Sour Cream on Pie: Apple & Pizza
Yesterday, I finally made that stupid easy apple pie recipe. It may actually be the first and only pie I’ve made myself from scratch and enjoyed. Sure, the crust was more sandy than flaky, but it had a rich toasted wheat flavor, and a delightful crispness. Plus it required no rolling, made no mess, and barely took any measuring at all. The Golden Delicious apples picked from Indian Ladder Farms, which have lost the little crunch they once had, worked beautifully.
As we’re coming up on the Thanksgiving season, I’d strongly encourage anyone who may be freaked out about making pie to give this a try. It’s not going to be as good as one purchased from a great local bakery, but it will be decidedly better from what you would pick up from a grocery store.
Today I want to talk a little bit more about what we put on top of our pies. Mostly because this weekend was sour cream centric. Not only did I get to have it on the apple pie at home, but Jon in Albany put some on one of the pizza pies he made in an epic pizza parade.
The Annual Wine Panic
Thanksgiving is in thirteen days. If you want to panic, go ahead. I’m not going to stop you. Although, if you’re responsible for cooking the meal, and you’re feeling a bit stressed about it, maybe you should consider ordering a pre-cooked turkey from one of your favorite restaurants.
I’m serious. The holiday should be more about spending time with your family than fretting in the kitchen. That said, fretting in the kitchen is a brilliant way to avoid spending time with your family. Whatever works for you.
Today I wanted to try and get ahead of the inevitable stress that happens every year around this time, when it comes to buying a wine for Thanksgiving. Mostly, because recently two infuriatingly popular pieces of “wine journalism” came across my feed, and I wanted to discuss them. But also this is the first week of a brand new wine store in Troy, and I’m still all aflutter.
The common refrain on Vox and Thrillist are that you shouldn’t be a sucker when it comes to wine. Don’t embarrass yourself and make silly mistakes. And it plays right into people’s fears.
My goal, is to remove fear entirely, but with less disinformation.
Newton’s Third Law of Food
Physics may not be your thing. But the synopsis of Newton’s third law of motion is, that for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction. I remember learning about this in high school, and having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that when you push against the wall, the wall pushes back against you. Maybe I have that wrong. Surely, I don’t understand it fully. But go with me for a minute.
I was just reminded of this recently when reading through some of the national food stories of the week, one from The New York Times and the other from The Washington Post.
It would seem that consumer demand for better food is on the rise. But at the same time, the factors that drove consumers away from our industrialized, modernized, food-production system are actually getting worse. And for the the first time, I’m starting to wonder, if the profit pressures that national brands are feeling by the exodus of the “food-aware” are pushing them to cut costs and further weaken the supply chain.
Here’s what I mean.
Veterans Day Diwali
I suppose today isn’t quite the same magical combination of Chanukah and Thanksgiving that we had a few years back. But still, it’s notable that today is both Diwali and Veterans Day.
One is more of an eating holiday. But I think there is a nice little bit of overlap.
Three Years in Troy
I probably should have told you yesterday that last night Lucas Confectionery would be celebrating its third anniversary.
Oops.
There’s always a lot of stuff going on in the Capital Region, despite what her detractors might say. Last night was no exception. But there was no way that I was going to miss celebrating with Vic and Heather this stunning achievement.
In part because the Troy wine bar’s ongoing success is a reminder of just how wrong I was, and its evolution is nothing short of amazing.
Photo Friday: November
Sometimes, there are no words.
Today, I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.
However, I will let you know where each of these pics was taken.
Amazingly, two of them aren’t even anything you can put in your mouth.
Never Fuller
Now is the time for seasonal weight gain. Thanksgiving is around the corner, and it’s important to make sure that you are prepared before you sit down for such a massive family meal. I suppose everyone’s preparations are different. Some might need to go into psychotherapy in advance of the date. But I advocate for freeing the shackles of healthful eating.
There is so much butter and cream in a typical holiday meal, it’s not even funny. And people die at the table every single year. For real. I’m of the belief that their bodies just weren’t ready for the onslaught.
My advice is to not be a statistic, and start getting into holiday eating mode early.
Thanksgiving is just the start. After that is Christmas, and don’t forget New Year’s Eve which can also be cause for great feasting. Then in February we have the Super Bowl. It never ends. But what I’ve learned in the past couple of days is that if I plan to survive Thanksgiving, I’ve got a lot more work to do in the weeks to come.
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