Ausgezeichnetes

On this whole "holiday weekend" thing; so far, so good. I do have to buckle down and get a lot of work done, but, you know, when don't I have too much shit to do? Ada experienced the full spa treatment (a cut, bleaching and a custom dye-job) for the low-low price of some excellent Masaman curry at the Thai place near Cruftlabs. I got a haircut that actually required me giving someone else money and picked up some new cold-weather gear. There was some tireswinging and hanging out with Chuck, Feldmeier and Jedediah in there. And I visited the lovely Mich at her place of caffeinated employment. All that's left is, you know, everything else that needs doing. And it started snowing. Winter is coming; prepare by setting snares for your Thanksgiving-fattened neighbors to ensure a constant and plentiful food supply. The strong must survive!

From Thanksgiving proper, before my journey to DangerGiving, Lifton, Tam, Chris, Thai and Jim (et. al.) -- which is to say "we, the bringers of the Senior Haus feast" -- went through a few handy innovation cycles. It happens when you're mickeying up food for 70 (you read right). As is by now traditional, I made brined turkey and pierogi. The exception was that, this time, I rolled out dough as fast as I could and about 7 people vied for the painful priviledge of actually making the peirogi. By hand, with forks! Engineers are masochists, but it really r0x0red on the labor-intensive polish food front. Anyhow, as a return to innovation, we had to come up with something original to serve with the squash. Check this out:

Orange Cranberry Stuffing

1. peel a few oranges and limes (3:1 or more). cut the peels into short, thin strips.
2. boil peels for 20-30 minutes; drain. that vegetable-esque smell is the lime peel.
3. boil up some simple syrup ++ (2 cups water, 2.5 cups sugar)
4. add peels
5. wait 15 minutes
6. add two packages of fresh cranberries (680 grams for those at home)
7. boil for 10 minutes
8. lightly smash cranberries with a blunt object; drain.
9. combine 50% of the mass of the cranberries worth of real steel-cut oats (not that Quaker nastiness) with two** egg yolks and the skinless, segmented bits of those peeled oranges (ditch the limes)
10. melt half a stick of butter in a pan
11. add 2 small/medium, finely chopped onions to the butter; salt a bit; saute
12. add about 2-3 finely chopped sticks of celery to the onions; saute a wee bit
13. combine that orangeggy-oat mix, the cranpeel goodness and the buttery celeronions
14. add a pinch of salt, a dash of pepper and about a teaspoon of allspice
15. stop looking skeptical. this stuff is xmal approved, dude.
16. mix it up good.
17. stuff it in some squash. bake according to squash instructions.


** Our cranberry:oats ratio was secretly only 4:1 so we just used one egg.

Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time to rock out! l8r.