Tips to Gobble Up: A Stress Free Thanksgiving

 

"Go to the grocery store - Publix. You have to come with me to find them. They have to keep them very cold so they stay dead. Look at the price and pick one that you have money for in your purse. Take it home. Cook it in the oven. Put on lemon - yum!! Sprinkle on a little salt - but only a little because salt has lots of fat in it. I don't even like turkey though. I like turkey fingers - you make them the same way to make chicken nuggets...
Cook it for 6 minutes and eat it!" -Selby Sniegocki

If only it were that easy, huh!  That was a quote from my little niece a couple of years ago when she was asked in school how to make a turkey for Thanksgiving.  Priceless! 

The best way to enjoy your thanksgiving is to save yourself a little work as possible on the day of the festivities.  Only having to worry about 3 things is key: timing, space and of course the bird.  Having friends and family help out with sides, drinks, setup and cleanup, etc. is a lifesaver.  I've been known to be hyper-detailed and over-organized and tried to relax a bit over the years when it comes to holiday preparation.  With a little more time on my hands I have found myself actually spending less time in the kitchen with even better results- all due to better planning.
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Pre-set the table a couple days before- we have been hosting between 15-20 friends & family the last several years and I adore it.  Our long "Table" is comprised of three tables stretched across the dining room and family rooms.  We add the last table right before dining to ease up on space.  Utilizing the same table cloths with matching runners gives uniformity as well. We definitely include the kids at the main table- it adds to the warmth and gives all of us special memories to cherish and hopefully instills a sense of tradition in the young ones. 
                                       

Clean out your freezer now, make room for items you can make ahead (gravy, rolls, turkey broth, desserts, etc.) and for any leftovers not immediately consumed.
                                   
Start early. Beginning on the Sunday or Monday of Thanksgiving week, do a little prep work each day. Caramelize some onions while preparing for dinner one night, make bread crumbs while supper is in the oven, chop veggies while watching tv, you get the idea. Even getting tiny little steps, like chopping an onion, out of the way will make things run so much more smoothly on Turkey Day. 
                                 
BE CREATIVE .... got some great advice last year from the food network during their live Turkey show.... check out her response to me here with the "It Ain't Easy Being Green" Bean Casserole. 

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Definitely figure out what you can make ahead of time... last year I bought a fresh pre-brined organic turkey instead of struggling with a fresh bird and a bucket of brine - well worth the extra dollars if you can swing it.  The only place I have been able to find these is at Whole Foods, a few dollars extra per pound but worth the saved aggravation. 

Slide fresh herbs, olive oil, butter. etc under the skin - not only does add amazing flavor throughout the dish but it looks beautiful if you lay those last couple of sage sprigs across the top.

 Create easy and unique place settings with an extra treat!

Ask your guests to bring sides, desserts and wines.... be sure to find out if anyone needs anything reheated so you can plan accordingly.

                               
Add extra gravy bowls to several places on the table - makes it a lot easier for the thing people go for repetitiously.  A few weeks before the holiday buy some turkey legs and wings and make extra stock and gravy ahead of time and freeze it.  This is one sure-fire way to prevent any dropping or lumpy gravy the-day-of.   Plan ahead with lots of extra leftover rolls and sliced bread (and some extra cans of that jelled cranberry stuff that some people adore...)
                                         

Create a new tradition for giving thanks.... here is an example from one of my earlier blog posts about passing around a plate of bread each person giving some specific thanks to the person next to them based on an old Polish Christmas Wafer tradition.  Check out my earlier post here to learn a lot more about some of our most treasured family food traditions. 

Most of all...
 give thanks while you truly savor the people around you and the fortunate food before you. 

  

~cathy@asavoryspoonful.com

Calling All Cornbread Lovers and Campers!

 

I got a chance to try out my new Lodge Double Dutch Oven and Casserole with Skillet to make some homemade bread this morning, and now my house smells heavenly

I have somehow never cooked with a cast iron pot before and as many times as I have tried delicious cornbread or those heavenly cookie skillets I never thought I needed one.  We recently went on a family camping trip and while preparing I saw this fantastic deal on amazon so I was smitten.  Although it sadly arrived the day after I got back - there is no doubt it will be joining my chuck wagon for many future trips.  Mine not only has a 5 Qt dutch oven but that lid doubles as it's own skillet fitting perfectly together or used separately (for under $35 including shipping that's quite a steal!) 

 

Lodge is the most well known cast iron cooking manufacturers in the USA and if kept up well your pots will outlive you easily.  Care is pretty easy too - always dry your pots as quick as you can and immediately use cooking oil to wipe them down (don't forget the tops and bottoms if you are going to be using it on grill or campfire someday too.  Many people suggest not using soap to clean and instead just hot water and a scraper if needed.  We were improvising while camping and I was very ready to get one of these for next time.  My homemade sauce and angel hair faired pretty well in a regular stockpot, I cannot imagine how nice the flavors would have layered in cast iron though.

