Feels Like Fall: Ohelo Berry (or cranberry!) Scones

I guess it's now time to start thinking about Fall and what I have to look forward to.  The weather seems a bit cooler, and I've actually been tempted to use the fireplace.

Expecting to buy some turkey, I thought it would be a good idea to take stock of freezer real estate.  Sadly, the availability of free space in there was dismal.

But my task did yield a pleasant find...frozen ohelo berries.  I must have picked them a few months ago and forgot I had them.  I had enough to make a dessert, but what I was really jonesing for was scones.

A few weeks ago, a nice student brought me 2 still-warm scones, courtesy of the culinary arts teacher (this is the same teacher who brought the taco salad to the potluck).  The scones were delicious, and since then, I've been wanting to make my own (=more; =as many as I want to eat).  Finding the ohelo berries was a good reason to get busy.

If you are not familiar with ohelo berries, please visit my post for Ohelo Berry Bars.  I have a link there for an explanation about these special berries.  I also have another post/recipe, Ohelo Berry Cream Cheese Pie.  Cranberries (coarsely chopped for this scone recipe), currants and blueberries would make good substitutes for ohelo berries.  And since it's November, we all know where we can find the best deal on cranberries. . .Costco!

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Ohelo Berry Scones

     2 1/2 c flour
     2 tbsp sugar
     2 1/2 tsp baking powder
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp salt
     zest of 1/2 lemon
     1/2 c cold butter
     3/4 c buttermilk
     1 tbsp honey
     1 egg
     1/2 c fresh or frozen (and defrosted) ohelo berries (or coarsely chopped cranberries)
     turbinado or coarse sugar

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a measuring cup, stir together buttermilk, honey and egg.  In a food processor bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon zest.  Pulse a few times to mix.  Add butter in chunks, and process until distributed throughout.  Remove flour mixture to a mixing bowl.  Stir in buttermilk mixture until barely combined.  Turn dough onto a generously floured surface and pat into a rectangle.  Spread berries on half of rectangle and flip plain half to cover berries.  Flatten out rectangle and fold into thirds (letter style).  Flatten again and fold in half.  Pat dough into a 7 x 10" rectangle.  Cut dough into 6 squares and cut each square into 2 triangles.  Place triangles onto parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Sprinkle tops with turbinado sugar.  Bake 16-19 minutes.  Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe was adapted from the buttermilk scone recipe found on the Canadian Living website.  When I tried the original recipe, it was difficult to work with because of the super-sticky dough.  I changed a few things to make the dough manageable and added ohelo berries.

 Sapporo, Japan

October 8, 2017, Arrival:  Night 1

We arrived in Sapporo on Sunday evening.  I know we were delayed an hour or so out of Honolulu (something about a small part called "landing gear") but I have no idea what time it was when we finally checked in to our hotel. 

The Keeper's suggestion, Toyoko Inn (we stayed at the one across the street from the Hokkaido University campus), turned out to be very clean and orderly.  It was not ostentations like some of the hotels I stayed at on my last visit to Japan, but it was good enough.  I actually lol'd when I stepped into the elevator...some of my friends would need to ride it solo!  It was fricken small.  The Help, OllieMama and I, with our luggage, barely fit.

Finding a place to eat was just as challenging as squeezing into the elevator.  As we walked around Sapporo station, restaurants were putting up closing signs.  Five of us (the other two ate at a robata restaurant across the hall) ended up at a ramen place in the station.  For me, the biggest "aha" came with the ordering system.  Instead of reciting your order to someone, you put your $ in what appears to be a modified vending machine and make your selection(s).  The machine will spit out a ticket(s), which you hand to the person behind the counter.  Being handicapped in reading Japanese, I just ordered what The Keeper ordered (less gyoza)...it would've taken too long for him to read the entire menu to me.   

