Lest all the glorious pictures leave you with the impression that our vacation was flawless, I present our final meal in our hotel room near the Madrid airport.
While this may not appear to be any worse than a microwave lasagna picked up at a nearby grocery store, note the following key details:
The “microwave” that one of the kids saw in the hotel room turned out to be a safe. The lasagna is cold and clammy.
The supermarket didn’t have any plastic forks, so we figured we could get some from the hotel. Wrong again. We’re using flimsy coffee stirrers as mini-chopsticks. This is very difficult.
The two glasses beyond the lasagna contain Maggie’s frozen pork buns submerged in boiling water. (Again, we were expecting a microwave.) The boiling water was a total failure, producing a sodden, inedible mush.
Under more flexible circumstances, we might have just called this a divine sign that we should go out to a restaurant instead, but we needed to get up at 2:45 AM to catch our flight home, so we made do and went to bed.
Chef Griffin has outdone himself once more. The kids have a new cookbook based on a video game that they love: The Official Stardew Valley Cookbook. This isn’t the first recipe that they’ve tried, but it was certainly the most complex. Maggie, sadly, was out this afternoon, so Griffin was the primary cook with Oliver as sous chef. Served in pineapple bowls, this curry looked as spectacular as it tasted!
Earlier this year, the kids agreed to cook at least one dinner per week for the family. They have chosen a number of bold recipes, including their first lasagna this week! It was delicious.
The Olson-Hammers outdid themselves once again with a magnificent holiday party featuring sweater-shaped cookies and a massive array of decorating materials. My sweater was intended to be creative, but I ended up accidentally crushing it in my hand just before the photo.
(Griffin’s photo is missing at the moment. We’ll remedy as soon as we track it down! )
Pam and Jeff joined us for the feast. We grilled the turkey on the green egg. It came out well, but I may have been over-enthusiastic with the apple wood chips—the smoke flavor was intense.
Besides the turkey, the menu included mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, and Dick’s Buried Treasure. (The latter is a delicious Stocco tradition consisting of yams, canned pineapple, and dollops of cranberry sauce.) Dessert was Sarah’s pumpkin pie and Andrew’s cheesecake.
While we were prepping the meal, the kids asked what everyone’s favorite Thanksgiving food was and what we were thankful for this year. Then they created custom place cards for each of us.💖
Grilling notes for next time:
300-325° on the grill is perfect
Use fresh lump charcoal (the smaller chunks at the bottom of the bag interfere with airflow)
Cooking time is faster than in an oven at the same temperature. The Green Egg estimates seemed spot-on. (We started our 17 lb. bird at 11:15 and it was done just after 2:30.)
Skip the smoking chips next time. I think the basic grill flavor will be enough.
The drippings were very dark and smoky too, which made the gravy a bit too powerful. Might be better without the wood chips. Clean the grate beforehand so none of the old char falls into the drip pan.
Sarah and the kids surprised me with an early father’s day present this year: a wood-fired pizza oven! We’ve loved the green egg grill for pizza, but it takes a while to get up to temperature and it takes longer to cook a pie. This sleek thing heats rapidly and cooks a pizza in 60 seconds flat. It’s amazing.
One of Griffin’s birthday presents was a sushi-making kit. The crowd was unanimous: we must make sushi immediately. Andrew went out to pick up some fresh salmon and tuna while the rest of the family made the rice and prepped the vegetables. The results were delicious!
We pared down our feast a bit this year to make it work without plumbing at the cabin. Instead of a full turkey, we roasted a partial bird. We made the stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, and pies in advance. At the cabin we added mashed potatoes and Brussels sprouts.
potato prepmashing and whippingtime to eatpost-feast
Believe it or not, when Sarah and I went to the fair on Labor Day, it was the first time that we ever bought Sweet Martha’s cookies. They are a legend at the fair and we’ve always seen people walking around with their pails or cones of cookies, but we’ve always been drawn to other foods. We couldn’t justify the pail, so we got a towering cone (the smallest size you can buy). They were good, but very sweet. We only managed to get through about half of them.
It was a lovely Sunday with a mix of productive and leisure activities. Griffin had a good friend over. I spent time exploring Menards and figuring out how to setup our wired and wireless network. Sarah and the kids went on a walk. We met some friendly neighbors. Lots of small things were checked off our to do lists (e.g., new cord for garage light, locate water valve for fridge, replace flickering lights, program garage door remotes, etc.).
Griffin’s favorite breakfast. Quality time in the utility room trying to figure out how the cable setup is organized. I still can’t quite believe that this is our view. A beautiful, wet, blustery day. Closer to sunset from the front sidewalk.
