Easy, tasty, fried. That’s what the holidays are all about. Below is the app I made for TSB’s family Thanksgiving, and if there is any doubt about my assertion that cooking the cranberry relish really makes the color pop, here’s photographic evidence. First from thekitchn’s article and second, the batch I made.Â
1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin
1 medium onion, fine dice
1 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 egg
oil for deep frying
Combine all ingredients, wrap in cheesecloth or paper towels and squeeze out as much excess moisture as possible. Heat oil in the deep fryer to 375°. Roll dough into 1″ balls and drop into hot oil. Cook until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels. Serve hot with Sriracha sour cream.
I’m ready to spend some serious silkscreening time in the studio. Three of of the projects I’ll be printing have been posted here as they evolved. The proofs are below (click a thumbnail for the big picture), and if you want me to print you one, let me know.
3-D Gas Mask t-shirt
Securitree t-shirt
Jolly St. Roger bandanna
I’m silkscreening a few other pieces as Christmas presents, so I can’t post them yet, else spoil the surprise.
I’m taking TSB to Vermont for Christmas, and my mother suggested I renew a long lost family tradition by hosting an ornament making party as a scheme to gather my old friends. My mother describes the custom best:
We started in 1974 by inviting all of our friends to make an ornament for our first tree, because we had no decorations and were always looking for a reason to have a party. They were a hard partying group so we ended up with some very unusual ornaments. We did this for several years, then skipped some, and when the kids started coming, we had a few more.
The invitation was always the same: no cost to get in, but you can’t leave until you make an ornament. It was an open house so people came and went all afternoon (and some years, all night ) and we always had supplies…….scissors, glue, felt, construction paper, craft sticks, clothes pins and whatever was hanging around. If someone had their own ideas they would bring the supplies they needed or even bring a completed project if they were more interested in visiting/eating/drinking. I think Aunt Kim [my mother’s sister] is responsible for Dolly [Parton, made from a toilet paper tube, felt and a lot of cotton balls] and Grumps [my grandfather] was totally grossed out every time we put her on the tree (he didn’t think it honored Christmas).
So, when I get back to Burlington, we’re cooking up a feast, stocking the bar, throwing open the doors and making weird Christmas crap out of pipe cleaners. I’m excited.
I’m going for a high-brow/low-brow for my ornament craft projects. I’ve been wanting to make a tree full of origami brocade (Kusudama) ornaments made from wrapping paper (reuse always trumps recycling), but I am sure I will make something obscene out of popsicle sticks and glitter too.
Here’s an instrructional video if you want to learn.
I’m tired of lugging my MacBook Pro to the office and to coffee shops, because in those places I am likely just writing, researching and blogging with it, so I don’t need all the processing power, the huge storage space or the DVD burner, and I definitely don’t want the size and weight of the MBP. I prefer not to travel with it either, for the reasons above as well as the risk of lost, theft and damage. As much as I am a Mac loyalist, until they reincarnate the Newton, my ultralight will need to be on a different platform, which means getting a PC.
Considerations:
weight:Â 2 pounds is ideal.
footprint: smaller = easier to transport and I think 9″ feels ideal after trying the 7″ (TWSS?)
keyboard: larger is better because I don’t have huge hands, but they aren’t petite
drive: solid state rather than hard drive, because it’s lighter, uses less power, starts faster and is harder to break
memory card slot: who cares how big the hard drive is if I can swap out memory cards
battery life: longer life means not needing to carry the power adapter on day trips
cost: under $300 is ideal
operating system: I lean toward Windows over Linux for it’s familiarity and compatibility, but hate myself for it
Rye told me that as long as he has been watching, the top three, in order are:
1. Acer Aspire One 2. Dell Mini-Note 3. Asus Eee PC Joan also said Asus and HP, and has heard great things about the Lenovo IdeaPad S10. Lenovo and Dell Priced themselves out, since I couldn’t find anything less than $400 and really do want this to be on the cheap.
The least expensive seems to be the Asus 7″ with 512 MB RAM, a 4GB drive and Linux for $257.20 at Amazon and the 9″, which still only weighs 2# is on sale at Best Buy for only $280. I think I’ve narrowed it to 2 different 9″ Asus models, bold-faced in the chart below.
Thanks to Jepoy for this article which may make it possible for me to run Mac OS X on a netbook after all, and thanks to Neil and Christopher for answering my ignorant questions.