The ramen was tasty enough, but The Keeper felt it wasn't THE BEST example of Hokkaido ramen.  Apparently, we ordered a spicy miso ramen with corn topped with a huge chunk of butter.  Although full of pork flavor, the broth was rather thick and bit too spicy for what I would want as a broth.  There was definitely a "grill" flavor (this is a good thing) very similar to the flavor which keeps me ordering the Osaka saimin at Restaurant Osaka (in Hilo). Maybe it was all the excitement of being in a new place, but I could hardly eat half of it.

And I should have learned from this...I don't like corn in my ramen.

We spent the rest of the evening checking out the area in and around the station.  There were so many food vendors on the main floor (where the ticket machines are).  I made a mental note of what I planned to eat in the next few days.

In spite of not being able to eat my dinner, I couldn't resist buying my first Mister Donut pon de ring.  It was yummy.  I vaguely remember hearing about Mister Donut, and I'm pretty sure D1 had a pon de ring when she went to Sumoto with the Builders Club.  But nothing could prepare me for the texture.  The donut was light, yet chewy.  Since then, I've read a bunch of different blog posts about what makes the pon de ring so chewy.  Here is a pon de ring recipe at the Cooking of Joy blog.  It's the first one I plan to try when I recover from jet lag.  Of course, I've got a list of other things I want to try replicating too (like that darn cheese tart).

There were a lot of people still milling about, and I couldn't wait til the next day so I could get my bearings.  Being confused and disoriented with direction was not a good feeling.  And at this point, all entrances/exits to the station looked the same! 

I was too tired to even try and orient myself with landmarks. . .I blame it on being awake way past my bedtime.  Unlike some of my fellow travelers, I could not fall asleep on the flight.  I had a super hard sudoku book and a knitting project to keep me entertained, and I ended up doing a bunch of puzzles and starting (and frogging,  re-starting, re-frogging, and re-starting) a cowl.

I was a bit apprehensive about bringing knitting with me on the plane.  I was careful to bring wooden interchangeable needles, and since I hadn't started the project, I kept the cable separate from the needles tips.  I also made sure that what I brought was replaceable...I could buy another cable and tip assembly.  And the yarn I had with me was not nearly as precious as a skein from the Cyborg's Craft Room. . .just in case those monsters decided to confiscate my things.

I went to bed that evening feeling grateful to The Keeper for getting us to the hotel from the station.  The last time I was in a train station (Osaka), I vowed never to enter without leaving a breadcrumb trail to find my way out. 

I was also hoping that it would be cold enough to wear all the shit I knitted.

Amaretto Custard Bread Pudding

OMG!  This past week was brutal.  The kids in school were awful.  I'm certain they were high on Halloween candy all week.  They were hyper and difficult to settle.  I called several parents, and I came very close to submitting a disciplinary referral.  It would have been my first for the school year.  But I decided I could deal with the infraction in a different way.  I made a call home and the kid caught heat when he got home. . .or so he told me.

I also spoke with several students about respecting personal space.  Some students think nothing about going right up to others (both minors and adults) and sitting so close they are practically on the lap of the other person.  Other students persist in trying to grab items from others, perhaps not realizing that at some point, their hands or ON the other person's body.  They needed to be sent the message that "no means no".  I don't think they take "no" seriously when they hear it, erroneously always assuming that an acquaintance won't see their invasion of space as assault/attempted assault.

A few years ago, there was a similar incident with another student.  Several teachers made excuses for the student, saying "___ is just like that.  ___ means no harm."  I considered not saying anything then, but what jarred me was the thought that if my own child had been the victim, would I want a teacher to turn away, rationalizing their inaction at attempting to curtail the inappropriate behavior?  The answer was clear, and that is why I decided to make sure the perpetrator received consequences for his/her actions.  I hope any teacher who has my child in class will apply the same principle.

What I find most bothersome is that some students see nothing wrong with their own behavior and say, "oh, dats my friend.  They don't mind."  That kind of delusion will bite them in the ass one day.

