The Day After, again

Reflections on a Thanksgiving.

Thought 1. I am very glad it doesn't occur to me to cook like this all the time. I mean, I love my Thanksgiving recipes and mercifully seem to forget all about them except for once a year.

Thought 2. Preparing the food is probably more fun than eating it. By the time the turkey is ready to go in the oven, I'm so grossed out by the thought of eating it that the cooking of the turkey is almost like an afterthought (I'm really all about the stuffing, actually. The turkey is the vessel). Something you have to go through with since you've come this far already.

Thought 3. I believe Thought 2 firmly until the crispy turkey skin smell starts invading the house. Then Thought 2 becomes downright silly, and what am I saying? Of course I'm going to eat what I cooked. The turkey skin is my favorite part. Stuffing has now become Second Favorite Food.

Thought 4. As I finish the Crack Potatoes, I'm very grateful that some important things do come to me in the form of dreams. This year, I dreamt of Egg Nog Bread Pudding, which upon being awake, I concocted with toasted bread, sliced apples, rum, grated nutmeg and cardamom, and lots of egg nog. I made homemade whipped cream. This pudding rivaled the Crack Potatoes in terms of sheer delicious mouthfuls of ecstacy.

Thought 5. The Godfather (Parts 1 and 2), when watched together in its entirety, can keep you fully engrossed and entertained not only during the preparation of Thanksgiving food, but while you're eating it. (First of all, it's about family. Second of all, it's not that gory. You can't watch Goodfellas while you're eating.)

Thought 6. I hate the Food Baby. Good thing my XL Bill's Towing t-shirt hides it. But I can't wear this t-shirt outside. I am trapped indoors until the Food Baby goes away.

Thought 7. I will never eat again. I'm going on a juice fast.

Thought 8. How on earth can I be hungry again?! Dammit.

Thought 9. Cold stuffing and turkey being picked off from the pan in little bits without utensils but dipping in warm leftover gravy is the ideal.

Thought 10. Now wearing the XL Little Shamrock (local bar) t-shirt. Very glad Thanksgiving comes only once a year.

The Day After

Today is the traditional first day of my personal "I Hate Turkey" season. I should be wearing an outfit of baggy sweatpants where I've snipped the elastic in the waist, one of my seasonal post-Thanksgiving t-shirts ("JUST SAY NO TO CRACK [POTATOES]!", "FUTURE BREATHARIAN," or "MY BABY IS A FOOD BABY"), with a square of duct tape affixed firmly over my mouth.

But no, I am at work today (which the sad few of us here have deemed the practice to be a hybrid of unsupervised day care and being sent to after-school detention. We have also deemed our presence here at the office to be very un-American of our employers because we should be out supporting Black Friday and our crumbling economy).

Because I am here, I had to forego the modified sweatpants and baggy top in favor of regular clothes (found some that fit, perhaps there is a god) and brought the requisite turkey sandwich for lunch (which has been made more enticing by adding some thick slices of Delice de Bourgogne atop slices of rustic Italian bread, and topped with my homemade cranberry relish, which will be my fruit ration for the next week.). And true to my word, once I finish this post, then I will be off on a virtual spree of visiting you all in blogland for the next 6 hours or so.

***

I hope you all did have a lovely Thanksgiving, and that if you're reading this, you're idling in front of the computer in your jammies today. Even those of you who don't live in the US, I hope you're benefitting from some of that Thanksgiving spirit too, even if you're not feeling the fatness.

We had a very quiet and restful day, mostly. No computers, no phones. Days like this always involve extreme couch-potatoey-ness because our home is very well equipped for the sport of marathon movie watching. Although we've been TV-free for well over a decade (both as individuals and in our coupledom), that doesn't mean we suffer from a deficit of visual entertainment. We have a self-made home theatre, with projector, surround sound speakers and a pull down 10' movie screen that's mounted in the ceiling for hard-core movie watching. Those of you who attended the famous Movie Maven's Movie Marathon for America can attest to this.

The Boy selected The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as our first film of the day. With extreme deference to John Ford, Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne, this is a boring classic film. The Boy fell asleep, which is added proof because he loves westerns and I don't. So while he snoozed, I swapped that movie for Little Big Man. The Boy's never seen this film (!) and I've seen it many, many times. There's something really fun when a friend watches a really great movie for the first time in your presence.

