Here's a pix of Naruto and his Ninja tomos at a Thanksgiving feast:
Thought you guys and gals might like to see what our family holiday dinner menu's going to be. Enjoy yourselves.
Thanksgiving Dinner Menu 2009 (Keiman's Family in Brookhaven PA)
Roasted Turkey
Pot Luck Stuffing
Turkey Gravy
Mashed Potatoes
Sweet Potato Bake
Braised Sweet Carrots
Creamy Country Corn
Fruit Ambrosia Compote (McElwee Family Tradition)
Fruit Salad
Green Salad
Waldorf Salad
Non-alcoholic Punch
Non-alcoholic Eggnog
Java (Coffee)
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
As a rule we watch a few Thanksgiving specials on TV not the least of which is the Macy's Parade. Bobby and Mama like the original Miracle on 34th Street film starring Ed Gwenn while I prefer the 1973 version starring Seb Cabot as St Nick. We try and watch at least some of the NFL games. While I cook (Mama and Bobby help too) and Jasmine our 13 yrs young Border Collie/Siberian Huskie doggie watches and waits for treats I listen to anime music on my CD player. Now that I have a lot of pre-recorded anime music and not just burnt CDs of it I don't have to listen to Sailor Moon and the Angels exclusively. Latest additions are Rave Master, Death Note and Code Geass. My fave? Easy. Nonstop Angel from the DP Flash collection. In fact it's from the only pre-recorded Angels CD available this side of Japan.
This year we'll get to use our stove oven instead of our Dutch convection oven. Why? We finally got our Maytag range's oven repaired. However, I still miss our Roper eye-level oven we had back in 1977 when we moved here from Lenni PA where we had resided for 15+ years. Here's a holiday tip for you guys and gals. Many parts of your feast can be prepared some days ahead of time and either refrigerated or frozen. However, turkeys as a rule can take 2-3 days to fully thaw out. Don't be tempted to hasten the job by nuking the bird in your microwave or you'll dry it out for sure! Once thawed you MUST cook the bird within a few hours even if you stick it in the fridge. After the feast is over leftover turkey will keep for up to a week in the fridge and a few days longer in the freezer. Remember that you can keep a raw turkey in the freezer indefinitely but after the first couple of years it will begin to lose its flavour.
If you are like me you cook holiday meals from scratch. I make one or two convenience concessions. I use prebaked (thawed) pie shells rather than home made dough. Why? I have little space to roll out the dough. I will use a stuffing mix and augment it with stale bread and rolls as well as a few secrets of my own.
OK- here are my two most precious cooking secrets.
What do you use to tenderize and flavour just about everything? Hint- you probably keep it on hand around the holidays to put in eggnog and pumpkin pie. Surprise! It's nutmeg of course. Oro? You didn't know that nutmeg will tenderize meats, veggies, etc.? Well ginger and allspice work just as well but their flavours are stronger and more pungent. Nutmeg is lighter and imparts just the right amount of flavour to anything you put it on.
How do you moisten meats, veggies, potatoes, etc.? Liquid? Sure but which one(s)? Water? Certainly if you just want moisture. Remember onegai that water has NO flavour or odour by itself and flavoured water is mere food colouring and artificial flavourings. So oro liquids can you use? It'll floor you but the answer is- anything you want! I use coffee or tea as a rule except for meats where I include root or birch beer or Coke or Pepsi. Pork chops like Dr Pepper and applesauce. Ham prefers pineapple juice and/or ginger ale or 7-Up or even Sprite. If you're an old Food Network fan you'll recall the Two Fat Ladies from Britain. One of them once made French onion soup for the boy scouts and guess what she used for liquid- beer! Beer is used with Cajun seafood a lot and the Europeans live on wine cooking. Even liquors can be used you know. Kids? Forget it. The alcohol is burned off or cooked out or just plain evaporates leaving only the flavour. Even Tom Jefferson and Ben Franklin served 'syllabub' to their guests which included young tykes. Syallabub is a type of gelatin parfait made from wine. Wikipedia has a few nice recipes if you want to try making the stuff. Good luck though because the recipes are a mite complicated for us.
By the way old TJ published the first cook book in the Americas but whether he did that before or after he penned the Declaration I do not recall offhand. It was he or BF who introduced ice cream to the Colonies although Jim Madison's wife Dolly usually gets the credit for it. In fact to this day there is an ice cream brand called Dolly Madison. We prefer a local brand made in PA's Lehigh Valley- Turkey Farms. Nothing like vanilla fudge TH ice cream over hot apple or pumpkin (or any kind really) pie any old time.
Gad! This was supposed to be a holiday menu and nothing else, was it not? Better post a pix and close for now. Happy eating to all my tomos- K&K
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