Wednesday Miscellany

I attended my friend Murro's (fifth?) annual turkey dunk this weekend. Fun times. If you think deep frying a turkey sounds delicious, try doing a whole duck! Decadent.

The turkey and sweet potato fries were great, too. The one sad part: we never got around to deep frying pumpkin pie, as was threatened at about 11 p.m.

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Another thing I wish I'd thought of: Car-B-Que.

This idea of cooking food from an engine's heat is a great use for excess engine warmth, provided your meals don't spill out and ruin your engine. It brings the Hot Dogger idea to the masses by expanding from snowmobiles to cars.

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Local update: The grand opening of the Chapel Hill Trader Joe's will begin with a ceremonial lei cutting at 8:45 a.m. Bet they'll sell a lot of coffee.

Thank Goodness for Cookbooks

I couldn't believe my eyes. There I was, flipping through a random cookbook yesterday and I came to this picture.

How did I not think of serving soup from a pumpkin in my Practical Pumpkin column? Maybe I would have if my research for the column involved more cookbooks and fewer séances in pumpkin patches.

In fairness, I had envisioned using smaller pumpkins as individual soup bowls. But I never made the leap to using a pumpkin as the serving vessel.

Anyway, the recipe came from the book to the right. In case it's not in your library (and why would it be?), you can check out the recipe here.

I have no idea if it's any good--I got the book at a garage sale--but I know a cool way to serve it that would make a nice addition to your Thanksgiving dinner.

Have a great, gravy-filled Thanksgiving!

Monday Links

What to make of the Pizzacone? The invention features a dough-like cone filled with pizza ingredients that supposedly allows you to eat pizza on the go. I guess that's better than ice cream pizza.

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In honor of yesterday's Po-Boy fest, check out this history of the fabulous New Orleans sandwich. Seems the original Po-Boy purveyors--Martin Brothers Restaurant--sold their sandwiches in 15 and 20-inch varieties. And you thought the foot-longs at Subway were hefty!

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Good on this Irish food writer for taking a shot at Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, she gets a few things hilariously wrong. Check out step four on the turkey and the dessert choice.

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Finally, after seeing these funky new toasters, your beat-up old one may be, well, toast. There's the transparent toaster, not to be outdone by the gliding toaster. And in an age of instant messaging, why not toast messaging?

Trading Up

In the coming weeks, my humble home of Chapel Hill will be trading an empty storefront for a Trader Joe's. Yup, the aloha-shirted ones will be putting another dot on the map.

In truth, the swap was an Earth Fare for a T.J., but the location has been empty for so long I can barely remember that former tenant.

As a full-fledged Foodster, I peek at the site every time I drive by the shopping center. I keep hoping for a sign that it'll be closer to completion. This week, I spoke with a woman at the company's California headquarters and it sounds like they'll be opening before the end of the year.

That means I'll be writing about Trader Joe's in the near future. So all you T.J. veterans, please let me know what you do and don't like about the place. I'm curious to hear why you shop there and what you buy.

In the meantime, I'm off to dig out my Hawaiian shirt.

Birthday Bites

As some of you may know, yesterday was my birthday. Kind soul that she is, the Spoonstress made sure it was filled with fun, food and fun food.

I awoke to the spoils of a Foster's Market run. Our special birthday plate held a chocolate chip scone, a slice of apple bread and a slice of pumpkin gingerbread, which the Spoonstress admitted she couldn't resist after my the pumpkin rant in my last column. Served on our special birthday plate, it looked something like the picture above.

To wash it all down, there was a steaming cuppa joe and a yummy blueberry banana juice thingy. Topping it all off, a new discsang from the CD player (remember those, you iPodders?).

Throughout the day, the Spoonstress kept e-mailing me with the location of hidden treats. My favorite store-bought cookie, Foster's Chocolate Whoppers, was in a cupboard. A serial saver, I promptly ate half, leaving the rest for today. Sigh.

Then, the Spoonstress alerted me that my favorite candies--raspberry and blackberry gumdrops--were inches away in a desk drawer. Sneaky.

I've always liked these berries, perhaps because they remind me of past checkers glory. Yet, I've never been clear on what to call them. Some ignore the blackberry factor altogether.

That may make sense because there doesn't seem to be much attention given to the blackberry flavor. The only taste distinction is that the black ones aren't as sweet as the red.

Smoke before fire. Works in both checkers and candy.

Spork Notes: Aw, Nuts!

A recent rave at the Forkquarters has been walnuts. While they're not exactly an unheard of item, I've been enjoying them in some unusual ways.

Pasta with broccoli, edamame and walnuts sparked this walnut renaissance. This tasty, easy recipe (see below) comes from the friendly folks in the Moosewood Restaurant empire.

From this recipe in Moosewood Simple Suppers, I gleaned that the reason I hadn't loved walnuts before was that they weren't toasted. I should have realized this sooner, as the toasted almond is a real Forkster fave.

Since that moment, I've been wearing out the toaster. I'm having walnuts in my cereal with sliced banana every morning. They've enhanced instant oatmeal and yogurt snacks. Finally, they're really awesome in a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream, where the chocolate and walnut combo impersonates a sundae.

I'd have to guess that the reason I'm so fond of the toasted walnut is that it evokes that fresh-from-the-oven oatmeal cookie. And who wouldn't want that spicing up their breakfast?
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Pasta with Broccoli, Edamame and Walnuts

3/4 lb. chunky pasta

1/4 cup olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced or pressed

3 cups bite-sized pieces of broccoli

1 cup frozed, shelled edamame

3/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil, oregano, thyme or marjoram (dried herbs work, too)

1 cup chopped, toasted walnuts

salt and pepper

grated Parmesan or Pecorino Roman cheese

Cook pasta until al dente, saving 1/2 cup of the water. Warm 2 T olive oil in a skillet on low heat. Add garlic and cook for a few seconds. Add the broccoli and that 1/2 cup of hot pasta-cooking water, turn heat on high for 2 minutes. Add edamame, salt and herbs. Cook until water evaporates or about 5 minutes. Toss past with the vegetable mixture, the remaining 2 T of olive oil and the walnuts. Top with grated cheese. Yum.

recipe courtesty of Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers.