Thanksgiving Countdown: Tuesday

Tuesday is when the real pre-work for the Thanksgiving feast begins. I do a lot of prepping of dishes that will need to be finished over the next few days: making stocks, custards, etc.

Here's what I worked on today:

1. Prepared the stock for the gravy.

I make my turkey gravy ahead of time, which saves a whole lot of stress on Thanksgiving morning. A lot of people marvel at that, but it's actually pretty easy. I roast some turkey necks and parts I buy frozen with some basic vegetables (carrots, celery, onions, etc.). Then, I combine them with water and white wine and cook that down into a stock. I then use the stock as a base for the gravy. It's time-consuming, but again, worth it not to have to stand over a hot stove at the last minute, frantically stirring a roux.

(And yes, I double the recipe. I like gravy.)

2. Made fresh cranberry sauce.

I use the Pioneer Woman's recipe. And yes, I still buy the stuff in the can, because some people just have to have it. But this stuff is amazing. Plus, it looks pretty packed in a Mason jar and set on the table.

3. Made custard for vanilla ice cream.

I don't really do pies (never been too good at it), and with a great bakery just down the street, why would I? I let them handle dessert, and my stress levels go down accordingly. However, good as their pumpkin pie is, it's even better with a scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream. And since I can do it ahead of time, it's easy to add to the menu.

I made the custard tonight to chill overnight. I'll freeze the ice cream in the morning.

4. Started the turkey brine.
I brine my turkey, which makes it really moist and flavorful. I've heard brining is becoming passe, and everyone salts their turkeys now. Whatever. To me, nothing gets the kind of flavor into the meat the way brine does. I used to make my own solution, but I fell in love with Williams-Sonoma's last year. You add apple cider to the mix while the turkey brines, and then stuff the turkey cavity with apples. Heaven.

After boiling the brine, it needs to come to room temperature and then chill, so I do it the day before I want to brine the turkey (which is the day before I want to roast it). So, I did that tonight.

I also cleaned the house a bit, and made a trip to Michael's for table decorations. I got a lot accomplished, but have a long Wednesday ahead to finish everything in time.

Thanksgiving Countdown: Monday

Today, I:

1. Bought groceries. I stocked up on everything I'd need for the meal, including fresh cranberries and turkey necks (for the gravy). Of course, Thanksgiving would not be complete unless you forgot something; I have to go back tomorrow for onions.
2. Organized my kitchen cabinets. No one will see this but me, of course, but it's easier for me mentally to cook that much if my cabinets are organized.
3. Tracked down my baking and serving dishes. I'm missing one bowl and need to buy a couple of more glasses. A Target run seems in order.
4. Set the frozen stock out to thaw. It's all homemade stock - some chicken and some turkey that I made with the remains of last year's Thanksgiving turkey.
5. Cooked dinner for the week. I always feel bad for cooking non-stop for two days straight, and then being too tired to make Bailey dinner. So, tonight, I made a huge pot of Chicken Bog (an easy chicken, sausage and rice dish - I'll post the recipe soon). That will give her something warm and tasty to have while I'm getting the main meal ready.

Tomorrow the real work begins...

Thanksgiving Countdown: Sunday

Over the next few days, I'll be documenting my crazy pre-Thanksgiving prep in all its glory. Here is what I accomplished today:

1.) Put the turkey in the fridge to thaw. And yes, that's the $7 Safeway frozen turkey, and not a fancy-schmancy expensive fresh organic one. And you know what? I am not ashamed!! You see, last year, I was in the grocery store right before Thanksgiving, and ran into the chef at my favorite local restaurant - and he was buying this turkey for his own family Thanksgiving. If it's good enough for him, it's darn sure good enough for me.

2.) Made my grocery list. Or, more specifically, my grocery spreadsheet. Yes. I have a spreadsheet. It lists every dish I'm making, the ingredients and amounts, and the timing of when I'm cooking it.

Tomorrow, I'll be buying all the groceries I need, gathering up all my serving and baking dishes, and getting the house ready.

Holiday Recipe Testing Day

Every good cook or baker knows you don't try a new recipe for the first time on a special occasion, so Risey and I got together for what I hope is a new annual tradition: the Holiday Recipe Test.

