THANKSGIVING WEEK

I had bought some Meyer Lemons the other week and wanted to use them in something.  I found a recipe for a Meyer Lemon Curd Tort.  The recipe sounded simple.  Before I continue however you should know that I am not a baker.  If I have trouble with recipes it is usually when baking.  You mix the lemon juice, lemon rind, eggs and sugar until consistent.  Then you heat it on medium until thickened.  Well, I thought it was thick enough but when I put it in the shell it did not bake to a result I thought it should be.  I did not use a regular pie crust but had a graham cracker crust on hand and thought that I would use that.  Now you also have to understand that in the middle of the baking I got a call that there were about 17 Sandhill cranes on the #2 fairway, just across the water from us.  Well I have to tell you that took priority over the tort.  When it was not done in the 15 minutes it was supposed to take, I left it in the hands of my husband and took off to look at the cranes.  I am including pictures of the cranes that a friend of mine took.  As you can see, this could be the problem with my baking efforts.  Other things come first.

The tort turned out better than I thought.  It really is quite good.  I am including a picture.  Monday we had spaghetti and there was enough for two nights.  Last night I made corn beef hash with baked

eggs.  It is a dish that I grew up with.  I use canned corn beef hash and make wells in the hash and then put in a whole egg into each well.  Depending on how well you like the eggs cooked, it takes between 20 and 30 minutes at 350 degrees.  This year I sprinkled a bit of cayenne pepper into the mix as well as a smidge of black pepper.  It definitely spiced it up.

Today is Thanksgiving and since it is the kids turn to spend the day with the other parents we were invited over to a friend's house for the dinner.  I used a new recipe to make brussel sprouts.  You crisp up 5 slices of bacon and set aside.  You then wash, halve and brown the brussel sprouts in some remaining bacon grease.  You then add brown sugar and the recipe called for water but someone suggested using chicken stock adding that it will not evaporate as quickly as water.  Once the brown sugar has dissolved in the pan you cook it for about 6-8 minutes.  You can add liquid as needed.  The finishing touch is balsamic vinegar.  It is a really good dish.  The brussel sprouts reduced greatly in size so I panicked and made an additional vegetable.  It was simply green beans, tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese.  I usually add yellow wax beans but........I did not have any.  It was a good thing

that I made the extra vegetable as there were three more guests.