Café Anyhoo

The Final Weekend

Last weekend of the dissertation…

Currently my fridge holds half a bulb of fennel, a bag of old green beans, and strawberry jam.

Dissertation Diet

Writing about food all the time and yet at the moment, I don’t even seem to have to time to eat a proper meal. 

The Dissertation Diet — tea, coffee, chocolate, take away pizza, pita bread with peanut butter (as a meal), entire packs of whatever is in the flat be it fruit, biscuits, Rivita, or lettuce… if its in the flat, it will get consumed. 

I am ashamed… Two weeks to go and then I am making myself a proper meal. 

First Paragraph (draft)

I don’t feel someone truly knows me until I have cooked for them.  Cooking has been a strong part of my life for as long as I can remember – sneaking down with my father early Saturday mornings to make pancakes; kneading and twisting challah with my mother on rainy winter days, the smell of yeast and honey hovering in the air; lining up at the age of eleven, the youngest in line by a good two decades, in anticipation to meet my favourite TV chef, Jacques Pépin.  Cooking has always been more than a necessity for me, and when I invite people over to dinner, I want to show them that. Just as artists express a little part of themselves within a work, the same goes for my cooking. When I pass a plate of food I have made to you, I am not just giving you the food; I am giving you a little taste of my passion, my family, myself. And just as an artist waits with anticipation and anxiety for the reactions to their work, do not be surprised if you catch me watching your reactions for the corner of my eye… waiting to see if you understand me more after the first bite. 

The Feast!

I don’t have enough time to post recipes today, but I thought I would share a few pictures from the Thanksgiving feast! It was a night of good food (and plenty of it!) and a great group of people to share it with. 

Checking the thyme and orange turkey’s juices

The Feast! Includes: thyme and orange turkey, roasted root vegetables, carrot souffle, orange ginger cranberry sauce, two mustard green beans, kale and shallots in sour cream (brought by a friend), mashed potatoes, gravy, and the glorious stuffing (filled with cranberries, hazelnuts, ham, thyme, and goats cheese).

and finally, one of the three desserts (I didn’t get a picture of the apple and rosemary tart or the tiramisu), but here is ginger banana bread.

Right, I am back to school work, but expect recipes at some point!

Let the Cooking Begin!

So yesterday’s prep included two dishes — ginger banana bread and ginger orange cranberry sauce (once the craziness of the holiday is over, I’ll put up recipes for all these things!)

Today I finally got to pick up my turkey, I got the ONLY one in the shop… I’m not sure what I would have done if they hadn’t had any! Probably gone for a herd of chickens instead…. but anyways, no issue, it is now nestled in my tiny fridge, occupying the better part of its space, and reducing my free fridge space to about a square inch. Today has also been the day for the first steps of dishes, so that tomorrow is a bit easier. So today’s work was — steam the carrots for the soufflé, make the garlic thyme croutons for the stuffing, and make the cinnamon and rosemary pastry dough for the rustic apple tart. 

I’m feeling strangely calm although I know that tomorrow is going to be quite a big day! To cook (roughly in order):

- carrot souffle

- stuffing

- roasted garlic, beets, onions, and butternut squash

- orange thyme turkey

- mustard green beans

- mashed potatoes

- gravy

- rosemary apple tart

Ouf! I think I have my work cut out for me, but I am far too excited to spend the day in the kitchen, something I have not done in a very long time. 

Right then, after my dissertation tutorial today, the realization of how quickly time is flying by means I should really bust a research move tonight, considering how little time I’ll have tomorrow! 

here’s a little Thanksgiving cheer to send you off.

This holiday really does get me all giddy!

Happy cooking!

And so it Begins…

Today is day one of Thanksgiving week and all its preparatory rituals. I’m trying to break down what needs to be done each day so that I don’t go completely mad before thursday… So here’s what I have so far:

Monday:

- Initial food shopping trip (everything but bread, turkey, side vegetables, and dessert fruit)

- Originally I was going to make my cranberry sauce today… however looking at my fridge space, I don’t think that is physically possible. Luckily, cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things, so it will be fine to do the morning of. (Also, do you have any idea how expensive fresh cranberries are in the UK!? Its madness!)

- Start cleaning the flat

Tuesday:

- Now tuesday is a busy day, with uni and dance class, so my time to prep is limited, today is the day to finish cleaning up the flat and possibly pick up side veggies, bread for the stuffing, and dessert makings (once I figure out what on earth I am making)

Wednesday: The beginning of crunch time!