Even though you cannot watch this film with the idea that it's a documentary, there's enough truth in the relationship between the Native American and Caucasian cultures to provide some historical perspective and give some food for thought at Thanksgiving time. Our national myth of the first Thanksgiving, complete with the deliverance of the English settlers by the Indians with the bounty of this country's native foods adds a poignant sadness to the fact that the cultures of these noble natives were almost completely destroyed 150 years later. Not that I don't want to be thankful for the bountiful life that I have, because I am, but lately it just seems right to be even more focused on our nation's checkered past. Its perceived greatness and promise as well as its tragic cruelties. I still feel sensitized and overly aware of our American myth, as a result of this past election. Everything I read or see makes me view our current situation from the continuum of history that has gotten us to this day.

To me, the best scenes of this film are the ones that feature Chief Dan George. And of those scenes, this one is my favorite:

***

One aside (which has nothing to do with anything really) after watching Little Big Man again is that there was a certain type of actress in the 70s: Faye Dunaway, Julie Christie, Marisa Berenson, to name a few, that had this willowy, high-cheekboned and exotic beauty that is not seen on the screen anymore. Even overly made up, these women had a lanky grace that I identify as a symbol of 70s films.

***

The second viewing selection between feedings were two episodes of Earth: The Biography, made by the BBC in conjunction with the National Geographic Channel. Is it just me, or do the Brits just corner the market on amazing scientific programming? Plus, geologist Iain Stewart is a super hottie, if you like really smart guys who are crazy adventurous and have great accents (I do).

The first episode, "Volcanoes," is simply spectacular. Spectacularly exciting, wildy entertaining, and full of stuff you never knew about our planet and which also makes you very very glad to not be living near a volcano if you can help it. Although it doesn't make you real excited to be living on a moving tectonic plate, either. This episode really puts the concept of our planet and how it came to be formed, and how it continues to evolve, into fascinating perspective.

The second episode, "Atmosphere," was similarly educational, but as The Boy put it, "very intense." And "scary." The last part about greenhouse gasses and melting permafrost and methane was sobering, to say the least.

When faced with a bit of overwhelming reality, the best thing to do is take a break.

That means get some pumpkin pie (not homemade but certainly delicious), a cup of hot cocoa (I'm now a big fan of Mexican Chocolate Abuelita by Nestle ) and plug in some escapist adventure.

For me, that's Matt Damon as Jason Bourne in The Bourne Identity. You guys can keep your James Bond in all his incarnations.

Plus, you get a trip to Paris in this film.

***

So there you have it. Our little holiday of gluttony, sloth, historical perspective, adventure and general condition of the planet, all in one day. Maybe it is good to be back at work.

And with that, I am off to pay my visits to you!

;-)

Mushroom cloud/exploding stomach image from here. The Day After reference definitely an homage to the Russian menace exploitation of the Reagan era.

More Crack for Thanksgiving

As a preemptive Thanksgiving gift/post, in addition to offering you all my most appreciative thanks for hanging out with me in the blogosphere* and being such lovely people, I wanted to share one of my Thanksgiving treasures with you: my special recipe for Crack Potatoes. This is a key dish in order for you to make your Food Baby on Thanksgiving Day (in case you actually needed help with that).

The Boy named the recipe for me. These Crack Potatoes are the centerpiece of our holiday table instead of the turkey. (No, that is not a photo of them. That's a picture I got off of the Corbis stock photo website. Our potatoes never last long enough to have a picture taken of them.)

***

Okay, don't laugh but the reason this recipe doesn't have any measurements is because I dreamt it. Seriously. Why can't I have dreams about how to play the stock market or what the winning lottery numbers are?

No. Instead I dream about recipes for mashed potatoes.

So that is why I have to fudge the measurements because I wing it. Just realize that more butter and more cream are okay.

For me and The Boy (who named this recipe Crack Potatoes because we could NOT stop eating them and then he eats ALL of the leftovers in the middle of the night), I use approximately the following (obviously if there are more of you then you need more ingredients, but you knew that already):

2 big handfuls each of the baby Yukon gold creamer potatoes and the baby red creamer potatoes
1 large onion
At least a stick of butter
Whipping cream or half and half
The secret ingredient: 2-4 packets of Savory Choice liquid Turkey broth concentrate. It's like a little ketchup sized packet with a thick turkey bouillon in it.

Large frying pan or saucepan with lid
Microwaveable bowl
Potato masher
Slotted spoon
Saran wrap
An empty tummy or two/pants with an elastic waistband

***

1. Wash potatoes and remove little eyes, spots, etc. Put in microwave safe bowl with a tiny bit of water and cover with saran wrap.