Speaking of biting, my jaw seems much better, but now a different pain has replaced the achy jaw.  I think I have another cracked tooth.  I don't know how it happened.  Oh, never mind.  I know how.  I will need to wait until late November to see my dentist.  Anyway, until I can get a dental appointment to repair my tooth, I'm trying to eat soft things (no Cape Cod potato chips for me)

With the weather getting cooler, I find the luscious custard texture of bread pudding very comforting.  It's also soft enough that I'm not wincing when I chew.  The rich sauce makes this an extra decadent dessert.  Who would've thought stale bread could taste so good.

Now to prepare myself for another week of kids high on OLD Halloween candy. . .

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Amaretto Custard Bread Pudding

     1 lb bread, cubed (about 10-12 cups of cubes)

     1 qt milk

     6 eggs, reserve 1 yolk for sauce

     1/2 c sugar

     1 c cranberries

     1 tbsp vanilla

     7 tbsp amaretto, divided

     1/2 c butter

     1 c powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease a 9 x 13" baking dish.  In a large bowl, pour milk over bread cubes.  Beat eggs (except for 1 yolk) and add to bread cubes.  Add sugar, cranberries, vanilla, and 3 tbsp amaretto.  Stir gently.  Pour into prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes.  Begin preparing sauce 5 minutes before bread pudding is done.  Heat butter and powdered sugar in a small saucepan over low heat.  Stir constantly until butter is completely melted.  Add 4 tbsp amaretto and reserved egg yolk.  Cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  When bread pudding is done, poke holes all over bread pudding.  Pour sauce over and let soak in. 

Cranberry Sauce

I have been trying very hard to lay off D1, but I have been so frustrated with her.  I know she is stressed out about college applications, but sistah, you gotta get your act together!  As of last week, she applied to O-N-E college, and it's not even a college she totally wants to go to.  I think she applied because the application fee was cheap.  One would think that for $60k/year, they could at least waive the fee!  While I hope she gets accepted (to boost her confidence), I fucking hope she won't go there.  It's in the middle of the boonies, and they don't even field a football team which plays on TV!  She spent days on her application.  I wish she would've spent the time on applying to schools she WANTS to attend (the ones I'm okay with also).  I just don't get her screwed up thinking.  A sane person would apply to the college they really want to attend FIRST, and then apply to the "safety" colleges.

When I was applying to colleges, I just applied to a bunch too, so I really can't get upset at her for that.  But I knew that I would've gone to all the colleges I applied to and I also knew my parents were willing to pay the $ for me to get outta their house (at least for four years).  I haven't even told Mr. Dependable where she applied to because I KNOW he would see dollar signs and hit the ceiling.  The Help has nothing to say.  He applied to one college, got accepted, went there, and got his degree.  End of story. 

So to keep from bitching at her constantly, I'm reminding myself that this will likely be the last Thanksgiving D1 spends with us for a while.  I need to make the most of it, put on a happy face, and give her a day of peace (grumbling resumes on Black Friday).

This year for Thanksgiving, I'm planning to roast a whole turkey breast.  After the easy clean up last year, I'd be a fool to go back to a whole turkey if it's just my family.  I'll make the dressing (yes, Mike, I'm baking it in a separate dish), gravy, and mashed potatoes too.  I'm ono for pumpkin crunch, so I'll make that instead of pumpkin pie.  But the first thing I'm making is the cranberry sauce.  Homemade cranberry sauce is so much better than what the stores sell (Williams-Sonoma comes pretty close to homemade).  It doesn't take very long to make so the effort is well worth it.

I hope by the next post I will be able to say D1 applied to a few more colleges.  ARGGGHHH!

click on recipe title for printable recipe

Cranberry Sauce

     1 bag (12 oz) fresh cranberries
     1 1/2 c sugar
     4 1/2 oz water
     1/2 tsp grated ginger
     1 1/2 c (12 oz jar) orange marmalade

Heat cranberries, sugar, water, and ginger in a saucepan, stirring until sugar melts.  Cook until fruit is tender, 10-15 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool 15 minutes.  Stir in marmalade.  Chill until 2 hours before serving. 

