For Thanksgiving this year (and every year since the beginning of time), we visited my parents. Here are the highlights of the dinner.
For an appetizer, my brother prepared a ceviche of fresh caught (the prior weekend) Pacific red snapper and sculpin with key lime, tomato, and cilantro.
Pumpkin and zucchini breads.
22 pound turkey before and after baking,
,and carved.
In addition to the turkey, we had a roast beef.
Mashed potatoes.
Cranberry sauce.
Grilled mushroom, red and yellow peppers, and asparagus.
My mom's wonderful stuffing, loaded with mushrooms.
Gravy
Roast yam.
Full spread. Lots of leftovers.
The first plate.
Wally also had his share of turkey.
To drink, we had Dancing Bull Zinfandel and Glenlivet Scotch. The Dancing Bull is one of my favorite cheap Zins.
For dessert, pumpkin and apple pie, of course.
I prepared double-chocolate orange ice cream. It was not quite as good as the previous cherry version.
Later, we made mulled wine. We heated a magnum of merlot and rum with the following whole spices: cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and nutmeg. Mulled wine is great on a cold night and this was one of the better batches I've had.
Thanksgiving food isn't the most exciting food in the world, but its nice to return once in a while return to old favorites.
I was long over due for another dinner party. This time we had a much more varied menu than last time.
For the appetizer, we had smoked yellowfin tuna. It was good, but I prefer non-smoked.
Homemade bread.
I've been enjoying Moroccon food a lot lately and prepared a tagine. Tagine refers both to the special clay cooking vessel as well as the dish. This version, based on a recipe from Paul Wolfert's Food of Morocooinvolved lamb, preserved lemon, olive spinach, zucchini, and onion. Spices included salt, pepper, turmeric, coriander, and paprika. It was slow cooked for about 3 hours. A tagine works much like a pressure cooker. The steam rises to the top of the conical lid, condenses, and falls back into the base. Here's a short video of it cooking:
I was very happy with the results. the lamb was ultra tender and the whole dish was very flavorful.
One friend prepared a butternut squash risotto. Sometimes this dish can be too sweet, but this was well balanced.
Another prepared a salad of homemade paneer, avocado and squash. Very light, and a good contract to the rest of the dishes.
All of the dish together (including slight over cooked roasted potatoes).
Not pictured is the double chocolate cherry ice cream I made. I started with a standard ice cream base and added cocoa powder and cherry vodka. Finally, I melted dock chocolate chips and drizzled the liquid chocolate into the ice cream maker during the last few minutes of freezing. I'm not a fan of chocolate, but the results were excellent.
The night's wines:
The Cruz Alba cabernet from Argentina was very reserved and not as bold as a typical California cabernet. The Luisi Barbera D'Asti was as good as last time. The Tokaji, a Hungarian dessert wine, was very good. It was viscus with a lot of tropical fruit flavors and not too sweet.
I'd heard a good amount of buzz about this festival over the last couple of years but hadn't attended before. Tickets were $60, including unlimited food and drink.
The festival was divided into a few sections. Inside the hotel was one room where most of the food was being served and the various shows and demonstrations occurred. Next to it was the sake tasting room. Upstairs on the hotel's well landscaped roof was another area where food requiring cooking was being served. Of course, there was the obligatory taiko performance.
Generous portions of iced green tea were distributed for non-alcoholic needs. This was much needed since it was a very hot day.
Cold soba noodles.
Sukiyaki.
Karaage chicken weings.
Chicken and onions over rice.
Ramen. For some reason this was being served outside. I skipped it because of the heat.
One of the show's major selling points was undoubtedly the limitless sushi.
About 10 chefs were working nonstop throughout the show to keep the sushi supply flowing. A tthe beginning, the line was massive, but it dwindled soon enough n and you could easily walk right up and take all the sushi you wanted.
Sushi included embi (shrimp), shiromi (snapper), maguro (tuna), ikura (salmon roe), ika (squid), hamachi (yellowtail), uni (sea urchin), sake (salmon), and tuna rolls. It was all decent quality considering the setting. The squid stood out most to me as being particularly good. Plus you can't go wrong with unlimited uni.
The main event was the filleting of a 200 pound bluefin tuna.
Here's a video of the action. My apologies for the creative camera work:
Obviously very skilled.
Afterward, they sliced and served the tuna as sushi. Very good, but I sadly missed out on the toro.
Live music on the roof.
Among the dishes offered on the roof were these takoyaki, or Japanese octopus balls. Essentially, they are friend balls of batter with ginger, green onions, and octupus. They are served with Kewpie mayonnaise and shaved bonito. I thought these were among the best that I've had. Also fun to watch the preparation.
Two varieties of tempura were offered, shrimp and some sort of small, whole fish. The shrimp were good, but I thought the fish tempura was the first bite of the event. When I asked what sort of fish they used, I was simply told white fish. It certainly wasn't any sort of fish that would be described as white fish at a sushi bar. Here's a video of the fryer:
Onto desserts:
Ice cream, available in green tea, azuki bean, and black sesame (shown).
There was quite a bit more than shown, actually. I've certainly developed more of a taste for sake. Sake is nearly as varied as wine, ranging from ultra dry to ultra sweet. There was also a few plum wines and shochus.
I have mixed feeling about this event. First of all, the rooms for the food and sake were way too small. At the beginning you could barely move around in the food room. Eventually, the scene calmed down as many people moved to the roof where the beer was being served. However, it still created an uncomfortable environment and made me question the price . However, the food and drinks were good, and its hard to complain about all you can eat good quality sushi. Early this year, I went to the Japanese Food and Sake Collection show, which I thought had much better organization. Still, I had a good time once the crowds thinned.
