As usual, the posts are a little sparse. When I'm not busy, I'm just tired. There have been a lot of new and exciting developments in life and in my world of cooking. One of my more recent developments is delegating out meal chores on the big days: Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve.
Thanksgiving went pretty well. The table was not as crowded with vegetables (as I usually prefer), but it also was not crowded with casseroles. I let my little cousin also take over desserts since - like I've said - I've been tired. He contributed a fresh fruit tart and also a red velvet cake in place of a previously promised ube cake. The lack of an ube cake was quite the let down. A lot of the menu of previous years was present at this years table:
Roasted Root Vegetables
Mushroom Stuffing
Kikiam
Roasted Cauliflower
...etc
There is something nice about knowing exactly what you're doing, but I find myself just getting a little bored. 2016 I'll be aiming to expand my Thanksgiving horizons.
Christmas Eve, my delegation worked out even less than before. The little cousin is starting to take orders for his baking skills and once again failed to show an ube cake, this was also in addition to failing to make pancit. I'm not trying to rag too hard on it, but seriously - don't offer to make something if there's a chance you can't. He's only 20 though, he still has a lot of impractical optimism. The table looked a little sparse until my mom took out some Chinese food. The newcomer to this table was creamed spinach. I utilized a Cooks Illustrated recipe and...I'm not sure I even like creamed spinach. It was ok. I think one thing that really affected my planning and cooking experience for Christmas Eve was that fact that I'm still getting over a cold and couldn't really smell things. I finally got to try out my sweet potato buttermilk pie recipe with garnet sweet potatoes and lemon zest - maybe it's because I didn't mash the potatoes as well as I had previously but garnet sweet potatoes seemed a little more fibrous and not as sweet. I'm sticking with jewel sweet potatoes for my pie, the texture seems smoother. Also, the lemon zest was a nice touch, I don't have any strong inclinations towards with or without. Lastly, the pie tastes better after it's been refrigerated overnight.
Overall, pretty good turn out this year. I'll need to make a mental note to have some back up side dishes,
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