2. Cook potatoes in microwave to steam them, until they are just soft enough to stab with a fork. Not too soft.

3. While potatoes are steaming, cut up onion and carmelize in a large frying pan in lots of butter.

4. When onions are golden and gooey, remove potatoes from bowl with a slotted spoon and add to pan. Turn heat down to low and cover.

5. What you want is for the potatoes to get nice and browned on all sides and get very, very soft, so leave the lid on and just turn when necessary. Add more butter if necessary for browning.

6. When the potatoes are very soft, use a potato masher to mash up the potatoes evenly.

7. Add packets of turkey flavoring and stir through.

8. Add lots of butter and stir through. Add enough cream to make it nice and mushy!

Serve with or without turkey. You can also just eat the potatoes out of the pan with a wooden spoon.

Enjoy!!! This is a Boy Tested and Boy Approved Recipe.

***

*I have to work on Friday which is incredibly silly and I intend to spend many hours emailing you all and catching up on your blogs. So that will be a holiday in itself. Happy Thanksgiving! xoxo

Insert Your Own Title Here

This doesn't have anything to do with anything.

I like this photo that I took and I really love onion rings. (This was my lunch on Sunday. The hamburger was topped with bleu cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, fyi. Thank you, Burgermeister in Cole Valley!)

That's all.

***

Okay, Blogger is freaking out right now. It just ate my post (maybe it was the hamburger?). I know this post is very Seinfeldian (i.e., about nothing) but still, I want my nothing to be heard!

***

Okay, I think it's better now. Whew.

What I wanted to tell you, in a random way because this post has no theme, are the following:

Please see Christina's lovely photo here. I think it's one of her very best.

And then, please visit emma tree and read her magical story here. You will love it.

And then, I really wanted you to see Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog, which is going to give me hours of laughs, thanks to my buddy Tara. I mean, with a name like Princess Sparkle Pony, what's not to love?

And then I wanted to share with you the object of my latest obession: baby pandas. I have never given much thought to baby pandas, until P at What Possessed Me posted this. And now I will never be the same. I keep coming back to look at this photo, like I need a hit of baby panda.

I dare you to look at this photo and not instantly succumb to the power of the baby panda.

And that, my friends, is that. I'm outta here.

Come On, It's My Treat

I think it might have been a bit of a week. I don't know exactly what kind of week, so I'll just be vague.

I know a lot of you have been sad, felt overwhelmed (baby on the way, work overload, missing loved ones, political slime, and other stuff we can only guess at), sick at home with sore throats and sneezes.

And some of you have things to celebrate: getting into nursing school (GO SARAH!), sending the little one off to kindergarten, making a new friend, starting an etsy store.

For all of those things and more, I'd like to take you to what might be my new favorite place in the city: Bombay Bazaar on Valencia Street.

What you see here is the best ice cream in town (they make it in their shop), with flavors that encourage dreaming: rose, saffron rose, almond saffron pistachio, chai, cardamom (or at least to me they do).

So consider yourself invited, and the treat's on me.

You can even have two scoops. I'm going to.

Happy Friday. Be happy, special people.

xoxo

An Impromptu Feast of Food and Friendship

"Sharing food with another human being is an intimate act that should not be indulged in lightly." ~ M.F.K. Fisher, An Alphabet for Gourmets

***

Tonight I just had one of the culinary treats of my life. Not only was it a night of delicious food, but even more memorable, it was an unexpected experience of sheer generosity and welcoming and sharing.

You might remember my little friend C. Tonight I was keeping The Boy company at the salon while he got a manicure, with little C chatting up a storm (she and The Boy get along famously, like two peas in a pod). She was telling us in great detail about her first visit to the bowling alley.

As The Boy was the last appointment, C's mother and aunt were closing up shop while C's dad, grandma and grandpa waited so the family could go home after a long day. C's aunt Mai asked us if we had any plans for dinner, and then invited us to join them for a "real" Vietnamese meal.

What a treat.

They took us to a restaurant called Tay-Giang (2543 Noriega). Mai said that it's one of the only Vietnamese restaurants in town that they think is truly good enough to visit often, and to bring guests.

Since our experience with Vietnamese food only extends to iced coffee, pho and spring rolls, we were excited to hear about the extensive menu, with specialties we would never know to order or that aren't even offered in most Vietnamese restaurants.

As C's aunt ordered in rapid-fire Vietnamese to the waiter, The Boy attempted to practice his nascent Vietnamese to the delight of our hosts. Almost immediately, the first treat arrived, my fresh coconut drink. Of course, I had been expecting a drink in a glass, but to my astonishment, the drink came right in the coconut, just as nature had intended! Mai explained how to drink the water inside with a straw and then eat the meat with the small spoon.

Then came dish after dish of the most incredible food. I stopped taking pictures after the first few dishes (they were very amused that I am toting a camera around for all eventualities) but seemed pleased that I was documenting our feast.

Mai explained how to soak the translucent, hard rice sheets in the bowls of hot water to soften them, and then how to roll the delicious fried catfish with the fresh mint leaves, basil, pickled onions, mung bean sprouts, carrots and cucumbers. Already a fan of fish sauce, I am now enamoured of the preserved fish sauce with garlic, which Mai wasn't going to let me try until I convinced her I would like it.

Plate after plate of glorious food, full of fresh vegetables and vitality, kept arriving to our crowded table. But more lovely than the food was the sharing of information: about this food compared to the food in Vietnam (sign me up and I'm already saving for plane fare), the people of Vietnam, the money exchange, the weather there.

Every question we asked inspired a smile from our hosts and sometimes a giggle. In between questions, we stuffed ourselves silly.

At the end of the meal, we were not allowed to pay for our portion. They insisted: No! We wanted you to know what real Vietnamese food is like.

Real Vietnamese food and real Vietnamese hospitality. My tummy is full and my heart is fuller. Who could have guessed that a little nail salon in a nondescript neighborhood would bring such a wonderful exchange of culture and thoughtfulness? Sometimes I feel my life is truly, truly charmed.

The Food Baby Strikes Back

For those of you who remember that I had a baby on Thanksgiving, I'm now pleased to tell you that the Crack Potato and Turkey baby now has a new sibling named Thanh Long.

If you live in or near San Francisco, or plan to swing through town, you must visit this restaurant (it's much nicer and less crowded and touristy than its sister restaurant Crustacean on Polk). If you live near the N-Judah line, the train stops right in front of the place, so you don't even have to drive!

Hear me now, do as I say and just order these things: the Roasted Crab, and Garlic Noodles. Also the Colossal Royal Tiger Prawns. You can get an appetizer and dessert if you want but the food baby you have will be large enough without them.

Definitely wear pants with elastic. Sweat pants would work. My jeans are seriously unbuttoned right now.

The Food Baby

The Boy has a friend named Dan who publishes a funny cartoon called Bizarro.

Last week he was telling me about one cartoon in particular that made him crack up. I don't have it here so you'll have to imagine it from the description.

Two women are sitting and talking. One woman has a pregnant belly. The other woman says to her friend: "Congratulations! When is the baby due?"

And the other woman says, patting her tummy, "Oh, I'm not pregnant. I just had lunch. This is my food baby."

***

Let's just say we had some nice Food Babies at our house yesterday on Thanksgiving. I'm hoping to give mine up for adoption today.

For those of you who don't spend enough time on the internet already, here is another fun place to hang out (if you like to cook): The epicurious video website!

PS. I'm never organized enough to brine my turkey ahead of time, but this is the first year I injected it with butter, broth and spices...and let's just say this turkey was my best so far. Plus, you get to use this gigantic stainless steel syringe and you look like a crazy veterinarian. It's fun!

A perfect* day in San Francisco

A slightly foggy, cool Saturday morning.

1. Wake up (always a good thing).
2. Throw on some clothes and go with a friend to Ella's for breakfast.
3. Get parking (!)
4. Share one of the famous sticky buns, chicken sausage benedicts and ricotta pancakes with strawberry sauce. Unbutton top button on pants.
5. As you're leaving, find out in the SF Chron that it's the 85th anniversary of the historic Castro Theatre and all movies are only 25 cents that day.
6. Speed down Divisadero and make it just in time for the 11am show.
7. Get parking (!)
8. Win a baseball cap in the pre-movie trivia contest because you answered the trivia question about Oliver Hardy's nickname (Babe).
9. Watch Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Tweety and Sylvester, and a Tex Avery cartoon.
10. See Way Out West, one of Laurel and Hardy's best films, on the big beautiful screen at the Castro Theatre.
11. Listen to all of the children giggle as you crack up laughing with them. Little kids love Laurel and Hardy.



*After the movie, find out that you got a parking ticket for $35 because the wheels on your car weren't turned into the curb enough as they're supposed to be when you're parked on a 3-percent grade, according to the ticket. (I left my protractor at home.)

So the movie actually cost me $35.50, but it was still a great day in my book.