slow cooking

I spent Thanksgiving in Providence with my friend Caolan and her family. I love spending Thanksgiving with the Farrell Maddens, as the fare is considerably more traditional than my own family's Iranian-infused table.

This year the food, while wonderful, was less interesting to me than the experience of dining with people who I pretty much hadn't seen since the Thanksgiving of '00. (In the interim, cousin Nora had gone on a Peace Corps mission to Morocco and come home to become a film editor, younger brother Rory had started and finished college and gotten a job as a professional video game tester, Caolan had gotten engaged, and I, well, I won't even try to sum up seven years here.)

Best get back to food.


I only took one picture during dinner and here's why: Early in the afternoon, someone accidentally leaned on the oven, turning it off and bringing the Turkey-cooking to a slow hault. When Aunt Diane went to take the bird's temperature right before dinner, she found it cold, far-from-roasted. So there were several more hours (and a handful of bottles of wine) to kill before we could eat. Come turkey time, we were all a little tossed, and I only had the clarity of mind to capture the Aspic--cubes of granny smith apples, walnut bits, and slivers of celerery, all suspended in lime jello. It sounds gross, I know, and judging from the dinner party's reactions, you either love it or hate it. I helped myself to seconds.

Vegetarian Thanksgiving

My sister, Rachel, outdid herself with our Thanksgiving dinner this year. We had ginger butternut squash, scalloped potatoes, stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, parsnips and carrots (made by my mom), macaroni and cheese, leeks and chesnuts, spinach pie, salad, and my pumpkin soup. And turkey (not shown) for the carnivores. For dessert, Rachel and Darrell made pumpkin trifle, sweet potato pie, and homemade carrot cake. Yum!

Chinese and Chocolate in Chicago

I've gotten a little behind in posting this semester. These pictures are from a trip Eli and I took to Chicago over Labor Day weekend (eek!) for the American Political Science Association conference. What's more fun than a holiday weekend full of political science?? Food! (along with a lot of other things, of course.) Here are some shots of our tasty Chinese dinner- szezhuan eggplant, pickled cabbage, asparagus, and more that I can't remember. Also some (disappointing) Frango chocolate. Not shown: Chipotle burritos on the river, Indian food, and pizza.

Fun with Vegetables

carrot turds from the juicer
numbered pepper from Josh

Department Brunch

I had a brunch for the first and second years of my department on Sunday. As you can see, the food went fast. Andrea made fantastic salmon croquettes, Heather brought cheese and crackers and a pumpking bread, Molly made fruit salad, I made a frittata with spinach and potatoes. Maria Angelica brought champagne, Huss brought some lemon poppy muffins, Pancho brought bagels and cream cheese, and juice perhaps? Angelica made the morning with a box of Starbucks. Sadly, no one really touched Nick's bloody marys or the champagne!

I'm eager to do this again, guys! Who's hosting?

Good

Josh and Goran came over a few weeks ago. I made a lasagna with spinach, leeks, and mushrooms, a green salad and an apple tart. The star of the evening was the Peachy Canyon Incredible Red Zinfandel from around the corner from Sara Sani's house in Templeton! $9.99 at Trader Joe's in Cambridge!

Greek Feast

I was in New York, oh, just about a month ago. Had a huge and decently delicious family style greek banquet on the Upper West Side with like 20 people that I hadn't seen in between one month and five years. I was honestly paying more attention to the conversation, but as for food, there were the classics: spanakopita, grilled meats of various sorts, stewed vegetables, cheap wine. Oh and a curiously flavorful pureed potato mezze and a fluffy pink fishy one.