December 2010
35 posts
4 tags
Dec 31st
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Christmas, Step 3: Christmas Day
Christmas Day has been at Grammy’s for the past 5 or 6 years and combines Thanksgiving with Christmas Eve, food-wise. Turkey gets fried, Unc made scalloped potatoes, stuffing, and corn, I made (GOOD) gravy, then we started to have fun with the deep fryer… Fried ham:   Deep-fried pierogies: (a little different from pan-frying them) And fried stuffing balls: (one of my better...
Dec 30th
5 tags
Christmas, Step 2: Christmas Eve
Christmas Eve has traditionally been held at Aunt A’s house, but after a few years of her family being out of town for the holidays and a whole bunch of stressful years before that (can you say: carbon monoxide + grandmother?), she’s passed it on to my youngest aunt, Aunt G. The Christmas Eve menu stays the same year after year: kielbasa and sauerkraut, pierogies baked in butter and...
Dec 30th
TED on Food →
I’m a big fan of TED Talks anyway, and these food-related ones are right up my alley. They only have a small selection, but hopefully it will continue to fuel discussion about what we should and shouldn’t eat, what “good” food is, and finding solutions to the problems that food causes us, be it environmental, health-related, or whatever.
Dec 30th
Dec 30th
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4 tags
Dec 29th
4 notes
6 tags
Dec 28th
8 notes
6 tags
Dec 27th
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Dec 26th
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5 tags
Dec 25th
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Dec 24th
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Dec 24th
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Christmas, Step 1: Pierogi Pinching
As a licensed pierogi-pincher, I clear my schedule every December 23rd and pinch pierogi with the family for our Christmas Eve dinner. It’s a work-intensive process, but well worth it in the end. I usually only pinch but since I was the first to arrive at Aunt G’s this year, I ended up helping at several different stage of ‘rogi-making. The filling is usually prepared the night...
Dec 24th
3 tags
Dec 24th
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Dec 21st
12 notes
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Dec 20th
6 tags
Dec 19th
2 tags
Dec 19th
6 tags
Dec 18th
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MLC Holiday Cookie Exchange
My coworker and I organized a cookie exchange for our office this year, since we never do anything for the holidays and we needed an excuse to hang out. Our boss, as a holiday gift to the office, had the party catered by Panera - and they did an amazing job. Variety of sandwiches: There was a huge selection, including sierra turkey, asiago roast beef, Mediterranean veggie, tuna salad, bacon...
Dec 17th
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Dec 15th
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Dec 14th
2 notes
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Panera Cares
Update from this post- The “Pool Restaurant” reservation fell through. So we’re getting our office cookie exchange catered by… Panera. Sure, it’s not a fancy restaurant about to close its doors forever, BUT the Panera in downtown Dearborn is now a “Panera Cares” - a non-profit version of the normal storefront. All money made from donations here goes...
Dec 14th
Oh, my...
My boss is currently working on making a reservation to take our entire staff to lunch at the Henry Ford Estate Pool Restaurant. It’s not looking very good but since it’s closing its doors to the public this Friday, this would be an amazing opportunity. Fingers crossed!
Dec 14th
1 note
5 tags
Dec 8th
1 note
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Dec 7th
3 tags
Dec 6th
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Dec 5th
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Dec 4th
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Dec 3rd
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Dec 3rd
2 notes
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Thanksgiving, Step 3: Carvin' It Up
Finally, nearly 24 hours of preparation are at an end… Before dinner, I’ve already eaten two out of the three fried necks. This is when we realized the magic we’d made with this year’s brine; the thin strips of neck meat had been soaking in the brine as well, but weren’t rinsed off before we fried them. They were so savory, so herby - just bursting with an amazing...
Dec 3rd
3 tags
Thanksgiving, Step 2: Turkey Time
The Thanksgiving tradition for the past 7 years has been fried turkey. After years of dry roast turkeys and “turkey rolls” when Grammy decided she’d had enough cooking for one lifetime, my dad decided to take over. I’ve been helping for the past 5 years, and it’s probably my favorite part of Thanksgiving, besides actually eating the food. Dad takes the turkeys out of...
Dec 3rd
3 tags
Thanksgiving, Step 1: Poultry Preparation
I know it’s a week late, but here it is: our Thanksgiving meal, from beginning to end. First: brine. We use Alton Brown’s brine recipe but this year, we perfected it - Dad added parsley, rosemary, and thyme to the mix on a whim and the flavor was incredible. The dregs: Second: prepare the poultry. The birds are cleaned out, ready to go into their brine baths. This year, we had a...
Dec 3rd
1 note
Social Networking Overload →
An interesting take on social-networking overload, including a direct reference to amateur food photography.
Dec 2nd