Don't Die With The Music Still In You

It sounds like AOL is trying to make amends by promising to release upgrades, changes, etc., with announcements ahead of time. So no surprises. They still don't get it, do they?

Earth to AOL.  It's not the shock of suddenly having banners. It's the BANNERS.

Well, the feeding frenzy started early. Last night, Thanksgiving Eve, my bro made veal piccata [Ooops, PETA members avert your eyes], steamed artichokes with an anchovy, butter, olive oil and garlic sauce I have to look up because I can't spell it, a celery root and tomato concoction he created that was wonderful, rice with orzo, which I keep calling Ouzo, and haricots verts, the really skinny French green beans. 

It was a meal ten times removed from anything resembling Thanksgiving.  Except for the green beans. 

He decided to brine the turkey. So it's been sitting in a huge pot of salty water in the fridge overnight. I hear brined turkey tastes delicious. But it just sounds like it's going to make me retain water. Well, what's the point of being a woman if you can't be bloated from time to time.

Meanwhile, as I'm typing, he brought me a plate of "smelly French cheese."  About six cubes of the stuff. Very tasty. And, smelly.

He thinks the cheese is Contina. Is that really French, I ask? Probably not, he answers from the kitchen. But it's definitely stinky.

The dressing [stuffing, whatever] was made with fresh foccacia croutons, olive oil, Italian spices, garlic salt, carrot, celery, dried cranberry, chorizo, apple, chestnut puree, a little cognac, butter, sage, thyme, homemade chicken broth and probably some other stuff I forgot. 

He's already finished the fresh cranberry sauce with sliced apple for the pectin to thicken it and there's a smidge of cognac again. Earlier he cut up the white potatoes and of course we can't forget sweet potatoes, which will be "infused with vanilla bean and cream" -- haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!

We're also having braised brussels sprouts with olive oil, onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, and jalpeno pepper, along with homemade creamed onions. We'll start with homemade oyster stew.

He will be making pumpkin ricotta pie for dessert, with pumpkins he baked himself. Puree one pumpkin and fold into the ricotta for filling.  The topping is pumpkin with marscapone cheese. The cheese is whipped with pumpkin syrup -- pumpkin boiled with sugar, and spices and folded in the marscapone -- then dolloped on top. Did I mention the candied pumpkin on the side?

He just showed me the basting butter for the turkey -- sage, garlic, rosemary, thyme, and a little pepper. The butter for the mashed potatoes has rosemary and garlic in it, which  will be strained to keep the rosemary thingys out of your teeth, not to mention the garlic.

Cooking is his hobby. He loves it. I love that he loves it. His wife and mother do too. All we have to do is set the table. 

The title of this entry was something I heard on PBS this morning as I was waking up. No doubt it resonated because today is a holiday to give thanks. 

I am thankful a friend of mine once said that she thought I was one of the few people she knew who would not die with the music still inside me. Today is a good day to remind me of how I used to live my life. Lately I've had to ignore the music I hear.

Maybe it's time to ride through the Wasatch mountains on the back of a Harley, listening only to the wind and the echoes of my mind.    

Happy Thanksgiving.