beryl’s Neighborhood

This was the holiday...

Table

I made these cute little placecards that look like wheat sheaths, which ended up taking a lot longer than I thought, but I can use them again eventually.

Here's the day's menu. I did end up dropping one dish mainly due to time constraints (the green beans). I took Wednesday off to prepare, but it still ended up taking a little longer than I thought.

Menu

My turkey process was very simple - easiest part of the meal. I brined the turkey in saltwater for six hours, patted it dry, then let it air dry in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours -- that gets the skin super crispy. It took about 2.5 hours to cook, starting breast-side down for 45 minutes, then each wing side for 15 minutes, then the breast up for 30 minutes, basting with melted butter on each turn.

Turkey

Turkey2

I just got through all the turkey leftovers, upon making a turkey tetrazzini the other night. And the bones made a bunch of rich turkey stock.

Here's some cranberry grappa jelly that I made. I wanted a homemade version of the canned jellied cranberry sauce. Everyone else seemed to prefer the whole berry cranberry sauce, but there's still a place in my heart for the jellied. The dish wasn't hard to make, but a little time-consuming because you have to strain it, and let it set in the fridge for several hours.

Cranberrygrappajelly

Brusselssprouts

This Thanksgiving, the honey learned how to carve a turkey from my mom:

Lucarving

Here's the family grabbing some food -

Buffet

then sitting down at the table...

Fam

And the honey and I when it was all done... whew...

Us

Here's a review for your North County residents. Leucadia Sushi is located on North Coast Highway, north of restaurants such as Jamroc and Cap'n Keno. Basically, where Leucadia really gets funky - not in a bad way, but in a decidedly low-brow, relaxed way. On a side note, I've been wanting to visit Cap'n Keno, for the hell of it. Spaghetti dinners are $2.95. I'm not expecting much, but it's intriguing.

I had a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com for Leucadia Sushi so we decided to try it last night when I was sick of turkey leftovers. It was empty except for a group of 4-5 diners, but I think it may be a new restaurant. Here's what it looks like; it's one of those sushi boat places.

LeucadiaSushi_outside

LeucadiaSushi_inside

The sushi was pretty cheap (around $4 for two pieces of nigiri), and a fairly decent quality considering the price. It definitely can't compare to nicer places like Sushi Ota, Station Sushi, Tomiko or Tajima... but if you're looking for someplace cheap, this is better than your typical cheap joint in, say, P.B.

Overall, I'd say it could be an ok happy hour spot if it attracts some more business. There's a coupon on their website, and of course, you can get a gift certificate off Restaurant.com.  The honey and I ended up paying about $28 after the coupon,  including tip, two teas, 4 orders of nigiri, and 3 rolls.

The restaurant doesn't offer enough to make me want to come back, because I'd prefer to hit the Tomiko happy hour, which is in Encinitas, which would end up being slightly more expensive, but much better sushi and a much better ambience.

The final word
(1-5 rating:  1=BAD, 2=mediocre at best, 3=ok, 4=wow, pretty good!, 5=one of my all-time favorites)

Food (Taste, Quality): 2.7
Value: 3.4
Service: 4
Ambience: 2
Memorable Experience: 2
Price: around $4 for nigiri, and $7-14 for rolls.
Menu recommendations: I liked the salmon nigiri and the albacore. The tuna wasn't very good. Their dynamite dishes had too much creamy mayo-like sauce.
Notes:
Would I make a point to go again, paying full price?:  Probably not, given the other better sushi places that are closer. 

Hey guys,
Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!

I've probably mentioned before that I really like Restaurant.com. They sell $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10, and they often have 80% off sales, so I usually buy the $25 cert for $2. Deal!

They're having this nice little promotion now.  I can enter up to 30 friends' email addresses and they'll send you a free $10 gift certificate.  (Of course, expect to be getting emails from them.... that's why I use my spam email address).  But they're not that frequent.

So, if you'd like the free gift certificate, let me know. If I don't already have your email address, private message me with it.

Much love,
HapaLove

Hey all my wonderful neighbors,

Happy Thanksgiving!  I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday, have much to be thankful for, and are close to family and friends... if not physically, at least in spirit.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... I just love the togetherness of sitting around the table, and of course you all know my thing with food. :)  This year is extra special for me, because it's my first year hosting my family. I am really enjoying all the cooking, because I've always wanted to do all these recipes my way. And I'm thankful for getting a break from traveling this year. No traffic!

I'm thankful for all of you... I've been on Vox for a couple years now, and it's been a hoot. The interactions have been great and even resulted in a couple of "real life" friendships. And, I'm happy to say, my Vox has been pretty much Internet-weirdo-free. I enjoy hearing what's happening in all y'alls lives, and I hope you're having a terrific weekend.

My present to myself this Thanksgiving - taking today off. It takes all the stress out of the prep. Ah, what a fine day.

