Thanksgiving Review

Some random pictures of the aftermath of aThanksgiving's spread... sorry didn't get a shot of the turkey but it would have just been a pile of mangled bones by the time I got my camera out...
It did not go without comment that the only thing that was entirely eaten here were the sweet gherkins...

My brother in law is from California so maybe that explains this. But it was much better than it looked. It's a cucumber salad with mayo and a touch of sweet. I have no idea how it got so green.

Eh. Not a great Chardonnay but all the good stuff was gone so we cracked these bottles open.

One of the great developments of Thanksgivings recently is the advent of flavored mashed potatoes. I remember when it was just bland, creamy crap that came out of a box and the only way to eat them was to pour gravy. Here the gravy can be used as a light dressing. Lots of garlic yum...

I hate peas. Now that I'm an adult I can refuse to eat them.

This is one of the children's plates. Of course, if I had gotten a plate like this, there would never have been any problems about the peas.

Don't Drink the Flavored Water!

First, let me UNrecommend the new flavored Dasani water. I bought the lemon-"flavored" water after a long walk this morning (awesome Fall weather in DC, by the way) and nearly spit it up. Thinking it would taste like fresh filtered water with a twist of the yellow fruit, I was instead appalled to get a nutrasweetish diluted lemonade taste. Not that I normally buy bottled water (big ripoff) but I was thirsty and still a mile from home.

(cross posted at Vinyl Mine Clip Shack)

Mayonaise and Chicken? Uh-hum!

Here's a new recipe - take some chicken cutlets, rub 'em with sea salt and mix together a cup of Mayonaise, a couple of sprigs of thyme leaves, two cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup of lemon juice, pepper to taste and a bunch of scallions, chopped (up to the firm green). Marinate the chicken for two hours in this mayo and thyme conconction and then bake in the oven for about 1/2 hour at 350 degrees. The recipe is called "Crispy Chicken Cutlets" but there not really crispy, more like creamy and lemony but still good. Above is how they looked when I took them out of the oven.


Although I was solo tonight, this would make for a great date meal. The salad is herb with cheddar flavored French Onions and some sliced pecans and Italian dressing. I've dressed it with some cilantro (which I mixed into the salad) and some thyme (which is just for show). The wine is Veramonte Chilean Chardonnay 2003 - I recommend this but the reason I have it is because although I liked it, it didn't sell well at my local liquor store so I snatched up a bottle at bargain basement prices.
Here's a close-up of the dish.


This was a meal I had a few days ago. It's a chicken paprika with deli salsa, herb salad with mushrooms and French vinegarette and Delirium Tremens beer from Belgium.
Here's a close-up of the DT beer. An acquaintance left this behind after a pot-luck dinner I hosted (one of the benefits of hosting people is you never know what goodies -- and baddies (see previous post) -- you'll end up with. This is a sweet, frothy brew in a very cool bottle to boot.

See Rhetoric Pig, I don't just eat junk!

If you read my last post, you noted that I kept the beef briscuit - here's what I ended up doing with it.

Transferrence of Catholic Guilt into Food Disposal

Ever have friends over for a pot luck dinner? At the end of the night, their dishes are congealing and the wine has been drunk and they're like, "oh, can we just leave this here; I'm sure you can find someone to eat it." And you're like, "sure" because you feel all guilty that they had to lug all this crap through the Metro because you had to near-sighted foresight to schedule the party on the day of a big demonstration downtown as well as the National book fair and you're feeling all guilty that they couldn't drive and had to lug their stuff through throngs of aged bookworms and wingnuts.... so you say "sure!" as if you are real into it and soon your fridge is stocked with massive stuffed Idaho potatoes, stringy and tough beef briscuit and an unclassifiable white substance with shreds of something inside it (is it coleslaw? is it potatoe salad? is it??).

And is it right or wrong to feel guilty if the first thing you do in the morning is to roll all that refridgerated stuff right into a trashbag and furtively (which is dumb since none of them live here) take it to the trash chute working out excuses just in case they come over today for something and notice all the food gone - I mean should I pat my stomach and say "mmmm" or say, yeah, the desk attendant in the lobby and the janitor and engineer had a big party and wanted to tell you all thanks? Or do I just give them the sad awful truth of, well I would never eat this food in a million years and I'm not going to let it stink up my fridge.

Oh well, I'm gonna keep the beef briscuit at least and make some stew. And they did leave a bottle of Delerium Tremens beer behind.

God I hope none of them know that I have a blog.

PHOTO BY YOURFUTUREEX entitled "Gutted"
cross-posted at Vinyl Mine Clipshack

More of... The pictures that James Lileks doesn't want you to see (sorry about the crookedness, it comes with the hysterical gales of laughter when trying to scan)... 

The pictures that James Lileks doesn't want you to see 

Squeezable Sour Cream is one of those great inventions of the past few years. No more opening up a sour cream containing and going yecccchh at the creepy puddles and slimy white goo. Just shake and squeeze. Here's one of my recent (Atkins-friendly) creations for today's breakfast table: