Thanksgiving Food

So turkey day went off pretty well.

The night before we celebrated with one of Albany John’s mates, Sistah, Manhattan Maka, and CVS.

There was much pizza from Red Front in Troy. So delicious. So totally good. I ate 7 slices. The crust is nice and light – very easy to eat. It’s still a little chewy though, but it goes down easily. We got a large 24 cut of pepperoni and a 10 cut of cheese. I am normally not a pepperoni fan, but Red Front does it up right – just enough pepperoni slices, and they are all nicely crisped around the edges. No fatty, limp slices here!
The smaller cheese had more cheese on it though. The pepperoni pizza had less cheese on it – I’m not sure if it’s because it was a 24 slice and they use a little less, or what, but the 10-slice cheese is the way to go for me next time. And we won’t be ordering pizza for 6 hungry peeps, so really, we’ll be all set.

I bitched out early around 2-3 am and went to bed. Silly, I know. That whole sleep thing. Pshh. But I did have to wake up earliest around 7 am. I tried getting up earlier, but was unsuccessful in doing so. The rest of the gang went to bed around 5:30 am after sitting in the kitchen drinking some rum. Aw! I love it when it’s sit-quietly-in-the-kitchen time. Ah well. Next time. Also explains why everyone was still dead asleep as I puttered around the kitchen and stayed that way until about 11 or so.

I made the pecan pie and pineapple upside down cake. I took about an hour long than planned, but mercifully the turkey was a few pounds lighter than I’d planned for, which only put us half an hour behind schedule.

Albany John had made his delicious chili the night before, and the entire house smelled of warm, tasty chili. My sister, who is vegan, seemed to really enjoy it. I am glad, since she would have had some pretty limited options with the rest of the meal.

The turkey was popped in the oven right after the pies came out. It barely fit in the roasting pan, such a big bird it was!

And then hijinx struck! The digital thermometer was reading crazy temps, and long story short – there was some bend in it that was making it read inaccurate temperatures. So we had to make do with the pop-up thingy that was already in the bird (Woo, thanks Cardona’s!). It roasted to a beautiful golden brown color, and Albany John let it rest for about an hour. It was overcooked, but the brine helped it not taste super dry, and the dark meat pieces, well, you couldn’t really tell they were overcooked.

OH MY GOSH. Papa Amherst is so awesome. I pretty much pulled him in the kitchen, and he completely made the creamed boiling onions. Sorry/thank you! And then he and CVS made THE MOST DELICIOUS GRAVY I HAVE EVER EATEN. I even bought cans of turkey broth in case there wasn’t enough, but my goodness – they made so many delicious cups of gravy from the drippins.

Here’s what I’ve learned – Thanksgiving dinner done my way was not as simple as it could have been. Dishes had to be scratched at the last minute. Arms were used to help out. I still have no idea where to really change a baby in my place. I bought WAY too much food and wine, but now I don’t think I’ll need to grocery shop for a while. Total approx spent: $335 (WAY TOO MUCH. I have lots of food left over)

Most of all, I’m thankful for having family that isn’t driven completely nuts by my planning. I tend to think things won’t take as much time as they will. Now I know! I have to say; around 9 am I was getting terribly neurotic about being behind schedule and a wee bit overwhelmed, but thankfully Albany John was up around 8 and helped calm me down.

Mama and Papa Amherst came around noon with Albany John’s Aunt, Cousin, and Cousin’s baby. Mama and Papa brought tables, folding chairs, and 3 delicious desserts. Yum!

Manhattan Maka and Sistah helped me out tons by periodically shouting at me if I needed help. Phew, they know me enough that they really need to get my attention when I start getting wrapped up.

After my in-laws arrived, they were quickly followed by my Mom and sister. My mom brought a gigantic pot of mashed potatoes. They were so creamy and fluffy! I have no clue how she does it, but I certainly cannot. She also brought along a bunch of champagne. OH MY GOSH. She is my mom – all sweet champagne, and it was great to drink them all while everyone was waiting for dinner. It was a while, since I took so long.

After them were my Bro and Margarita (thanks for bringing the cold beers!), and finally Benny who was being a girl and took forever to get dressed. Panda was supposed to come too, but I haven’t heard from him and hope he’s okay.

So yes! Quite the cast of characters, and everyone got along really well.

Here was the final meal:

Baba ganouj
Garlic peanuts
Deviled eggs

Turkey
Chili

Mashed potatoes
Baked potatoes
Sausage dressing
Rolls
Creamed onions
Sunshine salad
Carrot + currant salad
Cranberry sauce

Pecan pie
Lemon meringue pie
Apple pie
Boston Cream pie
Pineapple upside down cake (I overcooked it a little – a bit too dry)
Vanilla bean cheesecake
Pumpkin flan (like bread pudding in texture, but still pumpkiny)

We totally forgot about the green beans in the oven and found them the next morning, shriveled beyond recognition. Dangit. Pretty sure that was it, but now we’ve got lots of food in the fridge. Personally, I thought the turkey tasted great, and I am loving eating all of these leftovers. Maybe next time I have a family event I won’t over-purchase food and I’ll actually stick to a decent time line and not overwhelm myself.

Until then, cheers – here’s to understanding and calming family members!

P.S. I’ve also eaten 90% of the lemon meringue pie and 70% of the pecan pie all by myself over the course of three days. If I become diabetic and wonder why, this is probably a good jumping point.

Merry Turksgiving!

I hope your Thanksgivings were as wonderful as my own was. I was lucky enough to have an apartment filled with family, and an entire table full of dessert.

I have the BEST brother in law in the world. CVS bought me a brand new camera! The same make and model of the one I lost!

