A Silly Goose Farm Thanksgiving

Happy belated Thanksgiving, everyone! Are you all turkeyed-out yet? I certainly am, but I still think I might be able to pack away a little turkey soup, turkey pot pie, and turkey a la king, if necessary. We had a very lovely day here at Silly Goose Farm, and I thought I'd share a few snippets with you.

I try to wake up around 5:30a every morning, just because I like the quiet and peace that this part of the day allows me. And nowadays, it's still rather dark outside at that point. Lucky for me, I was treated to the most spectacular sunrise Thanksgiving morning, something I am most grateful for.

I love the contrast of the black trees against the orange and purple sky.

My parents, grandmother (GG), and the family dog (Baron) made the two-hour trek East to the farm, and we were so happy they did. It was great to have my little family together, even if for a small window of time.

Miss Edith enjoying her food... or at least playing with it. 

My mother and GG - see that lovely milk glass compote dish? This lovely gal gave it to me.

My father and GG

Edie caught mid-smile, or mid-"crazy face," can't tell which

Our menu was simple - just the basics. Let me start off my saying that letting my father watch Food Network is almost never a great idea. He gets a little ambitious (that is to say, he thinks my mother or I should make some ready-for-TV meal, and is very pointed in what he wants). We love him very much anyway. I think as long as I keep him fed, he turns up useful in other ways (fixing stuff, mainly). Anyway... back to the menu. We enjoyed a lovely turkey and roasted chestnut sausage dressing, as prepped by my mother per Dad's request, roasted Blue Hubbard squash, made by GG, gravy (also made my GG, also found via Food Network - it must run in the family), mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls (mom's recipe), cranberry bread, some wicked good wine, and pie. Lots of pie.

Pumpkin Pie (I burnt the crust a little, whoops!)

Chocolate Cream (Mom made this - just as Dad likes it)

Apple Pie

Another shot of the apple pie.

All the apples for the pies came right here from our little orchard. I think that's very cool, and I'm very proud of that. One of these little beauties wasn't consumed, and made it's way to a friend, which I heard he enjoyed with a glass (or two) of McCarthy's Whiskey. My kind of man. Typically, I enjoy mine with a lovely steaming cup of french press coffee and a slice of cheddar cheese, but whiskey sounds wonderful. I think the cheese thing is a Pennsylvania Dutch/Central New York/Finger Lakes tradition, which is where I grew up. No one in the Albany area seems to have heard of this.

I kept the decor pretty simple (plans were sort of last-minute, so I just made due with what was around). Some flowers in a pressed-glass vase and pumkins and gourds from the garden seemed to do the trick.

We had to burn off all the holiday calories somehow. This was Edie's preferred method.

All in all, it was a great day. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, as well! Looking forward to sharing some holiday-inspired ideas, gift guides, and one special little girl's second birthday with you all soon.

It's Peach Week!

Peaches are in season here in Upstate New York (yep, peaches grow up here!) and so I thought I'd dedicate a whole week to the lovely fruit. I recently picked two bushels (about 65 pounds) of peaches with some friends with From Scratch Club. Since then, it's been peach-mania here on the farm. From jams to pies to cocktails, the peach has been the shining star of the kitchen. I'll be sharing some recipes and tips with you here this week, and I hope you'll enjoy some of them and report back on what you think! Are you a peach fan? Do they grow where you live? PS - Peaches kind of have a nostaglic touch for me. The restaurant/cafe I worked at in college was called Peaches, and it's where I met Dave (he was a patron and I was his waitress :-).

How to Remove Peach Skins

Peaches are fuzzy little buggers. Unlike their cousin, the nectarine, peach skins are not universally accepted in all recipes. For pies, crumbles, and other dessert-y applications, you will want to remove the skin. The best (most sane) method for doing this is blanching.

So, the first step is to select your peach. If you are picking peaches yourself, choose peaches that have a nice golden color with a "blush" on them (the blush is the pinky part). Peaches will ripen off the tree, so don't hesitate to pick "hard" fruit as long as it isn't green. If purchasing peaches that have already been picked, choose a peach that gives slightly to gentle pressure.

To begin blanching, bring a large pot of water to a boil. While waiting for the boil, make an ice bath (cold water and ice) in a large bowl. If your peaches are ripe to slightly over-ripe, go ahead and dunk them into the boiling water for about a minute or so (don't overcrowd them). Remove the peaches from the water and dunk them in the ice bath. Let them chill for about 30 seconds. If your peaches are still a little firm, make a small X-shaped slit in the bottom of each peach before you blanch them. This will help to loosen the skin.

Remove your peaches from the ice bath and rub them between your hands. This loosens the skin, and you should be able to slip the skins right off. If the skin is still stubborn, it's okay to re-blanch them. Discard of skins.

Pitting the peaches is the next step. Peaches that are ripe have a natural groove that runs vertically around the peach starting at the stem end. If you can find this, simply slip your thumb into that groove and run it along the pit. The first half of the peach should slide right off. Wedge the pit out of the second half and discard the pit (or try growing a tree!). If you can't find this, run a paring knife along the pit vertically around the whole peach (that is, starting and ending at the stem). Most of the time, you'll end up with two perfect peach halves. The rest of the time, you'll end up with mutilated parts of a peach. In this instance, puree up the pulverized peaches and make a lovely Bellini, some fruit leather, or cook up some jam. Because of this, I recommend buying slightly more peaches than you think you'll need :-)