I opted not to do a traditional turkey. We had one during my parents visit and it seemed too soon for another. Instead I decided to duplicate a meal my parents use to serve at Christmas. I was warned it was a lot of prep. I was up to the challenge. I wasn't warned that between butter and heavy cream we could keep a dairy running for at least a day.
The recipe for Porc Sylvestre ( braised pork stuffed with ham and mushrooms), comes from Simone Beck's Simca's Cuisine which is a very old book indeed but still in print. The meal was delicious. While I am sure my presentation was not as pretty as what I remembered, the taste was. I haven't had this dish in onwards of 20 years and it was every bit as heavenly as I remembered. We finished with Tangerine mousse with a tangerine flavored cookie or shell.
The mousse was great, the shell it was supposed to go in, not so much. I forget about elevation, I forget that I may have to cook things a bit longer. The taste was there, but the crunch and lightness, no. Next time, more flour, longer cooking time. Both recipes came from Dining in Boston Cookbook by Steven Raichlen, 1983 and probably long out of print.
On the weaving front progress has been made too. In fact, we've started in on the blanket and so far so good.
I am using a temple and have run fishing line on the selvage edges and the folds. Rodger occasionally bats at them but not enough to worry about. A kitten would be more problematic I'm sure.
I've found that with some careful adjustment I can use one of my Schacht end feed shuttles with the Harrisville Shetland quite well. The weaving itself is also going much quicker than the sample did. What is hard is that the warp is so dense being three layers that when I pick up the top layers to weave the very bottom layer, I can't see my shuttle. You would be surprised how much you visually note about a shuttles progress once you can't see it! I am hoping to get a fair amount of weaving time in today. I was actually thinking about going to town but then I stopped myself, I do not want to go anywhere near town on the busiest shopping day of the year. Plus it's pouring out. Two good reasons to sit at home and weave.
I will get out though, at the historic Ashland Armory is a fair of local artisans that I'll visit sometime before it ends Sunday afternoon, assuming I can find parking!
And finally, I hope that each and everyone reading this had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of family, friends and good food. We counted many blessings yesterday, the 2 legged ones, the 4 legged ones and the ones that can't be touched but are certainly felt.
We are rich beyond belief and not just in calories!;-)
