Foodie Friday Bring on the Turkey OOPS I mean Brining the Turkey

Did I already tell you this?  I need to keep better track of things now that I'm going in some sort of order.  Almost a whole month and I pretty much stuck to a plan.  That's a big WOW!

 

Monday Delaware Hues of Red

Tuesday Delaware Clues or just Common Cents

Wednesday Delaware Views Anew

Thursday Delaware News

Friday Delaware Chews or Foodie Friday

Everyone needs a rest

Sunday Funday

 

Turkey Tendernan Roast

 

1-2 pound Boneless Turkey Breast

 

 

4 cups water divided

1/3 cup salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 c apple Cider Vinegar

1tsp each dried, sage, rosemary, thyme, & parsley

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 cup ice

 

Dissolve sugar and salt in 1 1/2 cups water.

Add remaining ingredients cooling with the ice.

Place Turkey in deep container or ziplock bag.

I do all this in the morning.

An hour before dinner rinse the turkey.

 

Remove Turkey from brine and rinse. Slather with oil and the same proportions of herbs as above.

Bake at 350 20 minutes per pound.  Test for doneness.

 

I like to mix my herbs up a batch at a time in a mortar and pestle and store in glass jars.  This way I can just spill out a tablespoon or so in the brine or in my palm with oil to rub my meat before roasting.

 

 



 

 

 

 



Delaware Views

For real. 

The river has frozen and defrosted and frozen so many times that now it is just backing up with big chunks of broken ice....

 

 

Close view

All the way across

Delaware Views Anew Birds in Winter

I took the pic of the Robin with my 70-300, hand held from my porch a few days ago.  That Robin was grabbing winter sustenance from the Crab Apple tree during a freezing snow.  The geese in the background were taken with my 35-100 early in the morning yesterday, when the river still had a watery pond for them to float in.  It wasn't snowing but it sure was cold.  My battery was starting to act up and my fingers were starting to freeze.  I had to shovel snow from a few of the steps down to the river to get close but not so close that I might disturb the birds.  I thought they might look cool layered.  The Robin in the tree with the berry in it's beak and the geese hovering around a small pond of water in the ice.  Two different breeds of avian trying to make it through this cold winter.

 

Delaware Issues Common Cents

Everybody has a little spot of sunshine somewhere.  It could be in a backyard garden, a flower pot, or even on a window sill.  Herbs are some of the easiest things to grow.  I have fresh parsley, thyme, sage, and cayenne pepper, along with some others, growing all summer long.   I get little potted plants in the beginning of the growing season and transplant them into large pots or directly in the ground. I like to keep the parsley in a pot by the back door so I can grab a few leaves after a meal to freshen my breath.  At the end of the season or during, if a particular plant is abundant, I bunch them up and hang them to dry.  For just a few dollars each, I can have fresh herbs all summer long, dried herbs throughout the winter, and I can mix them up to my taste for almost any recipe I wish to make.  Maybe Ill share with you some of these concoctions on Foodie Friday.   

 

Delaware Hues of Red

There are so many nice restaurants within a few miles from my home and with New Hope, PA and Lambertville, NJ within 10 miles to the north the selection increases dramatically.  Still we find we head to the Full Moon Café in Lambertville (click link for Zagat Review) at regular intervals and here is why.

 

 

First of all the food is always good.  Second they have some of the best creative draws around.  We receive in the mail, buy one breakfast get one free, birthday and holiday coupons.  When we visit in December we receive a RED gift envelope that we can open on our January visit.  Last week our envelope entitled us to one free breakfast, lunch or brunch.  That would be the second time we got a really nice gift as one year we won the free full moon dinner for two coupon in our RED envelope.

The third reason to visit is the service is excellent, ALWAYS.

Finally, the Full Moon is community oriented and offers its walls in a town of galleries, for free to local artists to display their work. 

Mine will be hanging during the month of April and that means SHAD FEST. 

Sunday Funday

Nice to be able to pick a day during the week and review it on Sunday Funday, when lounging around on this frigid winter day.  Hubby and I went off to Lambertville to enjoy lunch at the Full Moon Café and get an update on the dates I'm expected to set up. Then went visiting a friend who has river front property and got another view of the Delaware and the ice building up on it.

Delaware Chews at the Glass House Tavern in NYC

My good friend Patti and I decided to subscribe to the Manhattan Theatre Club and had the good fortune to brave the frigid temperatures to get to the matinee last Wednesday.  I can assure you it was freezing.  We got out at Penn Station and rather than risk freezing to the ground as we walked, we took the subway up to 50th leaving us just 3 blocks to get to the theater on 47th. 

The Glass House Tavern was right  across the street from the theater and coupled with the recommendation of a friend I made at the Edison earlier this month it was a no brainer to go.

It shouldn't surprise you that I dug into my Tomato Fennel soup so quickly that it was gone before I thought to take a picture.  And then those three delicious raviolis also found their way into my tummy...oh darn.  So best I have for you is the recommendation to go and an Iphone pic.  Neither of us had a cocktail making the bill rather reasonable for a theater district lunch.  $23 pp including a generous tip. There was a nice bar and booth seating downstairs and also a large dining area upstairs where we were shown to a table