Cuisine Capers

I’ll start with a quick look behind the scenes.  You see this picture?  Yes, the picture on the left.  The Thanksgiving-oriented picture.  Yes, that one.
 This blog gets literally hundreds of hits a day around this time of year from people who are searching for this picture. Oh, they don’t know that this is exactly the [...]

Our Cuisine Capers gathering on New Years Eve served a number of purposes…

We had a newly remodeled kitchen to break in - mission accomplished
We had to watch the Packers maul the Bears on national TV - mission accomplished
We had to see Brett Favre play his last game - we hope that mission wasn’t accomplished, but [...]

The Turkey!
This year we prepared a 28 pound fresh turkey. I rubbed it with Penzey’s Galena Chicken and Rib rub, then added some garlic and onion for good measure. I popped it into the oven, put the oven on Convection Bake at 300, and let it go for 5 hours. There is no comparison between [...]

Calm Before The Storm

We’re about to be descended upon by 25 or so people. Amazingly, things seem quite under control.

The Wild Rice & Italian Sausage Stuffing is prepared…

The turkey is stuffed, seasoned, and resting on its nice, shiny new All Clad Turkey Roasting set…

The turkey is in the oven….

The table is set…

And the [...]

It’s that time of year… you know, when you gather in great masses and eat yourself silly while imbibing a bit too much? That’s right, I mean Thanksgiving.
Each year my immediate family gathers for the feast. This year we’ll have somewhere around 22 people descending on the dinner table. I think I’m ready. I’ve ordered [...]

New Years Day in Wisconsin - what could that mean? Yes, that’s right, it’s a college football bowl game!
Though I have to say that it was a disappointing year for our UW Badgers. They started out the season on a 9-0 run, with visions of #1 dancing in their heads. And then [...]

In a bit of a surprise, Christmas morning dawned with the first snowfall of the season. This first snowfall was unusually late, and fairly welcome, given that the landscaping for our new house is on hold til the spring thaw, and it’s better to look at a blanket of white snow rather than a mud [...]

I’ve got a 14 pound boneless prime rib sitting in my refrigerator. It will be sacrificed to the hordes of people descending on the house tomorrow. Along with the prime rib will be a spiral cut ham, mashed potatoes, blackeyed peas, broccoli and cauliflower, peas and pancetta, and bread. And possibly shrimp scampi, depending on [...]