Thanksgiving! Food Prep

Sarah and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving week! We very much enjoyed cooking and hosting our first Thanksgiving. The menu:
Butternut Squash Soup with Ginger
Green Bean Casserole (a la Campbell's Soup)
Roasted Beets and Brussel Sprouts
Stuffing
Pecan Pie

As we are vegetarian, we skipped the turkey. Rowan brought homegrown swiss chard and Anne brought appetizers.

Sarah and I started cooking on Wednesday with the squash soup and pie. When I make squash soup (which happens quite frequently), I roast the squash. This necessitates cutting the raw squash in half, an often formidable feat. I started gently:
After banging the squash with the knife stuck in it repeatedly on the counter in an attempt to break through, I resorted to brute force.
This resulted in some seriously raggedy-looking squash.

I thought that brandishing the remaining squash like a triumphant squash conqueror would help bolster my oomph.
Let's just say it's a good thing all the squash gets pureed in the end.

Sarah was a bit more sedate making her pecan pie crust.
The filling:
The finished pie! Isn't it pretty? Sarah managed the lovely top decoration even though I kept eating the pecans from her "decoration" pile. I thought she had made a pile of the rejects.
Thursday morning we started with the stuffing. Every year when I am home for Thanksgiving, I wake up to the smell of onions sauteing in butter: my dad starting the stuffing. He cooks the stuffing and turkey, and likes to be out of the kitchen before anyone else starts cooking. So when I started sauteing my own celery, carrots and onions in a whole stick of butter, it really smelled and felt like Thanksgiving.
Right before it was time to put the stuffing in the oven, I remembered the most important flavor of the stuffing: white wine. By some miracle, we actually had a corkscrew (2!). I didn't have to borrow one from Ken and Kenny, or the scary neighbors. I had not, until that moment, successfully uncorked a bottle of wine. As you can see, it was quite the effort. But I had success!
The stuffing about halfway through cooking. This was my favorite part of the meal.
We also roasted beets and brussel sprouts. The color contrast when raw was excellent, and they tasted so sweet cooked.
One thing about having several different roommates over the last year and a half is the rotating kitchen supplies. I am now without a sufficiently large mixing bowl, and my soup pot was in use. While all of the green beans fit in the bowl, it was difficult to stir them into the sauce. About halfway through I realized that it was customary to defrost the green beans before mixing them in the sauce. This might have aided the mixing process.

It was a fun day and a half cooking--not stressful.

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: The Day After

Sunday, November 22: After sleeping like rocks, we headed down to the hotel breakfast area for brunch. Up in our private area, the hotel staff had put together a lovely display. The nests are lox, the martini glass holds capers, and I like the look of the paprika.
Although those white disks look like baked goods, don't try to grab them! They're cream cheese, molded into shapes that resemble biscuits. I had to stand there and make sure people didn't try to hold them.
I like how they used Saturday's kids' table decorations to display (just a few of the many) leftover cupcakes.
In addition, we had free range of the hot breakfast buffet, a fruit bar, and meats and cheeses. The beef tenderloin made a reappearance, this time under the auspices of "corned beef hash." There was lots of giggling over this. Personally, I wouldn't blame the hotel staff, as we had pretty much harassed them the entire weekend, and they still managed to smile at us.

We rolled out of our rooms and piled into Kim's living room to recap the evening and enjoy being in a real house (we had pretty much spent 36 hours in the hotel). Sheryl and my mom looked through my sign-in book.
Kim has 3 cats. Two keep to themselves, but Gizmo is such a cuddler! Except when he decides to bite.
He had a snuggle with me--I realized how much I miss cuddling with animals in this job. (There are sometimes animals in the office, but only the heads of potentially rabid backyard critters, and they are not good to snuggle with). Gizmo settled down in my lap and rested his face in my leg. After a long time relaxing on me with much purring, he bit me. Kim says it's a love bite. I say he's spending too much time with Kim's friend M.
Eventually, my parents and Claire's family left for the airport, and Alexa went back to South Carolina. I had a mellow evening with the D's and S-H's. Alaina and Molly recorded Alaina's gifts and did some math.
Kim taught me how to style my hair and use a diffuser on a blowdryer. I am indeed impaired when it comes to blow-drying. It was a fun and relaxing evening. Around 7pm we figured we'd all be asleep by 9, but somehow Jill, Molly, Kim and I stayed up late talking. I was so glad to have the extra day to spend quiet time with my extended family.

Overall it was a most excellent weekend! Thanks to the D's for hosting and making it all happen!

Bat Mitzvah Party

Alaina led the service extremely well. Her Torah portion was smooth and her speech heartfelt and meaningful. And was the service ever speedy! One hour exactly, which is quite short for a Torah service. Before the party opened, adults and kids wrote notes to Alaina on my pages.

