SisuLiz

One of My Favorite Days of the Year

Just two short days left before Thanksgiving, and I'm ready for it to come.  I've always loved Thanksgiving; it's definitely one of my favorite holidays.  How could I not love something that combines crisp fall weather, yummy comfort food, and surrounding yourself with family and friends? 

I think what I also like about Thanksgiving is that it has a real sense of tradition about it.  With the exception of Christmas (which is my other favorite holiday), there aren't very many holidays that feel that way.  Fourth of July?  Fireworks and barbecues are fun, but nothing about it really eschews traditions that will be carried on from year to year.  Valentines Day?  Eh.  I'm all for Romanticism, but it just screams "Hallmark" to me (I know, I know, Christmas isn't driven by marketing AT ALL).  Memorial Day?  Great holiday for what it means, but really, it's just a day off work.

For my family, Thanksgiving starts off watching the Macy's Day parade on TV.  My sister and I have done this as long as I can remember.  At first, it was a great way to distract us while my parents got to work on the meal, then as the years went on, it was on in the kitchen while we helped my parents out.  After the parade is over, it's officially "OK" to play Christmas music.  Any Christmas music played before Thanksgiving in my parents house is strictly verboten.  I've always really liked that, and appreciate it more now, when the malls get decked out in Christmas decorations the day after Halloween and the local radio station starts playing holiday music 24/7 at the beginning of November. 

Then there's the food.  You know with Thanksgiving that you can always expect certain things.  With my family it was turkey (duh), stuffing (no cornbread, sausage or oysters in ours, just regular herbed stuffing with diced apples and onions), sweet potatoes (usually pureed), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce (with real cranberries, not the canned kind), creamed onions (I haven't found anyone else yet who had this at Thanksgiving every year), and lots of pies (homemade only).  My family was not a green bean casserole family.  I know that this is sacrilege in some American families, but we never were into the goopy concoction of mushroom soup, fried onions and soggy green beans.  To me that just sounds gross; but hey, to each his own!

Speaking of food, since my husband and I started hosting our own Thanksgiving dinners a few years ago, we've relied on one turkey recipe that has now become our own tradition and has served us incredibly well.  I absolutely swear by Alton Brown's recipe and method for roast turkey.  The major key to this recipe is brining the turkey.  I came across this in Bon Appetit magazine a few years back when we were hosting our first Thanksgiving dinner, and we've never gone back.  If you are looking for a good turkey recipe, I highly recommend checking it out:

Alton Brown, Bon Appetit Roast Turkey

With apologies to Alton, I do take a few liberties with the recipe.  We still stuff the bird, despite his warnings that stuffing is evil.  And, instead of the foil breastplate that he recommends for the second stage of cooking, we use a pound of bacon and create a "bacon breastplate" that we leave on the bird for the duration of cooking.  Bacon and turkey cooking together for hours in the oven makes the most AMAZING smell.  Yummmm...I'm looking forward to Thursday even more now.

What are your Thanksgiving traditions?  What are your tried and true recipes that without them, it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving?

I Feel a Change is Going to Come

This past Saturday we co-hosted an engagement party at our house for two of our loveliest friends.  The evening was fantastic, and we had a great time throwing the party and getting to meet our friends' friends. 

The next day, after the party was over, I had one of my first "moments of clarity" about the pregnancy and baby that will be here in a little less than a calendar year.  I don't know how I missed it when we were actually planning the party, but I realized that this was probably the last real "adult" party we would have for at least a long time.  That's a really obvious realization, I know, but I really didn't think of it before hand. 

I love having parties and people over to our house, I used to always be the person who would try and persuade people to stay just a little longer, and loved when having people over went into the wee hours of the morning.   Uh, don't think that's going to be happening when there's a little one asleep in the nursery upstairs and I'm worried that everyone isn't keeping their voices down low enough.

Maybe I'm completely wrong and will be surprised, or maybe life can still continue as we've known it, but just with some big modifications.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about big parties at the house that go into the early morning hours or about staying out late at night and getting home without a care in the world.  Let's be honest, how many times did I really do that in my "previous life"?  I'm not trying to be naive, or be in denial about what is coming down the road.  I know that when May gets here, my life will change so much that the little things I'm thinking about now will mean nothing.  And I honestly don't have any problems with that, and can't wait to embrace that. 

But is it all just a part of the way a person changes as they go through life?  For example, am I the same person I was in high school (God, I hope not!)?  People change because its necessary and because its a reflection of your true self.  I think what's strange about how people are perceived to have changed when they have a baby, or even get married, or go through another life changing event, is that it happens all at once, and that change is so pronounced.  However, I think the larger question here is how do you not lose yourself entirely in the changes and hold on to something, even if it's just a small piece, of the person you were before.  Is that possible? Does that even matter?

Taking advantage of the season

We're having friends over for an autumnal dinner this Saturday night and I can hardly contain my excitement about cooking for them.  Over the summer, we tend to rely on the grill for entertaining; and although we like to experiment with new grill recipes, it's just not the same as cooking something from stove to oven.

I'm still working out an appetizer for cocktails before dinner, but here are my plans for the meal:

Roast Chicken with Herbed Mushrooms (Recipe from Food Network: Tyler's Ultimate)

Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Marsala, Chestnuts and Parsley (Recipe from Nigella Feasts, Nigella Lawson)

I'm debating making a potato dish as well; because what's better than warm, comforting potatoes in the fall?  However, I'm thinking this is going to be a lot of food already.  So...I may just skip to the dessert, for which there are currently two considerations:

Pumpkin Spiced Cheesecake (Recipe from Bon Appetit, October 2002)

OR

Red Wine and Pear Brioche Tart (Recipe from Bon Appetit, October 2000) (**updated link)

I've made both desserts before and they have both turned out fantastically in the past.  So, I'm somewhat torn on what to do.  I may end up going with the Pear and Brioche Tart, just to finish off the meal a little lighter, rather than indulging in an extremely heavy cheesecake where the leftovers would most definitely go to waste.