Giving Thanks

Growing up we did not have many Thanksgiving traditions. Our family of four lived many many miles from our nearest extended family, and thus the Boise McKinleys tended towards very low key Thanksgivings.  Sometimes we would just have the four of us, other times we'd gather a rag-tag band of other turkey day loners - family friends, high school boyfriends, circus school dropouts.

The one McKinley semi-tradition (as in something that happened once or twice over the years and I adopted it as law) was listening to Arlo Guthrie's "Alice's Restaurant".  And I've picked up some Donovan traditions as well - including Home Alone after dinner - complete with recitation.

Despite the lack of a strong Thanksgiving tradition, it has become my favorite holiday.  A holiday that revolves around food suits my planning/cooking sensibilities.  I hosted Thanksgiving for the 3 years we lived in San Francisco, and I relished planning the menu, shopping for ingredients, mapping out the exact timing in the week leading up to and the day of, shopping again for the ingredients I forgot the first time, and executing my plan.  Of course there are minor traumas and mishaps thrown in for good measure - like my first turkey, which taught me that I did not know how to properly insert the thermometer (and I almost served a medium-rare bird).  Or the time when I thought self-rising flour was the same as regular flour and I ended up with pancake-like biscuits.  Through successes and failures, I relish the chance to share my hospitality and love of food with the people I care about.

I have so much to be thankful for these days.  We're still settling into our new Michigan lives.  We're in a small-ish apartment, but should be closing on our first home around the end of the year (more on that soon!)  So we spent Thanksgiving in Commerce Township, MI at the Bartmans' house (Kevin's aunt Susie and uncle Greg) along with their son Andrew, daughter Sarah and her husband and seven month old son, and Kevin's parents and brother.  And we did our best Arlo "Kiiid!" in the car on the way there.

I brought my two current favorite "tried and true" Thanksgiving dishes:

Italian mother-in-law stuffing (I stuck to this recipe, except used less butter/oil):

The Bartmans' dog Emma scarfed down on the leftovers when we weren't looking.

Pecan browned-butter tart (I couldn't find golden syrup, so just used regular corn syrup):

There is nothing in the world quite as tasty as browned butter.
(btw, I'm not so vegan these days)

In which we moved to Michigan and got a dog

I planned a couple different versions of this post.  It was supposed to be about our drive across the country and settling into our new home.  One potential post extolled the virtues of Cedar Rapids, IA. (Short version: dining is cheap, people are nice, and I love trains, rivers and trees… luckily all but that first part apply to Ann Arbor as well).  One was about why not to plan a trip to your favorite national parks when a government shutdown is looming.  Case in point:

This is the same face I make in Denver area traffic.

Another was about how I assumed our movers would arrive shortly after us (rather than 10 days later) and neglected to pack ANY kitchen gear.  I bought the bare minimum items (knife, cutting board, soup pot, stirring utensil, baking sheet) at Target and proceeded to make such gems as stir-fry in a soup pot:

It was a pretty blurry stir-fry.

But then we drove 2,500 miles and slept on an air mattress for 2 weeks and I forgot to actually take a break from work.  We had to switch our insurance and go to the DMV and buy me a car (!!):

I think my hybrid's sexy!

Oh and our stuff finally arrived, so I had to unpack my kitchen:

As ridiculous as it sounds… it's smaller than our SF kitchen!
I have 3-4 boxes of gadgets in storage.

And in that time, an entire season flew by!  Sweet fall in Michigan, how beautiful and how fleeting:

Cider and doughnuts… the quintessential rite of passage for fall!

But all hopes at me posting about our trip flew out the window when we met this guy:

The dude knows how to stretch!

Our dog-friend Canyon:

He's pretty sweet!

Now, I promise this won't turn into a blog about my dog. (although he IS the best and the handsomest doggy ever).  And yes, I do plan to continue writing about food and life and whatnot with more frequency!  But for now we're just settling into the new family Sunday paradigm:

Canyon is really into the Sunday NYTimes.  And Kevin's side of the bed.

Movin' on up...

I feel like we haven't talked in forever. You've been busy, I've been busy. No one's at fault, but I'll be the bigger person. I'm here to break the silence.

So here it goes: We're moving!! To Ann Arbor!!  (Yes, again!)

I hate saying "back to Ann Arbor" because it makes it sound like this is not forward movement.  Like we're giving up our city paradise for winter and salted sidewalks and mega-portions of carbs.  Don't get me wrong, we've thoroughly enjoyed our time as city folk - fog, jacked up rent and all, but I'm ready for the next thing.  And our next thing is not here.  We want a house with a yard and a dog and kiddos, sans a crippling, life-altering amount of debt.  Plus family and all.

And that's not all that we've been busy with!  I sense a photo post coming on...

That sister o' mine came to visit!

We went wine tasting!!

And I had tapas with Lisa's torso!

The bridge was closed so we took a ferry to Alameda

We spent "Mark day" visiting a distillary

And touring the USS Hornet

Then Kevin and I went on a house hunting trip to Ann Arbor
(moral of the story: buying a house is HARD WORK y'all!)

We celebrated our impending move at Jolly Pumpkin

We instituted a new Donovan family football mantra

We learned not everyone on campus is involved
 in drunken debauchery!

I found my official work-from-home uniform

Speaking of work, it's pretty lonely 'round these
parts, with my comrades off in Europe

We celebrated our favorite kiddo Justin's very first birthday!

I'm running in the Napa Valley Ragnar this weekend, and I'll probably post about that!  I also am planning to do a photo a day for our last week here of things I'll miss about San Francisco. And once we're settled back in Michigan I'll get back to my regularly scheduled programming!

Eggplant? Who likes Eggplant?

