I spent the majority of the weekend preparing for Thanksgiving and catching a cold. I was satisfyingly productive with the first task and begrudginly annoyed and anxious about the latter. The idea of nasal and chest congestion induces uneasy nerves, especially when there is rain and clouds looming over, further suffocating and thinning my oxygen intake. Yes, I have problems.
After more than a few indecisive moments I decided to go to my family in Queens for Thanksgiving. I will be bringing this as a side and baking both apple pie and pumpkin pecan pie from Dorie Greenspan’s ever helpful book. I would have loved to host a dinner but it was intimidating as I’ve never done it before and my Thanksgivings usually consisted of chicken, rice cake wrapped in bacon, fried cornballs and steamed cabbage leaves (not complaining, just proving inexperience). Plus my brain is unfocused and frazzled by oncoming transition as an old roommate becomes new and some house design is in need of attention. But rest assured I am already planning for grand concourse dinner for next year.
Last night I made sweet potato and leek soup following a Joy of Cooking recipe and it was quite delicious. Tonight I made chicken pumpkin goulash and I must say, I still don’t know what goulash is, until now when Wiki informs me it originates from Hungary and is a stew/soup usually containing beef, onions, veggies, spice and paprika. Goulash means herdsman. I followed a recipe from this blog and used chicken rather than lamb or beef. I think this might have been a mistake as it was a bit bland and I’m sure another meat would have provided the flavor and sauce that chicken lacks. Also that deep orange red color/spice was not there which was what I was looking for, so I’m a bit disappointed. Nonetheless with the right amount of salt it was a good make-me-forget-I’m-sick meal.
I also made sweet & spicy pumpkin seeds following a simple recipe here. This was also the first time using/preparing/eating pumpkin and the chewy zangy texture and consistency was delightful. I’ve concluded I’m a squash junky (butternut, acorn, pumpkin, zucchini, summer, winter, you name it). Not to mention all the funky looking ones make great models for still life drawing. Especially the ones shaped like phallus.
