Turkey Soup

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When I typed the title for the post this evening, it came up as "turkey-soup-9." It seems I've posted about turkey soup a few times. I went back and started reading the posts, and they all were pretty much the same. "Best part of Thanksgiving." "Boil the carcass." Talk about originality. It seems I pretty much make the same soup over-and-over again.

I switch out ingredients, change the pasta, add beans or barley, and, generally just clean out the refrigerator, but the basic soup really is always the same.I'm either in a rut or I've achieved perfection. Personally, I'll call it perfection, because lord knows I'm never in a rut. And, it tasted pretty darned good.

Thing is, it's pretty hard to screw up a soup. All ya need to do is throw things in a pot and let Mother Nature take over. Provided you're not trying to replicate a specific flavor, taste, time, or place, you're pretty much guaranteed to have a reasonably good result.

And in not trying to replicate anything, it sorta looks like I've just replicated the past 9 years or so...

So much for not being in a rut...


Christmas Decorating and Squishy White Bread

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Squishy white bread is a once-a-year guilty pleasure. I normally don't really care for it, but there's something about turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce and mayo on squishy white bread that just can't be beat.

I know how worthless white bread is, but this once-a-year sandwich is worth whatever negative nutrition I'm getting from it. Really.

I even went out of my way to find actual Wonder Bread - the epitome of squishy white bread. I actually have no idea when I last had Wonder Bread, but today, it did the trick.

Stuffed from sandwiches, we continued on our Christmas Decorating roll. We're mostly done, but still have a couple of little details and the outdoor lights to do. We're probably going to go a bit over the top out back this year... We've always put up lights for our neighbor, Peg, to enjoy... Her husband, Ed - the first person we met when we moved in here almost 14 years ago - passed away this week, so the lights need to be a bit special.

Here's a bit of what we've done this year... More pictures to follow on the Tim and Victor site...


Thanksgiving 2014

 

 Food, glorious food...

Oliver says it all. A day dedicated to overeating and excess. What a great day, a great holiday. A wonderful tradition. Definitely my kind of day!

We didn't host this year, instead, we went to Victor's brother and sister-in-laws... and what a spread Marie prepared! An impeccable table, to begin...

And stuffed mushrooms, bacon wrapped stuffed jalapeno peppers, assorted goat cheeses and tapenades, chopped chicken livers... that's what we started with.

And turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, cranberry relish, and gravygravygravy...

And desserts...

Pumpkin pie, cheese cake, walnut tart, pecan tart, wedding rings, sugar cookies... no boxed or packaged anything.

Just food, glorious food.

I was so busy eating, I completely forgot to take pictures other than the appetizers, but suffice to say, it was spectacular.

I did get a picture of Linda's Chicken Livers that Victor made...

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Linda's Chicken Livers

  • 4 sticks butter
  • 2 lbs chicken livers
  • 2 med onions, chopped
  • 2-4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp marjoram
  • 1 1/2 tsp tarragon
  • 1 tbsp fresh parsley
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 3 – or more – tsp cognac

Melt 1 stick of butter. Add onions but do not brown.

Add other ingredients – except butter – and cover. Cook over low heat for about 20 minutes.

Process in food processor with remaining butter. Add cognac, and S&P, to taste.

Serve with chopped eggs or onion and toasted baguette or crackers.

Recipe can be cut in half.

It seems everything came out better than ever before.

A great day, indeed!

 


It's Our 20th Anniversary!

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Twenty Years. Pretty good for a couple of guys who have helped to destroy the Sanctity of Marriage. Twenty Years.

So much for getting tired of things, eh, Nate?!?

Twenty Years... A lot has happened in that 20 years. We lost three of our parents, we gained a whole hellava lotta new nieces and nephews - and a whole hellava lotta new great-nieces and nephews. We moved from San Francisco to Philadelphia, got different jobs, traveled all over the place...

And we got married. Legally.

Not a bad ride for a couple of guys who met in their 40s...

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Spelunking into Moaning Cavern in the Sierras circa 1995... Moaning Cavern holds the largest vertical chamber in a public cavern in California. It's so big, it could hold the entire Statue of Liberty! And we spelunked all the way down to the bottom.  It was when we were still young and foolish and trying to prove how butch we were to the other. We got over it...

