Domestic Geek

Ok, not exactly food, but that is the closest category I have without creating a new one.

I made apple cider with mulling spices and Tuaca one year when I had my knitting friends over to the old mobile home.

At Whole Foods this year, I saw and end display with some organic mulling spices in a tea bag from R. W. Knudson, so I grabbed a box. A gallon of organic cider and a bottle of Tuaca (on sale).

SO DANGED GOOD!

I used to love getting chocolate covered espresso beans at Starbucks as a treat. I was sad when one day I realized they didn't have them anymore. I keep asking my Batista friend if she has heard anything about the company bringing them back, but I guess they have no plans to do so. I have toyed with the idea of making my own, but since we're in the suckpartment, I haven't felt like trying to deal with it.

I had to stop into Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage to pick up some Wild Idea Buffalo meat for dinner. As I was heading to the register, I happened to be in the chocolate aisle and the big Chocolove bars were on sale for $1.99. They have one called Coffee Crunch in Dark Chocolate, so I threw one in my basket to try. OMG - it tastes just like I remember the Starbucks beans. Now I have to be careful that I don't mistakenly eat too much in one sitting like that one time I ate an entire bag at once. My heart was racing so bad, I thought I was going to have a heart attack.

As to yesterday's inability to post a pic from the app, apparently it's more than just an FTP permission. Not quite sure what I have to do to make that work, but it will have to wait until this weekend.

Hope everyone out there in American Blogland had a Happy Thanksgiving. For the first time in five years, I didn't have to work on Thanksgiving, so for that I am extremely grateful. Preparing the Thanksgiving meal is one of the highlights of my year. I love to cook, but with just Marcus and I, I rarely get to go all out.

This year's menu included:

• Free range fresh turkey procured from Sunflower Market


• Mashed potatoes and gravy made from this recipe on The Pioneer Woman


• Broccoli/Cauliflower with cheese sauce (the cayenne pepper was a nice addition)


• Shrimp Stuffing (I had to use some stuffing I got at Sunflower since Kellogg's discontinued their stuffing a while back)


• Peas (Marcus always has to have these)


• Buttermilk biscuits


• Corn muffins


• Cranberry Orange dressing


• Pumpkin pie

OK, as promised, here's a couple of pics of the cheesecake I made this weekend. This was definitely up there as one of the better ones. Weather conditions must've been ideal, as it beat up nice and fluffy and there were absolutely no cracks in the surface. Love it!

Here it is sitting on my friend Tina's counter:



I went to Target on the way to my friend's house to pick up the cherry topping and to see what others were available (in case someone didn't like cherries). I saw the Limited Edition Berry Medley on the shelf and just had to try it. I mixed the two topping together and was it good! For the picture below, I topped a slice off with some of the fresh fruit that was also at the party.

Here is a single slice:



I have a couple of tricks I've picked up over the years to have cheesecakes come out really yummy. Many of the tips are summarized here. First, a water bath is a must. I always put parchment paper in the bottom of the pan. Never open the oven door when a cheesecake is baking. After the allotted time in the recipe, turn off the oven and leave the door closed. After an hour and a half or so, I take the cheesecake out of the bath and put it back in the oven. Once the cake has cooled completely, I'll take the springform side off and put it into the refrigerator over night. Instead of a knife, I use craft wire to slice it.

*sigh* I wish this weekend had been as productive as last weekend. There is just not enough time away from work.

Marcus and I finished up the Thanksgiving shopping this evening. We picked up the natural free-range turkey that we ordered earlier from Sunflower Market. Can't wait to see how that turns out. I spent the earlier part of the day at a knitting gathering at my friend's house down in Castle Rock. I got the body of the amigurumi turkey I'm making finished, as well as several rows of a holiday bag I'm knitting. I brought one of my cheesecakes to share and I was quite happy with how it turned out. I'll post pics tomorrow after I get them off of my camera.

Marcus and I actually relaxed this evening and finally watched Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. He downloaded that from iTunes a couple of weeks ago and we hadn't had a chance to watch it. I'll admit that I missed Orlando Bloom's character just a little.

The olive leaf extract that I wrote about yesterday seems to be doing the trick. I felt so much better today. Still coughing up a little crud out of my lungs, but at least I didn't feel like sleeping all danged day.

OK, I'm off to dig through my stash to find orange yarn for my turkey and then I'm off to bed.