Family « Stoneview

A very merry Christmas

We spent the last few days down in New Jersey with my sister, my niece, my nephew and both my boys. The guys played lots of video games, my niece learned to make sweet potato rolls and we had a fabulous dinner. I think it’s fair to say a good time was had by all.

Lickety split

back I’ve got another quickie knitting project to crank out. Back in August when I visited my brother and his family I promised to knit a bathrobe for my niece’s American Doll. It turned out to be quite easy to find a pattern and looked like a very speedy little knit. Here’s the beginning of it in Red Heart Baby Clouds which should safe to machine wash and dry- perfect for a busy household with kiddos.

Whale of a turkey

31pounds table plate Joining us for Thanksgiving this year were Jason’s parents and my sister with her kids. Back in June the meat CSA sent a letter that the turkey poults had arrived, both Spanish Chocolate and Naraganssett and we planned to request a turkey when they became available. It’s a flat rate no matter the size so we requested a medium. This is only the third year the farm has raised turkeys so they are still working the kinks out. This year a medium turkey turned out to be 31 pounds. We worried about how to cook such a beast and I bought a disposable pan rated for 25 pounds, the largest I could find. (My lovely copper roaster is a few inches to small for this big beastie.) With the hearth kit removed he fit nicely into the oven and I have to say it was the juiciest turkey I’ve made to date. The table was set and we had just enough china for the 8 of us. We had no major mishaps, the turkey was done on time, Heather’s sprouts where a hit and the kids love the rolls and mashed potatoes.

Brined Roast Turkey
30 pound fresh turkey
water to cover by a few inches
2 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
2 cups Wild Turkey

We use a rectangular plastic bin for doing the brine that just fits into our refrigerator. Combine all ingredients except the turkey and stir vigorously until the salt and sugar are well dissolved. Chill completely then add the turkey and let sit overnight in this solution.

The next morning loosen the skin all over. Because the turkey has been brined there is no need to salt it. Season with pepper and rub butter and herbs de Provence under the skin. Place the turkey on a rack in the roasting pan breast side down. Roast at 350 F for 90 minutes. Remove pan from the oven and flip the turkey so that the breast is right-side up. Continue roasting until the turkey measures 165 F with the meat thermometer inserted in the thickest part. I tent the turkey with foil until the last 30 minutes of cooking. The juices should run clear when the thermometer is removed. Allow the turkey to stand, tented with foil, at least 30 minutes before carving.

All about town

Yesterday we wanted to keep the house quiet so Daniel could sleep a bit after the all night party so we piled into cars and went off to the Higgins Armory. My family is a big fan of Renaissance Festivals so this was right up our alley. Favorites were the hands on room (Chris is putting glasses on over his helm) and the live demonstrations. They did a really great job explaining the weaponry and how it was used. The fighting demo was especially good, explaining the difference between Hollywood glitz and historically accurate fighting styles.

Daniel thought he'd be ready to go again by noon but in fact we had a really hard time getting him up at 5 for Hibachi grill dinner (his choice). It's been a long time since I've eaten this type of food since it's too heavy on the soy sauce and oil for me but it was a lot of fun and very entertaining. It was a bit hot with the sun right on us but it sure made for dramatic photos. I liked the onion volcano and the guys enjoyed playing catch with zucchini. The sun was also great for shadow puppets at the end of the meal.

The big day

Yesterday before graduation we had BBQ ribs (maybe there were some veggies too) to fortify us for speeches and a good long sit. Rain was predicted but didn't come and it was nice and cool. Despite Dan's grumbling beforehand I think he quite enjoyed it. He even smiled when Jason (stationed along the corridor where grads walked in) nearly missed getting a picture as he walked by. We saw Daniel grin and smack Jason with his program so the day was saved and we got our picture after all.

Afterward we sang Happy Birthday to the two boys and it took an amazingly long time for them to get all the candles blown out (and really they had it easy, technically there should have been 28 between them but I only used 12). And before long Daniel was off to "Last Night" the party seniors have at the school from 10 PM until 5 AM.

Long overdue

A few years ago Dad brought me some of my grandmother's things. I've been planning to do something with these photographs for awhile now but first I wanted to get them scanned and digitized so they'd be easy to share with other family members. I thought the scanning would be good busywork while I'm on knitting rest and applied myself to the project this week. The result is a nice Flickr set that still needs annotating but it's a great start on a long overdue task.

An untimely goodbye

On Christmas Eve morning we received some terrible news. Daniel's father Keith had a very bad stroke and was in the hospital on life support. Later that day a decision was made to take him off life support on the advice of doctors. At 3:45 am the following morning he died. Despite the differences that led to our parting, he was always a lot of fun and the kids loved him dearly. This photo was taken the day Daniel was born. Chris was 5 and Kathryn was 6.

James and the Giant Peach

Well there was no James but there were peaches involved. Jason too the day off and we went to Tougas Farm for a plethora of fruits. It’s been dry and sunny all week so the raspberries were amazing. We picked to large boxes lickety split. After that we snagged a couple blueberry donuts and said good morning to the goats before heading over to pick peaches and early apples. Honeycrisp and gingergold are my favorites but you have to pick early to get those. More pictures are over on Flickr here.

A good time was had by all

Dinner turned out very nicely. The potatoes with basil vinaigrette were a definitely keeper (FC 21, p43) and the dry-aged steaks were to die for. I really didn’t even want the horseradish-chive creme fraiche (FC 69, p76), the steaks were just that good. The rolls were a rich dough base similar to Challah and I’d do those again (FC 6, p24) though I’m not so enthusiastic about the squash gratin (FC 33 p 28). I am not keen about mushy squash but perhaps if I just shorten the cooking time they’d be tastier.

We’ve had the peanut butter pie a few times before so that was a shoe-in. I am not keen on sweet peanut butter things so I had some store-bought mint brownies for myself. It was a lovely dinner complete with a lovely Rioja, a birthday present to Jason from his sister.

Many Happy Returns of the Day

We are nearly always traveling for Jason’s birthday but this year we are home and I get a chance to really cook for him. Over the weekend I made good use of Fine Cooking’s online index and formed a game plan. He’d asked specifically for Alton Brown’s peanut butter pie and something with dry-aged beef for the main course. Earlier today I made the pie (with a store bought crust) and some homemade crackers (Fine cooking 89, p 45).

I’d planned to get him some interesting beers as part of his gift and a friend tipped me off to a good liquor store that sells individual beers (thanks Kathy!). Another friend and I planned a lunchtime field trip to investigate (thanks Crystal!). I brought these fellows home along with a nice bottle of single malt scotch (another request).