Pain in the Nitpickery

It’s been brought to my attention (by Albany John) that I am a tad bit nit picky in the run up to Thanksgiving at our place.

Yeah, I’ve been a wee bit of a pain in the ass I guess, at least to how I normally am. Last night I cleaned and decorated for about 5 hours, with some time to cook and do more last minute shopping. It also didn’t help that I got so zoned out while cleaning I was barely articulate to Albany John and Ellsbells when they asked if they could do anything.

Buuuut. I scrubbed baseboards, walls, mopped and cleaned the bathroom, set out the plates and cutlery (hah, it’s not silverware – I’m just thankful that there should be enough for everyone to eat with), decorated the main areas, and did some dishes.

And then I drank two apple ciders and tried to go to sleep, but had some difficulty. My dreams were of trying to go to sleep. Uh, lame.

Today I can’t start most of my prep until later in the evening (so everything is still pretty fresh tomorrow [this is probably me just being neurotic]). So instead of re-vamping my timelines, lists, and other planning tools of nitpickery I made little nametags for everyone to wear, wrap around their glasses, or just toss later.

There’s a lot of internal fighting going on between my inner cheapo, yuppie, and food lover. The cheapo in me is like “Yeah, remember that BUDGET you set? You are so over it. Rein it in, girly!”
Then Yuppie replies “But I need my kalamata olives and goat cheese for my crostini. I just have to have them!”
Cheapo starts rolling her eyes and sleeves.
The Food lover comes in to say “Hey, hey, hey, wait. I know it’s expensive and all, but, I mean… it’s Thanksgiving! There should be lots of tasty foods to eat for everyone. There will be 15 people, Cheapo. Need some variety. And Yuppie, no brie or more big expenditures, since we’re already poppin into the savings accounts.”
Food Lover kind of tempers the two.

At any rate, here’s the food time line I’ve come up with.
Timeline

Weds Night
5:30 PM Make Sunshine Salad
Caramelize sugar for Flan
6:00 make dip, mix batter for flan and cheesecake
6:30 bake flan and cheesecake
7:00
7:30
8:00 Make chili in crock pot
8:30
9:00 Go pick up from Train Station

Thursday

6:00 AM
6:30
7:00 Start making upside down cake and pecan pie
7:30 Bake upside down cake and pecan pie (~50 min ea)
8:00
8:30 Put Turkey in Oven (24# 4-4.5 hr, pull @ 150F to raise to 160F)
9:00 Boil eggs for deviled eggs
9:30
10:00 Make deviled egg filling
10:30
11:00
11:30
12:00 PM Toast bread for crostini, assemble
Make Baba ghanouj
Begin assembling appetizers on plates
12:30 Put potatoes in oven (min 60 min)
Assemble dressing
1:00 Pull Turkey to rest 1 hr
Put diced sweet potatoes in oven (45-60 min)
Put dressing in oven (30-35 min)
Make Creamed Onions
1:30 Bake Rolls
Assemble salad
Make gravy
2:00 Eat/Carve Turkey
2:30

Be #57 on Twitter, get a free Chipotle cap

In case you haven't noticed, I've finally surrendered to Teh Internets and joined Twitter. There's a sidebar on the right.

I'm at 52 followers now. #57 wins a free Chipotle cap. I'll mail it to you, and you can Direct Message me your address.

You win internet. You win.

And you can too - so follow me and maybe you'll get a cap. Or some crappy view into my life.

Pics Soon. Ish. Maybe

I have no idea how I can be surrounded by so much technology and yet keep forgetting to buy a memory card reader so I can actually TAKE THE PICTURES I've taken OFF of Albany John's super-awesome camera.

My lost camera had an awesome USB thing on the memory card, so all I had to do was stick the usb side in a computer, and bam - picture time.

So yeah, this no picture thing is annoying me. Uh, here's a picture of me wandering River St during a Troy Night Out over the summer. It's the only picture I have available to upload that isn't either breaking some kind of copyright law or something I've already put up in the past.

SCCC's Culinary Boot Camp

Check out what the good folks in Schenectady have passed along:


The County of Schenectady, the Chamber of Schenectady County, Mazzone Management, and SCCC have teamed up to offer Schenectady’s first-ever culinary “Boot Camp” in January 2010.

It’s a three-day, two-night cooking class (January 4-6), taught by Christopher Tanner (culinary instructor at SCCC and Chef de Cuisine of the SPAC Patron’s Club). It includes:
· Three days of professional instruction by Certified Executive Chef Christopher Tanner
· Lunch on both days
· Tuscan Wine Dinner – The Glen Sanders Mansion’s chef will prepare a delectable 4 course meal which will be paired with wines from Italy’s Tuscany region. Cooking methods learned during the class will be incorporated. A tour of the facility will also be included.
· $20 restaurant gift certificate, to be used at participating restaurants during Dine-Around Schenectady night on January 5
· Schenectady Community College Culinary Program Chef’s Coat
· 2-night hotel stay in Schenectady (January 4 & 5)
· Motor coach transportation between hotel(s) and Schenectady County Community College

The theme of the Boot Camp is “A Taste of Tuscany”. The cost for the program is $690, inclusive. Participants can also purchase an optional knife kit. Folks can register at www.cookinginschenectady.com. Compared to the cost of taking a similar class at the CIA, the Schenectady Boot Camp is a real value – the same level of expertise for about a third of the cost.

This is a really exciting project for Schenectady County – Matt Mazzone (who also chairs the Chamber’s Tourism Committee) came up with the idea, and got all of the partners together to make it happen.

