HAPPY T-DAY & Michael's Menu

Much to give thanks for today...for those men and women in uniform, whether in the deserts of Iraq, the mountains of Afghanistan or Places Elsewhere, a profound thank you for your service. We can never thank you enough, and be assured that you are never far from our thoughts and prayers. Stay safe out there!

Me, I'm just glad I've been able to keep my karmic surfboard off the rocks for another year...I gotta say, every year the waves get bigger and bigger, and every year I get older and older...thank god for guile, stealth and blind luck!

Small Thanksgiving dinner this year, and I sort of themed it around food that triggered a favorite memory, although I didn't tell my Sweetie since she thinks I'm crazy enough as it is. Here's the menu:

• Poached salmon with dill sauce, cooked in a clay pot.
• Two styles of dressing, including traditional Southern cornbread/biscuit sage dressing and a second that is more of a spicy homage to the oyster roasts I used ot like when I lived in New York City and traveled around New England. I used the stale, toasted cornbread and biscuit mix as the base for the oyster roast.
• Key West Apples, a dish I concocted to remind me about boat drinks down in the Keys...the tangy local apples are marinated, then cooked in a rum-Key West lime juice-melted butter liquid mix seasoned with cinnamon, ginger and a tiny bit of allspice. Take the liquid left over, add equal parts seltzer and that nasty dark rum from Barbados, toss in a little umbrellas and, viola!, wait for the sunset at Mallory Pier.
• Horseradish mashed potatoes.
• Fresh local asparagus
• Homemade rolls from my Sweetie.
• A fresh plum pie from my pal Tom Judd, who co-founded with me Rocky Mountain IDPA back when we were younger and dumber.

So, a turkeyless Thanksgiving, although I am assured by my fishmonger that the salmon was, indeed, free range!

BTW, beverages include Heller Estates Chenin Blanc, Benziger Family Winery Merlot (both are wineries we've visited, Heller in Monterey and Benziger in Sonoma...both are organic wines, since we live in Boulder County and risk execution if we drink Night Train Express) and/or Arrogant Bastard Oaked Ale from Stone Brewing Company in Escondido, CA.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, Y'ALL!