Some Belated Thanks

Well, it's never really too late to give thanks, and we certainly should not wait until an arbitrary national holiday to appreciate the good things in our lives. It's been a few weeks, I know. But it's especially important for me right now to keep the positive vibes going, because I've had a really crappy December. Let me get the pity party out of the way. In the last two weeks, I:

1) was rear-ended during traffic on 35W, one of the busiest freeways in the Twin Cities (the same road where the bridge collapsed).
2) had my car towed due to complicated Mpls Snow Emergency rules.
3) lost my wallet and keys.

Surprisingly, I have not been soured by these recent events. Maybe it was that year in California that mellowed me out. I've recently tried to cope by reframing the situation and thinking about what I am meant to learn from these misfortunes. I also realized that these are all just things, and I have much to still be thankful for. You know, a roof over my head, my health and the health of all my loved ones, harmony within my family, being in a great graduate program, having wonderful classmates and friends, and so on and so on.

Oh, and of course...I am thankful for always having good food to eat. This is obviously very important to me, and I sometimes forget what a privilege it is! My first Thanksgiving in Minneapolis was no exception. As I mentioned in my last blog so-long-ago, my classmates decided to have a little Thanksgiving potluck the week before Thanksgiving. It was a splendid spread with lots of gourmet goodies made with love! Everyone came through with some awesome dishes. We had the turkey and a roux-stock gravy (story of the brining endeavor below), butternut squash and hazelnut lasagna, stuffing, Parmesan mashed potatoes, roasted brussel spouts, pumpkin bread, salad w/ carrot-ginger dressing, cranberries, and cheesecake custard. Not bad for a bunch of starving graduate students. I was very thankful for all this delicious food, and the good cheer shared by the wonderful company. A rousing game of Taboo helped as well!

My few foodie fans out there have been asking me how the brined turkey turned out, and I am proud to say that it was a HIT! I did end up using the Good Eats Roasted Turkey recipe, which called for a 6 hour brine. The brining is quite simple; just boil the ingredients and pour the cooled brine in with the turkey. Some places sell special brining bags; I thought I would be clever and buy a Reynolds Oven bag. That didn't work b/c the bag got a hole in it. Oh well. What's really tricky is figuring out where to let the huge thing soak for that extended period of time. Luckily, my ex-roommate had abandoned a perfectly sized cooler!

After it soaked for 6 hours, you gotta dump out the brine and rinse the chicken well. Doesn't make sense? Read my last blog entry to understand what goes on w/ the brining process. Be sure to pat it dry all over before greasing it up so that your skin will crisp. After that, you "flash roast" the turkey in the oven: 500 degrees for 30 minutes. This will give the skin a golden crisp. Then you lower the temp to 350 and cook for another 2-2.5 hours (depending on the weight of the bird). Ideally, you will possess a meat thermometer that goes up to the requisite 161 degrees, instead of a totally useless thermometer that only goes up to 120. I was very paranoid about infecting everyone with salmonella, so I had it roast an extra 30 minutes or so. Turned out well-done (10 lb bird for about 3 hours total).

The verdict? Well, here are a few comments I received:

Wow, it is so juicy and flavorful.
Gravy is hard to do, and this is very good!
Yum, and I don't even like turkey!
This is the best turkey I have ever had.

*comments may have been slightly altered for effect. Except for the last one; that's a REAL quote!

While it was somewhat time consuming, I am definitely going to try another brined turkey. My parents saw the pictures and want me to try and convert them into being turkey-eaters (instead of turkey-haters) on Christmas. We'll see...greater miracles have been known to happen!

Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving 2007 Frugal Foodie action....Next up, turkey stock!

Frugal Foodie: The Farmer's Market

Welcome to the first in a weekly(cross-my-fingers) installment, I will call "Frugal Foodie Fridays," an attempt at bringing together my need to be more consistent in my blogging and the one thing that I could talk and write about forever and ever - FOOD!

As you know, I'm a full-time graduate student whose financial means are quite limited. Even more challenging is the fact that I really like to eat - and I like to eat well. Not that I seek out foie gras and champagne, but I'd much rather eat things more interesting and more tasty than instant ramen and $0.39 boxes of generic mac n' cheese (though yes, I did eat modified versions of these two things in the last month). I'm going to take this opportunity to share this journey of a Frugal Foodie with you, oh few readers out there...so I hope you find this useful, occasionally funny, and maybe cool. Feel free to chime in with your own thoughts and tips! (p.s. Facebook users, feel free to comment on the main blog itself).

Well, when I first moved to Minneapolis, I was going through major SF withdrawal. One of the things that I loved most about living in SF was the incredible food culture and the segment of that culture devoted to fresh, local food. Unfortunately, some of the SF farmer's markets (i.e., the Ferry Building Farmer's Market) are much too expensive for those with more stringent finances. My advisor here at the U told me about the Minneapolis Farmers Market, and I went w/ one of my classmates to the Lyndale market the first weekend that I arrived. Boy, I was sooo excited! The hustle and bustle, the enormous amounts of produce all in the sunshine (170 vendor spots!!!), the crisp morning air. There are many different things available at the different vendors, ranging from produce to poultry to eggs to cheeses to bread/baked goods to the prepared food vendors (tamales, brats, roasted corn, Chinese food) and miscellaneous furniture/clothing/sunglasses (random, I know). One day I spent almost half an hour tasting a bunch of varieties of local honey!

The Mpls FM is a little bit different from some of the markets in San Francisco. One difference I noticed right away is that while most of the vendors sell local products and produce, there are some vendors who sell products from other parts of the country. Also, not all of the products provided have the organic label (which is controversial anyway). One reason for importing is that Minnesota has a short harvest season due to the weather. Some people might have a problem with this, but there is no shortage of locally grown and/or organic products. Interestingly, the Mpls FM started out as a place for area businesses to sell their products wholesale. Nevertheless, the quality of produce from the vendors is far superior to anything that I have found at the local grocery stores (even at the "fancier" ones which gouge you). Another thing to note is that most of the vendors sell produce by the basket or bushel (rather than by weight). As you can see in the picture above left, the produce is in little baskets which are usually priced at $1-3 each or an even better deal of 3 for $5, where you can mix and match. Awesome for any Frugal Foodie! The amount you get in each basket is HUGE. So I try to hit up the farmer's market with a friend and we split everything. That means that we get a good variety of produce for a cheap price, without having excess which will be wasted!

The selection here can seem repetitive, but it is quite diverse. I love that they have different Asian vegetables (Thai eggplant, bok choy, huge stalks of lemongrass, cilantro, and much more) in addition to the veggies and fruits we're used to seeing. I like to take advantage of the diversity by picking out some food that I've never cooked before to experiment. Picking cost-effective ingredients makes for a bonus! For example, I bought a medium sized spaghetti squash for $2 that I made into two different dishes - roasted spaghetti squash and then a pizza. Many things which are staples in a food lover's fridge are much much cheaper and better quality at the FM than in the regular grocery store. I love to get my fresh herbs at the FM. This one farm sells big bundles of herbs individually or even mixes for as little as $1! About 1/5 of that amount sells at the store for $2.99 and those often go brown fast. Fresh herbs can elevate the most mundane to sublime! I could devote a whole blog to fresh herbs! Perhaps another time.

I am in love with the Farmer's Market and have been there all but three weekends that I've been here, including tomorrow! Sadly, the outdoor market season is winding down, but there are a few more weeks left for you to take advantage of your local land's bounty (and get so much more for much less than at the crappy grocery chain next door). It feels great to eat a little healthier and to help out local family businesses. The Farmer's Market has me looking forward to Spring already!