Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Blogging may be sporadic during the holiday. Right now I've got twenty, maybe thirty minutes, so here goes:
We're having family over for Thanksgiving, so I'm going through the endless circle of clean, shop, and cook. Paul's off this week and has been a big help. But I'm pretty much done in at the moment. I think that, other than dinner, I'm done for the night. Okay, dinner and watching House. A girl has to have her priorities.
Our show went well. Thanks to the Vintage Radio and Phonograph Society for having us out. We had a blast. The three of us got home around 10, but it took some time to unwind, and then we were up at 6:00 to go to the organization's flea market. We'd heard there might be some vintage microphones for sale. No luck on that front. Well, there was an RCA 44 microphone, but it was way out of our budget! We did end up spending a whole dollar - on a BBC book from 1970. I'll scan bits of it if the book will hold up to the process.
Paul's taking the week off and Chris had his last day today, so that also explains why I haven't been around. I really do need the time to decompress so I can take another stab a NaNo next week. A couple of people have convinced me to try. I'm not sure that I can hit 50K words at this point, but I'll give it a shot.
The only other things left on the agenda for this week are the various Thanksgiving dinners (I host one on Thursday and then go over the river and through the proverbial woods for another on Sunday), the Cowboys game, and possibly Black Friday. I really do hate getting out to shop on that day, but this year there's something we need: a new coffee maker. There's one store that has a good price on the one I want right now and I have a 20% off coupon, but at this point I may as well wait for the post-Thanksgiving sales. We're ready to drop a few extra bucks on a Cuisinart. The $30-40 coffee makers drip all over the place and just don't make good coffee.
That's an odd thing. I used to hate coffee. My parents tried to get me to like it. Eventually, I learned to sort of like coffee cooked over a campfire, but I never really liked the stuff until close to ten years ago. I went up to Philly over a cold weekend for a convention and ended up spending the weekend with friends from New Jersey and New York and ended up consuming several cups of "cwaffee." I got hooked. I generally like it black, though I won't say no to a nice dollop of (nonfat) whipped cream. Okay, twist my arm - make it an Irish Coffee. Seriously, I've learned to appreciate good coffee made from freshly-ground beans. Yep, we have our own grinder.
Anyway, the coffee maker we're looking at seems to be pretty good, and it includes a cleaning cycle, plus it signals when it's time to clean. Sounds good to me.
Speaking of coffee grinders, mine got a workout today when I made the ancho chile rub for the turkey. When our last grinder bit the dust I dropped an extra few dollars on a Kitchen Aid model. This one has a removable (and dishwasher safe) grinding basket, which means I can use it for things other than coffee, which makes it worth the extra money. So today I ground roasted dried chiles and spices to a powder and tomorrow I'll combine that with oil and rub down the turkey. By Thursday morning it will be ready to cook.
You're probably thinking that this makes for a spicy turkey. It doesn't, actually. The spices add flavor and the oil helps seal in some moisture, but there's no "hot" flavor to the meat. Even the "don't feed me any hot stuff" relatives love it.
Well, time to go check on the pork roast. Found a nice little one on sale. Just pop it in the oven and forget about it - for a time, of course. Add some couscous and veggies, and I've got a nice low-carb meal!
I'll go ahead and leave you with early wishes for a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving. Actually, I do have another subject to blog about, but that will require taking some pictures. Tomorrow, perhaps.
Tags: Life