Thanksgiving prep

Well this is a little unorthodox in regards to class postings, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'm adding a little creativity to food preparation for the meal tomorrow. I'm spending the day with one of my best friends (Tanner and Donnie would kill me if I went with the singular there) and his family since mine are on the other side of the country, so I have to bring something to the meal. I love to cook but I wanted to mix things up. One of my only gripes about Thanksgiving is that people tend to stick to the same meals and the same menu year after year. Yes you need the turkey and the stuffing, but mix things up a bit! Add some spices or swap out ingredients, but do something different.

So, with that mindset, I opted to bring an appetizer for earlier in the day. I'm making baked brie with fresh berries, honey and muddled rosemary. I couldn't decide on the berries, so I bought raspberries and blackberries. I may combine them or I may make two separate baked bries (they are the smaller wheels of cheese, so not too much). I figure the cheese and fruit will compliment the main meal without being too heavy to spoil the fun. Plus it isn't something you normal find on Thanksgiving day, so I'm trying to keep things fresh.

Hope they turn out well!

If you like music, then read this...

So I'm going to put a shameless plug out there for my friend Sacha Sacket's new CD, Hermitage, that is coming out this week (on CD (www.sachasacket.com or on iTunes). The EP was written and recorded by Sacha at a secluded California mountain cabin. After touring and performing relentlessly, he retreated to the woods to spend time on introspection and recording this new EP.

“When you are on your own and haven’t seen anyone for more than a week, strange things rise to the surface,” says Sacket. “In some cases, issues you didn’t even know were there. You think about your life completely differently. I had surrounded myself with people so I could avoid listening to myself. Sometimes running away to some remote corner of the world is the only way to remember how to do that. Hermitage revolves around isolation and how that experience can transform you.”

Now, those of you that know me pretty well know that I don't recommend anything I don't truly enjoy. I love Sacha's music. Its thought provoking, haunting and beautiful. If you haven't listened to his stuff, PLEASE go to iTunes STAT! I should also mention he is a great guy and sexy as hell. :)