Gobble gobble recap

So, the Big Day is behind us and all can return to normal (ish) until Christmas. Now seems like a good time to recap my dad's visit to California, Turkey Day itself, and maybe name off a few things I'm thankful for this year.
Dad was in town for about ten days total -- the first few due to a talk that he was giving at the Science and Society conference at UC Berkeley, and then he stuck around for Thanksgiving, too. We had a swell time -- a lot of eating and shopping (two of my very favorite things, as you all well know). We ate at Liasion on my recommendation, and it was just as good the second time around. I had to-die-for French onion soup followed by roast chicken, plus we had some oysters to share. I capped it out with tart tatin. Yum. Throughout the week we also hit up Scoma's, ordered some good California Chinese food (very hard to come by in Texas), visited a brew pub and an old school diner in Berkeley, and dad cooked three nights -- beef stroganoff, chicken almond, and mac and cheese -- all favorite dishes of mine from childhood. Oh boy, did we eat well.

I'm so excited

And I just can't hide it! Today has been a fabulous start to November, I have to say. First of all, I stopped at Starbucks this morning and they had their seasonal red cups out already! An official cue to the holiday season, in my book. Plus they were featuring peppermint mochas! *Picture me doing a crazy happy dance right now* It was delicious -- because you know I ordered one! Plus I picked up Rod Stewart's new Christmas CD, aptly named "Merry Christmas, Baby," and it is excellent -- two thumbs up. But all of this is just build up to the really excellent news -- both my parents are coming out to California for Thanksgiving! I could not be more thrilled by this news.

We'd originally discussed something similar a few months back, but that was before my grandmother got really sick and things got all screwed up. I, of course, have been stressing about this for weeks already, and for awhile there, things were looking kind of bleak. But alas! By some miracle, everything has worked out exactly how I wanted it to, and I'll be hosting Thanksgiving for my whole family this year. Its been three Thanksgivings since we were all together, what with me on the East Coast and the brother here in Cali. I am just so pleased that we're all going to be together, and that I get to cook us all a fantastic meal. And now I have to get back to planning said meal...

Happy November!

An Offical Recipe -- yay!

Dutch Baby a.k.a. “Puffed Pancake”

Ingredients: 4 eggs
1 cup flour
I cup milk
Freshly grated nutmeg
Butter

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 425. As it preheats, take a glass baking dish or pie plate, add a dusting of nutmeg, and a good helping of butter (2-4 tablespoons). Put the dish in the warming oven to melt the butter and warm the dish.
Meanwhile, blend the eggs for a minute or so, until they get pale and frothy. While the blender is still going, slowly add the milk, then the flour. Blend well.
Carefully remove the hot pan from the oven and quickly pour in the eggs mixture (the melted butter will move throughout the mixture, and some will pool on top - this is okay). Bake for 20-25 minutes, until puffy and golden (try to avoid opening the oven while baking). Slice, and serve with a variety of topping - maple syrup, berries, or simply lemom juice with some powdered sugar are all good choices. I recently tried a version that sprinkled slivered almonds into the batter right before it went into the oven, and topped the finished product with jam. The almonds added an unexpected crunch to the dish that was very yummy. I used an apricot/peach jam, which kind of melted when I spread it on the hot pancake -- really yummy!

Note: this recipe is easy to portion depending on how much you need. 1 egg = ¼ cup each of milk and flour.
Other info: This dish is vegetarian, but not vegan. It can easily be made with all local products (milk, butter, and eggs from a local farm, King Arthur flour, and, of course, VT Maple Syrup).

This dish is adapted from a recipe in Molly Wizenberg, author of A Homemade Life and the Oranegtte blog. My mom and I love to make Dutch Babies, and sometimes I make one for dinner two (or even three) times in one week. It's funny, because even though we now live 2,000 miles apart, we'll often talk in the evening to discover that we both made a Dutch Baby for dinner that night!