Culinary Arts Class -- Lamb

Denise at Beaux Arts is bringing Culinary Arts back to Fort Scott

Tonight . . . it was Lamb!

Chef Brandon Ritter

demonstrated a favorite of ours . . . 

Shepherd's Pie

Barbara Ritter with the finished pie

Barbara also demonstrated how to make another great lamb dish

Guinness Lamb Stew

And the Shepherd's Pie

The best I've ever eaten!

Barbara and husband Bryan own Black Dog Farms

and raise sheep

Shetland Sheep

which they use both for wool and for meat

Son Brandon is a chef in Kansas City

It was an enjoyable evening

Great food

Great company

And good wine from Denise's vineyard, 

Vinedo Del Alamo

Next class with be in January

Italian

And I'll be the instructor!

An Advent Lunch

There's that week between Thanksgiving and December

that should have a special name

but doesn't

Although it is Advent

it doesn't really feel yet like the Christmas season

And so, it's like we have one foot in Christmas and the other foot in November!

And that week is when the Lunch Bunch came in November!

You see, they come on the fourth Tuesday of the month

But that Tuesday fell in Thanksgiving week

And so instead of moving it forward

(for we were just coming back from Minnesota)

we moved it back

. . . into that week!

Outside, the pumpkins are gone and Christmas greens are in planters and boxes

Inside, the mantles have their array of greens as well

And we've gotten out the Christmas dishes

And the nativity set

But we're not into full blown Christmas decorated mode yet . . . 

The table was set in the dining room with the lace cloth and damask napkins

My mother's compote held oranges . . .

the ones that I didn't make into pomanders

The Christmas China because it's what we use for everyday from the First Sunday of Advent through Christmas.

The menu

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

Turkey Stew with Biscuits

Pumpkin Flan with Maple Caramel Sauce

(all Ina, all from three different cookbooks)

The roasted butternut squash salad with warm cider vinaigrette.    Roasted butternut squash, dried cranberries, pecans (she used walnuts but on the prairie it's pecans!) and big shards of Parmesan cheese over a bed of spinach (her recipe calls for arugula but alas, we can't find it here)

Turkey stew with biscuits

True comfort food and a good leftover Thanksgiving turkey food.

It was warm, it's homey

Alas, I couldn't find the bag of pearl onions in the freezer section that the recipe called for

so I bought raw pearl onions and peeled them myself.

I think the raw ones were a bit better but the 15 minutes or so to peel them was a pain!

I'd vote for the frozen variety any time!

Pumpkin flan with maple caramel sauce

After having a plethora of pumpkin pies in the last month or so,

this was such a refreshing dessert!

It was lighter than pumpkin pie and the orange zest added a dimension of flavor that pumpkin pie doesn't have.

The sauce was wonderful and I probably could have eaten all of it with a spoon!

It didn't need whipped cream, the traditional topping for pumpkin pie.

A great luncheon for that odd week between Thanksgiving and December

A meal of Thanksgiving flavors eaten off the Christmas china!

Advent

It's Advent . . . 

Four Sundays and four weeks before Christmas.

Advent means "coming" in Latin.

And we await the coming of Jesus into the World.

It's our time to prepare for Christmas

And remember the real meaning of Christmas

Preparation begins with the Christmas china

For eleven months of the year it lives on the top shelf of this cabinet.

Totally unaccessible unless to get out the "big" ladder

But that's okay . . . for we don't use it.

Out comes the big ladder, down comes the china

And up goes the blue and white on the lower shelf

We forego using the Johnson Brothers Indies in December

because it lives on that top shelf!

And china that's been sitting in a cabinet for eleven months 

needs washing!

Because it's real china, it's real hand washing!

Blue and white Indies is on the top shelf --

Christmas china is on the lower shelf

We also get out the Advent wreath

One candle for each Sunday in Advent

Lit each Sunday just before dinner

Then we head outside!

A fresh wreath on the door!

And greens and red berries in pots and boxes

Some are purchased . . . 

Some are gathered in the woods

In the front urns

In the back boxes

And in the front window box

With greens in the urns and boxes and the big lighted wreath on the front porch

And candles in the windows, Linderhof looks quite festive for the season . . .

And this afternoon, I took time for a pot of tea

And two gingerbread muffins

freshly baked

(gingerbread muffins because we have new neighbors and I baked a batch

to welcome them to the neighborhood)

We also decorated the mantles with greens

No tree, no poinsettia . . . 

yet

We decorate slowly

This week, we'll get the Nativity set out and the German pyramid

The tree will come the following week

A freshly cut tree

And Scott City will make it's appearance and take over the breakfast room!

Our Thanksgiving

Yesterday, was Thanksgiving and we spent the day

with our daughter's in-laws

Without daughter, her husband and the Grands

They were in Minneapolis with their own turkey!

Vicki set a lovely table --

her wedding china and heirloom silver

A traditional Thanksgiving feast --

Turkey and all the trimmings!

