Archive for November, 2007

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WND – Not Leftover Turkey

November 30, 2007

I was going to write a post this week about how my biggest pet peeve with cooking shows and cooking magazines is that they always devote the month of November to how to build a new and better Thanksgiving. Nobody really wants a new and better Thanksgiving, they want the Thanksgiving they grew up eating. What I want is for one cooking magazine to be a rebel and say:

“You know what? If the public wants to know how to brine/grill/fry a turkey they can read one of the 8000 other cooking magazines. We’re going to be daring and help our readers out with what to do with the leftovers.”

Then I was going to talk about Turkey Tettrazini which is what my family traditionally does with leftover turkey. But sometimes Dinner throws you for a loop, and this was one of those weeks.

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WND – Baked Ziti

November 23, 2007

I started Monday Night Dinner when I moved up to Boston after college, which is an astonishing eight years ago now. I fortunately had roommates who more or less shrugged and said, ‘sure, if you want to invite all our friends over and cook for them every week, go ahead’.

In eight years we’ve adopted people who got brought to Dinner as a guest of a guest, and acted as the most terrifying review committee for prospective wives, girlfriends and husbands. We’ve also lost members as people do such unconscionable things as move away to go to grad school, or swear that they love us but just can’t take the weather in Boston. As a side note, it’s a lot harder to convince someone that winter in Boston isn’t all that bad if they’ve actually lived through three of them.

This is a holiday weekend, and one of the best things about holidays is that sometimes you get people back. We get to hear about their new boyfriends, and their exciting thesis topics, and reassure ourselves the scary roommate who thought fabric softener was a high ticket luxury item is no longer in the picture.

The thing about Dinner is that once you’ve been a regular part of Dinner, you’re always a part of Dinner no matter where you live. We’re kind of like the mafia that way. We’re also like a family that way and we like it when our far flung members come on home even if it’s just for a visit.

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WND – Chili & The Perils of Pottery

November 15, 2007

A gentleman I used to work with had a rant about women and shopping. It ran something along the lines of – women buy things they don’t need and can’t really afford just because they’re on sale and they can’t resist the lure of the bargain. I feel that this isn’t something that’s limited to women. Advertising campaigns from Home Depot, Lowes, Sears and any other DIY store you can think of suggest that men are just as guilty of the, “but honey, it was on sale,” buy as women. Men just buy power tools instead of coats (at least according to television – I personally know a lot of women who’d be thrilled to buy power tools on sale).

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WND – Curry Dinner

November 9, 2007

Have you been thinking about repainting your kitchen? Wondering what color would look best with your counter? I highly recommend making Indian food as a way to test out new color schemes for your kitchen. Some people just think it’s spices staining the counter, but you know that it’s multi-tasking at it’s finest. Would pomegranate pink look good on your walls? What about turmeric yellow?

I love Indian food, and I have a beautiful Indian cook book filled with pretty pictures and recipes. This meal does not come from there. It comes from Nigella Lawson courtesy of the Food Network and is probably about as authentically Indian as Coronation Chicken. Mind you, I like Coronation Chicken so this is not actually an issue for me, and it uses quasi-obscure spices like cardamom pods and cumin seeds so I get to feel like I’m making an ethnic effort.

Mughlai Chicken
Muttar Paneer
Roasted Curried Cauliflower
Rice Pilaf
Pomegranate Raita

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WND – Corn Pudding & Other Gateway Drugs

November 1, 2007

The weather has finally turned for good. The trees are glorious with crimson and gold. There’s comfort food on the menu for Dinner. I’d say all is right with the world, but the Red Sox just won the World Series for the second time in four years and that might actually be a sign of the apocalypse.

Corn Pudding
Chicken Fingers
Apple Sauce
Broccoli

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