So wintertime has hit Seattle full throttle, and it's hard to stay warm. This little number helps. It's the Loopy Velez cowl from Stitch 'n Bitch, and it's a little hard to wear in public. I'm tempted to glue on googly eyes and run around the mall like a muppet on parole. I like wearing it when watching TV - I arrange it so only my wee eyes are exposed, and that's just about perfect.

Brrrrr...

Well, Thanksgiving was a success chez Pensive Frog! The guajillo-tamarind turkey turned out quite nice, though the sweet-n-tangy gravy was a bit of a surprise. A good surprise, but very different than your typical gravy. We made the leftovers into turkey colorado, which is currently chillin' in the fridge waiting for me to make a batch of flour tortillas. For now, I'll leave you with the formula for the evening's aperitif - the Ruby Cocktail (taken from the Dec 2004 issue of Sunset magazine). Place a sugar cube in the bottom of a champagne flute, add 2 T pomegranate juice, then fill the flute with champagne or some other sparkling wine. Stir, and voila!

Okay, now a brief hiatus from chopping and cooking and baking (oh my!). I'm trying to think of quick, nice knitted holiday gifts, and I was thinking that ribbed hats would be a cinch. I'm really pleased with how my Kureyon Kap turned out, but the wool is too itchy for most people, I think. So, Noro Silk Garden has the same cool color effects, and the same yardage/gauge as Kureyon. But I can't find any info about the softness of this yarn! Has anyone out there used Silk Garden? Is it soft enough to be used as a hat or scarf? Wool Needlework Discounters has a great price for Silk Garden, so I think this would be an inexpensive, hopefully appreciated, gift for lots of people on my list.

Since I can't find any of the snaps I've taken of my previous pies, here's a bit of calm before the storm. This photo was taken a few weeks ago on Rainier Vista Way on the University of Washington campus.

Anyway, today is the final chapter of my Thanksgiving treats trilogy. Last but not least, the pie. This year I'm making pumpkin and pecan pies. Pecan pies were never part of my family's traditional table, but other people like them, so I've adopted the sticky, tasty tradition. The recipe comes from Mark Bittman's tome How to Cook Everything, which is an excellent resource for basic and fancy recipes alike. It's custard-based rather than corn-syrup based, so it's decadently sweet rather than teeth charringly sucrose-y. The pumpkin pie will be a new recipe this year, from Maida Heatter's Pies and Tarts. The recipe calls for an interesting array of spices, including black pepper and mace but no cinnamon! In past years, I've made Martha Stewart's Maple Pumpkin Pie, which is also quite good. And to think, when I was growing up, we always just made the recipe from the back of the can of pumpkin - which was always verrrry tasty itself. I've come to the conclusion that it's nearly impossible to mess up pumpkin pie. Okay, time to start the preparations. I'm sorry that none of these recipes are available online - but I'm sure these books are available either at your library or local bookshop. Cold comfort, indeed! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Ah, the serenity of fall

First things first, here's the link to the caramelized onion roast turkey I mentioned yesterday.

Today's entry is a salute to the bottom of the food pyramid - carbohydrates! Here's a cavalade of my most beloved starchy side dishes, including sweet potatoes, stuffing, and rolls. My roasted sweet potato recipe comes from Bon Appetit, and if you look at this recipe on Epicurious, pay no attention to the reviewer who says to cut down on the butter. She be insane. The butter melts with honey and lemon juice to form a delectable, plate-lick-inducing glaze. All right, cut it down to 4T if you must.

I cook my stuffing outside the bird, using the bread chunks and recipe provided by the Grand Central Bakery. The recipe comes on the back of the bag, but is also available on their website, God bless 'em. A few more steps than your basic Stove Top, but infinitely better, especially with toasted pecans (and I do like Stove Top...). You could probably substitute any toasted bread chunks from crusty, artisan-type loaves.

My favorite roll recipe is actually a "Top Secret" recipe that duplicates the wheat bread served at Outback Steakhouse. (I leave out the food coloring called for in the recipe). This slightly-sweet bread can either be shaped into 8 oblong rolls or 32 round dinner rolls. The recipe calls for cocoa powder and instant coffee, which makes the finished product very complex and tasty. Caveat - there's something a little off with this recipe - I always end up adding lots more flour than called for, but it always turns out great!

I'm skipping the mashed potatoes this year because we only have four dinner attendees, and I can never get those taters to stay hot anyhow. If anyone has a killer mashed potato recipe or a foolproof method of keeping them hot, please share!

I'm taking a brief hiatus from knitting content this week, as I begin my preparations for our big Thanksgiving feast. I'll post information about my plans for a different dish each day - today, the turkey! I've put in my turkey order at Larry's Market - their birds have treated us well in the past. Since I first started cooking Thanksgiving dinner three years ago, I've brined the turkey overnight in a saline solution recommended by Alton Brown, who usually has his head on straight when it comes to cooking (except for his pizza dough recipe - utterly bonkers). Anyway, in previous years, I've roasted the turkey according to a great Bon Appetit recipe, in which you roast the turkey atop a bed of thinly sliced onions, yielding a wonderfully rich caramelized onion gravy. And I used to be very anti-gravy before I discovered this recipe. Always on the lookout for something new, I spotted a very interesting recipe in Sunset magazine - a guajillo chile and tamarind-glazed turkey. I usually turn turkey leftovers into spicy turkey colorado (turkey stewed in ground dried chiles, stock, spices, and garlic), so why not have a southwestern kick for the main event?

Setting the table

Okay, let's put on our thinking caps, and see if we can figure out what's really going on with all those people on Lost. Lynette had the optimistic thought that everyone is already dead, and are just manifestations of one person's psyche, a la Identity. There also seems to be a little Life of Pi vibe going on. I have a theory about the previous history of the island: a long time ago, a French-Canadian circus ship was marooned on the island, and all the polar bears and elephants escaped and had a grand old time trampling the jungle and being non sequiturs. Sadly, all the humans affiliated with the circus died. But, this would explain the Frenchwoman's distress transmission, as well as all those leotards that keep washing up on shore. Well, that hasn't happened yet, but give it time. Does anyone else have any ideas?