(Belatedly) Thanksgiving

Guest post by Chef Adrienne:

Sharing the joy of our feast - for which we were very thankful - somehow got away from us in the last few weeks. So much holiday joy to be had, so little time. 

Very satisfying grid of cornbread I made for the pecan cornbread stuffing.

Cranberry pear dressing. Pears are a nice cut against the super sour of the cranberries.

Bread and butter: my breakfast and lunch. I was reminded of my Mammy (Pop's mom) taking a similar meal (without the tea) on days when she was over the stove cooking for a bunch of folks for a long time.

"You've got a little something on your face. Right there....No right...a little lower."

Susie whips up sweet potato pecan drop biscuits. These were delicious. 

OKAY people! Turchetta. You do all the work of butchering up front (and the sticking the carcass in the freezer for stock making) and you end up with an awesome roll of turkey stuffing deliciousness. This is the turkey marinating in herbs and spices for 24 hours.

This is the skin I removed from the turkey in one piece. 

This is all the meat put back on top of the turkey skin. You don't think it's going to fit, but then again, of course it all fits.

Smashed the stuffing on top. This was like a continent of turkey meat and cornbread. I placed a horse in the picture for scale.

After you rolled it all back up (not freakin easy!) it looked like some anaconda devoured Thanksgiving and curled up in a corner to digest. 

Tie that baby up and place it over the wings and necks in a pan with rosemary, celery and onion. 

All wrapped up in cheesecloth and roasted for a couple hours. The gravy from those pan drippings was amazing. 

Terrible light, but you get the idea. Lovely when you cut into it. 

Friday we had our traditional mashed potato croquettes with over-easy eggs.  Later that weekend I made leftover pot pie. Here's the layered pie: chopped up turkey roll, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes. 

It was amazing.

The day & all the days of leftovers were indeed amazingly satisfying. Thank you to Adrienne for all her hard work, and thank you to Susie & Paul for sharing the holiday & their incredible cooking with us!

MOUSE: vanquished!

Soooo. Pickles has been on mouse hunting duty for the last several days. She found it in the kitchen and stood like this for five whole minutes:

and then there was this hot pursuit:

But no dice. So Christine went out and got a tippy-toppy trap or something like that (neither of us really wanted to carry a mouse snapped in half to the trash can) and....one hour to victory! Christine headed out to release the mouse to the wilds of Bernal Hill (note awesome trap in her hand). Pickles seriously wanted to help:

Hopefully, there was just the one mouse. We can only hope...

Mouse House

There is a mouse hiding under the couch right now.

How on earth are we going to get him out of there? And how is it that Pickles -- recently promoted to Sergeant in the Rodent Roundup -- can't smell him? She's risking demotion, this one.

Guest Blogger Surprise for Todos Santos!

Hi, it's AJ here. SOME people are always telling me that I, too, have access to the House from Mars blog page if I would ever like to post something myself. I'm doing it! No stopping me now! Really I wanted you to see how yummy the chicken soup looks with slices of roast pumpkin in it. An excellent pairing.

Also, I wanted to share our Dia de los Muertos/Todos Santos altar with you. We took some time last night here on Mars to sit around the altar and share some nice thoughts about loved ones who have passed. For me, those memories and those touchstones on the altar are a bit like bringing them into the room with us.

And I made this beautiful pan de muerto. It was very exciting. And it is delicious.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is in full swing on Mars.

We have the lights off, and are hiding from the tiny ghosts, goblins, superheroes, and princesses plaguing our streets.

Adrienne is making a delicious chicken soup from scratch:

I cut up my one and only pumpkin from the garden...

...and roasted it with cinnamon, nutmeg, and chile powder:

Meanwhile, we have a special protection detail, sent here from Animal Control to make sure that the nasty possums that hang out in the yard don't disrupt the festivities:

Officer Pickles, of the Possum Patrol, reporting for duty!

Pumpkin Progress

Last month I wrote about the tragedy of hacking up the dying, non-producing pumpkin plant in the front yard, & being shocked to find this hidden under all the giant leaves:

Good news! After a whole month sitting on the windowsill, it has finally turned completely orange:

Just in time for Halloween!

36 + 1 Birthday Weekend

On Saturday, I turned 36 + 1 (I'm thinking that if I always start by saying "36", it's like I'm actually more or less still 36...I'm pretty sure this will work), and Adrienne threw me the best birthday weekend ever!

It started with Saturday morning birthday pastries, coffee, and presents:

Wine from Rachel, pickles and Portuguese pepper paste (made & canned by Adrienne!), a poster, and a terrarium in a...um..chemistry thing!

Then, later, Amanda, Matt, Susie, & Robin came over for whiskey tasting fun:

And pickles:

Two types of cantaloupe by Adrienne, okra by Adrienne, eggs by me, and some amazingly fantastic kimchi that Susie brought for the festivities!

And delicious cheesy, saucy noodles:

A good time was had by all, and I, for one, learned something about the whiskeys we tried.

The birthday fun continued on Sunday morning, when Adrienne made me an ultra-special breakfast:

Poached eggs on grilled polenta, with parmesan sauce, bacon, & heirloom tomatoes!

Add a little fancy champagne, and some potent hot sauce Amanda gave me, and it was the perfect breakfast for easing on into yet another year:

Thank you Robin, Susie, Matt, Amanda, and Adrienne for making my birthday weekend so wonderful! And a special thank you to Jon, who handled finding the perfect birthday blueberry pie (there are no pictures, because unfortunately, it was so delicious it disappeared in an instant...oops)!!