I keep being pestered by my father to write another blog post, which is silly, since I see him everyday, and we've been spending a lot of time together, especially in the kitchen. I keep telling him, I like to tell a story that acts as a glue to hold my blog together, and I haven't had any ideas. He responds with, "The story of Jesus' birth isn't big enough for you?!"So it has been a sort of stand off between us.
There certainly has been plenty enough cooking and baking in the past three weeks to warrant a blog post. We have taken a culinary trip around the world of never ending gastronomical opportunities. I have a certain love for cooking that allows me to spend hours in the kitchen daily.
I started my break with a five hour cookie baking extravaganza! I made my three favorite Austrian cookies, as well as my dad's favorite cranberry, orange, coconut chews, and a typical New Zealand biscuit. It was a cookie explosion!
Even after sharing a few plates and munching away, we have about a dozen cookies remaining. Everyone is welcome to come over for some cookies and tea!
For our Christmas Eve dinner with our family friends we traveled a bit further North in Europe to Norway for our traditional lamb feast of leg of lamb, roasted red potatoes, and mashed rutabaga. Finished off with a Norwegian rice pudding covered in raspberry sauce.
We spent Christmas morning in Norway as well, with a traditional breakfast spread of bread, meats, cheeses, veggies, hard boiled eggs, jams and coffee while we opened our stalkings.
The rest of the day was spent lounging, napping with cats, knitting for me, games with the family, and general appreciation of the holiday.
For Christmas dinner we traveled to Greece with lamb gyros, which I unfortunately don't have a picture of. But they were an excellent use of leftover lamb and a great opportunity to make homemade pita!
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Cast Iron Apple Pie
We got this idea from a restaurant in Walla Walla, and I think everyone would agree that it was a success! |
We bought an ethical Turkey from a butcher in Walla Walla that we were planning on eating for Thanksgiving, but then we decided to spend the day with my dad's brother and his family, which was a great decision! But we still hadn't eaten our turkey, so we decided to have a turkey dinner for New Year's Eve. The turkey took a long bath in a brine of salt water and other seasonings, then roasted for a little over two hours, which resulted in probably the best turkey I have ever eaten! I am a firm believer that it is better to have delicious, ethically raised, hormone free meat occasionally than questionable meat regularly. I appreciate it so much more, and I don't have to feel bad about supporting a flawed industry.
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| A beautiful meal to remind us of our bountiful year. |
New Year's Day was perhaps my favorite culinary project! I have always wanted to make tamales, so we decided New Year's Day was the perfect opportunity to take a trip down to Mexico with an authentic Mexican buffet. We did our research ahead of time, watching several YouTube instructional videos and reading a variety of recipes. Everyone told us it would be easy but time consuming. So we went for it! We ended up making almost five dozen chicken and pork tamales. I'm sure we will repeat this project, it was fun, easy, and so rewarding!
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| Making tamales is fun! |
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| The spread! |
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| Flan for dessert, anyone? |
One of my favorite encrusted meals that I don't eat very often is pot pie, so I decided to use some of the leftover turkey to make individual turkey pot pies. I think we all burned our mouths since we struggled to wait until it cooled to dive in! I'm not sure if this is an all American recipe or finds roots in the British Isles, probably a bit of both.
The final project to report is still in process. In total it will take about 10 days. The other day I was rifling through the baking cupboard when I came across rye flour. My mind instantly devised a plan to make homemade Reubens! This requires corning an ethical beef brisket, fermenting cabbage for sauerkraut, making Russian dressing and rye bread, and picking out a block of Swiss cheese. So far we have began the corning process and the cabbage is souring! Reubens are on the menu for next Wednesday!
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| Pickling ingredients for the meat. |
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| The cabbage, doing its thing! |
Overall, I couldn't have asked for a more kitchen filled three weeks!
The Kitchen
Author Unknown
A home is made of many rooms
To rest, to sleep, to shower
To play, and read, and talk a lot,
Do hobbies by the hour
But the kitchen, ah, the kitchen
Is a room that's made of dreams
Of fantasies...created by
A love of cooking schemes
To touch, to smell, to visualize
The wonders that occur...
And then to taste, and then to taste
Results of things that were
At one time just "ingredients,"
In their places on the shelves
But become a wondrous mixture
As though transformed by elves
Yes, a home is made of many rooms
Each one has its pleasures
But the kitchen is the best of all
For finding hidden treasures
Bon appetit!
