Treviso

Every wonder how something becomes over used - over hyped - just plain done to death. That's currently going on with Treviso -- heard about it on a food show and next thing I know it's everywhere -- now, perhaps some of that is time of year - Treviso is a type of radicchio - not one of my favorite things to eat, but that aside - it's the right time of year for greens -- I get that, but every.fricking.where.I.turn ---- it's treviso.  Does it even grow in Treviso? What's the big deal and when will this trend die? not soon enough. 


Same feelings - bacon, love bacon, hate bacon hype
Snooty, multi-coloured French macarons - they are friging everywhere too - what's up w/that?


(Photo: Italianfood.about.com)
Hate about.com, but it was a neat picture

Dressing

Dressing (not stuffing, damn it!) is, for me anyway, just elusive. I can't get it right. My mom has a recipe in her head, but no matter what I do, I can't replicate what I remember from childhood. This year I decided to try and just not do that -- but I was disappointed. I made a dressing that was good - it was different for me with apples and bacon in it, but I was disappointed. I was fine - really, I mean it, but it wasn't the dressing I'm used to. Even my bad attempts at cornbread dressing are decent, but I can't get back to what's in my food memory. So, this year, we'll be having dressing every so often to try and get back to those details. I'll talk to my mom some more and see what I'm missing and hope for a better showing from the dressing next year.

Kitchen

As I type the refrigerator is going back into the kitchen - after wandering through the desert for 7 weeks... we're almost there. I get to start cooking in there tonight - still some work to be done, but ... finally.*


* Almost - a few small thing to be done post Thanksgiving, but... I can at least cook in my own kitchen again - yeah!

Timing is Everything ...

Monday - Cranberry/Horseradish relish, Pecan Tassie Dough
Tuesday - Boil Sweet Potatoes, Spiced (maple-glazed?) nuts, fresh cheese, cheese straws
Wednesday - Bacon caramels (if weather permits), assemble bacon-wrapped apricots, leave bread out to dry for dressing, cook bacon for salads/dressing
Thursday - Turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, salad, key lime bars


What am I missing - I'm sure there is something ... ugh.

Thanksgiving - how far have we sunk?

It's a sad thing to look at grocery store advertising right before Thanksgiving. Take Target for example - yes, I realize it's not a grocery store in the strict sense of the word, but it's this ad that sent me off --Front Page "Hot Deals are Served" Del Monte canned green beans, Heinz home style gravy "roasted turkey" flavor, Kraft Stove top stuffing mix "For Turkey," Betty Crocker Au Gratin "Made with 100% read potatoes - disgusting.
And it gets worse Back Page of flyer: Pepperidge Farm herb seasoned stuffing, Ocean Spray cranberry sauce, French's french fried onions and the worst - Chinet Classic White plates.
Now a couple of these things I purchase - such as whole berry cranberry sauce - I use it in a recipe for BBQ chuck and it adds a nice sweet/sour taste. We also buy Del Monte green beans in a can ... TO. FEED. THE. DOGS.
Is Stove top on Chinet what people really serve on Thanksgiving? Lord help our civilization if that's the case. Maybe my family was an exception. My mom made real dressing - She made the cornbread on the days leading up to T-day and the smell of celery and onion to me is the smell of Thanksgiving. Now we had jellied cranberry sauce (with the convenient lines for slicing) but everything else was homemade - like it's supposed to be.

Thanksgiving Planning

It's difficult to plan for Thanksgiving when:
1. You don't have a kitchen
2. You're not sure if you will have a kitchen
There are a couple of necessities for me for Thanksgiving - cranberry with horseradish and sweet potatoes from Wanda's recipe. But I'm not sure what else to do. Turkey - duh! but I want to have something special, plus I need to decide on apps and dessert as well. Won't be a large group, esp. will be missing Walt. Kids can eat at the bar IF it's finished.

MarketBasket

We have an annual event in Pensacola sponsored by the Junior League. It's a nice little Christmas sale with vendors of typical banal, but occasionally very nice, things. I went looking for more German enameled Christmas ornaments, but there were none - boo. It's always strange for me to go to places like that because the people that are there all like things that are just at the point of going past the peak of being new/different/interesting. Take monograms for example; this crazy shows up every so many years and then everyone monograms everything - it has gone beyond normal. I know what my initials are - I don't need to be reminded. 
Several other random thought:
People who are obese take up a good deal of space at shows like these and I find that annoying. That said, what I find disturbing is obese people's teenage children are heading down the same road. Maybe it's hereditary, but they are certainly not helping their children in any meaningful way. Sad.
When I was a girl (got to hate starting a sentence that way), girls who were chubby wore clothes that distracted from that. Now girls don't seem to care if they have muffin top - they just dress like - well... you get the picture. Again sad. 
In general there are two types of people, based on said audience at MarketBasket, very well heeled, but over made up or one to many turns with the plastic surgeon or country come to town. Were is the middle? I wish I knew. 

The Ida that was

Greater Gulf Coast Arts Festival - Review

I'm a huge fan of the GGCAF . We've been every year since we moved here excepting the year it didn't happen because of the hurricane. This year we went on Sunday which was unusual, but it was packed as always and great fun - I wish they allowed dogs, but can understand why they don't. 
Some of my favorite things:
Spoon Guy - actually, he's officially John Weyer of Weyer Works from Sperry Iowa. You know it's got to be getting away from Iowa's winter that really motivates this guy, but his spoons and other kitchen implements are wonderful. Each year I get something and every spoon has the date and Mr. Weyer's initials on the back. They are great to cook with and are beautiful to look at. This year, I purchased smallish spoon and large spatula - Mr. Weyer informed me they are both made of hickory. They have to be hand washed, but it's worth it. The wood is from Iowa and is air-dried seven years before being shaped. His literature says he's been doing this for 32 years. 

I liked the poster this year and think it's great that a local artist is selected - the artist is Susan Rand. 


It was great to get out and do something in near perfect weather. We're lucky like that in Pensacola, it's such a great place for festivals and all other sorts of outdoor activities that there is almost no weekend that there isn't something to do. There were tons of people at the festival never mind that we had a hurricane on the way. Who cares - we're used to it, go figure - it's November and still within the dates for the season... so ... we get ready .. hurricane (thankfully) turned into a tropical storm - it's rainy, it's windy and that's that.

The best $18.34

Went to Sweet Home Farm today. They make wonderful, fabulous, outstanding cheese. They are a small local farm that I wish we had more of around here. I first became aware of them through the Pensacola News Journal's limited food section. We've been going there since 2003 and I've never(!) been disappointed. They are very popular which I totally understand but I can't figure out why there aren't more places like this nearby.