thanksgiving and holidays

well gentle readers the holidays are upon us and so is the food.  I'm beinging to wonder if I possibly made a mistake in asking my family over with my wife's family and doing a sort of potluck.  with the company I work for we get a free turkey each year so I would be providing that and a few sides.  I'm looking at doing a red cabbage gratin that I found a recipe for in one of my cooking magazines, roasted garlic mashed potatoes, and mushroom gravy.  hopefully things will work out and my mom and dad will bring her famous cornbread dressing, my brother bringing a pie, and I don't really know what to tell my brother and sister in law to bring but I'm thinking somewhere along the way there having the tradtional green bean casserole.  after all is said and done i will post and let you know how things go.

updates on life

Well gentle readers, it rained practically all day on saturday so no founder's day experience.  at least the good thing was that my brother in law and fellow hookah smoker came over.  we spent most of the afternoon in my garage smoking the hookah and contemplating mysteries of life and marriage.  ended up buying the chicken caccitore recipe inspiration.  it had good flavor and didn't really take that long to cook.  I can honestly say that if it wasn't for the fact that most of the time you can only buy the big bottles of dried herbs and spices I wouldn't really buy the recipe inspirations.  I know, for those that live near me, there is always the bulk section of certain stores where you can buy just a little marjoram or oregano but to those that don't have access to such sources it is indeed difficult.  in light of other revelations, I have since learn that granny smith apples are way to tart for most applications.  I can see the use in an apple pie with a lot of sugar but for the pork stew it will not work at all.  other than the apples the stew was great and actually ended up making an adaptation on one of my favorite bread recipes which is for "Rustic White Bread" and ended up blending white flour and rye flour.  the next big adventure is thanksgiving dinner.  don't know if my company will give us a free turkey this year or not but if it does happen I'm looking at doing thanksgiving dinner with my realitves.  looking at doing a pot luck type event with my 'rents bringing the dressing (my mother's cornbread dressing is the best), my brother bringing something, my in laws bringing something, and of course I'm doing the bird.  hopefully I'll roast a good turkey.  until next time.

the meaning of life and other great mysteries

well friends, here it is the middle of october and nothing really exciting has happened.  good news is that I'm off on saturday so I can go check out the white settlment founder's day celebration.  I have no clue what that will entail but hopefully it'll be a little fun before work hits again on sunday.  last saturday entered into a dessert competition with the men of my church.  took a cranberry apple crisp.  didn't win. lost to a pineapple upside down cake, some weird dessert called porcupine eggs and a pecan praline topped cheesecake.  now I know what I have to face for next year, perhaps I'll make a chocolate raspberry cheesecake or try my mother's recipe for something called a dump cake.  kinda at ends on what to cook this week for the family meal.  saw on tv where McCormick has these recipe inspirations things. bascially it entails a pre-measured mix of herbs and spices with a recipe card attached and all you add is meat and a few other ingredients.  may try that.  the two that stuck out at me at the store the other day are sage and apple pork chops and chicken caccitore.  who knows, I may get both. 

latest advetures

Not much has happened since the last post.  currently working out the kinks in plans for a double chocolate cake with bourbon buttercream and something using nutella spread.  I'm also looking at recipes that use apples besides the stand by apple pie and baked apples.  to me food shouldn't be boring it should awaken the senses and bring joy.  like last night my original plan for dinner was to grill some steaks and have a little salad and some roasted potatoes but, like all the  best laid plans, didn't work out.  I ended up getting a text from my brother who said he was in town with his g/f and asking what was for dinner.  a little later my wife calls me and says her brother in law and sister were coming over.  so what was supposed to be a quite family dinner turned into a large, loud family dinner.  it was fun and I would think all people invovled had a good time. besides, is it really good for man to grill alone?

the first of hopefully many

I have no clue really as to where to begin this adventure.  I guess a little background would be sufficent.  as far as I can remember I've been in a kitchen cooking.  some of my earliest memories are in the kicthen standing on chair with my great aunt and helping her making dumplings and her rolling them out with an old glass honest scotch snuff glass.  I can safely say that it was her and some of my mother that got me into food.  gradutated from high school and went on to college and the love of food continued.  recieved my Bachelor's degree in communication and eventually moved to fort worth and started working at central market.  that was really the biggest push.  my love of cooking and food have been greatly improved since moving to the big city. I've experienced Indian food, Thai, Vietnamese, and Sushi.  that is a far cry from where I grew up.  the most ethnic food we had in stephenville was either Chinese or Italian.  Currently, my pursuit is finding and developing new and intersting ideals in food.  Ideals such as Gingersnap crusted pork, carrot roesti, and apple carrot slaw.  I hope you will follow this blog and interact with it.  hopefully I'll inspired some hidden talents in my readers. thanks.