This was the holiday...
I made these cute little placecards that look like wheat sheaths, which ended up taking a lot longer than I thought, but I can use them again eventually.
Here's the day's menu. I did end up dropping one dish mainly due to time constraints (the green beans). I took Wednesday off to prepare, but it still ended up taking a little longer than I thought.
My turkey process was very simple - easiest part of the meal. I brined the turkey in saltwater for six hours, patted it dry, then let it air dry in the fridge, uncovered, for 24 hours -- that gets the skin super crispy. It took about 2.5 hours to cook, starting breast-side down for 45 minutes, then each wing side for 15 minutes, then the breast up for 30 minutes, basting with melted butter on each turn.
I just got through all the turkey leftovers, upon making a turkey tetrazzini the other night. And the bones made a bunch of rich turkey stock.
Here's some cranberry grappa jelly that I made. I wanted a homemade version of the canned jellied cranberry sauce. Everyone else seemed to prefer the whole berry cranberry sauce, but there's still a place in my heart for the jellied. The dish wasn't hard to make, but a little time-consuming because you have to strain it, and let it set in the fridge for several hours.
And the honey and I when it was all done... whew...
So I'm still really pissed about this I know how long has it been?
Here's a review for your North County residents. Leucadia Sushi is located on North Coast Highway, north of restaurants such as Jamroc and Cap'n Keno. Basically, where Leucadia really gets funky - not in a bad way, but in a decidedly low-brow, relaxed way. On a side note, I've been wanting to visit Cap'n Keno, for the hell of it. Spaghetti dinners are $2.95. I'm not expecting much, but it's intriguing.
I had a $25 gift certificate from Restaurant.com for Leucadia Sushi so we decided to try it last night when I was sick of turkey leftovers. It was empty except for a group of 4-5 diners, but I think it may be a new restaurant. Here's what it looks like; it's one of those sushi boat places.
The sushi was pretty cheap (around $4 for two pieces of nigiri), and a fairly decent quality considering the price. It definitely can't compare to nicer places like Sushi Ota, Station Sushi, Tomiko or Tajima... but if you're looking for someplace cheap, this is better than your typical cheap joint in, say, P.B.
Overall, I'd say it could be an ok happy hour spot if it attracts some more business. There's a coupon on their website, and of course, you can get a gift certificate off Restaurant.com. The honey and I ended up paying about $28 after the coupon, including tip, two teas, 4 orders of nigiri, and 3 rolls.
The restaurant doesn't offer enough to make me want to come back, because I'd prefer to hit the Tomiko happy hour, which is in Encinitas, which would end up being slightly more expensive, but much better sushi and a much better ambience.
The final word
(1-5 rating: 1=BAD, 2=mediocre at best, 3=ok, 4=wow, pretty good!, 5=one of my all-time favorites)
Food (Taste, Quality): 2.7
Value: 3.4
Service: 4
Ambience: 2
Memorable Experience: 2
Price: around $4 for nigiri, and $7-14 for rolls.
Menu recommendations: I liked the salmon nigiri and the albacore. The tuna wasn't very good. Their dynamite dishes had too much creamy mayo-like sauce.
Notes:
Would I make a point to go again, paying full price?: Probably not, given the other better sushi places that are closer.
What gifts are you planning to get this year for the tech-geek in your life?
Sponsored by LifeScoop: Bringing You Tips for a Connected Lifestyle.Shopping for my tech god is super hard and I was just talking to him about that, on our drive home from the cinema. I wonder what I'll get him. I've given him everything a girl gives a boy and guess what he don't use it. So I'm all out of ideas.
In my haste to figure out what I should do with the second 1/3rd of my life, Sarah and I decided I should go back to school and get my degree. The decision was basically Sarah saying "Why don't you get your CS Degree?" and me going "Hmm..."
I started with a full set of basic classes. It turned out that I started registration late, and had to choose from a very limited supply of classes. So far my semester has consisted of: Western Civilization, Microeconomics, US Government, and Java Programming.
Java Programming is online, so I don't deal much with the other students or the teacher.
The first week I walked into my other classes every teacher had their version of the same speech: Read the book, do the homework, study for the tests. They all had their own version of "The system is out to get you" lecture.
