- Cooking up a storm in the kitchen with my sister (which 99% of the time is the equivalent of a really serious singing and dancing session)
- Being home with my family, seeing old friends
- Catching up on sleep, lounging around on the couch
- Putting up the Christmas tree!
- The prospect of snow coming down any day now
- Christmas cheer
- No real-life drama, only Japanese/Taiwanese dramas teehee
- My own bed, kitchen, and bathroom
- Christmas music!
- Fall foliage
This year's Thanksgiving was quite a great success! Even though we feared that our house would explode aftercramming 40+ people into our house, it actually worked out rather nicely, since we opened up the porch and opened the window between the porch and the living room (whoaa I basically have no recollection of that ever happening), and naturally the kids gravitated into the family room whereas the adults were dispersed among the porch and living room. Like every year, my sister and I ran the danger of not having the food done by the time the guests arrived (since she always has an insane number of dishes to make), but I found out how ridiculously efficient I can be, which is surprising seeing how I was running on practically no sleep (by my standards). Though I was initially heartbroken at the absence of green bean casserole and sweet potato yams (my signature dishes), I as comforted by the adventure of trying out new dishes. Having been designated to cook 7 dishes, I was like "How the heck am I going to finish all of these?!" But it all worked out, and I even found time to wash dishes in between (which, as anyone that's ever cooked with me can attest to, it's like WOW).
However, with inexperience comes a lot more room for failure, and though everything I made was edible, there was definitely room for improvement. My yam biscuits were pretty good, though when you first bite into them, the yam flavor is very faint....next time I can probably use more than a cup of yam. The orange-scented string beans with almonds were a littttle undercooked, but I blame that on Anita, who said that they were fine. The wild mushrooms and spinach had a little too much dried sherry for my taste, and somehow had ended up on the dessert table and discovered only after everyone had stuffed themselves silly. But our guest this morning enjoyed it and even got second helpings, so I guess it wasn't awful. The heirloom potatoes with pecans and arugula were pretty good in my opinion, but wasn't as popular as I had thought. Maybe people didn't realize that the purple things were potatoes? But it means more for me! Yummy =). The apple sausage stuffing was not really stuffing, but still pretty delicious nonetheless. Definitely ate a lot of that before the guests came. The cranberry-apple chutney was alright, a little heavy on the cranberry, or it would've been better if it was paired with something (maybe I can add it to cous cous, which I now know how to make?). The cranberry sauce was pretty good, but it's hard to go wrong with that. The pasta with potatoes weren't bad, though I felt that the pasta part itself was a little dry, and since I've never made pasta without tomato sauce, it was a good learning experience for me.
Though I was admittedly a tad reluctant to test out new dishes, it probably made me a better chef overall...so thanks Anita! =D
