Thanksgiving was excellent.

photo by Dave

I haven't had a chance to blog about Thanksgiving until this moment so here we go: Thursday afternoon Dave and Marianna came over to consume mass quantities of delicious food. My wife's, keeping with tradition and culinary excellence, cooked yet another delicious bird. Good gawd it was good... oh so juicy! I played a small part in the preparations; I helped to brine the turkey and like to think that my accurate and consistent slicing of the celery & carrots was crucial to the perfection that was the home-made stuffing.

We had a great time stuffing ourselves, dancing,taking photos, enjoying a few ales and then strolling around my neighborhood so the little dog could do her thing. Yes, even Doris had a thanksgiving meal of turkey, potatoes and squash. Dave took some really spectacular photos from the evening and you should check them out on his flickr page.

And so now, I sit on the couch, polishing off the last of the gerkins, tapping away at the keys of a laptop wedged firmly in place against my dunlop, thinking about tomorrow's ride at Sprain Ridge. I can't wait. I have a little bit of maintenance to take care of the morning (want to see if I can take a couple links out of my chain) and then it's off to the trails with Dave & Alex. It's been a fantastic vacation.

Home Made Marmalade

Lately, I've been cooking a lot. Not so much in the way of meals, but more in the way of sauces. I must say my BYFO [Burn Your Face Off] wing sauce is worthy of bragging rights. Last week I caught Ina Garten making marmalade on the boob tube and moved making marmalade to the top of my list. So, last night I chopped up four large oranges, two lemons and boiled them down with a ton of sugar. After letting them sit over night, I simmered them for another two hours this morning, and then brought them up to 220 degrees to finish them off. I loaded the jam into sterilized mason jars and was good to go. They seem to have gelled up nicely and I'll be enjoying my labor on a fresh baguette with coffee, tomorrow morning before I head out for more mountain biking in Peekskill.