November's Here - Fall Golden Hour: Dinner

Saturday, November 5, 2022

The pot pie was out of the oven by 7 but the Brussels sprouts needed a little longer. 

We were ready to serve up at about 10 after 7.

We went with Meet Me in St. Louis for our movie tonight. We never seem to tire of this old favorite. 

The introduction by Liza at the beginning of the DVD is always a hoot.

Dinner, like the whole evening, was awesome. 

Mrs. Kowalski's Oh Ho Cake for dessert. 

Sylvester hopped up on my lap when I finished eating. Life's just better with a cat. 

Back to Standard Time - The Golden Hour

Sunday, November 7, 2021

Back to Central Standard Time. It's nice to have that extra hour back. Dale went on a bike ride and I sat out back with a couple of different little cigars. The first was a Macanudo and the second a Romeo y Julieta (pictured above). Both were nice. 

After his bike ride Dale joined me in the back yard for cocktails with music. 

We made a chicken pot pie for dinner and Dale made some Brussels sprouts with bacon and maple syrup. 

And had pumpkin pie for dessert. 

Fall-like dinner even though it doesn't feel like fall outside, at least for November. 

Thanksgiving 2020 -Turkey's Out

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Dale had put the turkey in the oven at noon and it came out at 2:00. As it rested he got the Brussels sprouts ready and took care of boiling off and mincing the giblets. 

We think the giblets are the liver, heart, and something else, not sure what. 

The were boiled for 45 minutes at the 4.5 setting on our stove. 

Dale basted the turkey with white wine this year. Usually we use red. 

Christmas Day - Beef Bourginoine

Monday, December 25, 2017

Dale decided he wanted to make Julia Child's beef bourginoine recipe for Christmas dinner. I helped and was more involved in the production I think since the first time we made it years ago.

To start, my job was to slice the onion.

Dale got the meat dried off with paper towels.

I also took care of getting the carrots sliced. The recipe calls for one carrot. We had baby carrots so I used about 7 of them and sliced them into quarter rounds.

Dale got the stove set up.

I cut six (they're doubled up in the photo) good sized slices of bacon into thirds.

Dale had the brilliant idea of each of us frying the  bacon off at the same time. I used the skillet and he used the casserole. 

Then we did the same thing with the meat, searing it on all sides. I'm surprised one of us hadn't thought of this before since it made it go twice as fast.

We then fried the vegetables and then added the bacon and the beef and put it in the oven for about 4 minutes, took it out and tossed it, and then put it back in for 4 more minutes.

When it came back out we added garlic,

thyme,

the wine,

chicken stock,

and about a tablespoon+ of tomato paste,

brought it to a simmer and then put it in the oven for about 2 and a 1/2 hours.

As it got closer to the time to take it out, Dale fried off the mushrooms.

When it came out of the oven,

we drained off the broth,

put what was left back in the casserole,

and added the fried off mushrooms to the casserole.

Dale needed to boil down the approximately 3 and a 1/2 cups of broth we had down to 2 and a 1/2 cups. He said it probably started out as 5 and a 1/2 cups when we put  the whole casserole in the oven and reduced to  the 3 and a 1/2 we had when we took it out.

After the broth was reduced, Dale skimmed off the fat although there wasn't much since the beef was pretty lean to begin with. We added the broth back to the casserole and waited for it to rest a bit. The smell was insanely divine.

Mom came over for Christmas dinner. She got here at 3:00 p.m. and we watched The Bishop's Wife serving appetizers of smoked gouda, pears, and crackers. 

We ate around 5 p.m. with the beef over egg noodles. Dale made brussels sprouts in the oven. Pumpkin pie for dessert.

Thanksgiving 2016 - Thanksgiving Eve

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Martini time.

From Dale's blog:

"Joe’s burritos in the oven, my stir fried Brussels sprouts and a cheap bottle of French wine. Thanksgiving has begun!"

So glad to have today off and do some pre-Thanksgiving relaxing with Dale.

Thanksgiving 2016 - With Mom

Thursday, November 24, 2016

With Mom at the Normandy Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis. They put together a great Thanksgiving dinner. Served family style, it included their signature popovers,  caramelized Brussels sprouts with lardons, apple chestnut stuffing, maple sweet potato puree, gravy, cranberry compote, and of course turkey.  We all went for the pumpkin pie for dessert although apple and pecan were options. The pie was top shelf.

Brussels Sprouts

November 22, 2015

At Lunds today. Dale had never seen Brussels sprouts on the stock before. I've only seen them this way once and it was in a photograph.

Sunday Dinner

Saturday, September 19, 2015

Dale made the most delicious dinner. It's been a while since we've had steak and even longer since we've had his most awesome oven baked Brussels sprouts.

Dessert was one of my favorites from Kowalski's. Chocolate dream.

Brussels Sprounts

Dale cooked up some brussels sprouts the other night. I came home from class and I could smell them when I walked into the house. They tasted like candy. It's wonderful that it's getting cool enough that we can start using the oven again.