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was so close!  I saw some kind of Taste of Home post on Facebook and I had to actually run to the calendar to see for myself.  No shit!!!

The work week this week is only 3 (2 by the time this is published) days, but short weeks tend to drag on, and the kids are totally gone.  Adults too.

But in a few days it will be Thanksgiving, and that gives me something to look forward to.  Its not just the break from work.  I love Thanksgiving food.  I love all the white meat from the turkey and all that you can do with the leftovers. The other big deal about Thanksgiving is cranberry sauce.  I love cranberry sauce, and I think Williams-Sonoma makes the best.  I need to check the pantry to see if I have any left.  One year, I made my own cranberry sauce, and it was unreal sour.  Since then, I've left the cranberry sauce to the experts.

It doesn't seem right to have cranberry sauce outside of the holiday season, so I don't make anything with cranberry sauce beyond the holidays, however dried cranberries are fair game year-round.  I keep a Costco-sized bag of dried cranberries on hand.  The Ds sprinkle li hing mui powder on it and eat it as a snack.  I love to use dried cranberries in recipes as a substitute for raisins.

While cranberry orange biscotti recipes abound, the recipes I tried lacked orange flavor.  Bummer.  In my experiments with biscotti making, I came across a recipe which included a topping.  After tinkering with the ingredients, I came up with a recipe which has the pronounced orange flavor I was looking for - its in both the biscotti and the topping.  In addition to cranberries and orange flavor, this biscotti gets its crunch from chopped marcona almonds. 

This biscotti is a little trickier to make than my previous biscotti recipe because of the baked-on topping.  This biscotti needs to be sliced very carefully with a serrated knife.  Using too much pressure will cause the topping to pop off.   I suppose you could leave the topping off, but the orange flavor would be less prominent.

just after the first bake

slicing biscotti using a serrated knife

getting ready for the second bake

 click on recipe title for printable recipe.
Cranberry Orange Biscotti

     1/4 + 2/3 c sugar, divided

     2 tbsp + 1 tsp orange juice, divided

     6 tbsp butter, softened

     zest of 1 orange

     2 eggs

     1/2 tsp almond extract

     1/2 tsp vanilla extract

     2 c flour

     1 tsp baking powder

     1/2 c dried cranberries, chopped

     1/2 c marcona almonds, chopped fine

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, combine 1/4 c sugar and 1 tsp orange juice.  Mixture will be rather dry.  Set aside.  Grease 2 biscotti pans or line a flat cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Cream butter and remaining 2/3 c sugar.  Add 2 tbsp orange juice, zest, eggs, almond extract, and vanilla extract.  Stir in flour and baking powder.  Add cranberries and nuts.  Shape dough into 2 2" wide rectangles in/on prepared pan(s).  Using half of sugar/orange juice mixture for each loaf, pat onto top of each rectangle, taking care not to spill any on baking sheet.  Bake 20 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes.  Using a serrated knife, slice 1/2" on the diagonal.  Place on a cut side and bake at 300 degrees for 15 minutes.  Flip over to other side and bake an additional 15 minutes.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE:  Cranberry Orange Biscotti would make an excellent snack for Black Friday shopping, that is, if you choose to indulge in that sport.  After the stampeding sounds in Wal-Mart last year, I will be staying home.  There is no need for me to be in the throng of people.  I'm sure the Ds will be home too.  I know neither were happy last year.  I just hope Kikukat Mom's curiosity about Black Friday shopping was cured last year too. 

Thanksgiving Memories: Cranberry Sour Cream Bundt Cake

I hastily posted a slideshow on Thursday with pics from the Thanksgiving luncheon at Aunty Janice's house in Paradise Park.  I posted a pic of a cake, for which I neglected to include the recipe.  It is one of the easiest and tastiest cakes out there, and I've been making it since 1990 (made it for an ex-boyfriend's family first. . .guinea pigs!).  Ex-boyfriend and his family are long-gone (good riddance), but the cake has stood the test of time.  Click for printable recipe.

