Amarillo by Mid-afternoon

Traveling can be a two-edged sword.  On the one hand traveling itself sucks, getting up crack-of-dawn early to get stuffed like a sausage into a plane and having the disconnect of living out of a suitcase isn't the most fun I can think of for a weekday (although with practice it gets better).  But that other hand can be delicious.  I get to go to some really neat places while out and about.  This week finds me in Amarillo Texas which can arguably be called the beef capital of the US but so far we haven't tried to prove that out.

Jorge's

See if you can spot the pepper

Monday Lunch was at a nice local place called Jorge's which has some of the best fresh salsa.  It has chunks of cracked pepper floating a a moderately pureed tomato, onion and cilantro base which leads to a smooth sweet and spicy combo.  I ordered one of their unique dishes which is a deep fried stuffed avocado.  The heat turns the avocado flesh to a creamy consistency which melds into the chihuahua cheese and ground beef. 

Deep Fried Avocados

Sushi!

Sakura

Monday Dinner was at a sushi place we like called Sakura's.  I always like their katana door handles and big selection of sashimi.  I personally like Unagi and was excited to find that they also had 'White Tuna' which may be called Waloo, Escolar or Butterfish.  IT lives up to this last name with a really light smooth flesh that doesn't have that overpowering fishiness I get from things like Tilapia. 

El Bracero

Salsa Verde

Tuesday Lunch was at El Bracero which has become famous amongst our group for serving this fabulous salsa verde made with tomatillos and served a bit hot both in temperature and spice.  I ordered one of their specials, the Plato Michoacano which has your basic enchilada topped with a double egg over easy.  I added the salsa verde to this pile for a glorious meal. 

Plato Michoacano

Lasagna

For dinner Tuesday we kept it simple and went to Corino's chain Italian and I had the Lasagna having been overwhelmed by the lunch as it was.  Carino's wasn't my favorite of the bunch but that has more to do with competition than lack of quality.  While I'm stuffed, I am looking forward to the next few days since Amarillo is always a food fiesta.

Leftovers

Two big dinners in a row makes for a lot of leftovers.  The fridge is full of those reusable containers and this makes me happy.  I know a lot of people don't like leftovers but for me it is an opportunity to have something I loved one more time.  This of course assumes you follow my other philosophy of only keeping what was enjoyed.  Sometimes a meal will fail.  It happens.  Usually something gets burned or over spiced beyond repair but there is so much of it that we are tempted to keep it in the fridge till it rots.  This is ridiculous.  If nobody is going to eat it, there is no reason to save it because you're going to toss it out now or later.  If the roast in question was really expensive, you might be able to salvage some of it and I think I will address kitchen repairs sometime in the future but until then make sure you are on-board with the idea of eating the leftovers you stack before you go to the trouble of saving them.  If your are not going to eat it, consider starting a compost heap.
I love it when I can reach in and at random grab something that I have recent fond memories of.  It's like watching a favorite movie or listening to that one song that became the anthem of your high school senior year. Occasionally, I might take the remaining spoonfuls of various leftover treats and try to pool them together into a tasty meal and clear a bunch of space at the same time.  
There are some issues to be aware of with racks of refrigerated goodies.  One problem with refrigerated leftovers is their tendency to dry out.  This is a result of the cooling process but I have been able to revive mummified chicken and dried crunchy vegetables in a steam cooker but this will take a medium cooked steak and turn it well done so use with caution.  Another caution that I hear a lot is regarding the use of plastic containers.  They do a good job of keeping the moisture intact but may leach BPA into the food.  As I understand it, this is hastened by the heating and washing of containers.  As a result, I try to re-heat food on dishes instead of in the plastic container and also hand wash the plastics but I would be lying to say that this happens every time.  We all have BPA in us to varying degrees so while I might try to avoid exposure, I'm not going to panic over it.
Now the trick will be to work through these leftovers as the run-up to Christmas comes along.  We are planning a big Christmas dinner as many will do but some holiday baking seems inevitable.