Every one of them said something similar about attrition as well. They said that the class would have 70% fewer students by the finals.
I'm going to community college. It's a good community college (California has some of the best), but it's still full of people who, for whatever reason or another, aren't going to a State or UC college. I'm also one of the oldest students in two of my classes (My Civ class has a grandma in it). In the first 4 weeks, I would go into classes, do the reading, do the homework, and follow the instructions the teachers gave out. I assumed my fellow students were doing the same thing.
My first hint that my professors might be on to something was my third week. Our Western Civ teacher gave us an assignment. It wasn't a difficult assignment in my mind as I'd already done it four weeks earlier, even before the class had started. The assignment was to buy the course book. Now, you didn't have to carry the book into the class, all you had to do was come into class with proof you had purchased the book. This was worth 5% of your grade.
About 25% of the class failed this assignment. This was about the same number of people who forgot to take the "doesn't count on your grade" pretest in Microeconomics that my instructor begged us to take.
About 4 weeks in I had one test in each of my 3 humanities courses. Each one was relatively easy for me because I had followed the instructions of the professors. I had read the material, done the homework, and studied for the tests.
This time period was an unmitigated disaster for my fellow students. Each class I was in had students who were freaking out about what the tests contained, how all the tests were too difficult. Each teacher was stereotyped as an uncaring career sadist who delighted in pedantic lecturing.
And the classes began to dwindle. We had lost a lot of people in my Microeconomics class right after the first test. My Government class had 250 people, so it was hard to tell how many people were left. I sat in front in my Western Civ class, so I didn't pay too much attention at the time.
About week 11, I looked up my post mid-term grades and had a minor meltdown. I had taken two tests on the same day in week 9, and from the grade scores, I had assumed that I had blown both. Sarah talked me down by telling me not to assume anything. Her suspicions were proven correct when I learned that the curves in those classes were so low that my grades were putting me in the High B / Low A range. Sarah is particularly annoyed at how little studying I am doing. She doesn't see me doing a lot compared to what she did in law school.
After my second test in Wester Civ my professor stated, as a matter-of-fact, that 45% of the class had failed both tests. What is amazing about that number is that the teacher has done the following for every test:
- gave the questions to the tests during lecture,
- defined all of the vocabulary 3 times,
- told us where to read to get the answers for the essays, and
- provided outlines for her lecture.
My Microeconomics teacher has done two tests. They, admittedly, are difficult. It's not an easy course.
My Government class has had 3 tests, all of them open book. He's put in his class notes the areas that each test covers. His tests are so heavily curved that it is possible to miss 40 questions out of 60 and pass it. He's given students 15 extra credit questions on one test, and two extra credit book reports you can do to that will give you the equivalent of one free test's worth of points. There were still people petitioning to curve the second test because it was "too hard"
I think a lot of the students hear "Open Book Test" and think it means "I don't have to read the book." I sit in a row of 5 people, and I asked every week for 3 weeks if anyone had read the chapters (yeah, I'm that guy). I was the only one. I take lecture notes, but I don't reread them in this class because they aren't that useful.
My Government teacher is probably the most useful of the three because he is what is waiting for any of these students when they move on to the UC system. He lectures abstractly about the material, and expects you to do the reading on your own. He is not telling you to learn the material, he's just punishing you for not doing it.
And he is HATED for it. If you look at the reviews for him on RateMyProfessor, you'll find hundreds of angry students going back years complaining about his teaching style. Of course, if you look harder, you'll find the students who actually learned something in his class.
My Microeconomics class had 27 students in it today. We started with 120 (with more people who were trying to petition to get in the first week). My Government class has less than 80 out of 245. My Western Civ class has 40 out of 120, and of those 10 of them still are failing the class (even after she told everyone who failed the first two tests to drop the class).
We are two weeks from finals.
I took a test in Government today. The students had been complaining about this test for the past three weeks. It was over 16 chapters in two books, about 300 pages of reading. I spent the weekend reading one of the books, and had already read the other material in the other book. Here is how you take a test when it is open book:
- Read the book
- Do the homework
- Study the material
Hey guys,
Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!
I've probably mentioned before that I really like Restaurant.com. They sell $25 restaurant gift certificates for $10, and they often have 80% off sales, so I usually buy the $25 cert for $2. Deal!