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Hawai'i was more our style... Our first trip over was in 1996... We flew over first class, had most of our hotel stay comped...  I was still at UCSF and Victor had left United and Cheap Tickets, and had gone to work for Rosenbluth... It was the glory days of the Travel Industry.

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We were renting a house in San Francisco on Kirkham Street. This is where I tried to do a sit-down dinner for my entire family, running a table from the dining room through the arch into the living room. Victor just watched as I got more and more neurotic and just smiled and helped me take it all down and set up a buffet when I finally conceded that it wasn't going to work. He was smart from Day One.

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We finally bought a house of our own in San Leandro in 1998 or 9... We had NO money and lots of credit card debt. No money for a down payment. I couldn't use my GI Bill or my CalVet because we weren't married, so a mortgage broker got us a loan - actually 2 loans. An 80% loan at 8 1/2% interest and a 20% loan at 12 1/2% interest. We paid them religiously for a year and then rolled both loans into a 4% loan with the SF Fireman's Credit Union. Sometimes you just need to take a chance.

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We headed off to Yosemite for our 5th Anniversary. We rented a house in a private area surrounded on 3 sides by the park. It was a lot of fun.

Yard95

2001 saw us head east.

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2002 arrived and we headed even farther east. To London. Victor had been there through work. It was my first trip across the pond. I had traveled so far west it became east, but that was in Uncle Sam's Yacht Club, so it doesn't really count.

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We stayed fairly local in 2003 and 2004 but made it up to New York City a few times... We saw The Producer's on New Year's Eve - the night Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick returned to reprise their roles. What a blast. I can't even count the amount of shows and operas we've been able to see. Our proximity to The Big Apple is pretty good. Expensive, but good.

2003 also was the year Cybil Shepherd joined our family.

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What a skinny little runt she was... And what a joy she still is...

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2005 and we headed to Paris. We were in paris for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day. It was totally awesome. The Louvre, the Paris Opera House, the Eiffel Tower... And the foodthefoodthefood. While I have seriously fallen in love with southern Italy and Sicily, I do want to go back.

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Victor won a trip to the Cayman Islands in 2006. It was an award from his company. A week-long almost-all-expense-paid trip. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman, ate lobster for breakfast, and, generally, had a really good time. They drive on the opposite side of the road in the Caymans, but the rental cars are all set up as US cars. It made for some fun excursions, as you can see by Victor's expression.

2007 was Las Vegas, baby!

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We met a dozen friends for a Birthday Bash for Victor. A good time was had by all!

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We headed back to San Francisco fairly regularly when Pop was still around, and headed back again, in November 0f 2008 for what was going to be our wedding. Alas, Prop 8 narrowly won, and our wedding was cancelled.  We flew home, anyway, and took the train back from San Francisco to Philadelphia. We had a great sleeper car, good food, movies to watch, and a whole hellava lotta fun. We met some interesting folks and really did have a good time.

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More New York trips, more west coast trips,

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And then down to Washington, DC in 2009 for the March on Washington.

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Yeah, we're still left-leaning Liberals and political as hell.

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We made it to Omaha in 2010 for a Dineen Family Reunion. We missed the first night because whatever rotten puddle-jump  airline we took screwed up and we missed our connection. I got to see a lousy airport hotel in Milwaukee - or wherever the hell we were. Be still my travel-heart...

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Back up to New York City for the first Gay Pride Parade since New York legalized marriage.

And then we headed to New Hampshire where our dear friend Marl married us!

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Who woulda thought we'd be nervous about getting married after being together for 16 years?!? Well... we were. We forgot our suits, forgot the camera another dear friend had sent us to video the ceremony, and both of us had some serious tears in our eyes. We were doing something we never in a million years thought would or could happen.

It was a great day!

And then we moved Nonna in with us!

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She just wasn't doing well living on her own, anymore... She's now doing great!  It's amazing how well a person can get when they're taking their medications correctly and eating right.

Moving Nonna in didn't stop the vacations...

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Next stop, ITALY!

We headed over to Rome and Florence with my sister and her wife, and their three girls. What a blast! An apartment in Rome directly across the street from the Colosseum. An apartment in Florence right on the Arno at the Ponte Vecchio. Venice and Pisa, Lucca... It was an awesome 2 weeks - and it set the foundation for 15 days in a villa in Modica, Sicily in May of this year!