Black Pot-Licking Friday

Can I call a second annual occurrence a tradition?  By popular acclaim, we hosted our second day-after-thanksgiving party for friends to bring their leftover dishes from the night before and enjoy a relaxed atmosphere.  Perhaps this fits the pilgrim model of thanksgiving even more than yesterday.  In an effort to seem down with the times and all, I attempted to organize this shindig via Facebook events.  This lead me to realize two things; 1 - I'm not connected online with everybody I want to yet and 2 - If everybody came, we would be violating the fire code.  On the belief that not everyone would come, I went ahead and sent out the invites.  Now this is the part of the story you may be saying to yourself, "hey wait a minute, I don't remember getting an invite," and my only defense/excuse is that I was sending out invites entirely on the on the spot and thought of whether somebody seemed like the sort that may be interested.  No other criteria went into it.  It's coming around again next year so let me know if you want to come and please don't take offense if I missed you this year.

We had spent a lot of time planning and prepping for the event and on the day of, instead of door-busting sales, we were shifting furniture and setting up zones for eating, chatting, games and movies.  We always plan kid friendly events so the Charlie Brown thanksgiving special was playing in the basement where kids could take their food and play and be noisy.  We brought in a couple extra tables and made the executive decision to allow people to eat anywhere they could find a spot.  Chairs were a premium but I think we were able to accommodate about 28 people.  We played various games and also had the piano ready for those who wanted to start the caroling.

Ambroses, Mckennas, some Baileys and a Turner

Mckennas, Doug & Joey and another Turner

The Kitchen Crew

To relate all this back to food, the spread was more intense than Thanksgiving itself since effectually we were combing a number of thanksgivings into one giant party.  In addition to the feast from the day before we also had people who brought the following:

Sweet Potato Casseroles

Rolls

Cider (for making Wassail)

It all starts here.

Cranberry Chutney and Sauces

(and I'm forgetting stuff already)

and we also broke out the Naan and used the Chard dip I mentioned last time.  The collage of pictures below sort of show the process.  The basic recipe calls for the tender stalks to be turned into mush and Tahini, Garlic paste and lemon juice added.  I went really heavy on the garlic this time but this only seemed to make it more addictive.

Chard Stalks in the Steamer

Steamed stalks getting liquified

Chard stalks chopped and ready

Done

And now I'm pooped.

The Feast of Thanksgiving

The great American tradition of Thanksgiving is one of the high holy days of the food world.  This event also tends to be an opportunity for a family gathering to enjoy good food and reunite with relatives near and distant.  As has been the case in the recent past, we hosted the Indiana branch of the family to our home.  Centered around a large hunk of meat, the meal is typically a buffet of standard but succulent fair and a bevy of desserts.  Our centerpiece was a smoked turkey.  Weighing in at 12.4 lbs., our bird would have spent most of a day in a brine solution except that this one had been pre-injected with brine solution and I didn't want to have it overly salty.  I have brined our turkeys for a couple of years on the initial suggestion of Alton Brown's Good Eats program on deep frying a turkey.  This has produced very juicy meat and reduces the risk of a having a dry tough turkey if you are not the most conscientious of cooks.  Some folks may say that using a brine pushes the salt and water content over the edge but it works for me as long as the turkey isn't processed ahead of time.  Since last year, I have turned from frying to smoking as the means to prepare the star attraction.  Make no mistake that this is a very slow process.  Last year I ended up having to finish it in the oven.  The big difference this year will be the use of a grill to do the smoking instead of the modified ECB (El Cheapo Brinkmann).  For this I again turned to Alton.  The visual appeal of a smoked turkey is hard to deny.

