Mini-Thanksgiving: more goodness per pound!

I had Tacoma Girl and Tacoma Mom over for Thanksgiving. The latter was a last-minute addition, but three people is too few for even the smallest turkey, in my opinion. So I made face-melting Ma Po tofu, brown rice, salad*, and spinach with sesame oil & tamari. Tacoma Mom brought rolls & pumpkin pie.

I usually (Foreshadowing!) make Ma Po tofu with ground chicken; the recipe as I found it calls for the traditional ground pork. Both versions call for chicken stock.

I had forgotten that my guests are pescatarians, which Tacoma Girl has told me any number of times. I have probably never looked so horrified in my own home, be it the Devil Girl House or any other.

But Tacoma Mom suggested, brilliantly, that I cook the meat separately**. Plus, thanks to Tacoma Girl's earlier gift of dried, salted fish, I have plenty of fish stock. So I thawed the stock, busted out all my pans, and got to work. Yeah, I overcooked burned the garlic because I was flustered, improvising, and dropping things on the floor, but I got the worst of it. I had four burners out of the five on my stove lit simultaneously. I managed to save dinner.

The wine didn't suck, either; Washington state blends for the win***. I told Tacoma Mom my favorite Burning Man stories and the Opera Story. She's a good egg.

Very eat. So chat. Wow.




*The same salad I made for my son & myself on Wednesday night, plus tomatoes. Shhh!
**Browned chicken and garlic were also from Wednesday night, from what I put in the spaghetti sauce.
***Wine Spectator rating of 90 or higher. Nobody touched the beer, so I now have plenty of beer in a cleen house. More foreshadowing!