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20 years...

20 years of fun, of stories, of good food and good friends. 20 years of family, new babies, and new experiences.

Here's to another 20, at least.

Oh... I almost forgot...

Dinner tonight was Chicken Marsala - made with Marsala we brought back from Sicily...

It was good.

 

 


Olive Oil from Modica

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George, our host in Sicily, when we visited last May, is a true Renaissance Man. Once we left the 1-800-world of big-box home centers and 24-hour supermarkets, we entered a world where your ingenuity and creativity are the keys to survival.

He has caper bushes growing along the side of the house. Yes... fresh-brined capers. And a carob tree in the front yard. His young nephews pick the carob, he sells it, and gives them the money. He has chickens for eggs, an organic garden of artichokes, greens, herbs... Lemons, pomegranates, prickly pears... 80-year old fig trees planted by his grandfather... and olives...

He's constantly moving, constantly doing - with his 4-year old son in tow. His little boy - already fluent in English and Italian - is learning about living life to the fullest from the master, himself.

It's a bit like what life was like here, before we all got fat, lazy, and gluten-intolerant.

I mentioned olives...

Sitting in our refrigerator the night we arrived was a huge bowl of olives they had cured themselves - from their own olive trees.

There really is something magical about eating something like this - that you have gotten out of a jar or can all of your life. I've had what would be considered good olives, before. These surpassed good. They were unique to the point of defying description. I had never had a freshly-cured olive grown within spitting distance of where I was eating it. We pulled that bowl out and munched on them all day long. Great with a beer, excellent with a glass of the local red wine. It was all pretty awesome.

And then there was the huge container of olive oil that was in our kitchen for our use...

Also awesome was the liter of oil we brought home with us.

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In 500ml plastic iced tea bottles. Nothing is wasted. Everything is reused. And it really was the perfect vehicle for packing into our suitcases.

We've kept in contact over the past 5 months - I've done some web work for him and we've just kept up a friendly correspondence. So when my brother asked me about possibly getting more olive oil, I was on it. And, as they say, timing is everything!

Seems the olives just got picked and pressed!

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What a process!

George stated:  we produce one of the finest extra virgin olive oils in our area. The trick to get great olive oil is to harvest the olives by hand - hand selecting only the best quality. The reason is the hand picking avoids bruising the fruit, if the olive is bruised then immediately a chemical process starts within the olive that would increase the acidity in the oil, making it of a lesser quality. Then, mill the olives within 24 hrs of picking, The cold pressing of the olives paste must be done at a low temperature, that's how all the aromas and flavors of the oil are preserved.

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They're cleaned of debris and washed.

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Into the centrifugal masher...

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And, finally, the liquid gold.

It will need to sit for the next 2 to 3 weeks to naturally filter itself - the sediment burns - but, if the shipping gods are willing, we'll have George's Olive Oil in time for Christmas!

Olive oil from a man who understands. Who appreciates what the earth has to give. And who gives back and is passing that knowledge along.

I don't even know what this is going to cost. And... I don't care.

I can't wait!


Italian Wedding Soup

Italian Wedding Soup

The benefit to working on a Sunday is dinner awaiting me when I get home. And tonight's dinner really was great - Italian Wedding Soup!

For those who may not know, Italian Wedding soup is a thin chicken broth soup with mini-meatballs and escarole. And an egg swirled in at the end.

Why is it called Italian Wedding Soup? No idea. One explanation has it as a mistranslation of "minestra maritata"which translates to "married soup" - meaning that meat and greens go well, together. Like most of the Italian food we eat in the USofA, it may have an origin in Italy, but it's an Italian-American original.

Victor has been making this as long as I've known him. Other than having to make a bazillion little meatballs, it's really a simple soup. And it really packs a wallop with flavor.

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Italian Wedding Soup

Meatballs

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 1/2 cup onion, minced
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
  • 1 large egg
  • Salt & Pepper, to taste

Soup

  • 3 qts chicken broth
  • 1 lb escarole, chopped
  • 2 large eggs
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make meat balls: Mix all ingredients together and form into very small meat balls- about the size of a prize shooting marble. Place on a sheet pan off to the side.

