A Life, Lived

Travel Tuesdays - Thanksgiving in Sonoma

In 2014 Mom, my sister Rose, Paul and I travelled to Sonoma for a week around Thanksgiving. We flew into San Franscisco and after spending a few days there we drove north to the Russian River valley area. We rented a house in Guerneville and spent the week travelling around Sonoma. We visited an art preserve, wineries, wandered historic Sonoma, checked out the historic towns of the Russian River Valley and Fort Ross the old Russian Fort on the coast. We recreated a pic we took on our last evening in the area in 2004 on our final night - dinner at the famous Rivers End restaurant.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving

 

I hope that my fellow Canadians have a wonderful day with friends and family.

I hope that my fellow Canadians have a wonderful day with friends and family.

Orchard Martini

This is one of our favourite drinks of all times. I thought I'd re-share it with Canadian Thanksgiving coming up this weekend this would be a perfect addition to the menu.

It came into our lives in an unsuspecting way - a dingy hotel bar in the middle of nowhere on an unplanned weather related stop when we should have been in California. Cranky and dejected about being stuck in Cincinnati when San Diego would have been a much better stop we went to the hotel bar for a drink and a snack. This was the featured martini. We loved it and have consumed plenty over the years - one good thing to come out of it.

You won't find a better fall beverage than this.

 

 

 

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October 16, 2008

Orchard Martini

I've posted about this martini twice in the past few weeks. Lots of folks have asked em for the recipe - lord knows I am happy to share! I think that for Paul and I this our new favourite martini - perfect for this time of year. It tastes of apple cider - what says fall better than that?

On Monday we officially ran out of both vodka AND Pucker liqueur . . . time for a run to the liquor store!

Orchard Martini

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz sour apple liqueur (we use 'Pucker')
3 oz apple cider

Mix ingredients together with ice, shake. Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with an apple wedge or a thin cross-section slice of apple.

I've posted about this martini twice in the past few weeks. Lots of folks have asked em for the recipe - lord knows I am happy to share! I think that for Paul and I this our new favourite martini - perfect for this time of year. It tastes of apple cider - what says fall better than that?

On Monday we officially ran out of both vodka AND Pucker liqueur . . . time for a run to the liquor store!

Orchard Martini

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz sour apple liqueur (we use 'Pucker')
3 oz apple cider

Mix ingredients together with ice, shake. Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with an apple wedge or a thin cross-section slice of apple.

Orchard Martini

I've posted about this martini twice in the past few weeks. Lots of folks have asked em for the recipe - lord knows I am happy to share! I think that for Paul and I this our new favourite martini - perfect for this time of year. It tastes of apple cider - what says fall better than that?

On Monday we officially ran out of both vodka AND Pucker liqueur . . . time for a run to the liquor store!

Orchard Martini

1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz sour apple liqueur (we use 'Pucker')
3 oz apple cider

Mix ingredients together with ice, shake. Pour into a martini glass. Garnish with an apple wedge or a thin cross-section slice of apple.

Happy US Thanksgiving

Wishing my American friends a Happy Thanksgiving. Looking forward to visiting with you again and sharing good food, wine, and laughter once again when COVID is under control.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

We often serve a version of this soup as a starter for Thanksgiving Dinner. I have a recipe in my head that is more of a technique than a recipe. This year I determined to break with tradition and try following an actual recipe.

I found this recipe online at a site called Cooking With Karl as with all of these food blogs, I have no clue who Karli is but I trusted her enough to try this recipe out on my Thanksgiving Dinner guests! What tipped me to this one was it was made in the Instant Pot - it was ready in 20 minutes with prep, pressure build up, and release all included.

I modified things a bit - some purposeful and some accidental - I misread the mustard part and added dry mustard instead - it still tasted great and there was no overwhelming mustard flavour. With the cheese - Karli calls for a mix of yellow cheddar and pepper jack. With the Canada/US border closed it is hard to find pepper jack cheese. I used extra old white cheddar for the entire 2 3/4 cups.

This is a delicious soup. It comes together quickly and has a delicious flavour.

Enjoy!

