Pleasegiving, Orphan Thanksgiving, Yourwelcomesgiving and Market Journal

I spent the first half of this week with an absurd cold, and slowly rallied enough to attend three food-related gatherings this week.

Wednesday evening held forth a Mexican feast and Beatles Rock Band, hosted by friends up the street. I thought my fake instrument was drums, but I now fancy fake bass. Perhaps next time I will try “medium.”

I was going to drive home for Thanksgiving, but me finishing up being sick and my parents getting sick precluded that. Instead I had a proper Orphan Thanksgiving with my friend Patti and her family (husband, mom, and dog), complete with dilly beans and Patti’s famous biscuits. I also got to try ABC’s Terminator, which Patti had kindly brought home in a growler.

On Friday, I attended Yourwelcomesgiving with other friends in town. A mixup at the co-op made us the recipients of not the ordered 14-pound turkey, but a 25-pound turkey. I had never seen such a turkey outside of film and Norman Rockwell prints. Delicious and absurd. A communal effort resulted in two kinds of potatoes, roasted root veggies, brussels sprouts, tofurkey casserole, two kinds of cranberry sauce, fruit and thyme sorbet, two kinds of stuffing, and of course turkey. I contributed pumpkin bread and snickerdoodles. That particular crowd always has an amazing array of homemade and carefully selected booze: this time we had some local beer, some red wines, and homemade mead.

A sad tale about the pumpkin bread. I combined two recipes, for the bread and filling respectively, but didn’t think of the results of a liquid center in a 9×5 inch pan. The 7×3 pan turned out fine, but the larger loaf vomited liquid cream cheese mixture all over the cooling rack when I tried to turn it out. Lesson learned: small pans.

Today I went to the market and got the following:

• a generous quart each of beets and potatoes: $3.50
• 2 garlic bulbs: $2
• a dozen fresh eggs: $2.50
• a quart of Winesap apples: $2.50
• a giant bunch of kale: $3.75

I also went to Sparrow and got a pork chop and a couple of their awesome lamb/herb sausages.

Long story short, this week I inadvertently got a much-needed break (even if part of it involved snot). I made some decisions about future plans that I’m feeling pretty good about. And ate a lot of food.

Market Journal

A few weeks ago my friend transiit attended the 2009 Alternative Press Expo (APE) in Southern California. I had noticed that the woman behind one of my favorite little online delights My Milk Toof was going to be there with books, and I asked if he could get me one. transiit and I talk about food a lot, so in lieu of cash he asked if I’d keep a journal of things I buy at the local farmers’ market to exchange.

My attendance at the market was limited for a while (that whole crutches thing for all of September and part of October), but I’ve recently gotten back in the swing of strolling over to Kerrytown on Saturdays. I’m going to package the journal in some nice way for mailing, but for now I thought it might be interesting to just list out what I’ve gotten since starting the journal. (Today was a particularly nice haul, I think.

October 17

• “spicy” greens seasonal salad mix: $2
• head of green cabbage: $1
• quart of sweet onions: $2
• quart of Yukon gold potatoes: $3
• jar of bay leaves: $3*
• about a pound of hanger steaks: $7.50*

October 31

two garlic bulbs, three shallots, and a lime: $2.15*

November 14

• haruki turnips with greens: $2.75
• kale: $2
• quart of purple Viking potatoes: $4
• dozen eggs: $2.50
• cup of coffee: $2
• giant plantain tamale with raisins and sauce and a side of cabbage salad: $4

*These were cheating a bit; I got them at Sparrow’s, right next to the Market.