Riesling went to the Ooh-la-la dog spa today, and came back looking beautiful. Proof linked from flickr below:

Note the racing strip down the middle of her back in the second set of pics. It’s only noticeable for the first few weeks after a shave, and its one of her distinctive features.

Riesling spent an hour at the dog park yesterday, so she was ready for bed shortly after dinner. By 11p she was exhausted:

You can also see Leandra looking at our new London map. It’s hard to believe we leave in about a week… so much to do!

I started planning for this years Thanksgiving feast by asking all parties what three things they couldn’t live without for the big dinner. We skipped the green beans and yams this year, but there was a resounding call for gravy.

I’ve never made gravy. Ever. But I was determined not to go down the dry pouch/just add water route.

I found a “fool-proof gravy guide” online from The Splendid Table and I crossed my fingers. Honestly though, it was some of the best tasting gravy I’ve ever had. And it was a huge hit (especially with the dog). :)

Take a stalk of celery and half an onion and tear them into chunks (will be strained out anyway), add them to a medium pot. I got a turkey breast with wing tips instead of the whole bird, so I just trimmed off the wing meat and neck and threw them in; feel free to also add the giblets if you have them.

Pour in half a bottle of white wine (I used Aprilskloof Sauvignon Blanc), then add chicken broth to cover the solids. Simmer partially covered for 2-3 hours, adding water as necessary to keep the solids submerged.

Strain broth when turkey comes out of the oven and discard solids. Skim the fat from the turkey juices in the roasting pan, then set the pan over two burners on high heat. Start boiling down the pan juices, scraping up any browned bits (yummy!), then slowly add the strained broth, one cup at a time. Continue boiling and stirring until the broth reduces by about 1/4.

Take between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of broth and add ice cubes until chilled. Then add two tablespoons of flour and whisk well until there are no lumps. The liquid must be cold or the flour will form little lumps that will be impossible to incorporate no matter how much you whisk! Add the flour/broth slurry to the bubbling pan liquid and simmer (more whisking!) until gravy is smooth and thick enough to lightly coat a spoon. The leftover gravy will thicken considerably in the fridge, so you can make it ahead of time and reheat it if you like.

I brought the remainder of the turkey to work yesterday for lunch with some leftover gravy. Still delicious!

While my family was visiting, we picked a few good restaurants for our dinner meals. Starlu was an absolute hit (as usual) while Penang was a terrible miss.

We’ve eaten at Penang before and I remember the service being fine, the food adequate, and the wait inconsequential. I also remember the entrees were mildly overpriced, but the food was good, sooo…

Well!

I’ve had enough good and so-so restaurant experiences over my lifetime, but this one was just so poor, I have to share…

We arrived around 7:45pm (after the Bears game, so that probably didn’t help our moods any), got seated right away, then waited for several minutes for someone to take our drink order.

In a nearly empty restaurant.

We all ordered appetizers (probably our first mistake) and after a long wait the food came but my brother’s sushi roll had the wrong fish. The waiter prompty blamed the chef and it took another several minutes for them to bring out the correct roll. By this time, of course, the rest of us were finished with our appetizers. In the meantime, another waiter refilled Eric’s glass of Sprite with water when he wasn’t looking, which took another few minutes to resolve.

Considering we ordered our appetizers and entrees at the same time and over an hour had now passed, we flagged down our waiter to ask where the food was. We noticed that all the people around us were eating, even though we had arrived first. Admittedly, we were all a little cranky (and hungry) at this point but when pressed, the waiter said that once the sushi was finished (two of us ordered rolls), the kitchen would start the other hot entrees. Excuse me? The chef was planning on making all of the sushi first and THEN going to start on the fried rice and red curry? Did they only have one person working in the kitchen? He mumbled something about a big sushi order that had come in, but the only people still left in the restaurant were people that arrived well after us AND were already eating, so clearly, someone screwed up.

When the food did come everything was satisfactory except my spicy tuna rolls. Now, I like spicy food and have been able to order this item at many other places without incident, but these were so hot, I only managed to choke down three of them. I dissected the last three pieces, managed to scrape off some of the chili sauce, then dunked the pieces in my water glass so I could eat the tuna, but really. Making your food inedible as prepared is never good business practice.

