Sunday, November 30, 2008

Welcome to the Jungle



The holiday season is upon us! Thanksgiving at my house included a veritable feast of culinary delights, amongst them: creamed chard, cornbread stuffing, parmesan black pepper biscuits, cranberry ginger tangerine compote, herbs de provence rubbed turkey, scallops with a lemon fig jam, mustard mashed potatoes, red pepper corn, butternut squash sage gratin, pumpkin ricotta cheesecake, and an apple pecan pie. Whew! Oh, there was also a smoked trout spread and a feta pimento cheese dip with chipotle sauce. 

I believe the highlight of the evening, however, had to be the cutthroat game of Cranium played by myself, my husband, four wonderful friends, my mother, and my 83 year-old grandmother, aka "Nanny." Mom, Nanny, and my long-time friend Nick made up "Team Sexy" while the rest of us fell into either "Team Indigo" or "The Pits." The Pits suffered no fools, winning by a wide margin, although Team Sexy justly deserved honorable mention. It was a truly wonderful day.

The "rein-goats" above are from nearby goat farm Spinning Spider Creamery. Moving in to chomp the camera, and making strange guttural noises all the while, is Izzy, while Suki's "you want a piece of me" disposition is fairly obvious, no? The lovely ladies were on hand for portrait taking at the downtown Asheville City Market, heralding the arrival of the holiday season. Truly decadent offerings were provided by Farm & Sparrow, including jumbo brioche and pumpkin & herb-filled pastry triangles. Another holiday-appropriate score was "Jumpin' Juniper" goat cheese spread from Three Graces Dairy. Check out your local farmer's markets, as everything from coffeecakes to fir wreaths to hot cider is most likely now ripe for the taking (well, for the right price...).


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