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Will not include a turkey. I’ll be cooking a meal for my side of the family on Saturday, two days after Thanksgiving. We’ll be spending Thanksgiving Day at my sister-in-law’s with her Dutch in-laws where there will be a turkey and lots of other goodies. Large families in different states (and countries) require that we split the holiday into two meals/occasions. This turns out to be a wonderful thing. I get to host one of the meals, which I love to do, and just show up for the other. Then of course there’s twice the mashed potatoes and desserts…
I decided not to make a turkey since everyone will still be probably eating their leftovers from Thanksgiving Day. And because Anuj wanted to try something different.
So what will I be making the Saturday after Thanksgiving? I recently got my hands on a secret family recipe from our neighbor in Harlem for this:
Brisket!
I’m salivating just thinking of the version our friends made a few weeks ago and have so graciously offered to pass the recipe along. I’ve never made a brisket and I’m a bit nervous. It takes a lot of time and prep and you end up with either a delicious, juicy brisket, or dry airline food. It seems there’s no in between. My neighbor has promised to walk us through the recipe step by step. I’ll be taking copious notes.
Now I’ve just got to assemble some dishes. Any ideas?
(Photo epicurious.com)
A dozen peeled and sliced apples (rome, cortland, macintosh, golden delicious)…
layered with cinnamon and piled high…
topped with brown sugar, flour, more cinnamon and cold butter.
40 minutes later…
seven (going on eight) days of gluttony.
Apartment Therapy’s food site The Kitchn has a lovely feature on Berkshire County resident and gardener extraordinaire Margaret Roach’s kitchen. It’s cozy, homy (homey?) and filled with personal treasures.
I think I can smell the fresh tomato sauce coming through my monitor.
Check out her vegetable garden.
If you live in the area, you may have seen it yourself in August as part of this.
Fall festivals are in full swing, and the leaves are near peak color. The air is crisp and cool, fresh apple cider’s in the fridge, I’m even wearing flannel. This all means it is officially my favorite time of the year.
Two weeks ago we did our first apple picking of the season at Golden Harvest Farms. No baked goods came of it – just some tart, sweet snacks for the next week – but rest assured there are more apples to come, and hopefully a crisp, crumble or even pie along with them.
If the apples look a little worse for wear, they are. The area was hit with a bad hale storm which damaged a lot of them. There were still good ones to be found – you just had to venture deeper into the orchard and push through some layers of branches to find them.
Marketplace Kitchen, a catering company and cafe based in Sheffield, Mass is opening a second cafe in Pittsfield. It will be located on the ground level of the new movie theater that’s coming to North Street in November, a month ahead of schedule.
This news has me very excited for several reasons:
1. Pittsfield needs more businesses dedicated to local talents and resources.
2. The website makes specific mention of wanting a place where food could be enjoyed with friends and good tunes. (italics mine)
3. The cafe uses local ingredients and green products whenever possible. They even take suggestions.
4. They have a philosophy that includes providing wholesome food with a smile, a passion for food and fun, and working toward a healthy palette and planet.
5. Having a place to pick up fresh baklava before a movie is never a bad thing.
6. Having a place to pick up tarts, eclairs and artisanal cheeses after a movie (or for that matter, whenever the hell you feel like it) is occasionally a bad thing, but never discouraged.
7. They even offer cooking classes.
Some things remain to be seen such as how expensive it will be, but I’m happy to welcome them to this part of the county and look forward to checking it out in November when they open.
wow. now our grocery store has made the New York Times.
Does this mean it’s going to get more crowded? Or more expensive? I hope not. As it is, buying ingredients for one meal for Anuj and I costs more than going out. We justify the cost as our commitment to our health, and our contribution to local farmers (pats self on back even as self’s checking account chokes). That, and Shop n Shop’s meats are just too unappetizing to consider.
I am glad to see the artist-slash-landscape gardener getting recognition for her “exquisitely rendered” work. Somehow I never considered there was someone putting so much care and creativity into delivering the pricing on this week’s produce. It’s nice to know – I’ll pay more attention now.
