Turkey Day Lineup

Thank the Lord for the short work week! I had a few extra vacation days to use before the New Year so figured I would take the day off to prep for Thanksgiving. It happened to be a perfect day to stay at home. It's been raining here for the past 24 hours and something you soon find out while living here, is that when it rains it literally pours. Buckets. 

Andy didn't have to be at work until later morning which meant we got to hang out for a few extra hours and he cooked me breakfast(bacon and eggs, my favorite)! In my defense he offered to do this so I didn't feel that badly about sitting on the couch, drinking coffee and watching the Today show. It's been a while since he's cooked me breakfast, I think reality and life has finally set in a bit, so I'm trying to soak this up as much as I can. It's definitely a treat :)

Andy and I get to host Thanksgiving and I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty excited to take on the challenge. I love to cook and having a day off to do just that is fine with me. I thought I would share some of the dishes that made the cut. To preface this, last year Andy and I had an early Thanksgiving with his parents and in terms of the menu, we bit off more than we could chew. The recipes we chose were fairly complex (we just picked what looked good!) and frankly we didn't do any kind of prep the day before. Nothing.  So, needless to say, the kitchen was a huge mess, no one really knew what was going on and we just tried to stay a float. Everything turned out great, but in the end we didn't really have much time to relax, watch football and hang out with his parents, which is what we really wanted! So, with this in mind, the things we chose are pretty simple and most can be prepped before...which is what I did all day today!  

#1 pick - Tom Colicchio's Herb-Butter Turkey. Butter. Enough said. Recipe can be found here.

#2 pick - Low Carb & Gluten Free Stuffing. Please, do not let the name scare you. We made this last year and it deserved a repeat appearance. It's naturally low carb and GF so you're not going to find any weird ingredients. It's full of veggies, herbs and sausage! Recipe can be found here.

#3 pick - Sweet Potato & Rosemary Casserole. I chose this recipe mainly because it can be made the day before, but also for the caramelized onions, rosemary and parmesan. Yum! I personally prefer sweet potatoes paired with something savory. Yes, sweet potatoes topped with toasted marshmallows are hard to pass up, but can be overwhelmingly sweet. Recipe can be found here. 

#4 pick - Cheesy Cheddar-Gruyere and Chive Biscuits (GF). Cheddar and Gruyere. Did you know I love cheese?? P.S. I love this girl's blog. Recipe can be found here.

#5 pick - Roasted Asparagus. Nothing too complicated. Recipe can be found here. Last year we made a recipe with the name of Absurdly Addictive Asparagus. And it definitely held up to it's name. This stuff was so good. It's a bit of work, but totally worth it if you have the time! Here is the recipe.

#6 pick - Arugula, Pear & Goat cheese salad with Pomegranate Vinaigrette. This was a last minute addition. I initially didn't think that a salad was necessary, but when my mom asked for the recipe the other day I just couldn't get it out of my head. I've made it several times and it's so yummy. The flavors and colors are simply amazing. It's light and refreshing. The red color of the pomegranate seeds against the green arugula makes this a great salad to bring to any holiday party. Some of the ingredients, mainly the pomegranate molasses, might scare you, but I was able to find this and everything else needed at Whole Foods. Recipe can be found here.

Last, but certainly not least, dessert! In fact, if I could have it my way, this guy would be my numero uno.

#7 pick - Frozen Pumpkin Mousse with walnut-toffee crunch. This was not my first choice for our dessert recipe, but after a very serious conversation with Andy and much convincing I agreed that no, we do not need an entire full sized dessert for the four of us. My dreams were crushed. I actually had picked out a Larger than Life Praline Cheesecake. Just look at it, it's beautiful! I found the original email I had sent to myself when I found the recipe and it was dated back to October 14, 2013. Do you think I was excited about this thing?? I thought it would be a great dessert as we live in the south and Praline Pecans are staple around here. Anyways, I digress...the frozen pumpkin mousse will fabulous. It's a recipe my mom made a while ago and when brainstorming for lighter/smaller dessert options I thought of it right away. In the end, this decision is for the best. Leave a larger than life praline cheesecake around Andy and I and things just turn out badly...

The day went pretty smoothly and I got almost everything done that I wanted to. It was so hard not to pick at everything that I was making. I tried my best, but let's just say I wasn't really hungry by the time lunch rolled around...

I started with the sweet potato casserole, caramelized the onions, boiled potatoes, added parmesan, rosemary and a dash of cayenne pepper. My favorite part of this dish was getting to use my new 2-in-1 mix'n masher! I would give it a five star rating!

Next up was the pumpkin mousse. I started by making the walnut-crunch topping. After this was done I had to put it away immediately. If left out, this stuff would have been gone, guaranteed. I wish Andy would have been here after I was done making the mousse. This was a perfect bowl for lickin'!

After the mousse I figured I would get the pomegranate vinaigrette made for the salad as well as tackle the oh so stubborn pomegranate.  Now, for those of you who have had to deal with pomegranates you know they are no easy feat. The first time I tried to collect the seeds I ended up with stained red fingers and one less shirt (pomegranate juice also does not come out of clothes very well, note to self) Then, my friend and mother shared a couple of tricks that saved me from every having to deal with a pomegranate again. Take notes people!

First, cut off the top of pomegranate and make four shallow cuts running from the top to bottom. 

Next, fill a small bowl with water, submerge the pomegranate under the water and slowly break the pomegranate apart by using the cuts you already made. Gently remove the seeds, keeping it underwater. Now, I'm not sure if this is magic (probably physics, Andy would know), but you will find that the seeds sink to the bottom and the skin floats to the top, making it easy to collect the seeds! 

When all the seeds are removed I usually rinse them off in a strainer and remove any pieces of skin that I missed and then you are done! No stains, no mess, no shirts ruined. It's great.

Finally, I got to work on preparing the gravy base and the herb butter for the turkey. This was pretty painless. Just a lot of chopping and waiting....the gravy had to reduce for about 45 minutes.  When it was done I was supposed to render about 4 cups...I had exactly two cups. Not a big deal, just had to add chicken stock to it, but I was hoping for more!

The herb butter I made smelled delicious...rosemary, sage, tarragon, and thyme.  Hard not to want to lick your fingers.

All and all I think it was a pretty successful day. I have no idea how we would have gotten all of this done had we waited until tomorrow! I think we would be eating at 10pm.

Tonight I will be doing what I can to mentally prepare myself for taking on the turkey tomorrow. If you've never cooked one of these things, they are kind of intimidating. Not knowing what to expect, a few weeks ago I scoured amazon.com to find any of the kitchen tools that may be necessary for the turkey. I ended up with a dripless baster, a meat thermometer, a liquid fat separator, cooking twine and turkey lifters!  This turkey isn't going anywhere!

Now that I've got everything done for tomorrow, it's time for me to cook dinner for Andy and I! Spaghetti squash and sauce...luckily I made this meat sauce a while a go so all I have to do is defrost it, otherwise, I think we would be going out to eat. I'm over cooking for today.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and enjoys the time with their friends and family! I know I will be missing everyone back in Wisconsin and Minnesota, but I'm very grateful to have Andy's parents here in Charleston! Now, go get your eat on!

Farmer's Market Fresh

Andy's parents arrived in Charleston late Friday night, so we didn't have much planned other than grabbing dinner at Taco Boy, which is currently on my favorite restaurant list, and then heading to bed so we could get an early start to Saturday. After all, we had big plans to mosey through the Charleston Farmer's Market and be tourists....

One of the perks of living in the south is that the Farmer's Market, as well as most other outdoor activities, tend to have a longer lifespan throughout the year than say, Wisconsin and Minnesota :) Saturday ended up being quite nice, probably a little nicer than average, with a high around 70.  Perfect temp for walking around with Bill and Jan.  Andy and I have been to the market a handful of times so there really isn't anything new to see, but, let me tell you what there is a lot of, and that is samples.  If there are ever free samples hanging around, look out, cuz Andy will most likely be making a beeline for them and I will probably be following.

I'm not sure if it was just the time of year or just the lighting, but the produce this time around looked more colorful than usual, had to take a few photos.

                                        

These next items are definite fan favorites...Pecans! Any kind you want...praline, cinnamon sugar, and sweet and spicy.  And then, the brie. If you don't know this already I have a weakness in my heart for cheese, any kind really, but especially brie.  This vendor in particular has this awesome brie that just melts in your mouth.  I could eat an entire wheel if left alone and Andy wouldn't argue with that, whoops!

Appetizers were then followed by brunch.  The market tends to have a pretty good turn out of food carts to choose from.  I opted for the bbq bowl topped with a fried egg, Andy went for the Charleston omelet stuffed with shrimp, Jan chose the gluten free waffle and Bill chose the ham and cheese crepe.  It took everything in me to not pick the monte cristo crepe that Andy and I shared the last time we were here, but I figured I should probably try something new. I was not disappointed and I'm pretty sure everyone earned a spot in the clean plate club. Nom nom.