Now comes the part where I sigh. . .the 2012 elections are finally over, but there are still signs (both winners and losers) all over town.  This year, one particular lot on the main highway never ceased to amuse me with signs, most notably about the mayoral and prosecuting attorney races.

The prosecuting attorney race was a really tight race between Lincoln Ashida and Mitch Roth.  Both have numerous years in the prosecutors office, but the owner of this piece of property had a clear favorite.  I was initially amused by the sight of the used (this is an assumption) toilet bowl beneath the large "Lincoln 4 Lincoln" sign, but only after I uploaded the pics onto my computer did I see the "me" "me" "me" all over the sign!

There was another sign saying "Lincoln walk on people", but I didn't get a pic of it.  The "artist" seemed to enjoy using "walk" in the signs, as another sign spoke of Roth "walk da walk".

I waited until the elections were over before posting this because I didn't want to be accused by either camp of spreading propaganda.  Hilo is a small town, and people who are close to me know/like both Lincoln Ashida and Mitch Roth.

Every Sunday, on my way to the rubbish dump, I would check if any new signs had been posted.

Sometime after the Lincoln/Roth signs were posted, pro-Harry Kim (former mayor) signs appeared, along with a "Dump Billy" (Billy Kenoi, current mayor) sign.  I don't know of anyone in Hilo who could not have noticed those signs!

The signs were just hilarious.  In addition to the use of creative spelling, the media of the signs ran the gamut from wood to ceramics to metal (plywood, toilet, and lampshade, to name a few things).  I think my sculpture professor, Charles Smith, would have been proud of the artist.

On November 6, Mitch Roth prevailed over Lincoln Ashida by a very narrow margin, and Billy Kenoi won re-election after a close victory over Harry Kim.  In general, Hilo politicians do not advertise on television, and there was very little mud-slinging, if any, from them.  This was a good thing, because my television time was spent being entertained by the Mazie Hirono, Linda Lingle, Ben Cayetano, and Kirk Caldwell mud-slinging ads.  Too funny!

Anyway, with elections and Thanksgiving behind me, I'm looking forward to the next holiday.  15 more work days until Winter Break!!!  I know Uncle will be gone for at least 2 out of those 15 days, so I'm going to decide if I'll need to pull the sick leave card to make the time go by even faster.

Make your own recipe card

Testing the new C A R (Candy Apple Red)

A little over two weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I could pull the trigger.  I happened to be cleaning up for house guests from Japan when I came across a Williams-Sonoma catalog.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw the newest bad boy in the Kitchenaid lineup of mixers. . .a seven-quart behemoth.  I tried to convince myself that I could live without it, and I even went so far as to look up prices at Amazon.com and eBay to convince myself Williams-Sonoma was overpriced.

Wrong move!  Amazon was selling it for $799 + shipping, and eBay had one for $600 with an additional $145 for shipping.  That's when I knew I couldn't pass up the Williams-Sonoma deal.  For $603 (which includes $30 shipping and Hawaii tax), the mixer was delivered to my door within a week of pulling the trigger.  I'm waiting for my $40 cash back and my 2-year subscription to Food & Wine magazine to arrive. . .all perks for buying from Williams-Sonoma before the end of March!

This baby is just a quart larger than the model it replaced.  The diameter of the bowl feels the same, but the bowl seems to be a lot deeper than the six-quart.  The most salient point is the noise level.  This baby is much quieter.  I can actually hear the tv even when I have the mixer going.  Of course, the true test of a mixer is the quality of the food it produces.

In between cleaning house, I managed to distract myself by making muffins and cookies.  The corn muffin recipe can be found here.  Sandy and I worked together at Moanalua.  She was a home ec teacher there before moving closer to home (Kalaheo).

