This year was our first Thanksgiving in the new condo.

Recap of last year’s: We were looking for a more permanent place to live (i.e. starting the process of looking at what would inevitably be 86 places before deciding on a place to buy), were entertaining my sister, her husband and her two dogs in our tiny 1-bedroom apartment, all the while attempting to cook a turkey in an oven that operated at an almost 30 degree slant. Because we were splitting our day between families, we asked a friend who would be joining us for dinner 2.0 to put our bird in the oven and set the thermometer. He kindly did so and we were home in plenty of time to take the bird out. In fact, it started to feel like too much time. I checked the thermometer. Nope, still plenty to go. Until on the third check, I looked closer. Then closer. Then panicked. The thermometer was set in celsius and this bad boy needed to get out STAT. It wasn’t the juiciest of birds that year, but we had a great laugh over it–thankfully the gravy was delicious.

This year was a whole new ballgame. Great kitchen to cook in, plenty of room for the fam (and the dogs), a turkey thermometer set to Fahrenheit and a full day to do all the cooking needed for a gut-busting Thanksgiving dinner. The problem with gut-busting Thanksgivings though? With all the food that I made, only 1/4 of our turkey was consumed. That’s right people, with 8 people around a table, we only ate 25% of at 16lb turkey! That means A LOT of leftovers for me and Mr. KC. I’m pretty sure I’m 1/3 turkey at this point, but this bird needs to be eaten so I’m cracking out all sorts of turkey recipes and so far this has been one of my favorites.

The spices fool you into thinking it’s no longer Thanksgiving leftovers. The glass noodles are a personal favorite and it’s an easy and quick meal to pull together on a weeknight. Did I mention that it makes 2 really big bowls of soup–3 normal sized ones, which seemed the perfect size to avoid yet more leftovers.

The verdict? Lovely! So lovely that I would gladly make it all over again should I have leftovers from a rotisserie chicken. Two thumbs up!

So, maybe tomatoes aren’t exactly abundant any longer, but I love this recipe enough to share all the same. Seriously. Crunchy on the outside, perfectly soft on the inside with a nice little tang from the buttermilk. Combined with fresh mozzarella, this makes the perfect complement to a fresh green salad.

fried green tomato caprese
from Tyler Florence’s recipe on the Food Network

ingredients 

• 1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Pinch cayenne
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large unripe tomatoes, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices, ends removed
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced
• Balsamic vinegar (optional), for serving
• Lemon wedges, for serving

directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the cornmeal, flour, garlic powder, and cayenne together.
2. Pour the buttermilk into a separate bowl and season with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the tomatoes in the buttermilk and then dredge them in the cornmeal mixture, coating both sides well.
4. Place a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and coat with the oil. When the oil is hot, pan-fry the tomatoes (in batches if necessary) until golden brown and crispy on both sides, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.
5. Carefully remove the tomatoes and drain on paper towels.
6. Serve with sliced mozzarella and drizzled balsamic vinegar.

While some might argue that the Chicago is not the Midwest, I would argue with that statement and take pride in my Midwestern stock. The proof is in my undying love for corn. Montauk, Silver Queen, Country Gentleman…love ‘em all and this time of the year I’m happier than a pig in you-know-what. This weekend at the farmer’s market, I picked up 12 ears of corn. The guy helping me commented “Looks like someone’s having a party.” My response? “Nope, I’m just on a mission to eat so much corn, I’m sick of it for a good year.” He seemed to approve of the plan.

I’ve made this recipe twice in one week. The first time I made it, I literally RAN back into the kitchen to grab seconds. That’s how much I love it.  Bon Appetit is claiming lime the new salt. And while I’m not sure about that claim, I will say that this recipe makes me hungry for more just writing about it. Perhaps I should start a pool to see how many times I’ll make this for myself before the season comes to an end.

roasted corn with lime and manchego
slightly adapted from Bon Appetit August 2010 

ingredients:
 

• 6 ears of sweet yellow corn, remove silk, but leave husks
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 jalapeño, seeded, finely diced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper or ground peperoncino (what I used)
• 1 lime, (grate for lime zest first then cut into 4 wedges)
• 1 cup finely grated Manchego cheese
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced chives or green onions (which is all I had lying around)
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°. Roast unhusked corn on a baking sheet, turning occasionally, until heated through and crisp-tender, about 15 minutes.
   
