Minimalist Thanksgiving is great!
I made lots of yummy food, we had a civilised sit-down dinner, but we didn't make a big deal of it. It was great. superduckgirl drove up from Provo to spend the holiday with us, and so it was just the three of us. superduckgirl and I went into Seattle today, because it was gorgeous out, and I figured we oughtn't just hope the weather will hold, what with this being Seattle and all. I happen to work in the tallest building in Seattle. It's a whole lot taller than the Space Needle, which charges $16 for a ride up to what can't be quite as good a view as the one from my office. So we wandered around the firm, looking for different views from different conference rooms. superduckgirl took some pictures. Unfortunately, the mountain wasn't really out today. It was really clear, but the mountain was lurking in some clouds; I don't know where it got them. superduckgirl commented that it looked like it was pretending to be a volcano, to which I responded that it was because it is a volcano, and one day it will erupt, boiling us all in mud. Then we went to Mercer Island, and found a park with a beach. We saw some black waterfowl sunning themselves on the posts that mark off the swimming area. We don't know what they were. They weren't ducks or geese, at least not any breeds with which we're familiar.
When we got home, superduckgirl took a nap, and I assembled stuffing. Nothing too exciting, just basic bread stuffing. I bought a rosemary Christmas tree last week, so I had lots of fresh rosemary on hand. I made a very simple cranberry sauce: a bag and a half of cranberries, a cup of unloved Shiraz, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, a splash of Cointreau, two cinnamon sticks, and a tablespoon of mulling spices in a teabag. We also had yummy mashed potatoes and curried butternut squash soup. I don't have an immersion blender, and really didn't feel like dealing with getting out the regular blender, so I got superduckgirl to mince half an onion very finely for me. I think I ended up using a whole stick of butter to sauté the onion. Then I added maybe a cup of dry white wine, and a 2-cup-sized veggie bouillion cube. I don't know how much squash I had, maybe four cups? It was already baked, so I just had to mush it up, and add water a cup at a time till I liked the consistency. For spices, I used Maharajah Style Curry Powder (which contains saffron), Sweet Curry Powder, Fenugreek, Cayenne Pepper, and Ceylon Cinnamon. We served the soup over brown and wild rice.
It was really nice just having the three of us. I did a lot of cooking (and the stack of dishes in the kitchen is a little daunting), but I didn't get up at the crack of dawn to do it, and no one was stressed about it.
After dinner, we watched Ratatouille, which is just a fabulous movie. It was a good holiday.
When we got home, superduckgirl took a nap, and I assembled stuffing. Nothing too exciting, just basic bread stuffing. I bought a rosemary Christmas tree last week, so I had lots of fresh rosemary on hand. I made a very simple cranberry sauce: a bag and a half of cranberries, a cup of unloved Shiraz, 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup water, a splash of Cointreau, two cinnamon sticks, and a tablespoon of mulling spices in a teabag. We also had yummy mashed potatoes and curried butternut squash soup. I don't have an immersion blender, and really didn't feel like dealing with getting out the regular blender, so I got superduckgirl to mince half an onion very finely for me. I think I ended up using a whole stick of butter to sauté the onion. Then I added maybe a cup of dry white wine, and a 2-cup-sized veggie bouillion cube. I don't know how much squash I had, maybe four cups? It was already baked, so I just had to mush it up, and add water a cup at a time till I liked the consistency. For spices, I used Maharajah Style Curry Powder (which contains saffron), Sweet Curry Powder, Fenugreek, Cayenne Pepper, and Ceylon Cinnamon. We served the soup over brown and wild rice.
It was really nice just having the three of us. I did a lot of cooking (and the stack of dishes in the kitchen is a little daunting), but I didn't get up at the crack of dawn to do it, and no one was stressed about it.
After dinner, we watched Ratatouille, which is just a fabulous movie. It was a good holiday.