Afternoon Snack

Sardines packed in olive oil, on top of saltine crackers spread with Vidalia onion mustard. Texas Pete hot sauce sprinkled on top. Dos Equis to wash it down.

Thanksgiving Dinner Report

Our Thanksgiving dinner report: We will have 12 people at a 2:30 dinner. If we time it right, we may be able to catch the Redskins/Cowboys game.

I'm roasting two turkey breasts. Evan made a whole cut-up turkey in his sous vide machine, cooking the legs in duck fat. I'm also roasting green beans with garlic and shallots, and roasting carrots with ras el hanout. Pretty ordinary stuffing on the side.  I made cranberry orange sauce a day or so ago. Perry baked pumpkin muffins. Our friends are baking/bringing pies, garlic mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Plus 3-4 kinds of seasonal beers, apple cider, etc.

Thanksgiving 2012

For thursday's Thanksgiving feast at our house, I'm roasting a couple of turkey breasts. My oldest son is making a sous vide turkey.  I'll also roast some green beans and some carrots. Friends are bringing over sweet potatoes and garlic mashed potatoes. Our middle son is baking pumpkin muffins and others are baking apple pies. Here is the (Hilah Cooking) whole cranberry sauce I made today; I also made some cranberry jelly sauce using a Marc Bittman recipe.

Rice Porridge With Shrimp

Is this congee? Jook? Okayu? Baw baw? Well, it's rice porridge made with stuff around the house, that's what it is.

I put a half-serving of Carolina golden rice into my rice cooker with the correct amount of water and a half teaspoon of salt, and cooked it on the porridge setting. When it was finished, I stirred in a dash of fish sauce and a half-teaspoon of chicken consommé powder. It was a little less soupy than I'd expected.

In a sauté pan, I sautéed a minced garlic clove in oil for 30 seconds, then added five diced medium raw shrimp (deveined and shelled), and cooked them through.

I deglazed the pan with a little water, then scraped it all into the porridge and mixed carefully. Garnish was a sprinkle of dried basil.

On the side, I made a cup of English Breakfast Tea.

Delicious!