Journal

Irish Christmas in America - Temple Theater - 12/08/2023

We had dinner for the first time in a long time at Centro. The food was as expected, service was attentive, the big thing that just stuck in my craw was the person reloading the warming pan of bread to deliver to tables brought it out in a large plastic bag and dumped into the warming pan. This happened at least twice while we were dining. This seems like a thing where you would bring it out in the pan and swap the pan. The plastic bag just doesn’t seem to match the quality they are trying to put forward.

So this was time we have seen things. They tour every year apparently. While driving with Nathan yesterday, to Decorah, this came up that it was a bit better with the guy that passed away earlier this year. But even so, we enjoyed it, with the exclusion of the old man that kept playing with his phone, receiving texts and turning on his flashlight on his phone several times for no apparent reason.

The performers were quite good, I look forward to going to this again next year.

2023 - Week 48 Cooking Results

Sausage

Good as always.

Pork Fried Rice

Lots of leftover pork, so I cooked up some rice before I went to the grocery store, and then prepared several leftover items to put into the stir fry. I had some onions that came with my thanksgiving bundle. I had some prepared carrots and celery that I chopped up. And some pork. Using egg and etc I made a quick stir fry. It turned out pretty good.

Pork scramble

Bit of onion, bit of leftover pork, lots of eggs. Good things.

Burgers

Pork was the first package I saw, so this was planned to be pork burgers, but since I didn’t pull this out until much later than I should have, I ended up being sloppy joes. It worked out.

Penne with Butternut Squash and Brown Butter Sauce

The squash was also in the thanksgiving bundle and ended up in here. I did add more leftover pork and skipped the hazelnuts and probably extra parmesan. It was pretty good and other then having to peel the smaller squash, it was pretty easy to do.

Cranberry Apple Shrub

Well, poo. Apparently it’s time for things the break. the electric motor in my blender started smoking, so I’m thinking that’s dead now. To be fair, I’ve had that blender longer then I’ve been married (moving into current home).

2023 - Week 47 Cooking Results

Sausage

Good things.

Noodles with egg

Simple and good. made for quick work.

Egg Sandwiches

So I tried that waffle thing with dressing/stuffing and put eggs on it. It didn’t work that well. The idea of frying the stuffing to get a crispy edge is not a bad one and would probably work better in a pan, at least not be as messy. I put eggs on it.

Grilled Cheese

Added some ham, used some bread I bought at the Coop.

Thanksgiving

Every year we’re getting better at doing this. This year, however a few setbacks ended up annoying me. First, I was preparing the miso butter for the sweet potatoes and due to some various work related things, I lost track of the cooking time and my first batch got a bit overdone. Because of that I had to buy more white miso paste, but because the store didn’t have that, I ended up using yellow. It still turned out ok, but now I have a container of Miso Paste to use as opposed to finishing up the last one.

Second, the vacuum sealer didn’t actually find the pressure to take out the air, and apparently I can’t get next day when I actually needed it. I thought vaguely about going out to buy one, which I’m sure I could’ve, but chose not to. This lead to a cascade of failures. Since I ended up with a whole pork loin (8-9 pounds or so), it was a bit wider and thicker. Because I only had my practice to go on (3.5 or so pounds) and that was on sous-vide, ti was a bit challenging to get the timing right, to get the things done at the temperatures needed and to deliver at the right time. I was way off. I expected a bit of extra time from the recipe, but not so much more. Since that was the case, I had to make guesses on keeping the sweet potatoes warm, and the dressing warm. So I had things ready to go at 1, but the pork stopped cooperating. So an hour or so later, I was able to call it done, then finish the last steps. Generally, a success.

Highlights for me. Pork and leftover pork were quite nice, I could do other things, I suspect, but it’s a lot to do just for us. The Cinnamon Ice Cream from Pints by Beth, is simple, warming and clean and something quite special (this got a shared look at the table between Shannon and I). It paired well with the Pie Bird Pies. I’ve have been getting better at the general sizing estimates so things were not as crowded in the fridge. I’m generally happy but did feel the guilt of a late delivery. I used 5 pounds of Crooked Gap green onion sausage. I also used Ethan’s daughter’s honey wheat bread for both he stuffing for pork and on the table. Most of the vegetables came from Grade A Gardens.

2023 - Thanksgiving Menu Plan

Shannon reminds me that I need to go on peoples behavior and I can’t just make a cheese ball cause I want leftover cheese ball. It’s a fair point. Task List Done, Equipment list done. Make a grocery list for the normal week eating, then a run down to Winter market cause I can’t remember some stuff (as in what I pickup on Tuesday), and having the green onions sausage early won’t hurt.

Appetizers

  • Carrots, Celery, Cornichons - Prep Tuesday

  • Cheese and Meat Board (Cheese Shop) pickup Wednesday

  • Gus Soda (Cheese Bar) pickup Wednesday

  • Crackers, variety

Bread

  • Sourdough - Pickup Wednesday (Bread by Chelsa)

  • Rosemary and Sea Salt Sourdough Focaccia - Pickup Wednesday (Bread by Chelsa)

Mains

Desserts

  • Apple Pear Cranberry Pie - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Whiskey Apple Crumble Pie - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Whipped Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Cinnamon Ice Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pints by Beth)

  • Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pints by Beth)

2023 - Thanksgiving Menu Plan - draft

Appetizers

Bread

  • Sourdough - Pickup Wednesday (Bread by Chelsa)

  • Rosemary and Sea Salt Sourdough Focaccia - Pickup Wednesday (Bread by Chelsa)

Mains

Desserts

  • Apple Pear Cranberry Pie - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Whiskey Apple Crumble Pie - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Vanilla Bean Mascarpone Whipped Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pie Bird Pies)

  • Cinnamon Ice Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pints by Beth)

  • Vanilla Bean Ice Cream - Pickup Wednesday (Pints by Beth)

2023 - Week 46 Cooking Results

Sausage

Cased brats, good things.

Burgers

All beef, local beef, good things.

Brioche bun Baked Sandwiches

I had a thought about serving these buns for thanksgiving, but by the time I got around to ordering they were already out. But they’re pretty good. I have seen a few people pumping these type of sandwiches, so I figured out it’d be a fun use of the buns. It was pretty good.

Noodles with egg

Delayed.

Mix of a Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin and Sausage Stuffed Pork Loin

The bacon didn’t finish like what I wanted, so what I’m going to use is the finishing and cooking method for the pork. So what’ll happen, because I did like the flavor boost of the BBQ sauce and shake, so I’ll add those, and sous-vide it just to make sure it’s ready to go and still finish in the oven. So Suasage stuffed, glazed with sauce started in sous-vide and finished in the oven with (gasp) no bacon.