Prepsgiving

For the next three days I will not…

Drink any more bottles of wine that have been earmarked for Turkey Day.
Snack on any Thanksgiving earmarked chips/foods.
Order pizza from Red Front in Troy, NY until Wednesday night, no matter how much I want to otherwise!

This Saturday Albany John and I spent our day running round grocery shopping. It was a glorious day. First we got bread (in the freezer til Weds now), then Save-A-Lot, then the Asian Supermarket, Hannaford, the Co-Op, and the Veggie Mobile. Yipes! What a day. In heels, no less. My legs feel very toned!

We spent about $100 on thanksgiving related sundries and supplies, and $20 on non-holiday food for the house (like bonito flakes, canned kimchi tuna, noodles, yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, and collards).

We didn’t get much at the Veggie Mobile – just two baggies of spinach, cabbage, and some oranges. $1.75 per bag for the spinach, and oranges were only 25 cents each. Lemons and limes were cheaper (and looked better) at Save-A-Lot, so we’ll go back there at some point to get those, along with half-and-half ($1.99/qt!).

I will go back to the Co-Op at some point to pick up cheese, apple cider, and pecans though. I completely forgot about the pecans (on sale for $5.99/lb this month!), and didn’t want to tempt myself with delicious cheese in my fridge over the weekend. Albany John made pretty blue puppy eyes over wine and I let him open one bottle from the Thanksgiving stash over the weekend when we had friends over.

Split Pea Soup

I made split pea soup earlier this week or last… something like that. I popped the leftovers in the freezer, and yum – I’ve been eating it all week.

I didn’t have any pork broth (well, okay, I had this ‘instant’ soup base thing that hadn’t been touched by humans in a while. Upon opening it, well, the buggies sure had been touching it!), so I used chicken broth and misc meat bits in my fridge and freezer. Okay, the only meaty bits in my fridge and freezer.

Does anyone have a good rec for hammy flavoring for split pea soup? Knorr smelled really bad… And I know – I should keep some smoked hocks around or something, but I don’t.

Super Split Pea Soup

2-3 Diced onions
4” Lamb kielbasa
3” Chinese bacon
1 Turnip, peeled and diced
Smidge of Butter
1.5 – 2 C Split Peas
1 box chicken stock, equal amount of water
garlic powder (I was out of fresh)

Melt butter in a pot, toss in the onions. Once the onions get translucent, pop in the meat. Cook a few minutes, then toss in the turnips and sprinkle in some garlic powder. Once everything is soft and smells cohesive, turn the stove on high, pour in the chicken stock and water, and bring it down to a simmer once it starts boiling.

Cook it covered for 1-1.5 hours. I pureed the split pea soup with a hand mixer since I like my soup smoove. It cut up the meat into tiny bits, so there’s a little bit of meat in every bite. I really liked that – the powerful lamby flavor really added some dimension once pureed, which almost made up for the lack of hammy goodness.

FWIW, I really like the ham flavoring packet they give you with some split pea packages. Do they sell that stuff on its own?

You couldn't tell the turnip was in there, not like it's got much flavor on its own at any rate. I like to think it added a little more healthiness to the soup.

Spicy Eyes

Last night I maced myself.

… with white chocolate chips.

So the baking chocolate is in the same drawer as some of my spices. I was mindlessly noshing on some chips from the bag, rubbed my eyes and then… SEARING PAIN. Pretty sure some errant hot spices were on the outside of the baggie.

At first I thought I had an eyelash in it.

And then it started to reeeaaaallllyyyy burn.

Watering red eye, eyelid puffed into oblivion. That was 15-20 minutes I’d like to get back. Saline flushes are not successful. The best luck I had was putting an icy cold can from the fridge on my eye.

So I think I’m going to stay away from white chocolate for a little bit.

whatnottery going on right now, food and non-food-wise

§ Tweaking my Turkey Day spreadsheet, listing all ingredients I can think of so I am not missing a crucial ingredient last minute.
§ Planning on spending this Saturday running around shopping like crazy for T-Day ingredients.
§ Was asked to provide a reference for someone. That was my first time – how exciting!
§ Slick is no longer claiming couch residency.
§ Going through temporary sleep deprivation this month, making money that I’ve realized will essentially cover Thanksgiving. I am so freaking excited, you have no idea! This is going to be epically food-tacular.
§ Still no idea where my little pink camera went, so I’ve been trying to use Albany John’s big fancypants camera. I’m bad about taking out the memory card to upload, though. If you have a crappy old one you’re not using, I’ll love you forever and bake you tasty things if you give it to me.
§ I might have to learn some Spanish. Habla Espanol?
§ I met someone named Samson and he really, truly looks like Samson.
§ Albany John has strong-armed me into decorating our place. $20 for two pillows?! Yeah, I’m still getting used to spending money on crap I consider essentially useless. On the other hand, at least our place won’t look like we’re ready to move out in the middle of the night.
§ VoluMax shampoo and conditioner = CRAZY VOLUME, eternally non-poofy peeps.

$5 off $20 Kraft Purchases at Hannaford

Here’s an online only coupon from Hannaford. It’s for some Kraft products. $5 off $20. I generally buy generic, but with the holidays coming up, it might come in handy. If you’re like me and have a knack for calculating and getting close to the $20 requirement, you’re looking at a 25% off coupon.

I’ll admit, I’ve got a weakness for Nutter Butters. So peanuty! And Lorna Doones don’t sound half bad for a cheesecake base. I imagine they’d save me some time and money when baking cheesecake. I usually bake shortbread the day before, and trust me – I use plenty of butter.


