neotoma

ellen_fremedon and the Vegan Knitter graciously shared the use of their kitchen (which is actually big enough to have more than one person in it) for Christmas dinner. ellen made harissa soup, baked bread, and sheet-roasted vegetables (brussel sprouts, onion, sweet potato, carrots, the knobbiest parsnips know to man (which I had bought -- oops), red beets).

I brought a duck and roasted it accord to this recipe. The only changes we made were to add a little bit of cornstarch to get the drizzle to thicken up.

I also made spätzle, because I own a spätzle press and like the noodles enough to make them despite how sticky the dough sometimes is. I make mine with mace instead of nutmeg, for a more delicate flavor.

I also brought springerle cookies and gingerbread tiles from The Springerle House. Technically I could have made them myself, but they require baker's ammonium and The Springerle House has an amazing collection of cookie molds, so why not leave it to the professional?

hollimichele was also there for dinner, and when she asked if she could help was assigned the task of cutting up the pomegranate, which was a bit mean to give someone who'd never attempted cutting one open before. They are very messy, but she was the one wearing black. She rose to the occasion and found a tutorial about how to cut open a pomegranate on Youtube (and then went "why are there still MORE seeds?" as she was taking it apart.)

Dessert was waffles by the Vegan Knitter. They came apart slightly in the iron, but were wonderful crispy anyway.

For New Year's Day, I have invited people to come to my place for vegan pancake and Liège Waffles. I may also make New Year's Waffle Cookies (AKA Lukken/Nieujaar's Wafeltjes/Gaufrettes) because I have a mini-waffle iron and can make them a day ahead. Maybe Smitten Kitchen's Winter Fruit Salad, assuming I can find dried figs and dried apricots.

I stopped by the Safeway coming home tonight and picked up a pack of toilet paper, another box of kleenex, two cans of soup, bagels, cream cheese, skyr, and a couple of packs of ramen.

I don't think I've had cheap ramen since I was in collage, but I'm reasonably sure that I can dress it up into something acceptable by cracking an egg or two into it, and maybe adding a scoop of kimchi or half an onion. Basically, I bought some 'I have no energy to stand for five minutes and cook' food or 'I've been stuck in my apartment for three weeks due to quarantine and have almost nothing left' food; the canned soup can be donated if I don't use it, and the ramen will wind up in some experiment or other.

I also picked up 4 bag of mixed dried berries on clearance, and a bag of peppermints -- at the very least I'll have something to nibble on if I do get stuck in my apartment, and it's not like they'll go bad.

Now the only things left on my list are Dayquil, chocolate, and Brita water filters.

If you haven't been reading siderea's pandemic preparation series -- about taking reasonable and measured preparation for Covid-19, check it out. She also did a great series on the 1918-1919 Pandemic Flu in Boston.

I just ordered a batch of springerle cookies from Springerle House for New Year's, or possibly Christmas. But probably New Year's, since it's almost certain that I'll be hosting a get-together at my apartment.

My mom got a batch (largest size) of springerle cookies from them for Thanksgiving. They were delicious! And had so many different turkey and harvest-themed cookie molds. I'll try to upload the pictures I took of some of them.

My grandmother used to make springerle cookies for the holidays, but hers were definitely hard dunkers -- Springerle House manages to make theirs with a crisp outside and a light, almost fluffy inside. I now have a springerle rolling pin as my mom gave me one she had, but I really doubt I'd be able to make as good a batch of cookies as Springerle House -- for one thing, the traditional recipe calls for hartshorn, aka baker's ammonia, aka ammonium carbonate, aka 'what IS that smell?!'. It's probably not a good idea to try baking with it in an apartment.

Tonight is the deadline for ordering Christmas cookies, so if you suddenly find yourself with a mighty need for anise-flavored picture cookies, you only have a little time left.