Call us overachievers

I apologize for the hiatus. We've been really busy over here, having early Thanksgivings both in California and here at home in Seattle.

You could call us overachievers.

This year we experimented with having Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday night. I once overheard a co-worker say that his family did it that way. It seemed brilliant to me - get all the hard work done on a day everyone is working anyway, and then enjoy all of Thursday off, when everyone is home from work and school.

So we tried it this year. Knowing that I would have an almost 11-month old on my hands (and under my feet), I started preparing almost a week in advance.

A new rug I couldn't resist getting to spruce up the place for the holiday. My father-in-law called it Theo's magic carpet.

So last week my friend Karen came over for dinner* and we hashed out menu plans and decorations. I told her that I'm not into the "newfangled stuff" - I love brussels sprouts (not being sarcastic), but in my opinion they do not belong on a Thanksgiving table.

We agreed on a classic menu of turkey, gravy (two boats, just being realistic here), mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, peas, and rolls.

Sketching out which serving dishes I plan to use helps ensure I'm not stressing about it at the last minute.

Karen offered to bring appetizers (spanakopita (!) and eggrolls) as well as Connie's Corn Casserole, which turned out to be the most amazing thing we had ever had. At the table, Kenny dubbed it "corn butter."

"Corn butter" on the bottom right. David generously offered for it to be placed next to him.

With everyone at work/school and a baby who doesn't nap very much anymore, I knew I needed to plan ahead as much as a could, down to the details.

David and I broke down the cleaning and set-up tasks and spread them out over the days before The Dinner. When we finished an item we got to move the post-it note to the back. (Ah!)

This was by no means the complete list.

And I didn't stop there. I also made an Excel spreadsheet. Yes, you heard that right.

I totally nerded out and it was awesome.

Planning ahead allowed me to develop shortcuts that made the day of so easy. Here are the things I would do again next year in a heartbeat, whether or not Thanksgiving was on Wednesday or Thursday or in the middle of November:

• prepare all the vegetables for the stuffing the day before. When I cooked the stuffing, it was like a cooking show as I dumped already chopped veggies into the pan. (BTW, Mom, everyone loved your stuffing recipe.)
• start the stock for gravy and stuffing in a crockpot the night before. David also set the turkey in the roasting pan and in the fridge the night before so all I had to do was pull it out.
• make the mashed potatoes a couple hours before dinner and keep them warm in a crockpot. (Karen lent me hers so I had two to work with.)

Also, next year I'm definitely asking my sister-in-law to bring dessert again. She made the most amazing pumpkin cheesecake ever!

Diana thought she made a mistake and put "too much" sugar in the crust, but we just proclaimed that PAULA DEEN MADE A MISTAKE when writing the recipe and didn't include the amount Diana used.

We had a lovely dinner with way too much laughter. I asked Kenny to serve the mashed potatoes. He kept trying to give people HUGE portions. By the end of the meal, we were calling Kenny a "potato pusher." Karen caught David "trying to go horizontal" after the meal. We ended the evening with drawing names for our gift exchange and sharing what we were thankful for. (Kenny was - you guessed it - thankful for potatoes.)

I called my parents this morning. They were on the road driving somewhere for breakfast, and because my mom and I had hosted our Thanksgiving there two weeks ago, my dad named us the two most relaxed moms on Thanksgiving day.

Karen said it best when she said that having our dinner last night was like "getting our homework done before it's even Saturday."

I'm looking forward to this day lounging with family and eating leftovers. On the menu so far is turkey pho for lunch (!!!) and turkey enchiladas for dinner (!!!!).

My mom got these cute animal placecard holders on a missions trip to Africa.

So I heartily commend to you having Thanksgiving dinner on Wednesday nights. 

Happy Thanksgiving all!

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* We had a true Dave Ramsey dinner, beans and rice and torn-in-half napkins. Actually, truth be told, Karen tore off and used the "less used" portion (her words, not mine) of a paper towel David brought back from the hospital cafeteria. I tried not to feel too embarrassed, but in actuality I have to love the shared frugality Karen and I have. 

