Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all (all five of you reading the blog...)! I hope it's a wonderful long weekend full of family, friends, and of course lots of glorious food. Plans here in London are shaping up nicely. The turkey will be ready to be picked up on Saturday morning from the butcher and I've got my menu planned and the shopping list drawn up. Besides the traditional Italian Christmas turkey, we're having an Ottolenghi salad and their delectable broccoli recipe in addition to some cute croquette canapés and a friend's to-die-for 'pumpkin' butternut squash pie. I'll report back! Enjoy your meals everyone!

Anyone eating something exotic? I have a friend whose mother is steaming crab. Wonderfully inspired and gets my thumbs up.

Canapé Chic

First, just so you all can relax, I've found bags of 100g of star anise - for only 60p. You may all breathe a sigh of relief. My saviour? Longdan supermarket, 25 Hackney Road, E2 7NX. I love you guys...

Now, onto the subject of this post. Thanks to a college friend who sent this to me this week with the only text of the email being, "Me want."



And here's the link: Party Accessory: Fingerfood Plates from FRED (www.thekitchn.com)

They're pretty stupid, I have to say. I know the whole drinks and canapés thing is a bit awkward, but having to balance food on my finger would be even worse! Think if you suddenly forgot about your accessory when your conversation got a bit animated (especially for those of us who talk with our hands) and you flung a bacon roll onto some lady's silk dress?

Also, just randomly I found this:
London Gastrowalks

Looks kind of fun.

staring... anise!

OK, who knew that it is impossible to find star anise on the Tottenham High Road?! I mean, WTF? Doesn't anyone appreciate the glorious taste of liquorice? Not even flavouring could be found! I realise that star anise is a Chinese thing, but seriously now... They have nigella seed and sumac coming out their ears in these shops, but no anise!

Good news is that our local, wonderful butcher (as mentioned in the previous post) is now open on Sundays. Now that's just awesome.

Off to cook an entire meal out of the New York Times Jewish Cookbook, a substantial tome of over 800 recipes that I highly recommend.

Turkey

Amusing moment of the day:

I walk into my local butcher shop on Tottenham High Road (a traditional English establishment with wood shavings scattered on the floor, run by three or four men in white coats and pink, plump, smiling, mischievous faces) and the main guy smiles and says, without saying hello, "Isn't it about time to order your turkey for Thanksgiving?" Slightly stunned that he has remembered this for the forth year in a row, I stopped and replied that yes, it was about time. I told him the date of my dinner and he instructed me to come by the week before and it would be fine.

It's nice to know that you can still have these kind of interactions, even in the biggest city in Europe. I know he's just looking for business, but that takes some skill to remember! I guess in my neighborhood of African, Turkish, Eastern European and Roma immigrants, I'm probably the only American in the area. Or at least the only one who wants to buy my turkey unfrozen, free range and from the local butcher. Let's hear it for local shops.

More on my recent trip to the States with some foodie recommendations coming soon.