Inspiration

So I'm reading Julie Julia...  the book they based that movie on about a woman, Julie, who decides to cook all the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook, The Art of French Cooking....  in one year.  There are 524 recipes that she has to get through and she blogs about her efforts.  Well, the book, and the fact that it's Thanksgiving tomorrow, have inspired me.  Today I started with graham cracker crusts sprinkled with dark chocolate for my pumpkin pies.  Except I can't find graham crackers here in Germany.  So I used butter cookies and it seems fine...  On friday I'll cut the absolutely HUGE pumpkin that Oma grew in her garden this summer and on Saturday the pie crusts will be filled.

I had left over crumble.  What's a cook to do?  I made these adorable mini apple-pear tarts in ramekins and topped them with the remaining crumble.  My kids are going to be in heaven!  So  I melted butter and honey in a pot with the juice from one lemon.  Then I peeled and cored 2 apples and a large pear.  I sprinkled them with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger and tossed them in the yummy buttery, lemony, honey juice.  All got divided up into three ramekins and topped with the remaining crumbly pie crust.  Don't tell my husband that there wasn't enough for a fourth...  They look and smell to die for.  I'll let you know how they tasted.  We're eating them after lunch for dessert.

My mom would be proud of me.  I'm making open faced turkey sandwiches with gravy.  When we were kids, my mom didn't throw anything away.  She still doesn't.  So on about the fourth day after Thanksgiving, we would always have these open faced sandwiches.  It was basically a piece of toasted bread topped with warmed turkey and left over gravy.  It tasted great to me...  We'll see what my boys think of this simple dish.  I don't know why, but yesterday I roasted a turkey breast.  Today we'll have the leftovers in the form of these tasty blasts from my past.

The last effort of the morning was the cranberry cherry compote.  I've read that this can be made up to two weeks in advance and stored in the fridge in an airtight container.  I didn't have shallots or pearl onions, but I did have pearl onions in a glass that I bought in Italy.  They tasted great, so what the hell.  I sauteed them in butter, then added a cup of sugar and a teaspoon of vinegar.  After letting that  caramelize for about 15 minutes, I added a cup of dry white wine, half a cup of vinegar and a cup of dried cherries.  Another glitch.  I had some dried cherries, but not a cup.  I had some dried cranberries, but not a cup.  I had some raisins, but not a cup.  I tossed them all in.  A pinch of salt and 45 minutes later I added a cup of water and 1 lb of cranberries.  The cranberries popped after about 10-minutes.  One should let this cool and then store.  The only problem was it didn't taste right to me.  The smell alone summoned up thoughts of an experiment gone terribly wrong.  Maybe all of my substitutions made for a funky combination.  I'll let Helmut be the taster later and see what he thinks (without saying anything beforehand). It looked beautiful, as if that's any consolation.  If I get a no from Helmut, I'll buy all the ingredients and make it again tomorrow, following the recipe...  Even if I get a "oh, that tastes good" from Helmut, I'm cooking it again tomorrow.  I can't imagine that my sense of smell has somehow gone awry and Helmut, in an effort to boost my ego, would try to trick me into serving a funky cranberry compote to a bunch of germans that have never eaten cranberries.  If they eat my funky cranberry compote, they might be turned off forever!  We certainly wouldn't want that.

Tomorrow I'll be making a turkey stock, the Hummus and choosing the red and white wine...  Oh, and of course the second round on the cranberries...  'Til then.