During the past couple of years, the honey and I have been trying to shift our priorities a little bit and focus on eating good food. I'm not boycotting any particular kind of food, or non-organic, or anything like that, but in general, we've put a little more of our budget towards buying locally grown vegetables and pastured meat and dairy products from pastured animals when we can.

Now, it's a lot easier to do this in southern California than in most areas. California, I think, is really the land of milk and honey. We have access to a broad diversity of food year-round. So, why not take advantage of this bounty, I figure.

The growing local food/slow food movement has been great, in terms of broadening our access to these foods. It's easier now than ever before to find a farmer's market, get a CSA subscription, find out what's in your food both at the grocery store and in restaurants. I hope that this translates into the passing of a better food safety bill. I also hope that market forces can shape the future of our food system. Already, we are starting to see a rapidly growing market for ranchers that produce pastured meat, and local farmers. I think that's great.

Over the last couple years in particular, I've learned that cooking is an art that one can never master. Even the world's best chefs haven't mastered every type of cuisine - it's just impossible. There's always something to learn in cooking. And yet, simple cooking is always pleasureful. Just taking a few really good ingredients and making a simple dinner is sometimes the most satisfying activity I can think of. In Italy more than anywhere else, they get that.

Cooking and sharing good food, to me, is also a vehicle for friendship and love. Sharing thoughts and experiences over a home cooked meal is a wonderful way to deepen a connection with someone. Cooking for someone is a very tangible, gratifying way to show my friends and family that I care.

I'm thankful for all the good ingredients we have in this state, and for all the people who've helped me learn how to cook, and for those who come over and enjoy my cooking. (or smile and pretend to!)  Good food, a simple pleasure.

So far, I am on schedule with my Thanksgiving game plan. Having hosted lots of dinners and get-togethers, I've learned from many failures the importance of advanced planning... so I can get out of the kitchen and actually spend time with the guests! So, with an ambitious menu this year, I figured planning was essential.

This weekend I got done what I could - set the table, made placecards, did the food shopping.

Last night, I made pie doughs and vanilla ice cream.  Cooks Illustrated's secret to perfect pie dough is to replace half of the cold water you normally use with cold vodka. I think it helps keep the gluten from breaking down or something like that. And I use half butter (for taste) and half shortening (for flakiness).

The vanilla ice cream secret is just to do the French style -- which requires a heaping 6 egg yolks (for about a quart of ice cream). But hey, it's Thanksgiving, and we're not eating diet food. I also went all out and purchased a vanilla bean to give it extra flavor and those little specks... damn thing was like $8. For one.

I've gotten my routine down pretty well now.  That tends to be hard for me. But now (knock on wood), I'm making time to go to the gym in the morning, walk the dog, and cook dinner when I get home. And still have some time to zone out for a little in front of the TV and read before bed. It's feeling great...

The honey went on a boys' trip to Vegas this weekend. This gave me good reason to focus on getting productive and preparing for Thanksgiving. And watching some chick flicks.

After a restful night at home on Friday night, it was go-go-go starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday.  Bucky had his first group training class. I am happy to report he was a very good boy. A little scared of the other dogs, but no outbursts.

Being forced to get up that early meant I had a lot of time that day. So I gave Bucky a bath (I think he's learning to like them now). Went to yoga at Yoga Swami, treated myself to a lox bagel at Pannikin, stopped at the tailor, cleaned my dresser, cleaned out the fridge and freezer. Washed all the dishes, did four loads of laundry, cleaned the kitchen, then did my Thanksgiving grocery shopping at around 5. Perfect time to go; it wasn't crowded.  Had enough time to make dinner and watch a movie with Bucky (he likes chick flicks).

Sunday, slept in, took Bucky for a long walk, went to Target, put down a new rug, made the placecards for Thanksgiving (which took way longer than I thought), and set the table. Didn't have time to make pie crusts.

This will be my first Thanksgiving hosting my family so I'm really looking forward to it. My menu is a little ambitious, but I feel pretty prepared. Tonight I'll probably tackle the cranberry sauce.  Whew!

Christmas shopping is stressful. I unsuccessfully lobbied the family a couple years ago to stop buying presents, and instead maybe just take a short trip or go out to a nice dinner together... or donate to charity. But everyone still bought presents, and you know, when people buy you presents, it's hard to not buy them something.  But I think the family at least toned it down a notch.

This year, I was able to do about 85% of my shopping online. So stress-free.  Amazon, I love you. No crazy parking lots to deal with, hallelujah.  I just made a list of gift ideas, found them all on Amazon, and placed one giant order. I'm not sure, but it seems like this is a "greener" way to shop since the shipping is centralized, and I'm not driving all around town.  Now I can spend the rest of the season doing fun things like baking cookies and drinking hot apple cider.

I remember working retail during the Christmas season, and I pledged to never do it again, because the rude shoppers really took the holiday spirit out of me. So if you shop on Black Friday or Christmas eve, I implore you, be extra kind to the staff, because I can guarantee you they are having a tough day.