The Long Hello

Pete and I traveled to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. My cousin Angie and her hubby Mike host a great Thanksgiving celebration each year. Along with the celebration comes a new cocktail each year as well.

This year, we kicked off Thanksgiving with champagne and The Long Hello. The Long Hello cocktail is an awesome punch that has quite the kick if you don't pay attention to how much you're drinking. I assumed this cocktail was from Bon Appetit, but after googling it, I noticed that it exists in many magazines and on many websites!

Angie created the cutest ice cube molds. She cut slices of pear and apples and put them in mini-bundt molds with ice and froze the molds overnight. Enjoy! :)

- 1 3/4 cups Calvados or other apple brandy
- 1 cup St-Germain (elderflower liqueur) - If you live in Green Bay, Superior will order this for you if you can't find it.
- 10 dashes bitters, preferably Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged Bitters or Angostura
- 1 750-ml bottle Champagne, chilled
- Freshly grated nutmeg

Make and freeze ring mold with pears and apples according to Holiday On Ice.

Stir Calvados, St-Germain, bitters, and 1 cup water in a punch bowl. Add ice ring, then Champagne. Ladle punch into glasses and grate nutmeg over.

Bourbon Glaze for the Thanksgiving Sweet Potatoes

The Barber family loves kicking off any celebration with champagne!

My Thanksgiving morning quiche!

Dinner Club Loves Hibachi

I had dinner with my dinner club (the Culture Voyagers) this week at Nakashima...a fantastic Hibachi restaurant in Green Bay. We had such a great time and like last month, there were flames flying! A couple of the ladies shared a volcano drink, made with several different alcohols and then it was lit on fire. (I unfortunately missed this). The hibachi was fantastic and I shared filet, chicken and shrimp with a couple of other ladies. Hibachi is such a fun thing to do with a big group because you can talk (sometimes you need to yell over the noise) and it is interactive with your food being cooked at your table. We had eight ladies and fit around the table perfectly. I highly recommend it. Note: you will leave smelling like a restaurant!

On another note, if you love green beans like I do, and you're looking for another idea besides the typical Thanksgiving green bean casserole, The Washington Post Food Section posted several great recipes this week.

A lot of fantastic food cooking on that grill! Our cook was very humorous.

This month's Culture Voyager Group

Gourmet Cooking Class

It has been awhile since I've posted anything because I don't always know what to write about (even though that is what I do for a living). My good friend Lorrie said, "Just write about life, your thoughts, etc." So, I guess that's what I'll start doing.

But, before I start writing about life, thoughts, and other boring Lindsay topics, you get another FOOD POST. Man, I love food :)

Lorrie, Lisa and I are taking a gourmet cooking class through a local college here in Green Bay. This is the second or third time we've taken a class and for some reason, everything is funny. I'm not sure what the issue was last night, but we couldn't stop laughing; everything was funny. Ladies - you know what I'm talking about. You have those times where you just laugh so hard with each other that you're crying. Well, that was last night.

Anyway, the three of us were in charge of black bean empanadas and a frittata last night. The empanadas were fantastic and amazing. They were easy to make, but a little time consuming. There are some recipes that we receive in class that I know I'll never make, but the empanadas will be on my list, especially when I entertain.

The frittata was another story - holy cow did we mess that dish up, mainly because we couldn't stop talking, which meant we weren't reading the recipe. The recipe only called for 8 or 10oz of spinach and we just put in the entire bag (not paying attention). Yuck! If you REALLY like spinach, you could have enjoyed it, but it just tasted like grass to me. Blah.

One interesting thing about cooking classes is that you get to see a different side of your friends and sometimes these group cooking situations make you look at your self! For example, Lorrie is so organized and on top of things like I am...we're kindred spirits that way. But man, she just doesn't want to cook; and her comments are hilarious. I hope that Lisa and I have been able to help give her a bit of confidence through some classes. I've discovered that even when I don't want to be in control, well, I want to be in control! Not the best trait for working in groups, but I guess that is who I am! :) I've also realized that after three hours in a kitchen, I AM DONE! I get antsy and impatient waiting for all the other kitchens to finish their dishes. Again, it's who I am, so I embrace it :)

The three "L's" - Lisa, Lorrie, Lindsay

MMMMM, Empanada filling!

Crappy, awful, yucky frittata!