Pie pigs

In some strange Twilight-Zoney twist that is my life, I'm having turkey leftovers on the morning of Thanksgiving. Nothing like turkey to build up an appetite for more turkey.

Individual turkey pot pies. Though, I'm not sure I can call them individual pot pies if I eat more than one at a time.

And for Ben's tonight, I will be testing the newest refinement to my apple fennel salad with grapefruit. I matched my tie to the grapefruit.

And the best iteration of key lime pie so far. This time with coconut flavored whipped cream. The coconut whipped cream is a keeper, but the crust needs some more tweaking. I will be needing volunteers to be guinea pigs for the next key lime pie.

Hidden talents

If I block the front door, you can't go out and leave me behind.

You see, I'm smart. I just don't apply myself.

Salmon encrusted with wasabi peas. It's main entree and savory snack, all at the same time. Apples, radishes, and fennel dressed with sherry vinaigrette. The radishes are cut into teeny tiny matchsticks because I'm showing off.

Some pig

Coffee spiced braised Wilbur with jus. Like they said in Charlotte's Web. That's "Some Pig." Pork belly so tender it's essentially pig jello.

And for suppers #2 and #3, I roast cornish game hens. One rubbed with olive oil, lemon, and thyme. The other bourbon barbeque over caramelized onions. Game hens are great because they're the perfect size to eat an entire bird in one sitting. My stomach was very greedy tonight, so I roasted two.

Since the oven was already on, it never hurts to throw a few heads of garlic in to roast alongside the chickens. One can always use roasted garlic. The kohlrabi lump in the center is an experimental technique I'm trying to invent. The thought was to lightly "smoke" the kohlrabi with roasted garlic color and aroma while it cooks. I think the technique is solid, I will try this with some form of squash or root vegetable in the fall. The texture of cooked kohlrabi was a bit too fibrous for me.

I still had space in the oven, so we make balsamic glazed cipollini onions. Toss some peeled onions with a smidge of salt, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. Bung it into an oven until luscious onion candy emerges.

Shelf #3 in the oven housed salt crust assorted items.

Salt crust beets, daikon, and kohlrabi. The beets turned out tender soft. The daikon and kohlrabi could have used some sort of barrier so as not to soak up too much salt. Perhaps wrapped in a lotus leaf before baking in salt.

Cherry tree produced only two tiny cherries this year. Less than one bite. Disappointing harvest. Still hungry.

Will power

I need adult supervision when I go to grocery stores. It's impossible to practice restraint and self control. I want to try everything I see. It's like I'm five years old.

Crazy soda pop. Rather than the usual screw top cap, pressure generated from carbonation forces a glass marble in the upper chamber to seal tightly against the opening. The pinch in the middle keeps the marble from settling into the bottom after it's been forced down by the bundled punch mechanism. A marvel of pointless physics and engineering.

Anything sporting panda illustrations or panda logos will pretty much guarantee a spot in the shopping cart. 

The first of the string beans this season are ready. I started with an equal number of green, yellow, and purple bean seeds. For some reason, the yellow beans have taken off, followed by purple, and the more common green beans are withering away before producing flowers. A lone strawberry survivor. And it wasn't even all that tasty. Slugs got to all the other ones.

Nowhere near a peck of pickled peppers. But we don't need that much quantity as these peppers are intense enough to strip varnish. The radishes will turn a shade of flattering pink as it pickles.

Looing assorted items. This is the start of a master loo juice sauce base that can be passed down many generations. Each time it's used, you add a little more spice, a little more water, a little more soy sauce. It's supposed to darken with age and bloom with complex flavor like a fine wine. If you treat me right, I will bequeath this sauce to you upon my death.

Loo lo. Loo gee. Loo zhu. Loo hsiang goo. 

Sautéd dandelion greens. My mulching efforts over the past year have cut down the number of weeds growing in the yard. So I actually paid good money at the farmer's market for these weeds.

Chocolate blood orange sorbet refuses to freeze. The flavor is incredible, but WHY WON'T YOU FIRM UP?

Tonight's batch of chicken stock yielded over a gallon and a half. I'm not going to will this to anyone upon my death, so you'll have to make your own.

Fruit bars

Preserving lemons in salt like they do in Morocco. One must be very resourceful to deal with this year's lemon bounty. I've never tasted preserved lemons before, so I have no clue whether these are done correctly or not. My own dried oregano totally trounces the jar from the Spice House.

My impatience and laziness means the pie crust is too warm and squidgy. But that's okay. It's just messy and ugly.

Ugly crust has no affect on the tastiness of strawberry rhubarb pie.

A lovely pine nut basil pesto. And a killer spicy chimichurri sauce. I've forgotten which is which, so there may be culinary failures in the future.

I'm growing heirloom watermelon radishes in addition to the normal purple and pink ones. How awesome are those colors?

Rhubarb sorbet in the future. I love rhubarb.

Chard stems roasted over piperade, and drizzled with vinaigrette. Similar to the insanely complicated rat-patootie dish from the Pixar movie, but with only 5 minutes of effort instead of 5 hours. A little casserole ugliness is an acceptable tradeoff for 5 hours of my life.