The adults shmoozed over drinks while the kids played games with the DJ inside. I thought this was a great idea--we didn't have to hear them play "Coke and Pepsi" and other loud bat mitzvah games. My older cousins, Alexa's best friend, and I ordered Shirley Temples from the bar and chatted. When we went inside the ballroom, the desserts were all spread out like this:
Isn't it pretty? There were skewers of chocolate-dipped marshmallows, chocolate caramel apples, chocolate-dipped pretzels and more.

I was seated at the big kids table--my older cousins, 2 of Alexa's friends, and a couple about my age. Molly and I experimented with my camera.
Molly is a camp counselor, and also likes to dance, so she, my mom and I danced quite a bit. Having gone to many a bar/bat mitzvah in my day, I know many line dances, and so does my mom. We rocked out to The Electric Slide, the Cha-Cha Slide, and Cotton Eye Joe. We started grooving our heads off to YMCA, then looked over at the 13 year olds to find them standing in a tight pack and boucing slightly. Apparently they only dance during the letter part of that song, omitting the pointing during the "young man" portion. We sat down, a bit embarassed but laughing at ourselves. The DJ played some 80's music and got all of the adults up and dancing. One of Kim's friend and her boyfriend were especially, uh, enthusiastic on the dance floor. All of the 13-year-olds and many of the adults stopped dancing to watch. "It's like the sun," I remarked. "You can't look away, but it hurts to look." "Someone's gonna get pregnant out there," added Lisa.

Elisa or Sheryl wanted some group shots of the Stangers. She took the first few herself.

Then she called on the male half of the dancing couple (who were catching their breath) for assistance with a full group shot. He lined us up, asked if we were ready, and did away with the more typical "Say cheese!" in favor of a graphic and utterly complete crotch-grab. You can tell who saw from this next photo.
As the music shifted back to today's hip-hop, the adults in my family drifted out to "our" couch in the lobby. Most likely Elisa has said something obscene, provoking the reactions from my mom and her sisters. That's my dad on the end.

Alaina's Bat Mitzvah: Getting Ready

Alaina, Alexa, and I went to Sheer Bliss, where Kim used to work, to have our hair done for the Bat Mitzvah. Alaina went with a classic look for her hair, while Alexa and I had a chance to catch up. Alexa has become such an interesting person. I wish we lived closer so I knew her a bit better. Alaina after her appointment:
I went with a curly look and I loved how it turned out! The stylist lifted some of it up on top of my head with bobby pins to give it some height and it looked really cool (although it hurt when I lay down for bed later).
Meanwhile, back at the ranch that was the Durham Hilton, party set-up was in full swing. Kim's friend Marti was heading up the decorations committee, with help from Elisa, Casey, Sheryl and Molly.
Marti made the centerpieces, which were made of layered pink and green sand topped with flower arrangements she did herself. It was a good look.
Molly and I rocked our way through the hotel to her ipod (sharing headphones, of course), and set up for the candle-lighting ceremony.
A cupcake tower was part of the dessert extravaganza. Here the baker sets it up.
The finished product. The cupcakes were tasty, but the cake on top was AMAZING. We cut into it on Sunday evening--really chocolatey layer cake.
I made the a sign-in book for guests. I basically designed scrapbook pages without any pictures where guests could write messages to Alaina. I tried to incorperate her interests and favorite colors. It was a challenge for me, because I rarely scrapbook, but I am very happy with the outcome. I layed out the pages on tables to make them accessible.

Alaina really loved the book, which made me extremely happy and proud as well.

With everything in place, we were set to leave the hotel and proceed to the Temple for photos and the main event.

Waffle House

Saturday, November 21:
Somewhere amidst the revelry of Friday night it was decided that we would all breakfast at the Waffle House down the street from our hotel. My dad's students had spoken enthusiastically about its merits, and I think we all pictured a cross between Cracker Barrel, and IHOP, with a focus on fluffy Belgian waffles. That wasn't quite what we walked in to. It was kind of like a fish-fry joint, except breakfast food. We were seated in the "non-smoking" section, which was kind of funny because the whole restaurant was about the size of my apartment minus the bedrooms. The smoking and non-smoking sections were separated only by the griddle. It was highly sanitary (especially when they put Jill's undercooked eggs back on the grill for a little more cooking). The eleven of us squeezed into two booths probably meant for 2-4 people each. Molly was in fact calling my mother on her cell phone at the next booth in this photo.

The best part was that there was a booth in between our two booths, with a family in it. Elisa, Brian and my dad arrived a bit later and it was not immediately apparent if there would be enough space for all of us. So Brian squeezed in with the family in the middle booth. They looked seriously alarmed, probably because they had not been following our conversation, not being English-speakers.

