Sunday after Thanksgiving...

Howdy All,
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Ours turned out to be quite nice. The weather was spectacular and most unusual for the PAC-NWet. We had lovely sunshine most of the time, clear nights with lots of frost, and we're all safe and warm inside.

We invited GMom's former next door neighbor over for dinner on Thanksgiving. Here's a picture of the table. It's been so long since I've Entertained that I see I forgot which side the napkins go on. :-)




We cooked a turkey although Gooserock and I generally don't eat anything that has feet or comes from a footed critter. (It's a cholesterol thing) GMom eats everything and loves it all. Ms GMomNeighbor also can eat anything and everything. GR (Gooserock) has been eating small portions of deli turkey occasionally also. So a turkey seemed like a great idea. I knew I could find something to eat if only all the to-go-withs.

GR, who is the chief chef here, decided to brine the turkey. So he started with a recipe recommended on D-Kos which was an Alton Brown recipe and altered it to suit himself. GR's brine was 1 cup ea of salt, brown sugar, lemon juice plus ginger and garlic to 1 gallon of water. This was for a 12 pound turkey.

We washed the turkey, removed and discarded (option: save them for the gravy) the giblets. We added aromatics (per Alton Brown) consisting of an onion halved and quartered, an apple cored, several sticks of cinnamon, allspice berries (I used ground because I didn't have any whole allspice), celery to the cavity of the turkey along with salt and pepper first.

We put the turkey into a new garbage bag and poured in the brine and tightly closed the top, squishing out all the air possible. We then put it into a 5 gallon bucket of ice water. This sat out on the deck for 24 hours. We've been having heavy frost everynight so it was plenty cool out there.

Also according to Chef Brown, we allowed 2.5 hours to cook. First 1/2 hour at 500 degrees then 1 1/2 hours at 350 degrees for an unstuffed turkey. Adding the celery and the onion and the apple along with the spices sort of filled the cavity and it was then a stuffed turkey. We planned on eating at 4:00. The turkey finally reached 160 degrees on the instant thermometer at 6:00 and after it was out of the oven for about 10 minutes the popper in the breat popped. We were ready.

Here is the chef with his creation:


And a closer look at Turkey Lurkey:


Since GR can't eat wheat, I made the stuffing with rice instead of bread and added lots of sage and celery and onion sauteed in olive oil, salt and pepper. I also sauteed mushrooms for a topping. It sounded like a good idea but it's too far from trad stuffing for my taste.

My coup de grace was this:


Fresh brussel sprouts cut in half and quick sauteed in olive oil to get some nice browning on them, add chopped onion and garlic and saute them in the same pan with the brussels, add a can of diced tomatoes on top (don't stir), and finally put a few glops of pesto on top of the tomatoes. Cover and let heat through in the skillet. It was a new recipe but it worked really well.

I also always make cranberry relish:
Two bags of fresh cranberries, washing and sorted, discarding any soft ones.
Chop them in a food processor.
Add one apple cut into small pieces.
Add a large can of crushed pineapple drained, and two cans of mandarine oranges drained and chopped.
Add some white sugar....about 1/2-3/4 c. (I never measure)
Stir together.
Make some cranberry jello (large box). Use the juice from the pineapple and oranges for some of the cold liquid in the jello. Pour this over the cranberry mixture and put into a suitable bowl and refigerate overnight.

I was going to also cook an acorn squash but there was too much food already. GMom's neighbor brought a spinach salad and a relish plate with asparagus, some cheese and crackers and a bottle of wine. With all that we didn't mind the extra two hours wait for the turkey to get done. Heh!

So, it all turned out to be really nice. GR and GMom and GMomNeighbor enjoyed it all. Even I sampled the forbidden fruit of the turkey. Far and away the best, juiciest and most flavorful white meat turkey I've ever eaten. Of course it was the first turkey I'd eaten in nearly 3 years so I might not be the best judge. Not a bad bit of cooking for a "vegan + finned fish" person. And of course the left-overs are still being enjoyed.

GMom Makes a Landing....

Yesterday, Gooserock's Mom fell while crossing the street across from our house. She had gone with a girlfriend to the church down at the corner where they serve a lunch for anyone interested on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It's sort of "the thing to do" for quite a large collection of locals especially seniors.

She had her lunch and the two of them were walking back to our house...GMom with her cane. This is a walk she has taken many times and knows it well.

We were in the livingroom just beginning to watch for her as it was time for her return. I glanced out the window and nearly had a heart attack. I yelled, "Mom's fallen, she's in the street!!". I saw this very tiny form flat out on her face in the pull-off across from us. Her friend was bending over her.

