nothing rotten here

In our please-let-it-become-annual tradition of spending Thanksgivings out of the country, we're headed off to Copenhagen! And London! And Edinburgh!  

The first half of the trip is ostensibly for business; for Pete there is no "ostensible" about it, but I will support him in his career by visiting billions of cool museums (and is it just me, or does the way Danish look make you giggle too?) and wandering beautiful streets and maybe going on the world's highest carousel.

Erase that "maybe."  After checking out youtube, wild horses couldn't keep me away.  

Mmm tasty!

Speaking of tasty, we celebrated Thanksgiving early, just in case the U.K. doesn't have turkeys, or in case the European-sized oven proves an insurmountable obstacle. You never know.

Le Menu de Thanksgiving chez petey and lars et avec Ruthie and Amberpherivia:

- Turkey, cooked with the revolutionary new Cooks Illustrated method where you cook it in pieces, and not in one gigantic carcass.  I highly recommend it--white meat stayed juicy, dark meat was salmonella-free.  It also made the best gravy I have ever et.

- Brussels sprouts with pistachios (sooo good, I swear. Recipe here.)

- Bacon and apple stuffing; Cooks Illustrated hit another home run.

- Green beans with tarragon and lime.  Yup, C. I. again. Didn't love this recipe, though it was a fun twist on a traditional classic.

- Light-as-a-dream hot rolls to die for, via Shirley Corriher in her incredible Cookwise.  Can't say enough about this fantastic book.

- Sweet potatoes courtesy of Amberpher, emphasis on the Amber.  Everyone loved em, except me, but I'm deeply prejudiced and think yams, like mosquitos and the 495/I-270 interchange, were a giant cosmic mistake.

- Pumpkin pie from le freezer. Life is too short to mess with pie crusts.

- Melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cupcakes, adapted from this great recipe posted on Chocolate & Zucchini.  I didn't quite get the cooking time right, but it didn't matter.  This was still bliss.  It may be my favorite cupcake recipe of all time, and I've tried a few.  The texture's awesome, it's simple to whip up, and it tastes like all your wildest dreams come true.  The cake's rich enough that all it needed was a dollop of whipping cream on top.

Bliss.