt in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar melts and becomes a light caramel color. When it has melted, remove from heat and immediately add pecans and coconut to the sugar, stirring quickly to combine. Spread out again on the baking sheet, breaking up large clumps into good ice-cream-sized pieces. Let cool completely.

Freeze milk mixture according to your ice cream maker's directions. Add pecans during the last few minutes of freezing, just until well combined. Eat right away for soft serve ice cream, or transfer to a shallow container and freeze until firm [I froze this overnight and it got really firm, so I had to let it set out for 15 or so minutes].

Dish up and enjoy!

Things I've Noticed About My Blogging

1. I don't do it consistently.
2. I do it only when I have to sit at a computer for a semi-long period of time. 
3. It takes me a while to finish a post. 
4. If I am working on another project, blogging definitely takes the back burner. 
5. I like to have pictures with my posts. I don't like it when I can't find a picture that works with what I've written.  Sometimes I'll post a picture that has nothing to do with the post, just to make it more interesting.
6. I feel like I have nothing significant to update unless I do little-everyday things, like getting ice cream or going to a movie. 
7. And if I don't keep up with the little things, time passes in long stretches of non-blogging. When I finally start posting again, I have to silly things like this list. 
8. That's all I can think of. 

I need help to remind me and motivate me to blog more often... 

wanna try? 

I'm going to go have some ice cream now.

Mun-day?

Who says ice cream can't "make everything better"?  (especially if it's chocolate!) (and especially if it's 45 degrees out and sunny!) (and, of course, if the ice cream is REALLY good.)

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I had a "mopey" morning today. Maybe because it was Monday, or maybe because the weekend seemed to have gone by so quickly?  I did get a lot done at work, but I had to mail two packages and the BC post office was hectic.  Then I had to go pick up our grass-fed meat and... decided to stop for ice cream.  The day just got better from there! 

The baked beans I made tonight turned out really well, too (will post recipe if people are interested). I made Pink Lady Apple slaw and we had fresh bread to go along with it. Also, the 5th season of Frasier arrived in the mail and we watched a few episodes of that before going to bed. I know it wasn't just the ice cream that made my day better (thanks to my sweet Taylor!) but it was a nice treat :)  Happy Monday!

Snow Ice Cream

Snow ice cream was a very rare and exciting treat for me when I was a little girl.  Since it only snowed in the desert once every 10 years, we made snow ice cream as often as nature allowed. We collected our snow from the roof of the car in the driveway (since there was rarely enough to collect it from the yard without getting grass mixed in!). Ours always turned out rather soupy, though.. I wonder if we got a little carried away with the maple syrup? :) Here's the recipe I came up with this time 'round. 

1) Set a bowl out in the snow while it is snowing (or go out and collect good clean snow in a bowl) until you have about 12 cups of (NOT packed) snow. Leave the bowl outside until you've completed step 2.  2) Mix 1 c whole milk with 1/3 c cream and then add maple syrup to taste (but not too much--you don't want soupy snow ice cream) and vanilla extract 3) Pour the milk mixture over the snow in the bowl and stir well. 4) Serve. 5) Serve again. 6) Enjoy :)

What A Day!

Whew! I went to get blood drawn this morning at the lab (where I've had it done before--the technician I had was great!), but when I got there, three people were already in the waiting room and there was no technician there. No one knows where the scheduled person was. To my knowledge, they still don't know what happened. We all waited there for a while and the ultrasound lady (who shares the office) arrived and she didn't know anything either. Luckily for me, my doctor's office is just two floors up in the same building so I went up to see what I could see. The doctor was at a delivery, but her assistant called the lab's main office and they didn't know what was going on either, but said someone should be there before 10:00. So I went back downstairs to wait another 20 minutes... but no one came. I went BACK up to my doctor's office and they told me I should just go to the other (competing) lab in the building, which I did. Got there, signed in, sat down and waited 15 minutes.. only to find out that they won't accept the blood order paperwork from the other lab. :P So I went up, yet again, to my doctor's office and the nice assistant lady printed me off a differnet colored paper with the same information on it. Back downstairs, sign in, sit, wait, called. I spent 3 minutes in the chair getting poked, bled, and taped. So, to make a long (and boring) story short, it took me 2 hours to wait for a 3 minute blood test.. haha. The ride back on the T was fine, though (I had a good book). I even made it back to Cleveland Circle in time to re-load my "Chah-ley Cahd" before catching the shuttle and arrive on campus with 10 minutes to spare before Mass (yay!). If that wasn't enough, I even ran into Dr. Kries from GU after Mass! He was here at BC visiting the campus with his daughter who had been accepted and wanted to preview the campus. He is well, and it was very good to see him, even if only for a few minutes. (We miss GU.) I gave him my number and updated email so he can get in touch with us when he's back this way in the fall. Work was fine--no one showed up to the open forum meeting we planned (which means not as much work for me!) and I left early from the empty meeting. I got to take a nice long walk after I got home and I talked to my sister the whole time. It's always good to chat with family--sometimes I don't realize how much I miss them until I can really talk to them and find out all the little details of their job, their daily grind, their kids... the weather :) Yummy dinner of roasted green beans and onion and potato slices with lemon pepper chicken and ICE CREAM for dessert! What a day.. a beautiful, full, comic day! AND, we just found out two of our good friends are pregnant!