- Buy the turkey!

- Make the croutons for the stuffing (finish it off thursday)

- If making a cake for dessert, bake that, or if making a tart, make the crust

- Inquire for extra chairs from hopefully nice neighbors

- Decorate/ set up the lounge

Thursday: The big day! Now luckily, unlike last year, I don’t have class smack in the middle of the day, so I have the whole day to cook away!

Morning: Now the tricky thing is getting all the oven stuff done before putting the turkey in, since once the turkey goes in, nothing else will fit in the oven.

- Stuffing

-Semi-roast vegetables

-Carrot Souffle

Afternoon:

- Turkey in around 4/ 4:30

- Cranberry Sauce

- Boil Potatoes 

- Prep the side veg

Evening: (as people arrive) 

- Mashed potatoes

- Sauté side veg

(Both from above done right before serving)

- Once the turkey is out, stick the semi roasted veg into the oven to heat up and finish off while the turkey rests

- Hope I haven’t completely lost it back them, cram myself and the food into the lounge with the guests, and dig in!

Now theoretically this is how I hope things will go…. We shall see if they actually pan out this way!

Here is the contents of today’s shopping trip…

Working Hard, Cooking Quickly, and Prepping for the Big Day

So one of the things I have realized when you are working on a dissertation (even one about food), is that everything else in life gets crammed into whatever time you have left between researching, writing, complaining, and procrastinating. Because of this, my culinary escapades have become limited to anything that can be created in less than 20 minutes (preferably under 10). I’ve become a fan of stuffed peppers (loaded with quinoa, tomatoes, fresh chili peppers, and whatever other veggies I have laying around), and mushrooms in various forms from portobello burgers to today’s sauteed chestnut mushrooms on toasted whole wheat pita bread. I wouldn’t say I’m eating badly (although I did just consume a large amount of chocolate….), but I’m not exactly stretching my culinary muscles. And they need some stretching, considering the BIG DAY approaching this thursday — that’s right, Thanksgiving!

(a somewhat neon picture) of stuffed bell peppers with quinoa, chili peppers, grape tomatoes, and green beans topped with mature cheddar cheese with a side of soy caramelized brussel sprouts

Now I’m not much of a gung ho American, however when Thanksgiving rolls around, my American-ness bubbles up and overflows like a covered pot filled with boiling potatoes. Thanksgiving is one of my favourite holidays, if not The favourite. It harkens to memories of cooking all day with my mom, frantically cleaning the house as my dad tends to the turkey as the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade and “Miracle on 34th Street” create a soundtrack to the day’s proceedings. For me, it is a holiday purely about family, friends, and food.

Last year, I hosted my very first Thanksgiving on my own, inviting some of my closest friends to share in this overeating ritual that is so close to my heart. I spent two full days in the kitchen, running around at top speed cooking three things at once and juggling the perpetual issue of a tiny oven and only two saucepans to work with (yay student kitchens!) My turkey took up my entire fridge, and subsequently my entire oven, and yet, the night turned out better than I ever could have hoped. A close 5 of us ate, drank, and laughed beyond our hearts content. It was by far my proudest culinary moment to date. Now onto this year — the number of guests has nearly tripled, despite my flat being quite the same small size. This year, I am more worried about where everyone will sit than whether the carrot souffle will rise, as well as were all my dissertation research is going to fit into my frantic cooking schedule, but I know somehow it will work out. Currently on the menu is:

Turkey with clementines and thyme (with accompanying gravy)

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Carrot Souffle (a family friend’s recipe and an absolute staple at all family gatherings)

This  stuffing (possibly the most decadent stuffing I have ever encountered and absurdly delicious)

Possibly Ginger Cranberry Sauce which looks quite tasty, otherwise I will go for the classic variety

Either mustard green beans or roasted asparagus… the jury is still out

Either a berry crumble or rustic apple tart (also still up for debate)

I also have three friends bringing dishes — candied yams, a cheese and nut loaf, and tiramisu.

Now if the Jewish mother in me kicks in and decides this STILL isn’t enough food, I will probably do a nice selection of roasted root vegetables with whole garlic heads and red onions to fill in the gaps.

This week I will attempt to create a running account of my trials and tribulations, from shopping lists to when to cook what to the perpetual issue of too little tupperware and fridge space. For now, I must get myself back to the books… I’m attempting to get ahead so that the guilt of two days of cooking and not researching doesn’t loom too heavily over me. 

Wish me luck! 

I will leave you with a (rather dark) picture of last year’s spread: