Month: November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

A very happy, retro Thanksgiving to you and yours. For those that celebrate Hanukkah, I wish you a very Happy Hanukkah! Kick back, eat too much, and start planning what you’ll make with the leftovers. I am thankful for so much, my heart is full.   Though I’ll be far from family that I love, I’m grateful to share Thanksgiving with new friends. Best wishes for a wonderful day! Christine  

1940s Potato Leek Soup

I love potato soups and I know back on the mainland, it’s that chilly time of year when soup is the only thing that makes you feel warm again.  Well, that and bourbon. Even though it’s in the 80s here, I still am craving soup. From the 1940 edition of 250 Delicious Soups by the Culinary Arts Institute, I made Potato Leek Soup.  I found the original recipe to be a bit thin, and made quite a few changes. “Potato Leek Soup: 3 tablespoons fat (I used butter) 1 Cup Sliced Leeks (I used 4 Cups) 4 Cups of cold water 1 bay leaf (I used 4) 2 tablespoons chili sauce or catchup (I used 1 tablespoon of Tabasco) 2 Medium potatoes, diced (I used 5) 1/2 small onion grated 1/4 cup chopped celery (I used about 1/2 cup) 2 tablespoons minced parsley 1 teaspoon salt 1/8 teaspoon pepper 1 Cup Milk (I used a half cup) 1-2 tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon vegetable or chicken base (my addition to recipe and I nixed the salt mentioned …

Monday Book Review Sunday: Thanksgiving: How to Cook It Well

I’ve been cleaning the house, getting ready for Thanksgiving guests and didn’t think to push “publish”.  So a Book Review Sunday that happens on a Monday…well, that’s a Monday Book Review Sunday! As adults so often do, I sometimes make things harder than they have to be.    This includes my favorite holiday: Thanksgiving.  It was my dilemma that the Thanksgiving meal began to take on new levels of increasing complexity with each passing year, until I began to think I completely lacked the ability to pull it off.  After a decade of stress, Thanksgiving went on my mental list of technical things that weren’t meant for me – you know, like being on a space shuttle crew or origami.  Last year I finally decided to try hosting again but this time, I got back to the basics.  There would be no weird pumpkin pie variations (pumpkin fondue, pumpkin cheesecake, etc. etc.) or attempts to somehow combine ham, turkey, sage, cranberry sauce and who-knows-what-else in to the same bite.  If you were at my house last year, …