Happy Th*nksgiving

It’s been a strange Autumn thus far. In keeping with that vibe I spent Thanksgiving alone (with Buster) and dinner was a steak, a baked potato and some beets. 

Last Christmas my mother gave me a very surprising gift- a sous vide circulator. My jaw dropped. She went on Serious Eats  and looked for gift ideas, and came up with something I would never have bought for myself but that I love having. Thank you mom, and thank you Ed and Kenji for giving my mom such a great idea.

I’ve cooked a number of vegetable in the sous vide but today will be the first time I’ve been gone and could play with my meat in the tub. 

In addition to this first, I had never used a vacuum sealer until now. I bought it at Walmart a few months ago, figuring it was really rather unconscionable that I didn’t know how to use one. I foresee that one night soon, when my Ritalin has worn off, I will be vacuum sealing pretty much everything. 

I think my first bag-and-seal is quite respectable, though Buster is obviously disappointed that the delicious odor of blood has been locked away. 

One of the day’s high points was finally take the time to neurotically scrub out our recycling bins. My hands are now all gouged up from Ajax and it feels oh-so good. 

Do I deserve that look Buster is throwing at me?

I can't say I'm surprised that Irritating Unicorn happened by. He seems to know when I'm going to have a nice quiet day and pounce upon the chance to ruin it. He set up his camera and taped himself for at least an hour before he settled on a take. I let him claim that steak as his own- not worth the fight we'd have. 

Queen.

Irritating Unicorn butchered yet another batch of spritz cookies, what seems to be an annual holiday tradition. Every. Damned. Year. I should have stopped this practice years ago but I have to check and make sure he's just as terrible as the previous year. 

These resemble nothing. They don’t even look like lumps!

As soon as the cookies were out of the oven I.U. was off out the door like a flaming North Korean ICBM. His phone had been chirping- I suspect he was off for a Grindr hook-up. I pity the fool. 

Results? The steak was too thin to really reap the benefits of sous-vide. Just the quick searing was enough to cook through the interior of the meat. Alas. Still quite delicious. A lovely reminder how much I love beets (assuming they are buried in Maldon salt) and a stern self-reprimand is due for leaving the back door unlocked and the perimeter unicorn alert switched off.

Man is he a dick.