Thanksgiving Menu

Parker's parents arrive tomorrow and Jon/Rose (RoJo arrive on Wednesday). Parker and I spent the morning at Costco getting the perfect turkey (and eating a meal for $4). This will be my third Thanksgiving--my apron is clean and I am ready. Check out the menu:

Eric (an amazing cook) will be handling the appetizers--can't wait to taste these.

Butternut Squash Chowder (Williams Sonoma)
Pear, Arugula, and Pancetta Salad (Epicurious)
Herb Roasted Turkey (Cook's Illustrated)
Turkey gravy (Eric is making his own turkey stock for the gravy b/c I am gravy-deficient)
Corn-Bread and Chorizo Stuffing (Epicurious)
Green Bean Casserole (Cook's Illustrated--much better than the Campbell's)
Mashed potatoes (maybe with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs by Giada De Laurentiis)
Burnt rolls (an Andrews tradition) or drop biscuits

Dessert: (both Cook's Illustrated--they have the most amazing crust recipe)
Cranberry Apply Pie
Pumpkin Pie

I am trying a couple new recipes including a stuffing switch--wish me luck!

Tamalada!

I recently hosted a Tamalada to make large quantities of tamales for the holiday season. Friday night, I cooked 13lbs of pork, chicken and made huge quantities of red and green chile and green chile tomatillo sauce. On the day of the tamalada, I managed to make semi-respectable masa (I nearly had a masa meltdown as both of the recipes I had were way off on the pork lard to masa to pork broth ratio--I even ended up with masa on my eyelid). With the key ingredients made, seven of my dear friends came over to assemble these packets of tastiness. An hour and a half of hard labor later (as well as constructive tamale criticism), we made 25 dozen tamales--pork with red chile, jack cheese with green chile and chicken with green chile tomatillo. We steamed a couple dozen for an hour (in my specially purchased tamale steamer) as we enjoyed some wine. The results were DELICIOUS! My share of tamales lasted less than a week--I assume this is a testament to their delightful taste! I may make more this holiday season, but tamales require a serious amounts of work. It is good, however, to know that I am able to keep this little bit of my heritage alive....Next goal--work on my spanish-speaking skills.

Human Guinea Pig

Being a grad student is by no means a glamorous life. I work long hours, have rare moments of success and get paid peanuts (seriously it is sad). As a result of the poor pay, most of my colleagues regularly participate in medical studies to make some extra cash. I know people who go to the business school once a week or more and do strange studies that involve walking around with a backpack to make $15--I have tried these studies but never feel like you make enough money to justify the long walk to the study site. Nearly all of my fellow Immunologists participated in a Flu vaccine study for $75--it involved spitting and sneezing into collection tubes and multiple blood draws (no thank you). A few brave souls participated in a study where they donated leg muscle. I was going to enroll in that study (it was a $300 pay-out), but after my friend said a piece of her leg muscle landed on her chest, I backed out. My good deed for the world is doing the research, not being a research subject....

However, a great opportunity just presented itself and I couldn't pass it up. I am enrolled in a study to examine the effects of Rogaine on laser hair removal. For the next month, I will be applying Rogaine to my left underarm (the right is an untreated control) to cause a thickening of my pit hair--seriously, gross. Then, I get three free laser hair treatments over the next 4 months. While there is no monetary incentive, I hope to never shave my armpits again. Be on the lookout for updates!

Fall Fun

This past weekend was a quintessential fall weekend. Saturday morning we met our cousins, David and Christina for a hike on the Occoneechee Mountain State Natural Area. Above are a couple of pictures of the beautiful fall foliage. We spent the rest of the day tailgating for the Duke football game--too bad Duke is TERRIBLE! Oh well, at least we got to spent the day with friends, food, beer and fantastic fall weather!