We both ran out...I didn't even stop to put on shoes. She was laying sort of half on her front and half on her left side and bleeding from her face. I yanked off my sweat shirt and put it under her head/face and ran back to the house to call 9-1-1.

I told the dispatcher our address, phone number, Mom's age and briefly what happened. Then the dispatcher started asking all those silly questions like you hear on TV.

"Is she bleeding from her nose or her mouth?"

Me: "I can't tell, she's laying on her face."

"Is she conscious?

Me: "Yes, she's talking."

"Are you sure she's bleeding? and from where?"

Me: "Yes, she's bleeding, I can't see from where for sure...her face somewhere"

Finally dispatcher says the EMTs have been called and are on their way. I run back into the house again to get a blanket.

We wait 10-15 minutes. No emergency squad. I call again. By now several people have stopped to help and ask if we've called anyone yet. Dispatcher says the EMTs are on their way and should be there soon. I remind her that this 81 year old woman is laying in the street on cold asphalt and WHERE IS THE EMERGENCY SQUAD? I get the same answer, they've been called and are on their way.

After what was about 20 minutes, they arrive. They use our blanket to roll her over and lift her onto the stretcher. The did a preliminary check of hips, etc to be sure nothing is broken. She is bleeding from her forehead and nose. We said we wanted her taken to the ER (45 minutes away). Since she was talking coherently and seemed to have nothing broken, I, instead of Gooserock followed in our car.

We spent 3.5 hours in the ER. They did a head CT to be sure there was no bleeding in the brain. They dug a stone out of her forehead that was about 4mm x 8mm. Finally they got around to suturing her....5 stitches in her forehead and two in the bridge of her nose where her glasses sit. Her whole nose and part of her upper lip and forehead are abraided. But, thankfully, no bones were broken, no bleeding in her brain. This could have been so much worse. We are so thankful. And best of all it will serve to make her be more cautious about where she puts her feet and how she steps over the curb bump. It's not a real curb. It's like a speed bump paralleling the road to keep rain water from flooding the sidewalk. I think she forgot it was there, couldn't see it (it's not painted and is the same asphalt as the road) and she must have fallen over it and landed full on her face. She did not get her hands or arms up to protect her face. I've called City Hall to suggest that this "curb" be painted bright white or yellow. The spot is also a favorite of tourists to pull of the road and look at the scene. Lots of people would benefit from the paint job.

All in all, she's a very lucky lady. But BOY! you should see her today. Two swollen red raccoon eyes, red swollen scabby nose, swollen upper lip, over all aches and pains. Thank goodness for vicodin. She slept well and has good appetite. I will not be taking a picture of her.

This is her second fall since she's been up here and there were two in Florida. It's really scarey!

She just came out of her "apartment" to say she was ready for her glass of wine. We talked her out of it due to the narcotic. She agreed. I'd say she's feeling a lot better.

Just another beautiful day...

We have had a wonderful autumn here in the Pac North Wet. Yes, there have been a few rainy days and a couple mini versions of our windstorms, but on the whole, it's lovely. Maybe I'm a gloomy gus but I worry when weather patterns don't follow the norm. Global Warming, you know...

I had tried to upload some photos a while back of our new digs but was unable, so I'm trying again today.

Here's the new house: front and north side. House faces east.

Here's another view of the house, this time looking at the southfacing side with the garage at the rear. That huge draping viney thing on the deck is wisteria. Should be pretty next spring.

Both views of the house were taken with Nikon D-80 November 2007

Click images below for larger views.

Now for the two panoramas that Gooserock created. The first is a daytime one of the view across the street from our house.




And now for the Peace de Resistance (think French accent): A sunrise panorama created by photos taken by Gooserock. I'm never up early enough for sunrises. Although this one makes me think about reconsidering.



The two panoramas were taken with Nikon CP7600 in October 2007

What a difference a day makes.

Just 25 little hours....

My previous post was Harvest Moon. This shot was taken one day before and one hour earlier in the evening.



Same view taken from same location.

BTW, I got my bandages removed today. Nothing left but 4 tiny pin-pricks for scars. Amazing! Oh, yes, the surgeon said she, as a preventative, flushed the bile duct and sure enough something flushed through. Guess that means I had another stone in the duct waiting to get stuck again. Sure am glad that green rascal is out of me.

We had a hard frost this morning. It was enough to make the deck slippery and I had to scrape the car windows before driving. At our old house we were at sea level and only rarely got frost, here we are about 100' above sea level. That's enough to make a difference.