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| Filo tart before the top is added |
Just food, food and more food.
That I can handle.
Wednesday night found me dicing pumpkin, making pie, and stirring together relishes. All while watching hockey. It felt good and winter-y.
Thursday, Trace arrived at 11 a.m. and we enjoyed Thanksgiving lunch on the patio. Larry had moved the table into the sun – there was a cool breeze and temps in the 60s, but it was lovely to be outside under the blue sky.
I thought I had restrained myself this year, but Trace allowed as to how I had made too many dishes for her to fit on her plate. Hmmm. Isn't that the point?
Our fridge is now full of a week's worth of leftovers – awesome!
This is what we ate this Thanksgiving holiday:
Appetizers while I did the last of the cooking:
corn chips with this year's salsa
Main course:
Whole Foods honey-roasted ham for Trace and Larry
filo-crusted spinach and mushroom squares (technically for me, but everyone enjoyed them)
pomegranate relish (instead of cranberry sauce)
creamed corn and poblanos in the slow cooker
Dessert:
Apple Tart with Maple Creme Brûlée
I cooked while listening to Lynne Rossetto-Kasper's Turkey Confidential on NPR – my personal holiday tradition whether I'm cooking or gardening. That woman has spontaneous creativity: What do you do when your jello won't set – call it jello spoon-sweet, of course!
I love this because my cooking rarely turns out the way I expect. Wednesday morning I tried roasting walnuts with hot paprika and rosemary in the toaster oven, but I let them cook a minute too long – blackened! The creamed corn got lumpy in the slow cooker – not sure why, it's worked fine before. Fortunately it tasted great.
I went out in the cool of the morning to harvest the finishing touches for our meal: lemons, basil, arugula, rosemary, thyme, mint, marjoram, nasturtium leaves, tarragon. But I left the small young arugula leaves on the table and they wilted before I put them in the salad. I added them anyway, because we grew them and even though they were limp they were still spicy.
The highlight was when I opened my new butane torch to brûlée the tart. In the past I have used the oven broiler, but I have always yearned for a torch. This year I treated myself to one. I didn't actually get around to opening the package until we had eaten the main course. It was a little challenging to get the butane into the torch – the instructions were very unclear – it took both Trace and me together to get it to work. But we managed to brown the sugar on the pie, and then we took a stroll around the garden while it hardened. Larry made excellent coffee and we had a lovely dessert. Maple sugar and maple syrup really improve apple pie.
Then Trace went home and we passed out on the sofa in front of football. Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?
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| Thanksgiving on the patio |
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