Just looking at their online flyer, here are some items you can buy:



Maxwell House Coffee - $5.99, 31.5-34.5 oz

Triscuit and Wheat Thins - 2/$4, 7-10 oz

Nabisco Nilla Wafers - $2.99, 11-12 oz

Kraft Shredded Cheese - $2.69, 5-8 oz

Jell-O Pudding - 5/$5, 2.1 oz sugar-free, 4.6-5.9 oz regular

Stove Top Stuffing Mix - $0.89, 6 oz


Here are the products you can use the coupon on: (I just copied it off of the coupon. It’s a PDF in case you don’t feel like clicking on the link)


RETAILER COUPON I EXPIRES 12/5/09
save $5 when you buy $20 in participating KRAFT products listed below


KRAFT Natural Cheese (Shredded, Crumbles or Stick, 7-16 oz.), Grated Parmesan Cheese (3-8 oz), Macaroni & Cheese Crackers (1.5-8 oz.), PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese (Brick or Tub, 3-16 oz.), CRACKER BARREL Cheese (Cuts or Sticks, 6.3-10 oz.), COOL WHIP Whipped Topping (Can or Tub, 6-12 oz.), JELL-O Desserts (gelatin, instant pudding & pie filling, cheesecake snacks and no bake desserts, .3-21.4 oz.), MAXWELL HOUSE Coffee (5.3-34.5 oz.), PLANTERS Nuts (6-32.5 oz.), STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix (6-12 oz.), BAKER’S Baking Products (4-8 oz.), EASY CHEESE Pasteurized Process Cheese Spread (8 oz.), OREO Cookies (Fun Stix, Fudgees and Cakesters, 1.25-52.5 oz.), NABISCO Snack Sak (5.5-8 oz.), 12-Packs (12 oz.), Mini Tray Packs (15 oz.), Toasted Chips (8.1 oz.), 100 CALORIE PACKS (4.25-9.72 oz. and 6-ct.), NABISCO Cookies (Famous Chocolate Wafers, 9 oz., Ginger Snaps, 16 oz., CHIPS AHOY! 10.2-16.7 oz., TEDDY GRAHAMS, 8-10 oz., FIG NEWTONS, 8-25.2 oz., NILLA Wafers, 11-12 oz., HONEY MAID, 14.4 oz., LORNA DOONE, 10 oz., MALLOMARS, 8 oz., PINWHEELS, 12 oz., NUTTER BUTTER, 10.5-22.8 oz., CAMEO, 16 oz., SNACKWELL’S, 6.75-20.4 oz.) and NABISCO Crackers (Arrow Root and Social Tea Biscuits, 12.3 oz., RITZ and SOCIABLES, 8-40 oz., TRISCUIT and WHEAT THINS, 5.5-16.3 oz., PREMIUM, 8-32 oz., WHEATSWORTH 11.5 oz., CHEESE NIPS, 11.7-12 oz., RITZ BITS Cracker Sandwiches, 2-15 oz., BETTER CHEDDARS, 7 oz., CHICKEN IN A BISKET, 8 oz.)



P.S. - Boiling onions are 10 cents a pound cheaper at the Co-Op. $1.39/lb versus Hannaford's $1.49.

I also take issue with their butter comparison pricing in their flyer - They say their butter has been at a steady $1.99 per pound since August. Maybe that is overall, but where I've been shopping it's been $2.19 per pound. I think it's on sale for $1.75 now though.

Turkey Prices

I got curious about turkey prices from local places, so I made a few phone calls last week. I wanted to find something that was affordable and tasty. All prices are per pound. Albany John and I are hosting Thanksgiving this year, and I really want to feed all of my family with the best food I can buy.

Cardona’s Market - Fresh, non-frozen turkeys. No hormones, no something else I forgot - $2.69 (Jaindal) $2.89 (Murray's).

Roma Prime Cuts and Produce - Murray’s All Natural from PA $2.99 (518-785-7746)

Helmbolds – Jaindal sourced turkeys. Orders in, but prices unknown until later this week.

Honest Weight Food Co-Op - Organic local turkeys $4.29. Free range organic turkeys $6.29. Thanks to nomadreader!

If anyone else knows prices, feel free to let me know. I saw Hannaford has turkey on sale this week for as low as $0.40 per pound this week. It is very cheap, but makes me wonder about how they were raised if they can be sold for as cheaply as 40 cents per pound. Maybe it is a loss leader?

I was pleasantly surprised by the prices at Cardona's. They were my top choice for turkey, but I was afraid they would be expensive, as they tend to be the more expensive "Happy Meat" butcher in the area.
While it's nice that the Co-Op is selling organic turkeys, I'm not paying $4.29 per pound. I don't have a set budget, but I can't really justify a $100+ turkey. Yikes. And knowing that a lot of the folks at the Co-Op are vegetarian, etc... it just makes me feel weird. Silly I know, but yeah.

I already have put my order in for a big fat turkey from Cardona's to pick up the day before Thanksgiving. I'm really excited that they were affordable! I really love their meats and can't wait to see how this turkey tastes.

Drops of Jupiter Opening

So this weekend was rather interesting. Filled with folks, as usual.

A friend I haven’t seen in years popped in for the weekend to see a show and asked if she could stay at my place. I said sure, since well, it had been years. It was nice to see her, but she left out a crucial detail – that she wasn’t driving. It wasn’t anything outrageous, but something I’d have preferred to know ahead of time. I just kind of assumed she’d be driving since she’s always been a driving type of lady. Like I said, we haven’t seen each other in years, and only kind of chat online every so often.

