The problem I have with the endless emails and web articles I see about “16 Thanksgiving side dishes” and “10 million pies” and “what to make for Thanksgiving this year” is that, like many people, I like to make the same things for Thanksgiving every year, and I don’t use recipes for most of them. When I’m in charge of dinner, I generally make turkey, mushroom-sage stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted sweet potatoes, creamed spinach, and pecan pie. And I don’t need other people telling me how to make those things, as I’ve already done them, thanks.

I was going to do a roundup of Thanksgiving recipes from the past three years of my blog, only to discover that I haven’t really written most of them down – for the above reason, that I don’t really follow recipes for this sort of cooking. I do use a recipe for pecan pie, but it’s pulled straight from Baking Illustrated so I don’t really want to reprint it here and have the fine folks at Cook’s Illustrated come after me with pitchforks. I have found a few good recipes to mention here – the fresh cranberry relish with a whole orange that I like so much, sweet potato dinner rolls, the spinach recipe that isn’t remotely healthy but tastes fantastic, and a cranberry tart that doesn’t replace pecan pie in our household but is still really nice.

My favorite cranberry sauce

Sweet potato dinner rolls

Aunt Mary’s creamed spinach

Cranberry tart

And, since I’ve been so lame on the Thanksgiving post front, here are some posts from other bloggers giving a nice range of holiday experience and planning from past years, many of whom avoided all kinds of stress by simply leaving out the turkey:

A Cook Local Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving, Downsized

Gluten-Free Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Local Style

Thanksgiving in France

Gobble, Gobble

Ix-Nay on the Urkey-Tay

Greetings to all of you that have made it here from Food52 (there’s a lovely review of this site here).

Make yourself at home, leave a comment, tell me what you think!

Some of you may be familiar with another local blog, The (Not So) Urban Hennery, written by my friend Laura McCrae. I am happy to announce that, two weeks from now, Laura will be giving a talk at my workplace, the Mount Vernon City Library, on raising chickens. And given that I’ve been buying rather transcendently wonderful eggs from Laura every week, I can tell you she knows how to take good care of chickens.

Yes, it’s a Monday night, but it doesn’t run that late. Come on out and show your support, visit the library and maybe learn something about chickens! And perhaps we’ll go out for a beer afterwards.

Backyard Chickens
with Laura McCrae

(part of the Renew Washington project)

6:30 pm, Monday, May 17

Mount Vernon City Library
315 Snoqualmie Street
Mount Vernon, WA, 98273
(360) 336-6209

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Because I’m lazy, I’m going to ignore numbers 4 and 5 – I never forwarded chain letters, either. But should you feel inclined to pick up the meme, please consider yourself tagged.

In any case, here are my six random things:

1. One night in Florence, I ate for dinner nothing but a single, fresh yellow bell pepper. What can I say, I’m a tightwad.

2. I really, really like Cheetos and potato chips. Sweets I can take or leave, but salt and grease are my drugs of choice.

3. I was named after the author Jessamyn West. I share this honor with a number of other people.

4. I have three cats of whom I am very fond, but I still consider myself basically a dog person.

5. As well as being involved with blogging, photography, music, gardening, cooking, and working a day job, I am also a handweaver. Yes, I have too many hobbies.

6. I once played for flute master Louis Moyse, for a workshop. When I finished, he kissed me on top of the head. I’m still not sure why.

That’s it! Feel free to pick up the theme, and drop me a comment!

Since I started working on this post, it seems like everyone’s been doing it. I guess I may as well finish up and post before I’m suddenly behind the times…

This was a fun challenge from the blog Very Good Taste, featuring a list of foods every omnivore should (theoretically) try. Some are unusual and challenging, some not so much – depending on what part of the world you’re from.

Here are the rules for anyone who wants to take part:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea (not opposed, but not very interested)
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (does a county fair booth count?)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes (Raspberry good. Cranberry OK. Guava disgusting)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda (actually, I can’t remember if this is true. If not, will rectify immediately)
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar (booze yes, cigars no)
37. Clotted cream tea (had afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel in Victoria – no clotted cream, though)
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (hmmm… I hate jello, and don’t much see the point of vodka)
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk (oh yes, lots – we raised dairy goats when I was little)
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more (how I wish – I love good whiskey)
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear (only as a sorbet – kinda yucky)
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (I have never eaten a Big Mac and never will – what is with that extra bun?)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine (I had a very similar dish of fries with demiglace and cheese sauce – close enough?)
60. Carob chips (my mother worked in a health food store)
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin (maybe by accident, when I took ceramics)
64. Currywurst (I am very intrigued by this one…where would one get some?)
65. Durian (I’ve smelled them in the store, does that count?)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost (just had for the first time last week!)
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (I think I ate part of one once – ew)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini (can’t, I’m allergic to peaches. But I love prosecco)
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam (have I actually never eaten any? Seems unlikely, but I’m not sure)
92. Soft shell crab (not very common on this coast – lots of Dungeness, though)
93. Rose harissa (love harissa, haven’t seen rose)
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

I have news!

As you may have noticed, ever since I started this blog, I’ve been amusing myself with a self-indulgent weekly Saturday post featuring something blooming in my garden. I have no idea if this has been interesting to any of my foodie readers, so I decided to do a little rearrangement.

Henceforth, Food on the Brain shall be food only. Those wishing for more of a garden photo fix, or just see what’s blooming here in Skagit Valley, may now repair to its sister site, Jessamyn’s Garden. I can definitely say that there will continue to be some crossover, since food and gardening are my passions and they keep leaking into each other, but it won’t be quite such a jumble. I’ll be moving all the old “in the garden” posts to the new site as I have time.

Please check out the new blog, and let me know how you like it!

Edited 8/4/08: I have moved all the old garden posts over, and deleted them from this site.

Edited 9/14/09: I started the new blog as The Weekend Gardener, but got tired of it and changed it to Jessamyn’s Garden as of today. Hopefully it’ll stay put now!