 Even tending to the bacon in a regular pan was tough work on cleanup.

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  My bread, however, came out like a charm this morning.  

Crunchy on top and on the sides and perfectly baked inside. 





You can find an awesome cornbread recipe that belonged to Truman Capote's family, excerpted from  James Beard Award-winning author Crescent Dragonwagon's cookbook The Cornbread Gospels, by clicking here. 

 

And finally, sharing one more campfire treat that turned out a lot more moist than I had intended but tasted delicious... gonna have to test these a few more times on the grill at home to get it to perfection.

                                            

 

This was VERY fun and easy to make campside.....

And here is the easy recipe for you to try located at The Get out with the Kids at Campfires Blog. 

As the weather cools down -will you be cooking up something yummy at a beautiful campsite in nature or right in your own home or backyard?  Either way - consider getting some cast iron cookware and you will be thrilled with it for life!

~cathy@asavoryspoonful.com

Elevating your palate

"Awaken Appetites Unknown" is a fantastic trademark of the upcoming Epicurean Hotel.

How do you elevate your dining experience... ? Send your regular foodie haunts on vacation and try something new, short-lived and unique - a pop-up restaurant!

Pop-ups have been around for a handful of years and are gone before you can blink.  Pop-up restaurants allow chefs to create their own venues and test a concept and menu without formal commitment.  They are held everywhere from art galleries, warehouses, farms, public areas, and even in private homes. Top Chef's Stephanie Izard (of Girl and the Goat in Chicago) was able to preview her menu and generate publicity for her concept with a pop-up by starting out with an "underground" place called Wandering Goat.  Last night we were lucky to experience the opening night of  an extremely well organized and 'elevated' production of only five nights of this fun dining experience.

Elevage is going to be the signature restaurant of the Epicurean Hotel opening later this year in the hip So-Ho area near downtown Tampa.  Executives from Bern's Steak House and Mainsail Lodging and Development will open the venue in mid-December and it will join Marriott's Autograph Collection of luxury hotels.  You can check out their website here and be sure to peruse the amazing culinary theater courses including Champagne 101, Sustainable Wine making and Seafood and even a Superbowl Party Prep class! The Elevage pop-up restaurant is open this week only (Oct. 15-19).

The Epicurean's brilliant marketing team has put together a series of these ideas and events to get the locals buzzing about the wondrous world of all things indulgent and culinary.  You may have readabout the upcoming Epicurean Hotel earlier in my post about their contest where I was thrilled to win the grand prize for my photo of my outing around Tampa with their bicycles -soon to be a huge hit for those lucky enough to stay overnight.  Per the Marriott Hotel site where you can reserve your hotel room, they are, "Crafting a foodie’s paradise, a wine lover’s dream, a place for connoisseurs of life to come and indulge their appetite because there is no greater homage to life than to indulge in and explore all the flavors that it has to offer. When something is made right it’s experienced by the soul. And that sensory moment, though here and gone in an instant, echoes in the heart for a lifetime"

This week the owners have converted the locally impressive Side Berns restaurant space into a temporary version of Elevage (check out #epicpopup).  The carefully thought out menu was touted by local food editors with teasers about dishes promising to be comforting yet inspiring, sexy and approachable.  Take a moment to view this very brief video shot by Jeff Houck of "Prepping for Elevage" just the day before opening and more details from Executive Chef Chad Johnson. 

Reservations are nearly sold out for this dining experience but they mentioned there are a couple of tables still available if you act fast and give them a call at Side Berns or try your luck with a bar seat serving the full menu and a ring-side seat for some dreamy concoctions.  We were delighted by our opening round of cocktails including a pisco sour and a white lady - expertly crafted by Dean Hurst- Director of Spirits (talk about a FUN job to have!)

 

 We were enthralled by the menu released only the day before -my friends and I had such a hard time choosing and decided to order each course from the extensive menu one by one. 

You would think the wait staff had worked here for years with their knowledge, friendly smiles and excitement about the menu.   We were also delighted to meet the General Manger of the Epicurean, Tom Haines who worked the room throughout the evening answering questions about the Epicurean and spread the word about the experiences awaiting all of us. The pop-up also has an extensive wine list and are happy to share some specialities from Bern's famous wine cellar. 

We began with some inspiring small dishes like country ham with pear butter and biscuits.

Bikini sandwiches were a hit with ham, manchego cheese and savory truffles.

The portions were nothing to shake a stick at either.... but more about that later.....

The hit by far for this course was the melt in your mouth..... no-I-really-mean-to-die-for Rabbit Rillette with Foie Gras and Cornichons.... my friend from Gerardo Luna Photographs was literally licking the mason jar sized portion of this treat!  We also tasted the Escargot Tortellini which had a unique pairing of raisins and pine nuts in a rich cheesy parmesan sauce. 