Everyone brought something to share

And at our table, the scalloped pineapple was the star dish!

(Made by Vicki)

After dinner, there was little room for dessert --

But there was plenty of dessert --

besides the three pies,

Starbuck's Cranberry Bliss Bars, a lemon blackberry cheesecake, and a chocolate cake

Alas, whenever you are gone for Thanksgiving, there are no leftovers!

Our new tradition is to have a small Thanksgiving 

 Just the two of us

Either on the Friday or Saturday after

The Spode turkey plates, the turkey salt and peppers that I bought the first year we were married -- from the dime store in downtown Kansas City

And one of the two glass turkeys that I use for cranberry sauce.

Our menu was simple

It was, after all, just the two of us!

Roast turkey

And following Ina's lead, smashed sweet potatoes and spinach gratin

(except for dessert this was the menu from Barefoot Contessa Parties and one that Ina featured on her second show on Food Network.

Even though it is the two of us, we eat in the dining room

There are candles . . . and wine

The April Cornell "fall" table linens add to the Thanksgiving setting

Dessert!

Of course,

not made for today but rather leftover from yesterday

My mother's pumpkin pie with Ina's make ahead whipped cream

We now have leftover turkey

Which was the plan!

It wouldn't be November without a turkey sandwich

on white bread with mayonnaise and a big glass of milk!

And turkey pot pie . . . and turkey and noodles . . . and turkey soup!

Mother's pie recipe

It predates the one on the Libby can

(no evaporated milk!)

And it is just the best!

MOTHER'S PUMPKIN PIE

1 unbaked pie shell

1 1/2 c. cooked or canned pumpkin

1/3 c. white sugar

1/3 c. brown sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 t. ginger

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

1/4 t. cloves

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/2 c. rich milk (I use half and half)

1/2 c. heavy cream

Mix all ingredients but the pie shell together.    Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell and bake in a 400 degree oven for 50 to 60 minutes, until firm or until  a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.    Cool the pie well.

Thanksgiving Night

A Kansas City tradition that I grew up with

And often participated in

Was the Thanksgiving Night lighting of the Plaza lights.

It's awesome to see the Plaza going from darkness to a lit wonderland

And the Plaza lights have always been part of our Christmas traditions.

And on Thanksgiving night at Linderhof . . . 

We turn on our lights.

Always  the big white lit wreath on the front of the house.

(Except last year -- with street construction, we kept dark --

the road was blocked and no one drove past!)

And this year we added:

 These battery operated timed wax dipped tapers to the windows at Linderhof

They're quite pretty with the flame colored glow

One in each window in glass candleholders.

We think it looks festive for the season.

(To be added this weekend -- greens for the planters and window boxes)

We didn't have Thanksgiving at Linderhof

Alas, no turkey sandwiches tonight for dinner.

But our contribution to the Thanksgiving table was dessert

Pumpkin pie and these "Starbuck Cranberry Bliss Bars"

One of these bars and a glass of milk will be a perfect snack tonight!

Happy Thanksgiving

Praise to God who giveth meat.
Convenient unto all who eat.
Praise for tea and buttered toast,
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Amen.

We at Linderhof wish you and yours a

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Eve Tea

It's Thanksgiving Eve

A day usually spent in the kitchen

But we still take time for tea

(although an early tea today)

In the dining room

With the turkeys!

Spode Blue Italian is our tea ware of choice

And cookies for tea this afternoon

My cutout cookies

cut with the turkey cookie cutter

(which I've never used before)

And tail "feathers" sprinkled with red and orange sugars

Not my idea

No, I found similar turkey cookies in Minnesota

at Kolwaski's

Which made a perfect tea time treat one afternoon

when we visited last week

And I figured that they would be a new tradition

these Thanksgiving Eve Turkey Cookies

I knew I had a turkey cookie cutter

(one of those copper colored ones from the 50s -- perhaps it was Mother's -- I'm not sure

because I don't remember ever baking turkey cookies!)

I baked one batch and sent them off to Minnesota for the Grands.

Another batch today for tea.

I love the Eve days before the Holidays.

A Birthday Party for Jim

Husband Jim turned 70 today

Twenty-two friends joined us to celebrate

And not only did we sing "Happy Birthday"

but we also sang

"For He's A Jolly Good Fellow"

(thank you Phil)

Dinner was served on the breakfast porch

the Spode Blue Room

small rolls, Rea Drummond's Pulled Pork, Smokestake Baked Beans and

Grandmother's Coleslaw

The pulled pork is awesome

Daughter Sarah found the recipe -- Pioneer Woman's Pulled Pork

She's made it not once but twice

and received rave reviews both times

(As did I tonight)

Grandmother's Coleslaw

And of course for a birthday there must be cake!

Chocolate with curls of chocolate

And not 70 candles but candles that said "70"!

It was a semi surprise . . . 

Jim suspected something but he wasn't sure what

He was pleased that so many of our friends

came to spend the evening with him.

 .