The concept is simple: we each picked a new recipe we wanted to try or technique we wanted to practice (in our case, both - she wanted to learn piping while I tried my hand at glazing sugar cookies). With ingredients and equipment in hand, B and I trekked over to Risey's house, where she'd made a fantastic vegan brunch (with bacon just for Bailey). After brunch, Bailey camped out on the couch with her computer, Risey turned on some Christmas music to get us in the mood, and her kitchen exploded in flour and sprinkles.

Here are some pictures from the afternoon:

Lovely Risey, measuring out ingredients for her vegan Mocha Cupcakes.

That's my disembodied hand, cutting butter into flour a piece at a time.

The glory that was Risey's Mocha Cupcakes. Note the different piping styles.

Risey and I, very focused on glazing sugar cookies.

Still life of half-decorated sugar cookies.

Ignore my parti-colored finger. Had some trouble with the food coloring.

Risey looked at this and said, "That's KIND of a good idea."

Well, it was a better idea than her tree decorated with red lips.

This is from Risey's "Blob Period".

Bailey and Sweet Boy, happily ignoring the commotion in the kitchen.

The Cake People

I love where I work.

(And I will explain what the above shot of cake has to do with that in just a second - don't be alarmed.)

I know how lucky I am to be able to say that; so many people don't. (And I haven't in the past.) Part of it is just that I love my actual job, I'm good at it, and it's a good environment to work in. But mostly, it's the people. There are some great people who work there, and who make it a pleasure to go in every day. Fortunately for me, some of those people have become true friends - in and out of the office.

Those friends are what I call "The Cake People." These are the people who are so high up on my list that I would put myself through the ninth Circle of Hades - i.e., bake a birthday cake - for them.

See, baking a birthday cake to bring to the office is a royal pain in the ass. First, there's remembering their birthday (no mean feat - ask my mom, who gets birthday wishes every March 3rd, then reminds me that her birthday is May 3rd.), then remembering to borrow the cake taker. Then there's the shopping. Then, I bake the layers the night before, wrap them and place them aside to cool. Then, I get up at 5am the day the cake is due, make the frosting, fill and decorate the cake.

Then I pack it up in my borrowed cake taker (why don't I have one of these, Bueller?), and schlep it all the way into the city on the bus. THEN, I get to walk ten minutes from my bus stop to the office, past about 100 people who think they're uniquely funny when they say "Can I help you with that?!"

I really, really have to like you to bake you a birthday cake.

Well, one of my friends at work is someone I really, really like apparently: I call him The Russian. Even though he's Ukrainian. And over the past few months of patient translation of Russian movie trailers and shared soccer fervor, The Russian has clawed his way to Cake Person status.

Behold, The Russian's birthday cake:

The Russian is apparently broken and doesn't like chocolate (didn't realize those people existed), so he requested something with fruit, preferably raspberry. Therefore, I made him Dorie Greenspan's Perfect Party Cake: a buttermilk cake scented with lemon sugar, and frosted with a lemon-flavored Swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Inside, I brushed the layers with raspberry jam before filling them with the buttercream, then added a ring of raspberries to the top.

It went over a storm, and The Russian seemed genuinely happy with his cake. He kept it in his cube until the whole row smelled like lemon, and growled at anyone who got too close. In the end, he did share it, and we all pretty much made ourselves sick on it. One girl declared she "doesn't like cake" - and proceeded to have two slices.

See the hand in this picture? That belongs to a guy in the office who was slowly working his way into the rarified Cake Person stratosphere. Then, while devouring my masterpiece, he pointed out that he didn't actually have to make me like him enough to become a Cake Person. He just had to make friends with the other Cake People, and then he'd get their cake.

Guess who is never going to become a Cake Person?

Anyway, here's the recipe:

Perfect Party Cake

For the Cake

2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream

1 cup sugar
4 large egg wites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing

2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves, stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9-x-2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake: Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.

Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter, and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs, beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients. Finally, give the batter a good 2-minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and will aerated. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch- a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unmold them and peel off the paper liners. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up. (The cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to 2 months.)