Make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot. Add the meatballs and escarole and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the escarole is tender - about 10 minutes.

To add the egg: Whisk the eggs to blend. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Slowly drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a large fork to form thin stands of egg.

Ladle into bowls and add additional grated cheese and a drizzle of good-quality olive oil.

It made enough for dinner tonight and lunch, tomorrow.

 

La vita è bella!


Cheese & Onion Bread

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Feeding a cold can be a real pain, sometimes. The taste buds are a bit dull so flavors need to be a bit sharp. And since I'm feeling a bit dull, sharp is somehow eluding me...

But when I'm feeling a bit under the weather, a perfect place to go is to Mom's Cook Books... When I was a wee tyke she'd make me tea and toast - her magical cure-all. Sometimes cut in little squares, sometimes in triangles. And depending on the illness, sometimes with a bit of cinnamon sugar on top. It always seemed to work - part of a mother's magical powers, I guess. While she's no longer here to make me tea and toast, she did give me her cook books. It's not quite the same as her telling me everything will be better in just a little while, but I can evoke her spirit just by picking up the books.

I wanted some fresh-baked bread and turned to her book for a bit of inspiration. I came across Cheese and Onion Bread and thought it would be perfect.

I was right. It was.

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It was really easy to throw together and packed the wallop I needed, flavor-wise.

I'd love to know where she got all these recipes - which magazines or newspapers, the dates... what other recipes were there that never made the cut?!? Newspaper-wise, I'm pretty sure most of them came out of the San Francisco Examiner or the sadly-defunct San Francisco News Call Bulletin. Magazine-wise, it's anyone's guess. Mom loved her magazines, and had all of the Ladies magazines back in the day - Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping... As you can see by the recipes, dinner was never dull at our house!

And this bread wasn't dull, either.

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It was perfect - and just the Mom-fix I needed!

 

 

 


Feed a Cold

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Feed a cold, starve a fever... It's an apothegm we've all heard before, but it's scientifically untrue. It seems we should actually be feeding both colds and fevers - the body fights infection better when it has nourishing fuel.

So where did the false adage come from?!? Same place as "if you go outside without a coat you'll catch a cold," and "if you go outside with wet hair you'll catch  cold." Seems once upon a time, the common belief was if your body core got cold, you would catch a cold. Eating would raise your inner core temperature and help fight the cold. Same thought process with starving a fever. If you ate, you'd be raising that core temperature even more - which would increase your fever.

It made sense in a world where viruses and bacteria were relatively unknown. It's pretty much the world we're heading back into. I mean, you did see who is about to become the next Chairman of the Science and Space Subcommittee, didn't you?!? It's going to be an interesting couple of years...

So with my acute bronchitis reasonably under control, it was time to feed that cold, tonight. Pork tenderloin with cranberry jalapeño sauce, rice-a-roni, and spinach.

The tenderloin was grilled with just a bit of salt and pepper. It was topped with store-bought cranberry jalapeño sauce. The sauce had a nice flavor. Could have been a bit hotter, but, otherwise, not bad, at all. The rice was a variation on a faux rice-a-roni. 1/4 cup orzo, 3/4 cup rice, 2 cups turkey broth, a pinch of French herbs, and some butter. I put the rice and orzo in a small pot with the butter and toasted the orzo just a bit. Added the broth and herbs, covered, reduced heat, and let simmer for 20 minutes.

Spinach: frozen - make hot.

Oh - speaking of acute bronchitis... Instead of dealing with the office staff at my primary care physician - the people who only answer phones when it's convenient for them - I ended up going to Doctor's Best Immediate Medical Care in Berwyn. I had actually never been in an emergency care-type place before - and I was impressed.

The place was impeccably clean, the staff friendly, courteous, and professional, and they really went out of their way to make me feel like a valued customer. It was a great experience from start-to-finish. And today, the Dr who saw me called to see how I was doing! Methinks more medical office staff should take note. I reallyreallyreally like my PC Physician, but I also reallyreallyreally liked not having to deal with the office attitude.

It would be my hope to never have to see any Dr again, but if the need does arise, I now have options...