Anyways, we all ordered some combinations of eggs, hash browns, biscuits, etc. Mike was especially excited about his breakfast:
I figured I should get the eponymous dish: a waffle. It was very thin, but quite tasty. The biscuits Jill and Mike had were excellent--I finally found a biscuit I like! I think the key ingredient is a lot of grease. Dad had grits with his chili-cheese omlet. Elisa decided to be adventurous and sample grits for the first time.
Gearing up for her first bite:
Love the look on her face!
Quickly seeking out coffee.
"Interesting," she proclaimed. Sheryl said the same thing about the biscuit with gray sausage gravy on Sunday morning...

Alexa (18) picked me up for a hair do and remarked, "I can't believe you guys went to Waffle House. Waffle House is where you go if it's 3 O'clock in the morning and you've been partying and there's nowhere else to go."

Project 365 Day 66 (approx)

Scroll down to the next posts to read about my weekend in Northampton in 4 lengthy (but hopefully pithy) installments.

I've been doing fairly well with Project 365. Not 100%. Many days I just work and come home. Stuff happens at work, but much of it would not be appropriate to blog about. Not that we are inappropriate at work, just, separation, you know? Do people have suggestions of things I could take pictures of in everyday life? In general, though, I am really enjoying the picture-taking.

Wednesday, 4 November: I saw this rainbow as I was in traffic on my way home from work.
Thursday, November 5: Happy Birthday Alexa! Stay tuned for a post about the cool thing I did on Thursday.

Friday, November 6: I walked over to NIH today to do some banking and to visit the old haunts. I got to catch up with Lily and Lisa and some of the post-docs in the lab, as well as hear about the (now dead) rats from my replacements. It felt good to show people there how much I am enjoying my public health work, and how happy I am. I got many comments on my haircut, and people noted that I look happy. I am. It was nice to see people, but I know that I am in the right place now. NIH has very successful rose bushes in several locations. They bloom longer than I've ever seen roses bloom. These are by Building 1.

The day has generally been low-key. Lots of catching up on blogging from my comfy arm chair. Talked on the phone to Aunt Jill and read Allison Bechdel's autobiography. I also cleaned out the freezer, and generally neatened up, because tonight is my last night living alone. Tomorrow my new roommate D will move in. Her parents will help her move. She's Jewish, a vegetarian, and a preschool music teacher. I am excited about this move. But nervous, of course, for the unknown.

In unrelated news, I now love goat cheese. I strongly disliked it up until about 2 months ago, when it suddenly stopped tasting vile. Now I have gone beyond and am craving it. On everything. I guess it's what you call an acquired taste...

It's Shabbat and I am going to Bet Mishpacha for the first time. I am hoping for friendliness and ease. Shabbat Shalom!

Weekend in Northampton: Sunday

Sunday morning we took a walk in the woods, something I have missed while living in Bethesda. The leaves in New England are so much more vivid than they are down here. Before my weekend with Sarah, I thought it looked like fall here. Now the colors on the trees in Virginia seem muddy in comparison. If you don't like photographs that are mostly foliage, scroll down for a while.





Hungry from our walk (ok, I will face it. When are we ever not hungry? This blog is mostly about what I eat), we went to Woodstar for their fabulous bagel sandwiches. Our favorite sandwich is East Meets Woodstar, usually served on their homemade bagels (I had mine on sourdough toast this time). It contains cream cheese, lox, undyed pickled ginger, cukes and wasabi. We also enjoyed an iced latte (me) and an iced chai (Sarah). It was lovely and warm outside, as evidenced by our cold beverages. Ok, by Sarah's cold beverage. I will drink something iced at any time. Also note that empty tic-tac container that had until recently contained my supply of lactaid pills for the weekend. Evidence of a delicious weekend!
After poking around Noho shops some more (yes, the themes of the weekend were eating and poking around), we spotted Rosie and Yael across the street. We joined them in listening to Mount Holyoke's M&Cs (Milk and Cookies). They were excellent musically and had lots of fun singing. Some of the Smith groups take themselves a little seriously, so it was nice to see some levity.
Rosie was wearing her new Old Navy sweater that she claimed to have been wearing ever since she bought it. Yael clarified that she had not slept in it.
Somehow hungry again, we cajoled Rosie and Yael into joining us at the new burger place in town, Local Burger, to try their fried pickles. I think they had counted on each having 1 or 2, but the pickles came like a giant basket of french fries, and their consumption help was necessary, appreciated and enjoyed by all. These pickles were thin dill slices coated in a corn meal-salt-pepper mixture and fried until crispy. The perfect mix of juicy and crunchy. I was instantly addicted.
Overall, it was a wonderful weekend. Basically, we spent most of the weekend eating. Or shopping, or walking around. I love Northampton, and my friends there. I returned feeling loved and satisfied. And very full.