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

• • 2 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 small yellow onion diced
  • 6 cups cauliflower florets approx 2lb head of cauliflower
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 tsp yellow mustard
  • 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese shredded
  • 3/4 cup pepper jack cheese shredded

Place the chicken broth, water, diced yellow onion, cauliflower florets and salt into the Instant Pot. (See post above for details on how to cut a head of cauliflower)

Cook on Manual HIGH for 4 minutes. Quick release the pressure.

Blend the cauliflower & broth mixture. This can be done by using an immersion blender or by transferring to a blender. If transferring to a blender, return to the Instant Pot after blending.

With the Instant Pot on keep warm, slowly whisk in the heavy cream.

Add the yellow mustard.

Slowly whisk in the cheese.

Taste test and add more salt if needed.

Serve immediately and garnish with extra cheese, bacon bits and chives if desired.

Stovetop Instructions: Simmer the broth, water, onion, cauliflower and salt for 15 minutes then follow directions starting on #3.

Happy Thanksgiving

Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving today.

Things are different in 2020, particularly as the COVID19 numbers surge.

One thing that has happened as a result of the pandemic is the important things in life, truly important, have been put on stark display for all of us. No one cares if the table is Instagramable or the food plated in a Pinterest way - what matters health, family, friends, and finding the precious time to laugh among the chaos.

Hope you had a wonderful day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that my fellow Canadians have a wonderful day with friends and family.

Thanksgiving 2018

We celebrated our Thanksgiving yesterday which means today we are relaxing and eating turkey sandwiches.

It has been a challenging we weeks with Paul's work schedule requiring him to work nights. Yesterday he came home from work at 6 AM. Slept a bit during the day. By 7:30 we had finished dinner and he was snoring in the big chair by the fireplace.  Today he can relax during the day but it is back to work at 10 PM. Thank goodness this is the last week.

We tend to travel a lot at this time of the year (my FB memories are full of pics from places in Ontario as well as Greece, Italy, California, Quebec, and Massachusetts.) In fact, I think we have only been home to host dinner a few times in the past decade.

It was nice to be home and enjoy some quality time with friends and family.

This year our menu consisted of:

A trio of cheeseballs
Cheddar shortbread coins
Orchard martinis

Curried sweet potato soup with apple

Turkey
Sausage stuffing
Gravy
Cranberry sauce with orange and rosemary
Boursin mashed potatoes
Brussels sprouts with pancetta and balsamic vinegar glaze
Indian summer gratin with butternut squash, potatoes, corn, and bacon
Westcott Cellars rosé

Pumpkin pie

Everything except for the brussels sprouts was cooked the day before so I just needed to warm it all up. From a entertaining perspective it was ideal - when people arrived I wasn't wiped from all of the cooking. Serving was more challenging though with all of the hot serving dishes we couldn't pass anything. In fact, our poor passing meant no one but mom and I got to try the gratin (which was delicious BTW).

If I do something similar at Christmas I think I will serve things buffet style.

That minor irritant aside, it was an amazing day full of good food and better company!

Leftover Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

It happens every Thanksgiving...

What to you do with all that leftover turkey?

I'm happy to say that I've got a solution for you right here.

This soup is a perfect 'leftover' meal that is easy to toss together.

If you're turkey day meal is anything like ours, I'm guessing post holiday that you'll have leftover celery and onion to go along with that perfectly cooked up turkey. And who wants to eat the same thing over again?

Pull out a soup pot and turn your leftover Thanksgiving into something a little different! 

Leftover Turkey and Wild Rice Soup

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped carrot
3/4 cup chopped celery
6 oz mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons flour
4 cups turkey stock (or chicken stock)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup wild rice
2 1/2 cups chopped leftover turkey
1/4 cup half and half
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

In a large stock pot, melt the butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook about 10 minutes until onions are soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook about 5 minutes more.

Add the flour and cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes until flour is brown and cooked through.

Add the turkey stock, soy sauce, and bay leaf. Stir to break up any flour bits. Turn the heat up to medium-high and bring soup to a boil. Turn heat back down to medium and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Add wild rice and simmer for 35 minutes.

Add turkey, milk, thyme, salt and pepper. Cook for 20 minutes more.

Serve soup in large bowls and garnish with extra thyme if desired. I love to eat this soup with a leftover roll slathered in cranberry sauce!