Welcome to Chez Cliff!

Nov 27, 2005

Weekend de Rest

Posted by Clifford under Wine and Food

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Me? It was good. Restful and experimental. Just the way I like them.

First, thanks to Engineer X who showed me an easier way to get the paint off the walls. He and I did almost an entire wall in about 3 hours, without the aid of a steamer or fancy equipment. He started another wall for me, which I’ll finish sometime this week. Maybe next weekend I’ll paint something . . .

Let’s talk about food.

Oh yeah!

When I was little, I remember the first time I saw cranberries. I didn’t know what they were or how they tasted. And, of course, you can imagine my surprise when the can was opened and the "contents" came onto the plate. I thought to myself "Oh, this is like jello!" Salivating like Pavlov’s dogs, I waited until we got done saying grace before I attacked. If we were eating jello with dinner, I would be damned if I was going to let this slip by me! Since I offered to help set the table, the "contents" were conviently set by me. I piled three slices on my plate, which earned me a "You better eat all that!" from my mother. The rest of the sides came and I politely took very little of each. Today was going to be the day of jello and I was going to be happy! I cut the first piece and slammed it into my mouth.

Clifford: "What the heck is this in my mouth? This isn’t jello!"
Mom: "You’re not leaving this table until you’ve eaten everything on your plate young man!"
Clifford: "But I thought this was jello!" (Casting glances, looking for the dog).
Mom: "The dog isn’t going to help you. He won’t eat cranberries!"
Clifford: "Mental note. If the dog won’t eat it, neither will I!"

I have avoided cranberries like the plague. Until now.

I read about this last week and I immediately thought of my favorite cooking phrase "Everything probably tastes good as long as it’s prepared properly." Some of the foods rescued from the abyss: Spinach, asparagus, brussel sprouts, liver. Why oh why do people boil brussel sprouts?!?!?

I digress.

Cranberries by nature have a tart taste. Some people like that. And these are the same folks that can eat "Lemon Heads" like popcorn. Me? No way! I like to taste something but I don’t want it contort my face into the shape an anteater.

So this is what I did. (Step 1) I took the cranberries and I did a quick boil in a sugar/water mix. After about 5 minutes, they were ready for the next step. (Step 2) A juice cocktail was added: juice of a lemon, half an orange, and 1/4 cup of grand marnier. With the cocktail followed a cubed apple. (Step 3) After about 20 minutes, this delicious berry smell had permeated my house.


Step 1.	Step 2.	Step 3.

Along with that, I also did some Cornish Hen. I was going to prepare this Thanksgiving Day but elected to wait until the weekend. It was my first time with this bird and, fortunately, I was able to find two great specimens for about $14. Way cheaper than the $50 at the local restaurant! It’s very easy to do. Just drop the bird in the oven at 425 for 30 minutes and you’re done! The stuffing, which I never created before, was easy as well. But because I can’t help but to experiment, I made a blueberry/corn muffin stuffing. When it was done, I can tell you that I was having to beat the neighbors off with a stick!