Purcell-Kirschner-Robinson Thanksgiving!

I have to admit that I have very few pictures of thanksgiving day proper because I wasn't there for most of the time and then my camera was left in the basement of my house. We had thanksgiving at my aunt and Uncle's house (father's side). My mother's side cousin's and aunt and uncle were all out too. So I walked into quite the noisy family gathering! I love it! Everyone is telling everyone else what to do and how to do it...in detail. Frankie to tom...you're bruising my martini, mom and Joyce to Regan, you're tables have to be set up differently....all the men, you think that's carving a turkey? Everyone to grandma GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!!!! Evan to Dylan, you think that's enough food? you have to eat 3 more bites of that before you get any more Martinelli's sparkeling cider, James to Dylan, I'm hardcore because I eat my food...etc!

not a silent moment. There were 13 of us all (the big party was Friday for grandma's 85th, but that will be another post)
So: food.
Hors d'oeuvres: Ashtrays (Regan) little filo dough things full of sausage olives ranch dressing(?)
cumin shrimp.
spinach artichoke dip
bread with Hummus, roasted red peppers and mozzarella
celery with blue cheese stuffing
salami, provolone w/ hummus on bread

Dinner
There was clearly turkey...one normal and one small portion "small portion" that Tom smoked, and gravy. Sausage stuffing, sweet potatoes, green beans, cranberry-orange relish, marshmallow sweet potatoes for Frank, mashed potatoes with bacon and a huge salad with pear, cranberries, apple, blueberry, cashews, and you know lettuce.

molto vino...mommy had a blutini ha! and was coherent after it; we don't give her enough credit about her tolerance.

Then there was pie. Apple, with a beautiful cornucopia decoration, pumpkin pie with orange zest and pumpkin pie with out orange zest for Regan, all served if desired with whipped cream!

anyhow my family is amazingly feisty all of them, and incredibly opinionated, but it's ok they'll charm the pants off of you!

Thanksgiving at the Fioritto's

This was the first year in a while that the house wasn't full of college students on Thanksgiving. When I was a kid, my parents invited international students for the holiday and for the past four years my friends and I trekked down to Indiana for the good food and company.

This year it was just the four of us and my uncle, Mark (pictured below opening the wine we had with dinner).

Uncle Mark brought salmon that had been 'pickled', for lack of a better word, in a vodka, dill marinade. We ate it on pita chips with a bit of sour cream. It was great and just added to the dilemma of how much to eat before dinner to optimize the consumption of tasties. This year we had guacamole, jalapeño-artichoke dip, and the salmon for our pre-meal, football snacks.

In my opinion, Thanksgiving is not a visually appealing meal, but boy is it tasty. My mom's traditional menu includes turkey, mashed potatoes, candied yams, crock pot stuffing, orange-cranberry relish, and a vegetable of some sort--this year it was green beans (made ridiculously delicious with bacon drippings).

American Ap-pie-rel

Emily and I agree that Thanksgiving is totally about the stuffing, but pie definitely makes an important and regular appearance each year at my house. While dessert often seems like an afterthought to the spread of savory delights my mom whips up, the pumpkin and pecan pies are always delicious.

This year, my dad found a recipe for sweet potato pie in the Wall Street Journal and knowing of our shared affinity for this particular pastry he requested it for Turkey Day. I took him up on the offer, excited as always to try out a new recipe.

Alas, due to the shenanigans of our treacherous oven, what might have been a beautiful addition to my mother's cooking turned out less than tasty. The oven's temperature spiked within the first ten minutes of baking and in another ten minutes the pie was burned. In a moment of mock drama, Emily collapsed to the floor in what I can only describe as the 'American Apparel' pose--you know the one.

Thankfully, I have enough sweet potatoes left over to try this again. I am hopeful that with a few tweaks to the recipe and the cooperation of the oven the second attempt will be more inspiring than the first.

making chicken not chicken

I have to say that there has been little exciting cooking in the apartment. With the exception of a delicious apple cake that I made from a New York Times recipe that my mother recommended to me.

Mostly I've been trying to cook chicken such that it doesn't taste like chicken...because chicken is boring. My most recent exploits involved lots of paprika and cream! Regarding chicken though it's rather sad to me that Thanksgiving is all about Turkey...'cause it's just like chicken.

Actually Thanksgiving is all about stuffing...mmm delicious sausage stuffing! I'm going to try to remember to bring my camera home so we can have some cooking at the K-R abode photos!


That is all.

Cookies and Craftiness

At some point on Sunday, after spending the afternoon playing Spades with my brother Aaron and our sister-in-law Beth, I felt markedly crafty. And by crafty I mean "feeling the need to make something" not "inspired to make mischief." So Beth and I made cookies! We made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with no raisins much to my father's chagrin. We both agreed that one or the other was really the way to go with oatmeal cookies and acted on the 'chef's prerogative.''

Another day, Dad. Another day.

The cookies turned out a little flatter than they normally do, but the chewiness that resulted was actually very tasty. I think Beth and I make a fine team in the kitchen and it was great to have someone to share the heavy lifting with--what with both of us having such wimpy arms it can be difficult stirring in that last cup of oatmeal!

I can do most anything....

can you bake a pie? no...
neither can I.....

Well actually I can, and I think that I've made a really lovely crust...that's what it's all about yes? making the perfect flaky but not crumbly crust, that is heaven help us, not tough.

Now I haven't gotten the chance to eat the pie yet but I have eaten about half of the goodie and it seems that this might be the best pie crust that I've ever made.

I made it outside, on the porch, such that it would stay colder, yes I know, clever!


also as a side note: trader joe's Gorgonzola walnut tortellini are quite tasty!