To Make the Buttercream: Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or other large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6 to 10 minutes. During this time, the buttercream may curdle or separate-just keep beating and it will come together again. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny, smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake: Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper. Spread it with one third of the preserves. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream left over). Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Makes 12 to 14 servings

TWD: Sugar-Topped Molasses Cookies

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is Sugar-Topped Molasses Cookies. Mmmm....molasses.

I was excited about this recipe, partly because I plan to give away cookies as Christmas gifts this year. I don't actually have a ton of good cookie recipes, so the possibility of a solid, spicy-gingery-molassesy recipe filled me with excitement.

Cause my life's boring, obviously.

Unfortunately, the cookies didn't quite live up to what I'd built them up to be in my head. This may or may not be a good thing. Let's start at the beginning, though.

These mix up really easily. They mostly consist of things I have in the pantry (I'm Southern, so yes, molasses is a pantry staple.) The dough is soft and sticky, but you divide it into two pieces, wrap them in plastic wrap and chill them in the fridge for a half hour or so. This was one of the parts of the recipe I liked best; I was able to make just a handful at first, keep the dough in the refrigerator (it can stay there for up to three days) and come back the next day to make more fresh cookies with little fuss.

Once they're chilled, you roll them into balls, roll them in sugar, and then tamp them down with the bottom of a glass. Then you bake them a few on a sheet at a time, because they spread like wildfire.

I used turbinado sugar on the first ones instead of granulated sugar, and I liked the turbinado a lot better. Also, I used dark brown sugar instead of the light brown sugar the recipe called for. I was scared they would taste too much of molasses because of it (brown sugar is flavored with molasses, with a heavier concentration in dark brown), but they were fine.

Better than fine, actually. These cookies are flat-out delicious. Like, dangerously delicious. I was glad I'd only made a few at a time, because I couldn't stop eating them.

That's the good news.

The not-so-good news is that I wasn't thrilled with the texture. My friend J, who's a fantastic intuitive cook and baker, also thought they were oddly textured. The edges where they'd spread out were nicely carmelized and crisp, but the centers were soft and cakey. It's very possible that, due to the taste, we were expecting a crisp, gingersnap-type cookie. But these weren't that at all.

At first, I thought it was me. My first batch, I didn't press them down with the glass - just left them in balls. I made another small batch following the directions, and while these were better, they were still odd, and I actually had trouble getting them off the sheet without breaking.

The third batch I made, I actually made a lot smaller than the recipe called for. These came out much crisper and nicer, but still a little soft for mine and J's tastes. (Granted, we both ate every one of them.)

Our conclusion was that taste-wise, these were fantastic. But overall, we just couldn't get into the texture. Sadly, they will probably not be in my Christmas boxes. However, they probably will show up next to a pot of tea on non-fancy occasions.

My Tax Dollars at Work

Usually, saying "my tax dollars at work" is a negative thing. In this case, I actually say it with a bit of pride, because my tax dollars actually went toward something I can get behind: our new hiking and biking trails.

I live very close to the ocean, and to a group of hills that overlook said ocean. The hills have always had trails in and around them, but they've been haphazard. A few months ago, the county took on a conscious effort to improve them, and I have to say, it makes life here even better.

There are lots of nice, wide, well-marked trails here, of varying levels of difficulty. Every sign gives you directions and distance to the next trailhead. This is the beginning of a nice short trail with a mild upward slope that I use as my daily walking trail.

These are the newest installations: a series of flat wooden bridges and walkways perfect for biking and walking. This whole area was uneven and unappealing, and turned into a giant mudslide in the rainy season. Now, it's the most inviting part of the area.

Strategically placed wooden benches provide seating, and I almost always see older people hanging out here and resting, or moms taking a break with their kids.

They even carved out this faux creek thing beside the walkway, which is very likely to become a real creek when the rains start in a couple of months.

The weather stays nice here until January or February (and is then yucky for only a couple of months), so hiking is the main way I stay fit. Now, it's just a little nicer.

Granted, that big check for property taxes on December 10th will still hurt, but I have to admit it will hurt just a tiny bit less when I'm out on our spiffy new trails.