The finale of this debacle was the bill. Eric and my brother were asked by the waiter what kind of rice they wanted with their red curry and chicken penang dishes, respectively. What wasn’t mentioned was that a small bowl of rice was $2 extra. In total, the red curry chicken (which, frankly, cannot be consumed/enjoyed without rice as it’s just sauce with a few chicken pieces) was almost $18. This same dish (rice included!) would never cost more than $11 at any Indian restaurant I’ve ever been to. Plus, the service would have most definitely been better.

Never. Ever. Going. Back.

Some folks at work planned a craft fair this afternoon to let all of us co-workers show off our artistic abilities. People brought in knitting, beadwork, quilting, chocolate creations, and scrapbooking/card making. I had two of these paintings already in my office, so not much transport involved!

The orange tulip on the left (”blushing”) I finished in 2004, the lady’s slipper in the middle (”pink lady”) I finished in 2005, and the orchid I painted in 2002.

Ok, so here’s where we left off.

It felt like days of scraping (because it was), but finally we got all the wallpaper and glue off the walls.

Once the paper was gone, we patched up the brown core parts and sanded everything down. I will take this opportunity to thank Eric for doing most of the wall sanding because I was about ready to toss the sander and spackle out the window onto the freshly stained deck.

Two coats of primer later, the walls were ready for the much brighter lilac color.

“Hey, Eric! This hardware has idiot-proof instructions and a template!”

At least, until you hit the stud with a humongous drywall screw and tear THREE MORE gigantic holes in the freshly painted wall.

The finished product! I will lay the new floor when we get back from vacation in January.

And just for fun… the before and after shots of the master bathroom.

I have been watching these movies my whole life. In fact, most of them blur together because I see snippets multiple times every time there’s a marathon on TNT.

Sean Connery was the best James Bond, but I must admit that Daniel Craig did a fantastic job in the latest movie. The film was entertaining, but dragged in some spots. The theatre was uncrowded, which also makes for a more pleasurable experience. Honestly, I’ve been to the mall more times this weekend than I have in the last two months!

We did venture out on “Black Friday” and while I was expecting long lines and rude people, I was let down on both accounts. What I got was generally polite, helpful people and not nearly the traffic I was dreading.

My sister wanted to go to Best Buy to pick up a few DVDs (she bought 11), so we stopped by around 7:15am. We had to wait for a little while outside but the mood was relatively cheerful and we found everything we were looking for. I bought Big Fish and Groundhog Day on DVD for a total of $6. :)

We also scored some good deals at Dick’s Sporting goods and then stopped by the mall to look for some gifts for my cousins in South Africa. The parking lot was completely packed by the time we left, but the mall wasn’t even as crowded as it normally is on some weekends. Overall, a positive experience.

(Let’s not talk about the Bears game.)

After a few months of taking Riesling to the dog park on a regular basis, she is finally starting to feel comfortable. It was beautiful today, so we took everyone over to the park before driving around campus and stopping for a beer at the Carolina Brewery.

Riesling running into the park…

Stand still and let me sniff you!

Yum, dirt!

Leandra inspecting Riesling’s muzzle for excess dirt and leaves.

Pup in the car after her time at the park.

A hotly contested topic here in the state of North Carolina to be sure. Even the state is split on styles, the east coast is defined by plain meat (whole-hog) with a slight wetting of vinegar and hot sauce while the western style is pork shoulder with a ketchup/vinegar based sauce, simliar to Kansas City style BBQ. Also lurking around in spots is the mustard/vinegar based sauce, which is more common to South Carolina. Either way your tastebuds run, you can’t have BBQ without hushpuppies and sweet tea. :)

Both Eric and I are much larger fans of the ketchup based styles, which is a little more difficult to find where we live. So I decided to do a bit of research while my family was visiting this week.

Allen & Sons—We’ve had theirs at catered events and have yet to be impressed, despite the great reputation.
The Q Shack—We’ve eaten at two different franchises and it’s always been satisfactory, I like the huge selection of sauces.
A.W.’s BBQ Pit—This one is right down the street from us, but we’ve never been, hmmm…
Cooper’s BBQ and Catering—This place has consistantly great reviews, but it’s strictly eastern style.

We’ll give a full report on our experience…