My second favorite reason for making a trip to the farmer's market is that this place is dog heaven!! That is, there are dogs everywhere! If you ever visit, you will notice that Charleston is a very dog-friendly city.  Water bowls at almost every restaurant, leash free hours at the public beaches and dog treats being handed out at most businesses. Being a dog lover in this city is great. Andy will roll his eyes at this.  Between me stalking manny_the_frenchie and cooper_da_corgie on instagram and stopping to pet every dog that passes me by, you might say I'm a bit obsessed.  All I have to say to this is "whatever."  They make me happy and that's all that matters.  Here are a few of the furry friends I found on this trip!

After the farmer's market we headed down to the Historic District, walking down Meeting Street, which by the way is slowly making it's way up on my list of most scenic streets in Charleston. Here are a few photos of some of the mansions that line this road. Homes and buildings greater than 70 years old in Charleston County have to go through a very extensive reviewal process in order to make any kind of change to the structure. This makes making changes very difficult, but this is what gives downtown Charleston a very unique feel. I don't think I will ever get sick of walking around downtown. It almost feels as if you're walking on a movie set.  The houses and landscapes are beautiful.  

After being tourists we headed back to our apartment to cheer on the Badgers in the annual fight for Paul Bunyan's Axe.  Luckily we came away with our 10th straight W, ON WISCONSIN!

We finished the day with an awesome dinner at HUSK downtown...ribs, corn bread, steak, chicken, catfish, brussel sprouts, sweet potato mash, apple crisp and chocolate pudding topped with toasted marshmallow. Oh, and some bourbon.  Let's just say we had to be rolled out of there and we all slept well that night.

Sunday we got up early and headed to John's Island to take a look at Angel Oak.  This is a tree that is over 1400 years old!!  What was even happening in the world that long ago?? Unfortunately, I didn't get the memo that this tree was fenced in and had visiting hours, my bad. Luckily, the tree was still within eyesight and we were able to sneak a peak.  The tree really is something incredible. It gives off a magical feeling...like you're in the Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter. It's probably best we weren't able to get next to the tree. This thing just screams "climb me!"  Not sure if Bill and Jan would have enjoyed that adventure...

To end the weekend and continue our food coma, we stopped at a place recommended by a few friends down here, called The Fat Hen, known for it's Lowcountry French Cuisine and mimosa carafes.  We started the meal with an appetizer of steak tartare...this was completely unnecessary, but completely delicious.  I had never had it and was pleasantly surprised.  Bill, Andy and I ate it up, Jan didn't touch it. Bill ordered the creme brûlée french toast, Jan two eggs, Andy the duck and apple sausage gratin and I ordered the most gluttonous thing on the menu...the sausage and french toast sandwich. Just listen to this description...crème brulee French toast, house made sausage, fried egg, jam, smoked gruyere, with bacon cheese grits.  This thing was so good.  I told Andy, it was everything I want when I go to brunch. Usually I'm torn between two entrees.  I want an omelet, but I want a waffle.  This was the best of both worlds, sweet and savory....later that day Andy told me his Dad made a comment about how he couldn't believe that I ate that entire thing. I don't think Andy was surprised.  

After brunch Jan and Bill headed out to Hilton Head where they are staying for the week until we see them back in Charleston for Thanksgiving.  Overall I would say it was a great weekend.  We ate, drank and ate some more. Saw some cool things and got to hang out with two very fun people.  Can't wait for Thanksgiving!  Here's a pic I would like to end with...can you tell they are related???

c&c : a blog

First, I want to say hi to all of my friends and family out there and let you know how much I miss each and every one of you!  Second, I want to tell you that I wish I would have started this blog sooner and third I would like to tell you about the reason for this blog.  The number one reason is to let friends and family know what Andy and I are up to on this two year vacation we decided to take in Charleston, SC! Being far away from everyone is hard and I'm finding that sharing a phone call every now and then just isn't enough to let people know what we're doing! The second, third and fourth reason for this blog is to give myself a chance to share some of the things I love with everyone! (I think you will soon find out, that almost everything I love and Andy loves has something to do with food). Anyways, hopefully those of you who read this will enjoy it as much as I do and it will keep those of you who are far away a little closer :)

Now, I wanted to keep my first post strictly as an introduction, so, without giving too much away about my next post, I will just show you this one picture and let you know that Andy and were lucky enough to spend the weekend with Andy's parents, Bill and Jan. Let's just say we did A LOT of eating and it was all pretty amazing.