 

 

 


Chicken Soup Cure-All

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I felt a twinge on Friday. By Saturday, I kinda knew what was coming. I ignored it on Sunday and Monday I knew I was in trouble. Tuesday, it was off to the Doctor.

Acute Bronchitis. Believe me, there's nothing cute about it.

And I am a lousy patient.

When I'm not feeling well, I pretty much just want to be left alone to wallow in my misery. If I need something, I'll let ya know. Otherwise, just leave me alone. Victor, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. He likes that solicitous attention. Whenever one of us is sick, we act like what we want - not what the other wants - so I ignore him and he's all over me.

We're getting better, though... Victor actually said "Okay. I'll only ask this once. Do you want any soup or anything?" I said no and gave him the Really. Don't ask again look. It's rather comical because after all these years he still hovers and I still ignore.

After going to bed early Monday evening and spending all day Tuesday in bed, I surprised him by saying I was off to the Urgent Care place at 4:30pm. I get my annual physical, but I don't spend a lot of time at Dr's or take a ton of medications. To actually get up and go to a Dr means I don't feel good.

The good news is the lungs are clear and while my throat is raw and hurts like hell, there's no strep. The full throat labs take 72 hours, but they're not expecting anything...

I have an inhaler and a cough suppressant that seem to be doing a bit of good, but I still feel like I've been hit with a Mack Truck - and I have no appetite! I wonder how long I would need to be sick in order to lose 50 pounds?!?

I did have a bowl of homemade chicken soup when I got home, last night, and I had a fried egg on toast this morning - more because I know I actually need to eat in order to get well, than because I was hungry.

And it's now 9:30am. I'm crawling back into bed with a book...

Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z..........

 


Risotto and a Fun Shopping Trip

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Cool plate, eh?!?

It's one of 8 we bought today, along with 8 salad plates of a complimentary but different design, 8 soup bowls, also of a different design, 8 tall all-purpose glasses, 8 highball glasses, a cast iron pot, soaps, candles, food items, Christmas stuff...

We went a little crazy.

And where did we go crazy, you ask?!? At Cost Plus, of course! Cost Plus, which rebranded itself as Cost Plus World Market, was one of my most favorite stores as a poor young lad. They had a huge cavernous warehouse on Taylor Street down at Fisherman's Wharf that was utterly amazing! Walking through the store was a complete adventure... It was like a maze - you'd turn a corner and instantly be transported to India with beaten metal pans and miles of silken fabrics. Next was Africa with masks and carved animals... the South Pacific and a hundred things made of coconuts. A body could wander for hours. The original concept was that they sold things for their cost, plus 10%. That has changed over the years, but they still have good prices on a lot of unique things.

The plate above comes from Cost Plus. The napkin is Cost Plus. Even the table they're sitting on is from Cost Plus. We have been faithful shoppers for years. And years. When we moved east, we had to settle with packing large suitcases whenever we flew home. Then, for a short period of time, there was a store in Wilmington, DE. They closed, and we were left with shopping online.

And then they opened in North Jersey in August!

We started planning the trek north a few weeks ago, deciding we wanted new dinnerware. We had 4 sets of different dinner plates, salad plates, and bowls, along with three different sets of glassware. It was past time to send them all off to Goodwill and buy anew. We like to cook and we like to eat at home. It just makes sense to have fun new dinnerware now and again. Besides, we're doing our part to keep the economy moving. You're welcome. No sacrifice is too big...

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So no-holds shopping we went. We had a bit of a windfall with a guy who hit my truck in the parking lot at work. His insurance company just cut me a check. I don't often go shopping with such total abandon, but, it was free money. I have to admit it was tons of fun. I still looked at prices, I still looked at where things were made, and I still read ingredient lists - but a lot of stuff made it into our carts. Yes, carts. Plural. It really was fun.

So we now have lots of soaps to keep us smelling fresh, little 1-pot bags of ground Italian Roast coffee for when the power goes out - along with a lot of candles - and more jams, sauces, candies, and Christmas goodies to keep our tummies smiling. And more Christmas decorations - because one can never have too many Christmas decorations.

I really did like having a local store where I could just run in and grab a few things when I needed them and I don't plan on making this sort of trip a regular event, but it was a good time. And free, for all intents and purposes.