 I could not resist ordering the German Potato Soup which was rich in bacon and a leek flavor that would knock your socks off.  Presentation was fun and beautiful.

My soup was stock full of lardons, cubeb peppers and lovage.  Now, I will easily admit I had to ask what some these ingredients were and without hesitation our server described them with ease.  Lardons are small cubes of pork fat (read:bacon!!!); lovage is a sweet herb with a flavor somewhat similar to celery -perfect for this soup!

What I truly loved about each dish served was one or two surprise ingredients upon presentation, like the crispy homemade potato chips delicately placed on top of my soup.. can't you just taste the savory morsels!

My friends also dined on quail cordon bleu - look at those colors pop as quick as your taste buds can almost savor the zippy mustard painted on the platter along with ham and creamy gruyere. 



As I mentioned earlier, the portions were very generous - there was a lamb lasagna with spinach, tallegio cheese and chestnuts served in a beautiful half casserole dish (a container that I really wanted to take home to use for making dinners!) 

The Chicken Paprikash was a flavor winner for this round served with wax peppers, kale and potato dumplings.  A lot of seasoning and comfort went into this beauty.

The "Sunday Supper" was an homage to the south with vinegar glazed country pork ribs and the lightest, sweet cornbread madeleine's you could not get enough of. 

The play on names was adorable with the "Duck, Duck, Goose" bursting with foie gras and goose confit stuffed into a duck burger..... if we could only get the recipe for the currant ketchup served with those fries I would be a very happy camper.  We couldn't take our foodie photos fast enough so we could dig into the flavors!

Only because we had to take the dueling macaroni challenge -we ordered the macaroni au gratin AND the truffle laden macaroni and cheese to top it all off. 



Dessert was nothing short of fantastic.... we were delighted by the continually amusing menu entitled Chocolate Pi  (no typo here folks, this p is one of the many clever little touches that this place will embrace). This too will be the name of the hotel's onsite bakery with  Bern's pastry chef Kim Yelvington running the French-style patisserie. 

 

The chocolate praline pave was a perfect combination of sweet hazelnut dacquise praline creme and and savory dark chocolate and an amazing cookie fresh out of the oven. 

 Even the ice cream was divine with macadamia and dark chocolate freshly churned. 

Not ever dropping the ball on completing the experience- we were excited to receive some swag bags tempting us for the Evangeline Spa that will be located in the Epicurean Hotel as well.  The spa will fuse relaxing treatments along with the food theme -check out the candy cane champagne pedicure or perhaps the red velvet pedi is more your taste.

Not to be outdone by the Quintessential Cabernet Massage! 

If the Elevage pop-up is a sign of things to come from the Epicurean Hotel and its upcoming treasures we are all in for more treats than a kid on Halloween! 

October is here....and a very personal Thank You.

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and also the month that was my mother's birthday.  I really wanted to start off this particular month by sharing a post today that means an incredible amount of love and hope to me. 



Memorial block for my mom at the Riverwalk in Downtown Ft. Lauderdale

As viewed in one of my earlier posts about my mom and how special she was to me, I am sharing with you a very special and touching medical journal article about my mom that was written by one of my mom's best friends and also our family Doctor for many years.  Dr. Marlene Wolf is a General Practitioner in Coral Springs, Florida and I highly respect and love her so much.  Here is a picture of Marlene and I had taken at my sorority's Founders' Day and my chapter's 20th anniversary.  I am grateful that to this day that we still see each other and stay in touch (even if sometimes it is just playing "words with friends" online together) until the next time... 
 

 

Dr. Wolf is not a sorority sister of mine- but we have a family bond that knows no end.  For many years, she has supported of the Lisa Boccard Breast Cancer Foundation which focuses on raising awareness for women in need who cannot afford mammograms and to raise money to get them the care they need.  My sorority chapter (Beta Nu) at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, FL started an annual "Tea for Tatas" philanthropic event and chose the Lisa Boccard Foundation as the local charity to help support.  Dr. Wolf has attended and presented several times and my sisters and I appreciate her help immensely. 

I wanted to share this beautiful and very personal article about my mom with you all here today... to remind us that cancer and ultimately death- is not the end of being able to teach and touch people's hearts...

Life’s Last Lesson
By:  Dr. Marlene Wolf

“I am going to heaven,” she said very calmly as I asked her how she was feeling.  My friend was dying.  I kissed her forehead and told her that I loved her.  I glanced over to her husband, holding her hand, with tears in his big eyes.  She said that she was ready.  And we both knew what that meant.  Her gentle smile and wonderful personality still filled the hospital room, despite her body being full of breast cancer.  She denied being in pain or having problems breathing.  She had chosen me to be her family practitioner so it was now my duty to help her die.  This was my hardest role to date, helping a friend die and comforting her family.  Yesterday she wanted chemotherapy; today she was waiting for heaven.  So I addressed this issue with the nurses, signed her DNR form and put a “Do not disturb” sign on her hospital door.