Another Bottles and Cans production. I poached strawberries and pears as described below, packed them into separate, sanitized jelly jars and heat processed them to give as gifts… or to eat myself on separate occasions.
1 lemon
1 750-ml bottle of ruby port
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
1/2 cup vanilla sugar (or regular sugar or honey)
6 bosc pears
1-pound strawberries
1. Prepare a large bowl with 4 cups cold water and the
juice of one lemon, reserving the rest of the lemon.
2. Combine the rest of the lemon, wine, cinnamon,
cloves and sugar in a large saucepan and bring to a boil.
3. As the poaching liquid heats, peel, and core pears and
place them in the lemon-water. Wash and stem strawberries. 4. When liquid is boiling, submerge pears and poach for 7 to 10
minutes on each side until fork-tender. Add strawberries for last 5.
5. Discard the lemon and cinnamon sticks and store
the fruit in the poachingliquid until ready to serve.
6. Boil down the liquid to a syrup before serving
with vanilla ice cream or marscapone cheese.
I get strange looks when I specify Mexican Coke while ordering at taquerias. The gawkers don’t get the difference, but the important distinction is SUGAR.
While domestic Coca-Cola is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, the south-of-the-border cola is made with pure cane sugar, which tastes better and is better for you, despite what is sort of implied in the following commercial.
Seriously, watch the video. Do they ever say one GOOD thing about corn syrup, or do they just give smug looks in response to the implication that it is bad for you and ignore the actual health implications. I also love that they need to include the phrase in moderation.
Bottles and Cans continues with Watermelon Pickles. Traditional watermelon pickles are all rind, which gets translucent and creepy, while all pink pickles are too mushy, so I make mine half-and-half. My roommate is freaking out on her boyfriend over the phone. I hope they resolve it, because she is supposed to move in with him in New York at the end of the week, and I already have a new roommate lined up.
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5 cups seedless watermelon, prepared as described below
4 cups water
¼  cup salt
1 cup white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon allspice berries
1 stalk Lemongrass, cut in 2-inch lengths
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Peel off the green layer of the watermelon and cut into 1†cubes, roughly 50/50 pink and white.
Combine water and salt in a medium, nonreactive bowl. Add the watermelon and let stand covered overnight.
In a medium saucepan, combine vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, lemongrass and ginger over medium heat.
Drain watermelon, rinse with cold water and pat dry.
When liquid begins to boil, add the watermelon. Return to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove the watermelon and place it into sterilized jars.
Return the liquid to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes more.
Pour over the fruit in the jars and seal. Process in boiling water for 15 minutes.
750-ml silver rum (one shot removed to make room)
1 whole nutmeg, quartered
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tablespoon whole cloves
2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and cut to fit in the bottle
Bottle and Cans commenced in a kitchen spattered with blood… or so it looked. It’s amazing how much carnage a clumsy man with a pan full of roasted beets can cause, but it was worth it. The resulting pickled beets are tantalizingly sweet and tangy and I’m looking forward to sampling them again with Stilton and candied walnuts.
10 medium beets
2 cups water & more for roasting
2 cups white vinegar
1 1/2 cups sugar
5 cloves garlic, peeled
2 shallots, quartered
1 teaspoon whole cloves
1 teaspoon allspice
5 dried pequin peppers
1. Roast beets in a covered baking dish in 1 inch of water at 350 for 45 minutes, or until easily pierced with fork.
2. Combine remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer for ten minutes
3. While simmering, rub the skin off the beets under cold water, trim and quarter in wedges.
4. Put beet wedges into a (sterilized if you want to preserve them) jar and pour contents of pan over them.
5. Allow to cool to room temperature before refrigerating.
I experimented with spearing olives, pearl onions, red bell pepper, cucumber and green beans on lengths of sharpened lemongrass for the Bloody Mary Skewers. I also tried skewering the ingredients with thinly sliced celery, but it got limp too quick and practically melted when I heat processed the jars. The beets were tasty after an hour, so I am excited to see what they taste like in a week. Booze is always good, whether the infusions work well or not.
Easy, tasty, fried. That’s what the holidays are all about. Below is the app I made for TSB’s family Thanksgiving, and if there is any doubt about my assertion that cooking the cranberry relish really makes the color pop, here’s photographic evidence. First from thekitchn’s article and second, the batch I made. 
