Cookin again

[Zardnaar]

No. This one is major. We tried liquid drain cleaner, too. We may even have had water from the washing machine- on the other side of the house- come up through the sink. Thank goodness, nothing from the showers or toilets has returned...

And like I said, I don’t have a clue as to what caused it.

Yeah that's a let the professionals do it. Our taps leaking and I want to rip out the kitchen, bathroom and weatherboards.

Probably should call someone.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The Legend of Cursed Thanksgiving continues!

Plumber came by, cleared our pipes. Said the problem was just a perfectly inconveniently timed accumulation of sludge. Essentially, that section of pipes had a clogged aorta. But in the process of using his cleaning equipment, a few of the circuits in our house tripped and could not be reset. So his boss- our electrician/HVAC guy of the past 30+ years- will be coming for a visit. Eventually.

Did I mention that some of the circuits in question involved half of the kitchen? Thankfully, it’s just the section where most of my cooking and prep appliances are located, NOT the one with the fridge, stovetop or dishwasher.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

...and about an hour ago, I sliced a 1cm chunk out of the side of my rt index finger. I was digging for some gear and found an unseen blade for a mini-food processor. It’s not deep, but it’s broad & bloody. Taking its damn time stopping.

This is how I 1-upped my mom slicing her thumb with a paring knife doing prep-work yesterday.

 

[Ulfgeir]

...and about an hour ago, I sliced a 1cm chunk out of the side of my rt index finger. I was digging for some gear and found an unseen blade for a mini-food processor. It’s not deep, but it’s broad & bloody. Taking its damn time stopping.

This is how I 1-upped my mom slicing her thumb with a paring knife doing prep-work yesterday.

Ouch... Seems that this is not your week.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Nope.

I’m half expecting land mines on Thursday,

 

[prabe]

@Dannyalcatraz It sounds as though you're having a rough go of things. I hope things get better.

 

[Drazen]

Tonight, I cooked a tasty dish for dinner...

I chopped some green onion and put them into a shallow cassarole dish with a BUNCH of whole garlic cloves, a half-stick of unsalted butter, a splash of white wine and some black and red pepper. This was roasted in the oven at 350F.

I started a box of cavatappi pasta to cooking.

Meanwhile, in a deep, flat sided saucepan, I sautéed a whole yellow onion and a half container of diced white mushrooms in olive oil. I deglazed the pan with the same wine I used with the garlic. To that mix, I added 2 cans of low-sodium diced tomatoes, a can of low-sodium V8, 2 bay leaves, generous portions of parsley & thyme, some red & black pepper, plus a little powdered garlic and salt.

When the garlic & onion mix was nicely roasted, I turned up the saucepan's heat to get the mix bubbling. At that point, I added the garlic & onion mix and 24oz of crawfish meat to the pan. Then, into the pot went all of the pasta.

Some vigorous turning & folding of the pan's contents got the pasta thoroughly coated in the sauce.

It kinda looked like a Creole had screwed up his Hamburger Helper...

I served it- 4 heaping spoonfuls per person- with tasty crackers and slices of a nice smoked Gouda. Definitely looking forward to leftovers!

Made myself some Tachos.
Delicious nachos with tater tots instead of chips.
With loads of sour cream, cheese, and salsa.
Meat cooked to perfection with just the right seasons

 

[prabe]

So, Thanksgiving dinner was a mildly catastrophic mess--nothing so bad the kitchen being unusable, but probably the biggest mess I've made in more than a decade.

We were making chili verde (because our Thanksgiving tradition is to not make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner) from a recipe from Cook's Illustrated. We had pretty good success with it before, but we tried to streamline it and ended up putting (effectively) salsa into fat that was way (way, way) too hot, and we ended up with something that looked an awful lot like a volcanic mud pot.

Clean up was an adventure, but the chili tasted good ~2 hours later (even though I suffered a brain-cramp and added the fresh cilantro before putting it in the oven).

We have decided that we want to revise the recipe so it works better for us, and so we don't have the temptation to streamline in the future.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

...we ended up with something that looked an awful lot like a volcanic mud pot.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Cursed Thanksgiving’s final tally:

Besides the dead oven, blocked plumbing & temperamental circuitry in the kitchen, and my sliced right index finger, I also chalked up a slice to my LEFT index finger and a leaky filter on our second refrigerator’s water dispenser/ice maker.

BUT...

All the dishes I cooked came out aces, my maternal aunt sent deviled eggs and a ham, and our purchased fried turkey was perfect. Our guest took a picture of her plate- I’ll post it after she sends me a copy.

I’ll call it a close victory.