2. Let cool. Shuck corn and cut kernels from cobs. Discard cobs.
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over high heat.
4. Add corn kernels and sauté until heated through and light-golden in spots, 3-5 minutes.
   
5. Add butter; stir until melted. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Transfer corn to a large wide bowl or deep platter; sprinkle jalapeño and crushed red pepper flakes (or other choice spicy spice) over.
7. Squeeze lime wedges over; sprinkle with cheese, chives, and lime zest.
   

With that said, for as easy as it is to romanticize about our amazing, carefree, glamorous life in Switzerland, I have to always remind myself that we chose to leave. We were ready to leave. As beautiful as Switzerland was, it never was home for us. We missed out friends, our family and the ability to go to the butcher to ask for a cut of meat without being reduced to pointing to various parts of my body and making animal noises to get my point across. But, oh the landscape–how we miss it. Last week, Mr. KC with a couple of friends, decided to try to recapture some of that landscape with a mid-week city escape to a farm dinner at Smolak Farms.

It’s a haul from Boston, don’t let that fool you. And as your GPS starts showing you curiously close to your destination, for a split second you wonder if perhaps the farm is in the middle of an office park. But miraculously, the area gets greener faster and before you know it, you’re pulling down an unpaved road and being guided into a parking lot which is really just a field with ropes around it, but you go with it because you should always trust a man with a flashlight.

Then, I get giddy because a dinner that involves a chalkboard is always a good sign.

And a dinner that involves tikki torches and a lovely outdoor tent only adds to that excitement.

Flowers in mason jars? It’s like this place reads my diary that doesn’t exist.

Adirondack chairs and campfires? Pinch me, please.

And then everyone sits down to dinner. Everything up until now has just been an amazing way of getting you excited for what you just know is going to a celebration of amazing produce, meats and food. We were fortunate enough to sit right next to the chef’s workstation where I marvel at how it seems almost effortless that they dish  out a gourmet meal to 150 people seated outside using nothing more than a roaster and a grill.

And as we stuff our faces with food and drink wine, the sun sets, the twinkly lights come on and even though the social atmosphere is like that of a wedding where you don’t know a lot of people, it’s fun. You realize what a lovely escape from the city it is and that even though you don’t know these people, you share a love for food and that seems like enough for this evening.

Dinner winds down around 10 and ends in an optional hayride around the farm. We chose to finish our wine fireside instead. You’ll notice that I didn’t take any pictures of the food save the one photo of the lovely shortcakes awaiting distribution. Here’s the thing. In the interest of keeping it honest, the food wasn’t out of this world. You want it to be AH-mazing, but it’s good. I was happy that the steaks erred on the rarer side as opposed to the “safe” way of going well-done. But there were varying degrees of rareness and my friend and I had to switch because hers was way too rare. The soup was corn consommé and while it seems to be popular in the gastronomic circles, it wasn’t wow-worthy. But these dinner aren’t just about the food. It’s everything coming together. And the truth of the matter is the food was good. I wouldn’t rave about it if it were served to me in a restaurant, but the fact that every single person who left, did so with a huge smile on their face and a look of utter satisfaction is enough for this gal to rave about it.

The Whim series is winding down for this year with only two dinners left, tonight and next Wednesday. Tickets can be purchased through GiltCity.

That's not the sun setting, that would be the lights of Boston glowing in the distance.

I should start by saying that I don’t know the man who inspired this recipe nor his wife, Jennie who posted it. In fact, I’m ashamed to say I wasn’t even a regular at her blog before this weekend, when I logged into my Google Reader and started to wonder what kind of coincidence would result in so many people making the same pie. And then I saw Jennie’s post, I teared up. Then I saw the video made for her, and the tearing up became a full-grown weep. Food is already such an amazing way to bring people together that it seemed all too appropriate for that many people to show their support for this strong woman through a pie.

My heart goes out to Jennie and her daughters. And while the original request was for this to be done on Friday, I was (as always) late.  I won’t post the recipe here, because in my opinion the recipe shouldn’t be separated from its original post, but I will say that it’s a wonderful pie that I enjoyed with my husband while thinking about how lucky I am and being grateful for all that I have. I hope you do the same.