They're having this nice little promotion now. I can enter up to 30 friends' email addresses and they'll send you a free $10 gift certificate. (Of course, expect to be getting emails from them.... that's why I use my spam email address). But they're not that frequent.
So, if you'd like the free gift certificate, let me know. If I don't already have your email address, private message me with it.
Much love,
HapaLove
A lot of people start decorating for the holidays before the Thanksgiving leftovers have been eaten... What about you? When are you going to start putting up your holiday decorations this year?
There is not much to decorate here. I guess maybe outside lights but not sure.
Hey all my wonderful neighbors,
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you are all enjoying the holiday, have much to be thankful for, and are close to family and friends... if not physically, at least in spirit.
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday... I just love the togetherness of sitting around the table, and of course you all know my thing with food. :) This year is extra special for me, because it's my first year hosting my family. I am really enjoying all the cooking, because I've always wanted to do all these recipes my way. And I'm thankful for getting a break from traveling this year. No traffic!
I'm thankful for all of you... I've been on Vox for a couple years now, and it's been a hoot. The interactions have been great and even resulted in a couple of "real life" friendships. And, I'm happy to say, my Vox has been pretty much Internet-weirdo-free. I enjoy hearing what's happening in all y'alls lives, and I hope you're having a terrific weekend.
My present to myself this Thanksgiving - taking today off. It takes all the stress out of the prep. Ah, what a fine day.
During the past couple of years, the honey and I have been trying to shift our priorities a little bit and focus on eating good food. I'm not boycotting any particular kind of food, or non-organic, or anything like that, but in general, we've put a little more of our budget towards buying locally grown vegetables and pastured meat and dairy products from pastured animals when we can.
Now, it's a lot easier to do this in southern California than in most areas. California, I think, is really the land of milk and honey. We have access to a broad diversity of food year-round. So, why not take advantage of this bounty, I figure.
The growing local food/slow food movement has been great, in terms of broadening our access to these foods. It's easier now than ever before to find a farmer's market, get a CSA subscription, find out what's in your food both at the grocery store and in restaurants. I hope that this translates into the passing of a better food safety bill. I also hope that market forces can shape the future of our food system. Already, we are starting to see a rapidly growing market for ranchers that produce pastured meat, and local farmers. I think that's great.
Over the last couple years in particular, I've learned that cooking is an art that one can never master. Even the world's best chefs haven't mastered every type of cuisine - it's just impossible. There's always something to learn in cooking. And yet, simple cooking is always pleasureful. Just taking a few really good ingredients and making a simple dinner is sometimes the most satisfying activity I can think of. In Italy more than anywhere else, they get that.
Cooking and sharing good food, to me, is also a vehicle for friendship and love. Sharing thoughts and experiences over a home cooked meal is a wonderful way to deepen a connection with someone. Cooking for someone is a very tangible, gratifying way to show my friends and family that I care.
I'm thankful for all the good ingredients we have in this state, and for all the people who've helped me learn how to cook, and for those who come over and enjoy my cooking. (or smile and pretend to!) Good food, a simple pleasure.
So far, I am on schedule with my Thanksgiving game plan. Having hosted lots of dinners and get-togethers, I've learned from many failures the importance of advanced planning... so I can get out of the kitchen and actually spend time with the guests! So, with an ambitious menu this year, I figured planning was essential.
This weekend I got done what I could - set the table, made placecards, did the food shopping.
Last night, I made pie doughs and vanilla ice cream. Cooks Illustrated's secret to perfect pie dough is to replace half of the cold water you normally use with cold vodka. I think it helps keep the gluten from breaking down or something like that. And I use half butter (for taste) and half shortening (for flakiness).
The vanilla ice cream secret is just to do the French style -- which requires a heaping 6 egg yolks (for about a quart of ice cream). But hey, it's Thanksgiving, and we're not eating diet food. I also went all out and purchased a vanilla bean to give it extra flavor and those little specks... damn thing was like $8. For one.
I've gotten my routine down pretty well now. That tends to be hard for me. But now (knock on wood), I'm making time to go to the gym in the morning, walk the dog, and cook dinner when I get home. And still have some time to zone out for a little in front of the TV and read before bed. It's feeling great...