I wanted to bake cookies with the kids for Valentines Day, and I was leaning towards spritz cookies.  Somehow, I ended up owing a favor to one of the vice principals at HHS.  He told me he likes oatmeal cookies with raisins.  Having never made oatmeal cookies before, I took this as a challenge and set off to find/tweak a recipe.  The pictures you are seeing here are from my 2nd attempt.  My 1st attempt produced horrific cookies which resembled lace cookies instead of cookie-jar quality oatmeal cookies.  I quickly searched for another recipe to tweak.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

     3/4 c butter, softened
     3/4 c flour
     3/4 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp cinnamon
     3/4 c brown sugar, packed
     3/4 c sugar
     1 egg
     1 tbsp water
     2 tsp vanilla
     3 c "quick" oatmeal
     1 c dried cranberries (5 oz)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, stir together, flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Add egg, water, and vanilla.  Stir in flour mixture.  Stir in oatmeal.  Stir in cranberries.  Drop tablespoon globs onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake 11 minutes (I used Airbake sheets w/o rims).  Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to wire rack to cool.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies (use #50 disher).

For best results, especially if you like your cookies on the thicker side, chill cookie sheets/dough balls while waiting to bake.

A few notes before I sign off for this week

• I know the vice principal said he likes raisins, and I'm sure substituting raisins for the cranberries would make a decent cookie.  I don't like raisins at all so I wasn't about to make a cookie with ingredients I don't like.  That would be just dumb.  If he doesn't like cranberries, HE can pull all of them out himself.  
• The 7-qt Kitchenaid mixer is available in four colors:  white, black, silver & candy apple red.  As far as I'm concerned, there was only one choice.

Turkey Day Shortcuts and Lessons

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  No big party for me this year.  Just enjoyed a quiet lunch at home with ma, pa, D1, D2 & The Help.  Tough crowd, easy food:  turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, dressing (if you grew up in Hawaii, you know it as stuffing), cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie.  Very traditional and very un-fussy, especially since I took some major shortcuts this year.

kamado-smoked turkey

cranberry sauce

wild rice dressing

Shortcut #1:  One picture that is missing from my Thanksgiving photo cache this year is a glistening, golden-brown turkey.  I just didn't feel up to brining and smoking a full bird, even an organic, free-range bird, so bought a Butterball turkey breast roast (all white meat . . . de rigueur for most of my family).  I did the usual thing of brining, a non-negotiable component when cooking turkey in a kamado.  I used the same brine recipe I've been using for years:  8 qts water, 2 c rock salt, 1 c honey, 8 garlic cloves, 1 bunch thyme, 1 tbsp cracked black pepper.  Had an easy time because the turkey and brine fit easily in my fridge.  I didn't really read the pkg directions so I'm not gonna blame the Butterball folks, but nobody told me the meat was encased in netting for GOOD REASON. 

This morning, I figured I'd cut the net off so the skin could brown, and this is about where things fell apart, literally.  So instead of a football-shaped turkey roast, I ended up with odd-sized pieces of turkey breast to roast.  Selecting the largest, fattest piece, I stuck the remote thermometer probe in the middle of it. 

It cooked in just over an hour in the kamado (tried to keep the heat around 325 degrees.

The finished product was actually very tasty.  Just the color sucked big time.  I've had no problems in the past when smoking a whole bird, so I'm attributing the lack of color to the lack of skin real estate on the meat pieces.

Lesson  #1:  try a different turkey breast roast.  KTA sold 3 different turkey breast roasts this year.  One was a roast which contained both light and dark meat (don't ask me how a breast roast can contain both light and dark meat . . . thats a question for Butterball).  Another roast contained rib bones.  And the third, which is the one I bought, was boneless.  Next year, I'm buying the one with the bones (no dark meat).  I think these pieces are probably what I was expecting this year, just the turkey breast, like a big chicken breast.