So Friday night we tried to see the Asteroids Galaxy Tour free concert that WEQX was having at Jillian’s. I was really excited to see it, but when we got there around 11 pm or so, there was a $5 cover. I hadn’t seen that mentioned in any promos so that was a disappointment, as I hadn’t brought any cash at all. I’d had to run to my friend’s hotel to pick her up after my late night appointment ended, so I’d been running around all night. Poor promotion really annoys me. It wouldn’t have hurt to add in a “$5 cover after X PM” in the Metroland ad, or on WEQX’s website. But, hey, this is Albany. For some reason event promotion here hasn’t reached great heights.
I don't really like South Pearl Street's bar scene, so I just wasted more money by picking up a case of my favorite hipster beer at Hannaford. Man, I'm glad they're open 24/7. The guy at the register looked at me sympathetically.

But at least my annoying “OMG, Guys, we gotta see this free show!” worked since Ellsbells, Former NYS Lt Gov, Panda, and Artsy Designer managed to catch it and said it was a great show. Then they came over for midnight pumpkin flan, but that’s another post.

Saturday I made some split pea soup. The co-op has split green peas (organic) on sale for $1.49/lb this month. I thought it was a good price, and the split peas were very tasty. I like my split pea soup porky, but I didn’t have any pork broth (I used chicken). I was thinking of getting those powdered ham broth packets to use. Are they any good?
In the end, I used some lamb kielbasa (I lopped of about 3” out of the freezer. Yay, good knife!) and about 4 inches of Chinese bacon. It added a bit of meatiness, especially after pureeing the entire thing. I would have liked more, though.

Later on I made fritters. I think somehow I broke my deep fryer by cleaning it. Ugh. It was so gross to clean, and now the mofo won’t turn on. I’m hoping it’s a water issue and that once whatever’s wet dries it will work again. If not, I will yell loudly in frustration. So I had to use the stove to fry the fritters up. They came out a little soggier than using the deep fryer, and for some reason tasted like soft pretzels. Weird.

Saturday night we went to the opening of Drops of Jupiter. It’s a flower shop that also doubles as an art gallery. They had food catered from Dale Miller. Oh my, it was all so good!
Aside from the food, the people were even more fantastic. The art was spread out in all of the rooms of the gallery, along with lots of fresh flowers. They really put in a lot of effort. The paintings were just beautiful. I particularly liked the flower paintings in the Moroccan room (a room with lots of pillows to sit on, and fabric all over, colored in warm tones and lighting). Owners Martin and Adam were excellent hosts – both very friendly and genuinely nice. All of the guests were actually genuinely nice, which I think is quite rare. I hope I get over there again in the near future.

Went to another venue to see the show my friend had come into town for. It was okay, but not really my cup of tea. And the crowd wasn’t really nice either. Her friends were, but the rest of the crowd was really cold. I don’t know why people go out and pay money to not have a good time. I was outside for the most part, talking with my friend’s friends. I think sometimes that is the most fun of all.
We returned to Drops of Jupiter (58 Sheridan Ave, Albany, NY) in the wee hours of the morning and had fun dancing it up and chatting with more people. So many nice artists – how very refreshing! And everyone was so complimentary, too. My ego is all boosted now.

Sunday we slept in until… WAY late. Putzed around the house a bit, and I soon dropped my friend off back in Albany to head back to her hometown. Then I came home and made French onion soup. Again, another post for another day. But man, do I love the smell of caramelizing onions. And I also ate peanutbutter cookies at like 1 am. Man, they were good.

2 AM Pumpkin Flan

So I have this tendency to lose track of time when I’m cooking, baking, shaking, whathaveyou.

For the most part it results in late night dinners, but last night was definitely an example of me in all of my spaced out glory.

I had it in my head to make pumpkin flan. I had all of the ingredients; I just had to go get the pan from my Bro’s place since I left it there after Benny’s birthday. So I picked it up late last night (hooray, it was clean – Thanks Margarita!). And then decided to run to the grocery store. It was really late and I hadn’t eaten much all day. And then I spaced out in the grocery store wandering the aisles. Grocery stores are so relaxing. I could just live in them.

Okay, so once I finally dragged my ass home, it was almost midnight, and I turned the stove top on, popped some sugar in the pan and let it start caramelizing while I made snacky French bread pizzas. Really, can you ever go wrong with cheese, toasty bread, and some garlic powder? I think not. And I figure they’re better than those $1 frozen pizza things (which I think are really gross anyway).

Nothing burned, even though I wasn’t watching the sugar very carefully. Hooray! The sugar melted and it smelled really, really good. I let it cool in a window and the mister and I ate some late night junk food goodness for midnight dinner. Well, Albany John also made broccoli before I got home. And I opened some cans of beets. Albany John = cooking win. Albany Jane = semi-homemade fail. But a greasy, cheesy fail, so it’s kind of like a win.

After it cooled off, I used my electric hand mixer to combine a can of condensed milk, evaporated milk, 7 eggs, and ¾ of a big ol’ can of pumpkin pie filling. My neighbor gave me the filling, which is what got me thinking about pumpkin flan in the first place.

I put the pan in a bano de Maria (water bath) and filled it up with the filling. It came all the way to the top of my pan and I spilled a little putting it in the oven. I’m glad it came all the way to the top because last time there was a ½ inch or so of space, not that it really made a difference or anything. 350F for 70 minutes, and then 450 for 20 minutes. The last 20 minutes at 450 were because it was like 2:30 am and I was all annoyed at the damn thing for still being soupy and wobbly in the center and nowhere near close to setting. It actually worked really well. It still looked a little wobbly even though after poking the flan with a knife several times the knife came out clean. So I just left it in the turned off oven overnight to set up and cool.
It looked gorgeous this morning, so I popped it in the fridge covered in foil. I’ve really gotta work on my timing. Albany John was like “Yeah, did you forget how long it took you to bake the last time?”

