Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

Long overdue, I am sorry!  You know how Amherst finals are.  Here is the delicious sweet potato recipe Zach and I prepared for our Thanksgiving this year.  We modified a recipe from smittenkitchen.com pretty significantly and ... well, I'm biased, but I'm thinking ours was better.  The recipe after the jump serves about three; we tripled the recipe for a Thanksgiving of seven and there were leftovers (tasty, tasty leftovers!)  
Happy Holidays to all!  Looking forward to seeing some more holiday recipes.

Breakfast smoothies

Blueberry-Pomegranate Smoothie

Sorry for the lack of updates -- things have gotten hectic as I have started a new internship in Washington D.C., settled into a new apartment as a tentative couch-surfer/resident, taken my LSATs, shopped for Christmas presents, and applied to graduate schools and "real" jobs all the while! December's a busy month for a lot of people, it seems, and I'll be glad once I'm finally through it.

Anyway, since this is a food blog:

I've obviously had limited time on my hands -- sometimes, so limited that I am struck with that unfortunate temptation to hit the snooze button, get 10 minutes more sleep, and skip breakfast. How dreadful of me! For as we know, Breakfast Is The Most Important Meal Of The Day.

It's times like these that a breakfast smoothie comes in handy. As far as I can tell, there's really no downside to making these lovely little concoctions. They're healthy, giving you one each of your recommended fruit and dairy servings and, if properly constructed, Vitamin D, protein, antioxidents and all other sorts of goodies. They're not too sugary (and the sugars that are there are natural) but still taste great. They're cheap, provided you spring for the in-season and/or on-sale produce. And if you need to get out the door ten minutes ago, you can simply fill your nearest beverage container and take your breakfast with you!

Two of my favorite combinations after the jump:

Egg-lemon soup

Yesterday I had plans for this post.  I was jazzed to write about the beautiful farmer's market lunch I put together with Amherst friends.  I was ready to rhapsodize about the beauty of seasonal vegetables, to describe the messy murder of a pomegranate that took place in my boyfriend's kitchen.  I had photos taken, cute turns of phrase lined up.  Yesterday, I was all set.

But that post will have to wait for another day.  Today I have a cold, I'm home sick from work, and all I can think about is soup.

Ode to Sawa

Surgeon general's warning: This post is full of cheesiness. Cheese has recently been shown to contain calories, which have in turn been linked to death. And yet the US government encourage Domino's pizza to use cheese? What the hell kind of conspiracy is this?

Sorry. As you may be able to tell: 1) I think that the food culture in America is crazy, and 2) I am recovering from the flu and may not be in a completely rational state of mind.

Anyway, today's post is not really about cheese, it's about what an amazing and awesome wife Sawa is. Particularly when it comes to making pie. Perhaps you think that your wife is better? Perhaps you are a fool. While I've been lying around sleeping and coughing and complaining, Sawa's been making me delicious meals and snuggling with me and doing all the chores and travel preparations and figuring out and making all the Christmas presents that are ostensibly supposed to be from me.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving can be a bland-ish affair at my house, but one thing you can't beat my family at is breads and pastries. The bread is particularly important because it's the crucial element of what is easily my favorite Thanksgiving tradition: the leftovers sandwich.

My dad's side of the family is all about some sandwiches, and I was raised on them, and I still love them in any and all forms.

Grandma B's homemade bread, baked by my Dad. White, sweet but not too sweet, and brushed with egg like challah.

Mom's apple pie. I mean, it doesn't get more classic than this. And my mom is a pie crust genius.

Thanksgiving with a dash of Japanese New Year flavour

chikuzenni (vegetables boiled in a soy-based sauce)

Last week we drove out to the East coast for the second time in as many weeks for Thanksgiving with my relatives. Last year, Sawa made some delicious ratatouille, and she was thinking about doing something like that again this year until her mum suggested she try a Japanese dish to add something a little different to the mix.

We've always thought that the closest thing in Japan to Thanksgiving is New Year's. They're both arguably the best holiday of the year because they both involve:
1) All the family getting together
2) Eating till you can't stand up
3) Falling asleep watching TV
4) Waking up and repeating for a couple days

Thanksgiving at Chez Fenson

I can play the slideshow game too!

Thanksgiving is perhaps my favorite holiday ever.  As my sister put it, it's the one day of the year when we, as Jews, can be pretty sure we're doing exactly the same thing as the rest of the country.  It's a day of humility and gratitude, sleep, family time, and lots of delicious food.  What's not to love?

This year we had an intimate nine-person evening.  For the past few years, my sister and I have been in charge of planning and cooking the Thanksgiving meal, with my mom as sous chef and advisor.  Because there are always several vegetarians at my family's Thanksgiving table, we always make a meatless spread (except for the turkey, of course).  But that doesn't mean our Thanksgivings aren't flavorful, vibrant, and joyous.  In fact--well, see for yourself.

Thanksgiving at the Rosenfeld household

Thanksgiving was wonderful -- good food and good company. I've been absolutely swamped with graduate school applications, LSAT studying, D.C. preparations, and other work since then, so I haven't had a lot of time to cook. And I certainly haven't had a lot of energy to write, having spent most of it pumping out essay after essay.

I do, however, have pictures from last week. So let's have a Thanksgiving slideshow!

Baked Maple-Mustard Tofu

I make this tofu all the time because it’s great to have around to toss with a salad, wrap in a sandwich, or just snack on hot or cold. It’s baked for a long while at a low temperature to get as much moisture out as possible, leaving you with satisfyingly chewy, meaty tofu.

How to Press Tofu

Looks pretty "blah" right out of the package

 Tofu is amazingly versatile. It starts as a slimy, colorless, nearly tasteless block of smushed-together bean curd (which is exactly what it sounds like—the curds you get when you cause soybean milk to coagulate, much like the curds you’d get from cow’s milk). Happily, the qualities that make it so unappealing in raw form are also what make it so much fun to cook with and so handy to have around. It is pretty tasteless on its own, but it soaks up just about any flavors you care to add to it very nicely. Same with color.

Admittedly, though, tofu needs a little extra help when it comes to texture.