Another Thanksgiving feast has come and gone (though leftovers aplenty remain) and here it is Blank Friday already and I haven’t snapped up a single solitary bargain, not one.
Herself had requested Emeril Lagasse’s chicken cacciatore for dinner, and I decided to add the traditional accompaniment, Martha Rose Shulman’s stir-fried succotash.
Somewhere along The Path for reasons unknown we got detoured into butter-cookie construction, and as a consequence I was a wee bit tardy getting started on my own preparations, which are extensive.
These dishes are not complex — the succotash needs just four minutes in the wok — but they involve more than a few ingredients, among them Emeril’s Essence, a spice mix with eight components.
The cacciatore itself has 20 more. The succotash? Eleven. Many cups and bowls for the mise en place, many, many of them.
For the cookery I needed a large Dutch oven, a pasta pot, and a wok. Knives, spatulas, spoons, graters, cutting boards, colander, oven mitts, rubber gloves, yadda yadda yadda. Clean as you go, etc. Stand back, gimme room, and so on.
A memory with fewer holes in it would have been nice, too. For some reason I had it in my head that the simmering phase of the cacciatore would last only 20 minutes, which was 40 minutes short of actuality. This put a slight hitch in my culinary gitalong and thus we were late sitting down to the actual eating, which annoyed Miss Mia Sopaipilla, who is a stickler for schedules (her own).
Didn’t matter. We’d lunched on eggs over medium and pan-fried potatoes, so we weren’t drooling and ravenous. We didn’t have two-legged guests waiting, growing surly with drink, reawakened memories of past slights, and plans for vengeance. And we didn’t have to drive home afterward.
During the final cleanup, which was extensive, we sang along with Arlo, singing loud to end war and stuff. We hope yous all did likewise. There’s a lot of it about.
Mad Blog Media 
Amen to your last paragraph, made me want to go dig out my old peace sign necklace.
Happy thanksgiving
Hurben! Long time no hear from! Happy Thanksgiving back at you. I hope all’s well with thee and thine. What’s the latest from your corner of the globe?
Hi Hurben! How are things in Burt Munroe land? Still working?
Hi P’oG & Pat,
we finally have a new government, after about 40 days of grandstanding the leading major party & two minors have formed a coalition. The leaders of the two minors will share the deputy Prime Minister role which should be interesting as they hate each other. The next 3 years promises to be a shit show.
I’m still working but the company is making huge losses so this is probably going to be my last gig before I slide into my role as being a burden on society
Hurben: Great to have you back on the Mad Dog Media blog/confessional/nostalgia trip/political commentary/quasi-psychobabble venting social media!! Oh yeah, and on the bicycle and guitar/flute N+1 needs vs. wants penitence/flagellation “no monetary contributions sought” watering hole.
Hoping you and yours are well …… and ….. wait for it, that your sandal tan is on its way to a another great year (photos always appreciated).
Stay safe and healthy down under! Vegemite rules!!
14F here in Bibleburg and a light snow falling! 🙂
Thanks JD,
Good to be back.
Weather in Auckland is 19 Commie Celsius, (that’s 67 of your Freedom Fahrenheit) & cloudy.
A gentle reprimand, NZ is Marmite territory, Vegemite is what our neighbours over in West Island devour.
Vegemite …. Marmite! One must be vegetarian and the other meat-eating? 🙂 Good to have you back, amigo!
How’s the weather up there this morning, JD? We had the usual 30° wakeup plus a dusting with more on the way. Miss Mia is snug in her bedcave, Herself is cataloging treasure for her eBay sideline, and I’m wandering the Infobahn looking for outrages to crack wise about.
Glad I got a bike ride in yesterday. Today looks like more of a running opportunity.
PO’G: A balmy 13F on its way to 18F today with light snow showers. We only received about 3″ of snow; but the chill factor is supposedly between minus 5F and plus 5F.
Perfect leftover chicken cacciatore with succotash weather, eh?? 🙂
That’s a Weirdcliffe kind of cold, JD. And yup, good leftovers weather down to here. We had some last night and will do ’er again this evening. I strive to get at least two and if possible three meals out of every semiheavy bout of cookery.
Hurben, I’m sorry to hear that you and yours are no longer immune to shitshows. I wish there were an effective vaccine against ’em; regular reinfection doesn’t seem to do the trick. Not here in the US of A, anyway.
Sorry, too, to learn the company isn’t a bed of roses. Herself is trying to decide whether she’d like to retire retire sometime next year or just go part time. She enjoys her work (along with the pay and benefits) and it would give her a couple days a week where she wouldn’t have to listen to me stalking around and gesticulating wildly as I lose argument after argument with the voices in my head.
Too bad we can’t clone Jacinda! We too could use someone like her. We have the right kind of folks, but they are reluctant to get involved with the down and dirty politics here that I think started with that roger stone asshole.
Levelheaded leadership is a rare bird, right up there with the passenger pigeon, ivory-billed woodpecker, and dusky seaside sparrow.
Your last paragraph reminds of a Jimmy Buffett number
“A Lot to Drink About”
Hey, have you noticed that the world has changed
That the news is all bad
Well, I think it’s time for a song about that
Up on the East side of Manhattan,
They’re still dancing with the stars.
While over in sub prime city,
It’s getting ugly in the local bars
Watching the news only gives me the blues
There’s too much going wrong.
It takes the likes of me to hit the reboot key
And write a high speed drinking song.
Millionaires losing everything.
Hey, welcome to the other side of life!
There goes the yacht, there goes the Rolls,
But you, you get to keep your wife!
And don’t forget the automakers
Swimming up stream like a trout.
They let the shit hit the fan
And then they made a plan
We’ve got a, a lot to drink about.
There’s the price of oil,
The war of the spoils.
Here’s your bucket for the big bailout?
Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan,
We’ve got a, a lot to drink about.
Now, Madoff made off with all the money.
And his clients are down to skunk weed.
Repeat after me, it’s so easy to see
We’re only talking simple greed.
And those Somalian pirates are counting all the gold.
While Bush and Cheney ain’t around
And all the good lookers seem to be Russian hookers
From Key West to London town.
With the price of oil,
The war of the spoils.
Here’s your bucket for the big bailout?
Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan,
We’ve got a, a lot to drink about.
So pour me some Tennessee whiskey,
Pour me a fine Jamaican rum.
That loud mouth soup
Can get ya kinda looped
Tequila, of course I’ll have some!
Well the family devalues
And little children plan their net worth
And the truth wherever it’s hiding,
Can be found on Google Earth.
Citibank’s buying jets with our money.
I wanna flog ’em with a buggy whip.
Let’s hope Obama and Joe won’t let the volcano blow
And patch the hole in our sinking ship.
There’s the price of oil,
The war of the spoils.
Here’s your bucket for the big bailout?
Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan,
We’ve got a, a lot to drink about.
Recession, oppression, depression, good God
CNN keeps bumming me out.
I can’t take another doomsday minute
We got a lot to drink, a lot to think,
A lot to drink about.
God bless America!
Butter cookie construction is a gateway drug into Bundt cakes, which intern has been shown to lead to increased assembly of “salads” that include ingredients like Jell-O, pretzels, and whipped cream.