Obviously.

But the man knows at this point that once I get a food project kicking around my head, there’s no getting it out. And for some reason when I doggedly get these ideas and recipes in my head, they generally turn out well. I’m not knocking it.

And besides, now there’s flan to eat tonight. I'm hoping it'll be flantastic. One of my girlfriends from Buffalo, NY is coming in to town this weekend, so I think I know just what I want after a few white Russians tonight.

Actually, I really want to check out the Asteroids Galaxy Tour free concert going on at Jillian’s tonight, I just have to do something until like 10:30/11 pm. I’m hoping the 8 pm start time is really a ‘get everyone in and have the opening band/bands play at like 8:30/9 pm, and have the main band play way later’. This one time I was waiting for an MC Chris concert at Red Square I was getting SO annoyed because it was past the start time and the opening band hadn’t even played, and I was irritating to be around to say the least. Albany John explained to me that that’s how concerts go, and I was all “It makes NO sense. Why would you say you’ll play at one time, but really have no intention of playing until three hours later?!” I still don’t really get it, but at least now I kind of know to expect it.

Aashiana with Friends

Yesterday I got to meet up with a bunch of my friends for Aashiana’s lunch buffet. Their buffet is quite the deal at $6.95 per person. There’s always a good selection of vegetarian and meat items on their buffet, and plenty of fresh naan delivered to each table by perennially positively predisposed owner Saleem (seriously - he's always so upbeat, he puts me in an even better mood! If you're having a bad day, definitely go to Aashiana!). Yum!

What started out as a facebook “Hey, does anyone wanna do lunch?” quickly evolved into my pals Celina, El Profussor, Renee, and Panda saying they were in. How lovely! I love it when things come together like that, all spur of the moment. We totally took up several tables and it was great!

So we all agreed to meet there, and we had a great time catching up over a relaxing, delicious lunch. My favorite buffet dish at Aashiana is the chicken meatballs. These were in a korma type sauce with breast pieces as well. So moist, tender, and fluffy. I’ve never had meatballs like this before, but man, they are so flavorful and good!

I also had the tandoori chicken – they put lots of onion slices with it – so good. Tasty palak paneer. And the hummus? Delightfully lemony and smooth as can be – it’s a treat to eat with the hot and fluffy naan. Don't even ask how much naan I had because the answer is "several basketfuls".

Oh Aashiana, you’re my favorite lunch buffet in the area. So good. So, so good. Lots of options, and everything tastes so fresh.

BTW, was it just me, or was the cake a semolina cake?

The Profussor's kiddos were really well behaved and cute. I've never seen a baby fuss over getting more beans. I mean, cake, sure, but beans? Woah! Aashiana is totally kid-friendly, if not kid-loving.

(Aashiana is located at 31 Central Ave, Albany, NY 12210)

Lame Coupons

What’s up with lame coupons? Hannaford’s been handing out some uber-lame ones lately. Hannaford is my default grocery chain up here in Albany, but it still doesn’t mean I love everything they do.

Like, they’ve got this Fund A Feast program going on now. $10 buys a box of food to give to a food pantry. You get a coupon book of $50 of ‘savings’.

Okay, lemme just say, this coupon book is borderline insulting. I mean, they’re packaging it as a way of saying “thanks for donating to charity, here’s something good for you ". And these coupons? Well, I’d say they’re anything but good. At least for me. To me, it’s a thinly veiled “You think we’re thanking you, but we’re really trying to get you to buy our most expensive items while tossing in some low-profit items. So give us your money.”

All of the coupons in this book are for Buy One Or Two Items and Get Item Z for FREE. Lame. And these are items I normally wouldn’t buy. For the most part, they’re coupons for getting a store brand item for free, with the purchase of a name brand item or two. Some of the free items are staples I would use (sugar, flour, oil, etc), but the purchases required to get the free stuff? I wouldn’t buy most of them. Not even close. Like, a free container of vegetable oil for buying two Pillsbury bread items.

For what it’s worth, I like the Fund A Feast program. I think it’s a nice way to get people to donate food for the holidays. Just nix the lame coupons, eh? Or maybe put in one or two good ones. I don't know, buy one get one free, or something like that. Or, heaven forbid, actual money off of individual items (and none of this 25 cents off the purchase of three crap. Don't even get me started on that). But "free with the purchase of..."? To me that's more obligation than opportunity.

Hosting Thanksgiving

This year my handsome husbear Albany John and I get to host Thanksgiving!

We normally head over to Casa de Amherst and enjoy a spread put on by Papa Amherst and Mama Amherst, but I thought it would be nice to host it at our place this year since:
A) My brother-in-law CVS moved in with one of my best friends, Manhattan Maka.
a. CVS and Manhattan Maka don’t have a car in New York City, so getting to Amherst, MA from there would be very time consuming.
b. Their schedules can change rather rapidly, so if they only have the day to come up, this is their best option.
B) We are centrally located (for the most part) between Amherst, MA and NYC.
C) I’ve got family in the area, so we can have one big mega-Turkey Day

I’m very excited. I’m a planner, and I’ve got a huge spreadsheet of possible sides, etc. I really can’t wait. Or maybe I can.

At the moment, Albany John is going to be doing the turkey and veggies. My mum will be making mashed potatoes. I’ve been trying to make mashed potatoes and it’s just easier to say EPIC FAIL. I’m taking the helm with appetizers, carby sides and desserts, and decorating.

