musings of a bardic kitchen witch

I decided to come down and visit my folks for the holiday. My friend Alicia also has family in my hometown, so I was able to hitch a ride with her. I'd like to pretend that I kept her from getting out of the car on the freeway and killing everyone. I made my signature deviled eggs as per usual this year, though I added a bit too much mustard powder and they were a tad on the spicy side. Mom got Safeway's Turkey Dinner package, which included a 10 pound turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and pie. Fearing we might be a bit thinner than normal on the feast, we also picked up a ham, mini eclairs, and a box of scalloped potatoes. The ham was basically smoked and not pre-cut, so I decided to jazz it up with pineapple slices and glaze. Rather than go simple brown sugar, I found a recipe for hard cider glaze . It took a bottle and a half of Hornsby's Hard Cider: Crisp Apple to make it, and it was fab. One of the rugrats went to her dad's house for thank...

This is one of my mom's go-to recipes. It is inspired from a French dish she ate at a restaurant she once worked at in Portland, Oregon. There are a few similar recipes online ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ) but this is the one I grew up eating. You will need: 2 lbs of Chicken Breast cut into cubes 1 container of sliced mushrooms I quart of Half and Half 1 quart of Milk 3 tbsp corn starch 1/3 C hot water 2 sticks butter Fresh or dried Tarragon (about 2 tbsp) Any shape pasta (about 4 cups cooked) Salt to taste Garlic salt Sauté the mushrooms in butter and garlic salt and set aside. Put Half and Half in bigger pot and put in the roux (corn starch and hot water mixed until dissolved) on medium heat. Add tarragon and mushrooms. Cook until it thickens as you start the water for the pasta. When sauce gets thick, start adding milk until it's the right consistency. If it gets too thin, make more roux and add to thicken again. Add the whole cube of butter, then salt to taste. Put pasta in b...