Nothing much happened today. The only new items on the menu was a combination of roasted brussel sprouts, roasted butternut squash with cinnamon, dried cranberries and pecans. The squash was sweetened with a drizzle of maple syrup (well maybe more than a drizzle). And I tried stevia instead of sugar when I made the cranberry-orange sauce. The roasted veggie mixture was delicious but the cranberry sauce came out a bit pasty. I figured that stevia can't be used to make a simple syrup.
Now that I'm retired, "holidays" just don't have the attraction that they used to. In fact, today was a lot more
work effort than normal. In addition to
roasted veggies and cranberries, I made a
"Good Eats" roasted turkey which was in a brine for about 24 hours before roasting, mashed potatoes, hawaiian rolls and the ubiquitous green bean casserole. This is like the 6th year I've made Alton Brown's version of roast turkey as the light meat is a moist and tasty as the dark. In our house, the light meat is usually ignored but not any more.
Only a bit over 5 hours of daylight today. It's only mid-afternoon and it feels like it's night. It has been snowing pretty steadily all day so there may be a few more inches of snow. Nowhere near the 7" that was being predicted yesterday. So far we've had 49" of snow since Sept 1st which is almost double the average. It seems like it was a good year to pick up the snow plow. It's a very therapeutic activity. Solitary, somewhat mentally challenging and very satisfying.
If it "snowed pretty heavily all day" around here there wouldn't be anyone remarking on what a slow day it was. I mean four feet of snow anywhere seems rather drastic to me. Never mind if it was in my driveway. I'd be roasting more than vegetables I think.
ReplyDeleteThat's 49" total. Right now there is maybe 5-6" of fresh snow on the driveway. Yesterday, I plowed a friends driveway and there was about 10" or so. Our driveway now gets plowed regularly....
DeleteAll weather rider, network engineer, architect, programmer, mechanic and now chef....what a skill set!
ReplyDeleteAnd all of those "skills" blend together so well if I were a what and where? Light house operator?
Deletenot a lighthouse operator....where could you ride? no, a Renaissance Man!
DeleteI am glad you had a nice day yesterday even if you were busy cooking. I made stuffed acorn squash for dinner.
ReplyDeleteBefore becoming vegan, the only way I'd cook a turkey was Alton's brined recipe. It was the best.
We woke to 21 degrees yesterday and this morning. Chilly for our area.
It was a quiet day. 21°F meant no riding or biking I'm guessing (according to Troubadour's math).
DeleteI still have been meaning to try the dry rub and butterfly before roasting method.
Richard, if for no other reason, then for me, please hang onto your Holidays!!
ReplyDeleteYour day was a great one, a perfect Thanksgiving.
I'll try and remember that it isn't just my perspective that matters… ;-)
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