I’d say the thing I’m worried most about is decorating. Baking? No problemo. It’s the decorating that’s got me going. I’m not really a decorator, so I’ve already started cleaning. I’m also a huge slob; so really, it’s a win-win for my more domestically inclined partner.

Either way though, I’m really excited to have such a full house! Mama Amherst said they’ll bring a folding table (yaaay), and well, I’m hoping no one minds sitting on the floor. At the moment we’re looking at having 12 people for dinner, possibly more. Hey, there’s always room at my table for more.

Also seeing as how Bro and Margarita are going to be moving, I really look forward to being able to spend the holiday with them. After all, Thanksgiving is all about spending good times with your loved ones and stuffing yourself to oblivion.

I’ll give you guys more planning details as it happens. Maybe I’ll post my tentative menu up so you guys can give me any tips.

First Annual Albany Eats! Cookie Swap

First Annual Albany Eats! Cookie Swap

If you’ve never been to a cookie swap, you basically make a bunch of cookies, meet up with other cookie lovin’ folks, and swap sweets.

Location is still TBD, but tentative time and date is Sunday, December 13th, around 3 pm.

You down? If so, leave a comment and let me know and/or send me an email.

Xs, Os, and Cupcake Bows,

Albany Jane

Chipotle Media Tasting

I was invited to a media tasting for Chipotle’s Latham, NY store opening by Katherine of KNS Promotion, Inc. I’m pretty sure she said she’s opened 33 Chipotle stores this year! Impressive!

And so, last night I dressed up and headed out to 2 Wade Road, Latham, NY. I’ve never been to a Chipotle before, but have heard good things. I don’t drive up to Wilton, NY, um, ever, so I haven’t been to that Chipotle. I was intrigued by the all natural meats, and the thought of another burrito/tex-mex place in the area.

It was a pretty small turnout of three: Daniel B, Kristi G (of the Times Union), and me, but we were still given a very comprehensive tour of the place.

I won’t get into the semantics of the building, suffice it to say, it was built as “Green”ly as possible, and the layout is simple, open, and minimalist. I liked it.

Now on to the food!

We got samples of everything behind the line on metal platters, and with papers underneath saying what we were eating. Katherine also explained everything and answered all of our questions. Daniel B was quite the tiger that night – spitting out questions about production, etc, left and right. I’ll leave him to explain all of that. He’s much better at it than I am.

Here’s what we got to taste, in order:

Cilantro-Lime Rice. It’s long grain rice that has a bright, lightly tangy flavor. The cilantro and lime are in really nice proportions and make the rice taste a bit different, but not too much flavor of one or the other. Salty in a good way. There’s soy oil in it. I thought it was butter – it tasted so buttery. So this is actually vegan. I’m not a big rice fan, but I was wondering if I could just eat a side of this… really good.

Beans! Black Beans are vegetarian, cooked with some adobo, which made them nicely smoky with a bit of a kick. Soft and creamy, these are pre-soaked for 24 hours ahead of time (the store gets them pre-soaked as there’s not enough space to do so here) and then cooked in the store.
The pinto beans, Mr. Dave, you are going to love. Bacony goodness. These are definitely not vegetarian as there’s bacon cooked with them, and you can certainly taste it. There was a little bit of a tangy aftertaste. Slightly smoky, and very creamy in texture.

Peppers & Onions. I don’t think these were bell peppers – I think they were poblanos. Can you guys back me up on this one? Either way, they were cut in the store, and lightly grilled with a little oregano, salt, and pepper. I loved it. They were so lightly cooked – with just a char so they were still crunchy-crisp and juicy. Even the peppers tasted good, and I usually hate peppers of all kinds.

Meats! All of the meats in New York State are naturally raised, and fed on a vegetarian diet.
Grilled Chicken. Made with all dark meat, this store receives thigh/leg meat from Bell Evans. It’s marinated in store and was very tender and juicy. It was a little smoky and nicely charred from the grill. Serving wise, it was cut into cubes, not shredded. This was my favorite meat of the night. I can’t even believe that. I’m usually a pork girl. It was just. So. Good.
Carnitas - shredded pork and was mildly spicy. I wasn’t as big of a fan of this. Something in the seasonings just didn’t really hit me the way the chicken did. Don’t get me wrong, it was still incredibly moist and definitely worth a try.
Barbacoa. Shredded beef. Slightly spicy with enough kick to keep you going back for more. The juices had a little bit of fat in it. I couldn’t help but think that this was a leaner and slightly better tasting version of something at Capital Q.
Grilled Steak. HOLY MAMA, SPICY. That’s for us spice-wusses. The rest of you mortals should be able to handle it. While it was spicy, I didn’t just taste heat. The steak itself was really tender and juicy (it was served cut up into a dice / square bits). I realized after a little while that it was because the steaks were reddish in the center! Yes folks, Chipotle said they try to pull the steaks when they reach medium-rare and keep it around medium to serve. Sometimes it cooks a little more in the serving/heat trays, and if you want your meat cooked well done, they’ll do that too. Me? Oh, sign me up for any place that cooks their beef below medium.