Not supposed to

I've always loved eating "strange" food. I was that child who willingly ate - sometimes even requested - ginger, pig's feet, bitter melon, intestines. Even with stuff I wasn't sure about at first, like cilantro, I would keep eating it, because if it was something my mom liked - and she has great taste - I wanted to like it too.

(Fortunately for me, I married someone whose favorite bowl of pho contains ONLY TENDON.)

Sometime around late elementary or early middle school, our family went to a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Sunnyvale, CA. We ordered menudo, and at that time, I don't think that my parents explained that we were eating tripe. Or it could have been that I didn't know what tripe was, anyway.

Either way, I distinctly remember having this feeling that I am enjoying something I am not supposed to like.

After recently sharing a bowl of birria (goat stew) with a friend at a tortilleria that also serves menudo, I was inspired to try making it myself.

I had trouble finding a recipe that looked solid at first glance. After all, most abuelitas aren't sitting around blogging; they are making tamales. So I had to read a variety of sites, gleaning the best aspects of each and trying to figure out the overall concept of what makes menudo menudo.

Fortunately for us, it turned out well. Piping hot, spicy, and flavorful, we enjoyed bowl after bowl with fresh corn tortillas from the tortilleria where I originally had the birria. As we scooped minced onion and cilantro into our bowls and squeezed in limes, we laughed and called it Mexican pho.

(Now you have make this, right?)

So, if you are so bold, I heartily recommend this to you.


Menudo, or "Mexican pho"
loosely adapted from The Domestic Man

Using a pressure cooker is a great way to make this happen faster, but of course if you don't have one, just use a regular pot or dutch oven, and plan for it to take a whole afternoon. Better yet, make it the night before and let the flavors marry.

3-4 lbs beef marrow bones (some recipes combine beef bones with pork neckbones)
1 lb honeycomb tripe, cut into 1" pieces (you can definitely use a lot more, but it is surprisingly expensive considering they are innards!)
4-5 dried guajillo peppers*
1 1/2 white onion, divided (one chopped into large pieces; half diced for garnish)
4 cloves garlic
1-2 cans white hominy, drained
1 T oregano, Mexican preferred, plus more for serving
cilantro, minced, for garnish
lime, for garnish

Bring beef bones to a boil in a large pot. Let boil for about 10 minutes, skimming off any fat and scum that rises to the surface. Then cover and simmer for 2-3 hours, or 45 minutes if using a pressure cooker.

Add tripe and cook for another hour or two (less with a pressure cooker).

While the meat is cooking, destem the peppers and cover with about half a cup of boiling water. Let stand for 30 minutes to soften. Then blend with the chopped onion and garlic.

Add chile sauce and oregano and continue to simmer. (You can also add the cilantro stems, but be sure to fish them out before serving.) About an hour before serving, add drained hominy and simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with warmed corn tortillas, cilantro, onion, and lime.

We had some shredded cabbage from tacos so we threw it in the soup as well. Not as essential (like the cilantro/onion/lime is) but it helps bulk it up and add some greens. (Stephie, if you slice up your tortillas into "noodles", you will essentially have Mexican jjampong!)

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* I had previously been intimidated** about cooking authentic Mexican because of all the different kind of chiles, but I decided to be an adult and learn a little bit. I'm sure there's a million other sources for this kind of information, but after simply reading this one post, I felt quite a bit more sure of myself. Guajillos are fruity, and mild: in fact they were so mild, that I had to add more chiles - including a chipotle - to get more of that spicy flavor I was going for. I really think you could use any combination of chiles for a great flavor, but if you already know you want it mild, start with guajillos.

** Now that I know EVERYTHING ABOUT MEXICAN COOKING my family is going to be stuck eating it for a week straight.*** The last time I went crazy like this was after we visited Little Saigon in San Jose. For a week our house was filled with grilled meats, spring rolls, egg custard, pandan waffles... you get the drift. This time I think I'm going to try pozole, caldo de pollo and probably a lot of these recipes.

*** I already have all the Mexican cookbooks they carry at the library on hold. This train has left the station..

Definitely legit

I originally meant to post this before I wrote about biryani because in a way this is what inspired that adventure. However, there was was no ridiculous backstory to this. Just a lot of groaning and sighing at the table.

We told our friend (and neighbor) Karen that she is definitely family because during dinner we were practically bragging about how delicious the meal was, right in front of her. But that is the price she had to pay for getting to eat with us.

Allow us to let you in on a secret. 

That's right. Lamb loin chops.

Because they are naturally more thickly cut, they are more succulent than rack of lamb, and cheaper, too (we got ours at Costco). We salted and peppered them, let them sit at room temperature for a couple of hours and then grilled them.

It would probably be fantastic with cumin, coriander, and turmeric [we love to make our steak sandwiches like that a la Berkeley's Brazil Cafe (is that still around? Yes, it is, and now I am dreaming about garlic and cilantro and sour cream/mayo...)], but I also love the simplicity of just salt and pepper. Especially for something as flavorful as lamb.

It was perfect, simply accompanied by spinach from our CSA and some yellow rice. (It would probably go well with a Greek salad, too.)

And while it's still questionable* if you should make biryani in the rice cooker, it's not at all so to just make yellow rice. My mom often made it for us while we were growing up, so it's definitely legit.

Yellow rice

I think my mom uses only turmeric, but the other spices and butter are nice additions. I don't actually measure any of this. All you need to know is: don't be shy with the turmeric. 

3 cups rice
1-2 t turmeric
1/2 t cumin
pinch of cinnamon
2 cloves
1/2 t salt
1 T butter
cilantro for garnish

Throw everything into the rice cooker except for the cilantro and hit start.

P.S. This tip regarding cilantro storage has changed my world. I hope it will change yours too.


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* Oh my goodness, just this week I saw this article that confirms I'm not crazy. Also, Francis Lam** tweeted that "[t]rue genius is finding the obvious when the obvious has not yet been found."***

** I bring up Francis Lam**** because I want to tell you about his ratatouille before all of your summer squash is used up. Post forthcoming...

*** What is proper MLA for citing tweets, anyway? Can you tell I graduated from high school in the early 2000s?

**** Every time I re-google the recipe, I have to check myself about whether it's Chan or Lam. Maybe Francis Lam should publish a book called Crazy Food. I would totally buy it.

May have

If you know anything about me, you know that I love bagels. One time when I was young, I may or may not have eaten as many as seven bagels in one sitting. And when my friend Maria visited me from New York, she may or may not have purchased bagels from Absolute, froze them, stored them in California for a couple weeks, and then flown them up to Seattle.

Years ago, my mom made a copycat veggie cream cheese. Most of the recipes I found on the internet didn't mention my mom's tip of draining the chopped veggies before folding in the cream cheese, which is pretty critical since vegetables have lots of water. 

The blend of vegetables you choose isn't too critical, but you'll want to include bell peppers, carrots, and onions (or green onions) if you want that store-bought taste. Other recipes recommend celery, radish, and other vegetables, which I think would be great as well. I added a serrano pepper since it came in our CSA box.

Veggie cream cheese

1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened

1/2 carrot, peeled

1 bell pepper, seeded

3 green onions, or a quarter of a yellow/white/red onion
1 clove garlic

salt to taste

Roughly chop vegetables into smaller pieces, and then grind in food processor. Transfer to a wire mesh strainer, and sprinkle ~1/2 t salt over it. Using the back of a spoon, mash down the veggies to drain out excess liquid. Transfer veggies back to food processor and add cream cheese. Blend. Taste for salt. Slather onto a perfectly toasted bagel, one bite at a time, so that the cheese is cold and the bagel is hot.

Chomples!