At my work we have a weekly all-staff lunch meeting, which we refer to as "Friday Lunch".  It's a chance for guests to come visit and meet people who are working on projects of interest, and for staff to share a little bit about their week.  The lunches are catered, and there's a rotation of maybe 6 or so restaurants that we tend to get food from across a range of cuisines.  There are always vegetarian and vegan options, but some are certainly more exciting than others. (Who wants a block of fried tofu?  ...anyone?)

Among the more exciting vegan dishes is one that I never would have thought I would like: Eggplant rollatini.  You see, I'm not an eggplant fan.  It can often have an unpleasant texture, and in and of itself is middling in the flavor department.  But this dish, which consists of a spinach and sun-dried tomato filling rolled in thin slices of eggplant and then covered in tomato sauce and baked, is divine.  So, when I saw that I had eggplant in my CSA this week, I endeavored to recreate the rollatini.  Unfortunately all the recipes I could find for a dish thusly named looked like this: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/eggplant-rollatini/  or this: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/eggplant-rollatini-118235.aspx. And even the vegan version attempts to recreate the cheesiness: http://www.food.com/recipe/vegan-eggplant-rollatini-501164.

So I forged out on my own, attempting to recreate the version of rollatini I know and love.  I used my work at home Wednesday to oven roast tomatoes from my CSA for the filling, a technique that I love to use, given my unfortunate aversion to raw tomatoes. Other than that step (which you could do ahead or even substitute store bought sun-dried tomatoes) the recipe comes together pretty quickly.

And the best part - Kevin, who also is not an eggplant fan, gave it a big thumbs up.

Adding the filling and rolling them up

The finished product

Eggplant Rollatini

2 large eggplants, sliced thinly, into 16-20 slices (It would be REALLY hard to do this without a mandolin)

For the filling:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 a yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

4 or 5 large tomatoes, oven roasted, or 1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes

3 or 4 cups chopped kale and/or spinach (I used a mix)

2-3 Tbsp crumbled feta (Optional)

1 jar of your preferred tomato sauce (I used TJs brand marinara mixed with leftover rollatini filling)

Preheat oven to 375F.  Lightly coat the inside of a 9x13 baking dish with olive oil.  

Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and sauté until translucent and beginning to brown.  Add garlic and sauté another minute.  Add the greens and tomatoes and sauté until softened.

Take each eggplant slice, add 1-2 Tbsp of filling and a small sprinkling of feta and roll the eggplant around the filling.  Repeat with remaining eggplant slices until the dish is full.  Then pour tomato sauce over the top of the rollatini.  Cover the dish with foil and bake for about 30 minutes.  Uncover, sprinkle with feta (if desired) and bake another 5-10 minutes.

Out of town

Oh hello there!  I promise I didn't forget about you all.  It's been a busy few weeks.  I spent just over 2 weeks in Idaho, family reunion-ing for 6 days in the Tetons, working at my parents' house for a week and attending a lovely wedding of a dear friend in Sun Valley (luckily before the fires got too bad).

Then I was back home for about 36 hours before heading to New Orleans for a conference. This left approximately zero time for cooking and/or blogging about it.

I'm going to post a bunch of pictures with captions to get caught up and then I will start posting more regularly again (I promise!)

The cabin in Alta, WY! Ready for some quality Nothwehr time!

\

Happy 60th Anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!

The whole clan (minus Kevin, Erin/Josh and Lisa/Mark)

Kevin was at the reunion for about 14 hours.
He's very good at supervising dinner prep

Families that bike together look like nerds together.

 Am I right?

Nothwehrs, by blood or marriage.  Preparing to hike up Devil's Staircase

Wind cave!

Home sweet home!

Working hard or...

Dad thought my job did not seem strenuous enough
so he gave me some real work

Old retired dudes do what they want!

Cooking with my mom

Outdoor dining

In Sun Valley, before the fire made its way over the mountains

Ranch wedding!

These crazy kids got hitched!
And then the next morning we drove 800 miles back to SF

Jazz in New Orleans

My 4th ever baseball game: NOLA Zephyrs vs. Iowa Cubs

My dear friend Kate taught me how to keep score!

A second line parade!

I made it home safe and sound (and sleepy!) and now I never want to leave my house or dine out again (New Orleans makes my pants not fit).  

Stay tuned because I have something exciting planned for the eggplant in my first CSA box in 4 weeks!

We are family (I got all my sista(s) with me)

To all my loyal readers who were waiting with bated breath, I did not (quite) suffer death by juice cleanse, I just didn't cover day 3 because it was a bit anti-climatic. And then I went to Iowa for Lisa's marriage reception.  It was 4 lovely (if a bit more humid than I'm accustomed to) days in the country:

The farm view from the porch of our cabin.  What a life!

If you ever find yourself in Clarinda, Iowa without a place to stay,
Iowa Country Cabins are AMAZING!

Picking ditch flowers for the reception bouquets!

visiting family:

Ma, Pa (before the unfortunate cigars and whiskey incident),
Lisa, Mark, Kevin and I

giving shoulder rides:

Little cousin Kinlee did not want her toes to get
nibbled by bulldog "pubbies"

and dancing.  So much dancing:

This is my "Look!  A baby!" face

Sista dancing!

I'm off to the Tetons next week for my Nothwehr grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, so more family time for me!

In my couple of days at home I wanted to cook as much as possible, so today I made cookies, tried a new zucchini recipe for dinner: http://www.nytimes.com/recipes/1014910/Zucchini-Tian-With-Curried-Bread-Crumbs.html

and am making roasted tomato sauce for tomorrow night, inspired by a delicious supper at my dad's cousin Mary Anne's house (she also took the reception photos).