my sandbox

I got to use my mortar and pestle tonight, which is another Christmas present from my parents. Most of my cool stuff comes from them (except my gun and my dolphin skull).

The model I have looks like this:

Image comes from here; it’s from AMCO Houseworks.

I used it to grind about 2 tbsp. of toasted cumin seeds, this evening, for a lentil soup that I made. Perhaps this is common knowledge, but today I found for the first time that my grinding became more effective if I just swirled the pestle around in the mortar, applying constant pressure to the contents, rather than using a repeated grinding motion where I push down in the bottom of the mortar with the pestle (if that made any sense).

This year I think I’m going to angle for a mandoline for my new kitchen toy - I yearn to be able to slice things wafairr-theen!

(If you don’t mind my channeling Harry Potter for a moment.)

Travis has kindly alerted us to the existence of a Google Recipe Search. So handy!

Check it out here.

It’s just Victor and me for Thanksgiving this year (unless anyone wants to come out and join us) and I’m thinking of making a Thanksgiving-themed small-plate extravaganza. I haven’t run this by Victor yet so we’ll see if he embraces the idea or clings stubbornly to the old ways. Here’s what I’m thinking of so far, in approximate order of serving:

Stilton Tart Bites w/ Cranberry Dipping Sauce

Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Swiss Chard

Sweet Potato Chips with Turkey Leg Confit and Cranberry-Black Pepper Chutney

Champagne-Rosemary Sorbet

Mini-Mashed Potato Pancake Sandwiches with Sour Cream and Bacon

Individual Turkey + Mushroom Stuffing Bread Puddings

Haricot Vert and Red Onion Salad with Pistou

Small Pear and Almond Cakes with Muscat Syrup and Mascarpone Cream

I think most of your standard Thanksgiving elements are present in some form, except for pumpkin, of which I’ve never been a huge fan (and I’ve got butternut in there, so the squash family is represented).  Some of the recipes are either straight from epicurious.com or slightly adapted versions of recipes found there; others are from my brain.

I was also thinking of tinkering with this menu and including a soup amuse bouche:  maybe take away the gnocchi and have some sort of squash puree with star anise or cardamom or something, served in a shot glass or a little tea cup.

Anyhoo.  What do y’all think?

NZC quotes some other dude’s post on the topic of being accomplished.

The dude’s observation is both apt and apropos, though when I think of accomplishment (seeing as how my brain has been turned by too much 19th c. literature) I tend to think of it in the Jane Austen sense of the word.

This being the case, I didn’t pay as much attention as I might to the observation itself (as one might expect from the haphazard and dilettantish approach I take to so many endeavors). Travis has a far more considered and mature response to the whole thing, accomplished individual that he is (though not up to his own standards…).

I was far more entranced by Nick’s pithy invocation of Shelley’s poem Ozymandias. Sometimes his ability to coin a catchy phrase approaches the sublime.

And, while we’re about the business of admiring Nick, he’s also responsible for shaming me into this latest fitful spasm of blogging activity by chastising my slackfulness. Mom, thank Nick. Or not, depending on how you feel about that previous post.

Update:  oops, d’oh - forgot to give cred for the quote that’s entirely too long to be a post title.

I’d like to announce Victor’s and my intended schedule for our East Coast tour this year.

We’ll be flying into Boston Dec. 17, flying out Dec. 24, and we’ll be spending the bulk of the time with my folks in RI. Victor expects to have to work at Planet Pooch on Christmas (busy time for them) so we’re celebrating Christmas early. Or twice. Or something. If anyone is interested in rendezvousing, drop me a line. We’ve already booked Travis for Dec. 17, so that’s out.

Tangentially, when I first came to work at the Center, one of my coworkers said, “You’re from the East Coast, aren’t you?” (He hails from the Toronto area, incidentally). I responded in the affirmative and asked him why he was so wise in the ways of identifying natives of Back East. He said that he always found East Coasters to have a friendly and open demeanor, as opposed to the Californians he meets. This is the first time I had heard anyone make this observation, cause usually the opposite stereotype prevails: New Yorkers are obnoxious, New Englanders standoffish, and Californians are laid back and mellow. So it was nice to be appreciated. Go Back East!