Salsas. We got four of them to try:
Fresh Tomato was a mild, simple salsa. Just diced tomatoes, cilantro, lemon and lime juices, and some salt. Cooling, simple, tasty. No spiciness or heat at all.
Green Tomatillo was supposedly medium heat, but damn! Something in there really blasted my tongue with heat. It was just hot, hot, hot to me. A huge step up from mild. This was a chunky liquid.
Corn Salsa was nice and refreshing. Nowhere near as spicy as the green tomatillo, but still had a little kick from the roasted poblano peppers. The corn were very sweet and popped in your mouth. They get them flash frozen year round from when the corn is picked at its peak. If this is what frozen means, then sign me up. This frozen corn has nothing on the baggies you see in the freezer aisle of the grocery store. This was corn and peppers, no liquid in this salsa.
Red Tomatillo was listed as hot. It was really hot, but it also had a nice tanginess and brightness that helped cut the heat and round it out. It was a liquid salsa with seeds in it. Tasted very fresh to me. It also had chiles de arbol in it. There was no citrus or vinegar in it. Surprising, but I really liked this. One of the folks said his favorite way to eat it was to mix it with sour cream to dip chips in. Excellent idea. Even though it was very spicy, I kept eating more of it.

At that point I was pretty sure I’d become hot sauce-drunk, and I was surprised I hadn’t broken into a sweat. Thankfully, the dairy round was next.
Cheeses – their cheese mix was cheddar and monterey jack. They’re shredded in the store from a block and they actually taste rich and cheesey. All three of us liked that, since a lot of the time that you get cheese at take-out places you see it, but it doesn’t really have any flavor.
Sour Cream. Theirs is whipped/aerated to make it thinner. You might think it’s watery, but it’s really good. It’s not like the stuff from the grocery store, which can be very thick and tangy-tart. This was closer to a creama, a table cream, something like that. Primarily, it was creamy and cheesey, followed by rich and a little bit of tangy. Refreshing and not overwhelming in the least.

Finally, we got cups of guacamole and chipotle-honey vinaigrette.
The Guac – Yum! There were chunks of avocado in the guacamole and was it ever creamy. Onions, cilantro, pepper were also in it, but the main star was the avocado. They’ve got some tortilla chips that have just a hint of lime on them. You can taste the lime a bit eating the chips plain, but with the guacamole it was just flat out crunchy, creamy goodness.
The vinaigrette was smoky, spicy, sweet, and peppery. No real competition between the flavors – they all balanced pretty well. I’m not a fan of sweet dressings, but if you are you will probably like it.

After tasting everything on the menu, we got to order some food for ourselves from the counter.
I opted for a burrito with rice, chicken, pinto beans, hot salsa, sour cream, and shredded cheese. They don’t have extra toppings on the side like a Moe’s, just the salsas. Otherwise I probably would have added some onions since I lurve onions.

HOLY MOLY. Burrito love. The burrito shell was nice and chewy, and surely enough the hot sauce was cut by all of the other ingredients (and the sour cream really made everything creamy). It was awesome, delectable, hot flavor without the pain. The chicken. Oh man, this chicken. It just tasted so chicken-y and good. I couldn’t not eat it. This was a delicious spicy burrito. Oh my gosh. I want another one RIGHT FREAKING NOW. I think they’ll be $6.10 once they officially open.

Sadly, I was bested by the last quarter of this burrito. I blame it on the hot sauces and sampling that took place prior.

Oh and guess what? Free Burrito Day is November 5th, 11 am – 8 pm. Free burrito and fountain drink. November 4th they’re open from 5 pm – 8 pm. $5 donation to Shaker High’s Key Club gets you a burrito, bowl, tacos, or salad, and a free drink.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to be going back on the 5th. Ohhhh, yes.

Tourney Of Pizza so Far 2009

Here's the latest on the 2009 All Over Albany Tournament of Pizza!

Halloween Weekend Recap

Night before Halloween = awesome. Went to Troy Night Out After Party at Daisy Baker’s with Slick (Dead Gangster), his Chiquita(hot vampire), Albany John(Captain Burrito), and Benny(Pirate). We waited FOREVER for Slick, but he ended up driving, so that was awesome with me.
Met up with Ellsbells (blue + hot) and our former Lieutenant Governor. Dancing and merriment, etc. Great tunes at TNO AP. Then went to a house party wherein much awesome house music was played by people who owned the place. Miraculously only ended up with spills on my stockings (I raided my closet and went the easy way out – School Girl).
Pink camera was misplaced at some point, but I remain hopeful it will mysteriously turn up again. Mainly, Ellsbells and I looked super cute, so I kind of want those pictures. Not in Chiquita’s car, but she said she says found one of my shoes… I don’t remember losing any shoes, or bringing extras. Totally don’t remember going to bed. Oh man, good times, right?

Actual Halloween was chill. Just me and Albany John. Got necessary hung-the-hell-over fried chicken in the morning. Mowed accordingly. All the rain made it kind of sucky. Handed out candy to kiddos with the neighbors in the late afternoon/evening. Neighbor cat went all persnickety-crazy on my arm, which now matches the freak-out cat scratch on my stomach. Halloween was pretty Cat-Attackular. Headed to an Albany house party. Albany John’s peeps. Was chill, mainly Albany Artists living in the neighborhood. Someone unleashed moonshine on the party. Unleashed is the best way to put it. I was driving, so I didn’t partake, but wouldn’t have for a million bucks. Smelled worse than paint thinner.
Some guy asked me if I was The Secretary. When did the secretary have blonde hair, super high heels, or wear a plaid skirt? Ended up going home around midnight, and kind of surprised by the lack of patrols and stuff up, but happy not to get hassled by the cops. Watched Three Sheets on TV, but could barely keep my eyes opened and passed out on the couch. Not sure why I was so sleepy.

Sunday, I was thinking of going out, but was so comfy at home in my PJs (Hello Kitty, if you want to know). Did all of the laundry, and now it’s hanging to dry in the foyer. Glad I stayed in and didn’t do what I’d been thinking of.

P.S. - all of the stains came out of my stockings in the wash. Woo hoo!