She was a gentle elementary school teacher, my neighbor, mother of my baby-sitter in years past, and wife to my friend.  Everyone loved her, with only sweet words from her lips.  She and her husband were friends of my in-laws.  I have known this woman for over 25 years, before I graduated medical school.  We had both moved from Philadelphia to south Florida.  Somehow, we bought a house on the same block, several years apart, unbeknownst to each other at the time.  It was a wonderful block; we watched each other’s kids grow up.  We ate Christmas cookies together.  We watched out kids as they went trick or treating.  We even dressed up for a few Halloween parties like kids.  Over the years, her four children grew up and moved away.  We both sold our houses and relocated to different neighborhoods.  But the bond was evident as she selected me for her personal medical care.

These memories flashed through my mind as I held her hand and gently washed her arms with warm water.  She lay dying in bed, I as the physician, she as my patient.  The morphine was keeping her pain free.  For this I was glad, but I mourned the fact that I could not wave my magic wand to make her all better.  “I love you,” she said to her husband.  The tears welted in his eyes.  His pain was evident.  He reassured her of their love and the importance of her life to both him and the family unit.  I held her hand for I did not want to leave her alone as her husband left the room to call the priest for her last rites.  I stayed with my friend and we spoke briefly of kids, friends, and fun times past.  When her daughter came into the hospital room, my role for now ended and I left the family in peace.  The priest arrived to give the last rites.  Even though it was my Saturday off, my beeper number was affixed to the chart with the nurses aware to call me at any time.

My pain was evident for my colleagues could see it in my face.  “Why are you looking so grim?” a colleague asked.  “I have to help my friend die!”  I exclaimed to him.  This was my hardest role as a physician for over 20 years.  As I fought back the tears, I realized that this gentle elementary school teacher was giving her last lesson about life, how to die and I was the student.  I had the privilege and honor as being chosen to participate in this lesson.  For this is one certain thing about life, we will all die, the time and place, yet to be determined.

Her sons arrived as she drifted in and out of consciousness. The family unit was one for the last time.  Life’s last lesson was occurring.  I had told her husband the day prior, in my office, to call her sons for the last visit.  He understood and made those solemn phone calls.  He was very forthright and told me he wanted to know the truth and understand his wife’s condition.  We spoke frankly.  He told me he understood how hard this was for me.  His sensitivity to my dual role, friend and physician was personally comforting.  We hugged as he left my office to play his greatest role, to comfort his wife of many years, the mother of their four children, as she lay dying in the hospital.

I left the hospital and went to my home, just a few miles away.  “This was my Saturday afternoon off, I said to my husband.  “Do what you have to do,” he replied to me, in full understanding of the situation.  He offered to go to the hospital with me but I returned alone that afternoon.  The nurses had notified me of her deteriorating condition.  As the family sat vigil around the bedside, I sat with a cup of fresh coffee in the lounge, solemn in my thoughts.  I briefly glanced at the most recent issues of a few medical journals.  New medicines to cure this….Medical research to end this… Better health with this combination… Exercise and diet to improve this… the abstracts read.  The focus of medicine and medical school is on disease prevention, disease cure, the healthy and living longer.  Our greatest service as a physician is simply holding the patient’s hand, saying goodbye at the time of their death, and comforting the family.  We need no medical research or studies to confirm this fact.  Death is certain for all of us and as physicians, we all help our patients to die.  This is much harder than all of the tests ever taken in medical school.  There is no book to each you how to help a friend die.  There is no lesson plan.  As my friend died, she taught her greatest and last lesson; accept death as natural and do not show anger.  Her peaceful acceptance of the inevitable comforted not only her family but also her physician.

I comforted her daughter, now a woman of her own right and wife, with hugs and words of advice: “This is your greatest role and you are doing a great job!”  She returned to her family and I waited.  The family called me and I knew my final curtain call was here.  I pronounced my friend, hugged each family member and said my condolences. 

Heaven is a better place now.  The lesson was taught well; death is a certainty, natural and beautiful; the timing not in our control.  Though my heart still aches for this family, I hold my head high knowing that I received from this elementary school teacher the greatest lesson about life.  Life’s last lesson is that death, met with a strong faith, is heavenly peaceful and our own acceptance on our deathbed is very comforting to our family, friends, and healthcare workers.  Thank you for choosing me as your physician.


Published in the Florida Medical Journal Spring 2002
Written by Dr. Marlene Wolf

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Thank you Dr. Wolf for being an incredible family physician and my family's true friend...