Smoked Turkey

This year was especially exciting since it was the first year that we are featuring produce from our own backyard garden.  This year we are going with the premise that based on timing and history, Thanksgiving should be themed around the harvest and spotlight foods that are seasonal and locally grown, or at least locally available.  I like to imagine a pilgrim having finished gathering and preserving food for the coming winter looking at their stores and either clearing out older stock that will soon spoil or fixing up the leftover bits and bobs from what was freshly preserved into a tasty dish to be shared with friends and family to celebrate the completion of the harvest.  While this would limit the amount of fresh vegetables and fruit, I see it as my opportunity to clear out those items from the back of the shelf in the pantry and fridge.

Big pot of Chard

Without a doubt the performer in the garden this year was the chard.  After planting these leafy nutritious greens, we have been able to cut and come again throughout the year and we chopped out what was left in the garden (protected from frost the last couple of weeks with blankets at night) to add to our feast.  They have added a lot of color to our salads and we have had to look for inventive ways to use it in order to not be overwhelmed.  One such was a recipe from A Sweet Life using the chard stalk (often unused and tossed) for a Mediterranean style dip similar in taste to baba ghanoush.  This, however, does not fit in the tradition scheme for thanksgiving so we left it in the fridge and I'll talk about that at another time.  We did steam the leaves and added chili peppers also from the garden.  We kept it simple but provided salt, garlic and my favorite, balsamic vinegar to allow people to garnish to their preference.

Mutant Carrots

Second to the chard was the monstrous carrots.  They were as big as a baby's leg and my daughter used a single carrot to shred the four cups needed for my birthday carrot cake.  They were used to accent many of the other dishes but stood on their own for a dish of glazed carrots made with Ginger ale and butter.  The sweet potatoes on the whole were long and skinny so we mashed them and in a fit of inspiration added plain yogurt and blonde sugar and baked it for a few minutes, A cheese spread made with pesto from the garden basil, potatoes where roasted with butter garlic and green beans and the green tomatoes that didn't finish ripening before the frosts became green tomato pie.  For bread we wanted to make cornbread but the fun corn cob pan didn't work out as planned so resorted to rolls.  Add in garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, apple and blueberry pies and a cheesecake and you are getting the big picture.

Potatoes and Green Beans

Sweet Potatoes

Cheese Spread made with Pesto

Glazed Carrots

Cranberry Deliciousness

 

Rounding out the spread was a special (to me) cranberry dessert that my Granny used to make just for me.  My mother had preserved the recipe and since cranberries and crushed pineapple don't pass the grown locally theme we will file this under 'indulgence for my nostalgia.'  It is more of a molded gel than anything else with a cream frosting.  As a feast, I am very pleased with the outcome and by the satisfied sounds emanating from the table I would guess that I am not the only one.

Introduction

One of the things I enjoy in life is eating.  Winston Churchill once said that, "My idea of a good dinner is, first to have good food, then discuss good food..."  On this point I completely agree.  I will be using this space to discuss good food from meals past and present for your entertainment and envy.  The impetus for this blog comes from a conversation with friends over dinner (where else?) that whereas many people are well read, I am well fed.

If you ask how this will differ from the thousands of food blogs available I will answer in two parts.  First, it will be from my perspective.  While my opinions matter no more than any other, my thoughts will be based on my collective life experience and in my own voice.  As for who I am, I was born and raised in the southern tradition but while I am a big fan of that rich culinary background I am lucky enough to also have traveled around the United States and appreciate the new experiences I have had on the road. 

Second, I will attempt to focus on the experience and unique attributes of the meal and be a bit recipe and tutorial lite.  The Internet is full of resources for the how-to of cooking and when you are ready to try something yourself I would suggest you watch a few videos and read a couple different directions until you feel comfortable with the process.  To my mind, there can not be one right way to cook.  There is room in the world to accommodate every palette, preference and dietary restriction.

Occasionally, I will also discuss thoughts and philosophy about cooking and eating.  Since I am starting this on Thanksgiving I will initially write frequently but expect to taper down to about 2 - 3 posts a week but may revisit that schedule as time goes on.  As with everything else, these are simply my opinion but I hope you enjoy the discussion and look forward to your comments.