Even more of my Thanksgiving meals

[oyceter]

Anyhow, dim sum with eight people was very fun. It was noisy and crowded, we got too much food, and there were about five different conversations going at the same time, and it was lovely. Usually I don't like loud, noisy things, but it just feels sort of appropriate for dim sum and Chinese restaurants in general.

And then! I went to coffeeandink's for dinner with her and oracne! Home-cooked food! Wow! It is two full days later, and I am still amazed that Mely made it all! (well, except the bread and cheese, courtesy of oracne. I now feel really bad about not bringing anything.)

There were cranberry scones made of cornmeal, which were very tasty and had a satisfying texture due to the cornmeal. I topped mine off with loads and loads of cloudberry preserves. I have no idea what a cloudberry is, but the preserves are really, really tasty. Mostly I avoided the pumpkin butter, since I already ate my weight in pumpkin pie previously. And then there were little fried eggplant bits with a yogurt-cucumber dip, which was really, really good and crispy, and I can't believe it was the first time Mely made it.

Wah.

I am now inspired to cook. Ok, mostly I am inspired to make cornmeal scones and buy lots of cloudberry preserves so I can eat them for breakfast because they are the tastiest things ever. And they are so nicely substantial and dense! I felt sort of bad because I kept eating out with oracne and coffeeandink, which basically meant a total lack of conversational skills on my part -- am too busy stuffing mouth to talk. I am also now very sad that I didn't go for Scone #3, because I want another one now, sigh.

Mmmmm, scones....

Oh yeah. Mely's apartment is incredibly cute and she has a Wall of Books. I mean, seriously. I got through the door, and then sort of stopped dead and ogled. I need more shelves!

Vids were watched, artbooks were flipped through, and I got to read a Moto Hagio interview, which was extremely cool.

ETA: Doh! I got so distracted by the scones that I forgot about all the food after the appetizers! Anyhow, actual dinner was roasted red pepper soup with polenta croutons (I shall now never go back to normal croutons), which was lovely and creamy and pinky-orange, and there was very good bread and cheese, which was the only thing that didn't come from Mely's kitchen (it was really good cheese, but I don't remember what it was). Oh wait, we also had some raspberry lambic (raspberry beer type thing) which was also courtesy of oracne. And clementines and raw peas for dessert (and more scones!), after which I sort of collapsed on the sofa in food coma.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Cloudberries are in the raspberry/blackberry family and mostly grow in Scandinavia. And they are SO GOOD.

[oyceter]

Ooooo, I want them now! Must figure out how to get fresh ones.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

My advice for fresh cloudberries is to go to Scandinavia in season. I'm not sure they grow here at all. I've never seen fresh here, where by "here" I mean "anywhere in North America."

plant girl talks cloudberry

[jinian.livejournal.com]

You actually might have seen cloudberry and not known it. It's commonly used as a drought-tolerant ground cover in the PNW and maybe the Bay Area too. It's a creeping plant with dark green, slightly fuzzy leaves, and the berries look just like small yellow raspberries (same genus). There are male plants that never have berries, so they're pretty nondescript, and female plants that have them briefly before the birds notice. I love the berries, preserved or not, though I try to resist picking the ones that grow in parking lots.

Try a Scandinavian-themed store if you can't find the jam -- it's one of our things. (More people seem to like cloudberries than pickled herring, what's with that?)

Re: plant girl talks cloudberry

[oyceter]

Oh cool! I don't think I've actully seen it around here, but it looks really cool.

Also, I really want the jam now. Or just the fruit. Or something. It was tasty.

Oh, and lingon berries! Those are the best things ever.

Re: plant girl talks cloudberry

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Apparently I am wrong about them not growing here!

Re: plant girl talks cloudberry

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I was surprised when I found out what they were, too. So many different things can grow in Seattle, way more than in rural Washington where I grew up. The miracle of water and pavement.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

You forgot the soup. ;)

[oyceter]

Doh! This horrible oversight has now been remedied ;).

Um, I blame your scones. They are too good and distracting.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

:) I am glad you like the scones. The recipe is here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/coffeeandink/518842.html#cutid1).

Also, you should post a list of the books you bought so I can try to remember what else to tell you to get. ;) Francesca Lia Block, Violet & Claire? Colette, My Mother's House & Sido?

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I THINK it was Taleggio il Caravaggio. But I might be remembering the name wrong. I got it at Whole Foods.

[oyceter]

Thank you! I shall look for something like that.