Shortcut #2:  Buy a pumpkin pie.  We are fortunate in Hilo to have Short n Sweet, a gourmet bakery that specializes in fancy wedding cakes (how many places in Hilo can actually boast being endorsed by Brides Magazine?).  The Help treated us to a Maple Pumpkin Pie.  At $17.99 per pie, its definitely not the cheapest pie in town, but for homemade crust, its definitely worth it.

Lesson #2:  Homemade is not the ONLY choice.  This pie totally restored my confidence in supporting local businesses.  I appreciate the time and effort that goes into making something from scratch, and I think its great that there are others who also don't think the gargantuan pumpkin pie at Costco is the cat's meow (sorry, Desi & Kenni).

Shortcut #3:  Make cranberry sauce ahead of time.  I made the cranberry sauce on Tuesday evening.  

cranberries, apples & ginger

I located this recipe on the internet.  I found it in 2 places, so theres no telling how many other sites have it.  I assumed that because it was published twice, it was a good recipe.  This year, I decided I wanted something with "bite", something more complex than the orange marmalade cranberry sauce I normally make.  

 The recipe seemed easy enough:  cook together a bag of fresh cranberries, sugar, cider vinegar, grated ginger and some apples.  Easy.  

The sauce stayed in the fridge until about an hour before we were ready to eat.

Lesson #3:  Fix this recipe!!!  The cranberry, apple & ginger flavors go well together, but I like my cranberry sauce to be sweet.  This was a little too puckery for me.  Will fix for the next round.

 

Lesson #4:  Don't take too many shortcuts.  And thats why I put my efforts into making Wild Rice Dressing.  This had several steps, as the croutons in the dressing had to be "made" ahead of time and the wild rice needed to be cooked before the entire dish got baked.

I had a bag of wild rice I bought from the liquor store in Waimea.  It came in a canvas bag and looked like authentic Minnesota wild rice.  But the recipe called for 2 cups so I had to supplement with wild rice from the natural food store.

The lighter colored rice is from the Waimea store.  The darker colored rice is from Island Naturals.  There is a big difference:  the lighter colored rice will cook in 25 minutes.  The darker colored rice takes longer to cook, maybe 35 minutes.

Once the wild rice is cooked, its tossed together with sauteed mushrooms, onions & celery.  I managed to find fresh shiitake mushrooms at Island Naturals, so I bought a handful of those.

fresh shiitake mushrooms

The addition of  minced fresh sage, pecans and dried cranberries round out the flavor profile. This dressing is definitely something I will make again.  The recipe can be found on the Simply  Recipes website.http://simplyrecipes.com

With no plans for dinner, I think I can close the book on Thanksgiving 2010.  This was one of the least complicated Thanksgivings I've celebrated in my adult years.  Having a HUGE, killer work week next week, I just didn't have it in me to throw together a huge family get-together this year.  But the coziness of this year's meal allowed me to test out new dishes with captive, albeit, unappreciative, tablemates.  

Three of my tablemates this year really set the bar low . . . tablemate #1 was presented a bowl of from-the-freezer soybean rice and ate only that, in spite of the Thanksgiving fare that was set out before her.  Tablemate #2 chose to eat two servings of just mashed potatoes and gravy.  Both remarked that the only turkey they ever CHOOSE to consume is prepared in the school cafeteria by large people.  And Tablemate #3 said the food was ALRIGHT, although he did remark that the maple pumpkin pie must've been expensive since the pumpkin layer was so thin.  Sigh . . . that's why I said "tough crowd" at the beginning of this post.

Moral of this post:  be thankful for what you have . . . the means to put food on my table, darling daughters, doting parents and a goooood friend (those of you who know me and my family well are probably on the floor laughing hysterically now) who are able to share a meal with me.  May we have many more of these occasions to celebrate.

I am also thankful that I had the foresight to buy and prepare another all-white meat turkey roast which will allow me respite from cooking during the busy time between now and Christmas!!!