This Christmas, I’m going to make my first home-made smoked turkey. I can’t wait to taste it. It will require getting up very early in the morning to put the turkey in the smoker, but that’s allright. I figure getting up early will allow me time to get the turkey out of the way, start a pot of coffee, and take a shower before opening presents. When it’s time to open the presents, I’ll be able to relax and enjoy it.

Today, I’m going to begin marinating the turkey in a honey brine, and I’m going to begin soaking some apple wood chips in apple juice and white wine. The honey brine will be made by boiling one gallon of water with one pound of kosher salt. After the salt is dissolved in the water, I’ll add one pound of honey, two quarts of chicken broth, and one cup of whole cloves. Once the brine is made, I’ll take the turkey out of the plastic and remove the giblet bag and the pop-up timer. Then I’ll place the turkey in the brine and immediately add some ice, as much ice as will fit in the container. The turkey will soak this way for two days, defrosting at the same time as it absorbs the flavor. continue reading »

If you’ve never tasted potato candy before, you don’t know what you’re missing. No, it doesn’t taste like potatoes. It tastes like peanut butter candy, actually. It’s so fun to make it, too! You get to play with mashed potatoes and powdered sugar and watch the magic of the powdered sugar turning the potatoes into a liquid! Then you keep adding the sugar until you have a dough. After that, you roll it out and spread peanut butter on it, then roll it up into a log. Then you chill it and slice it.

If you like peanut butter, you’ll like this candy. I think it tastes better than peanut butter fudge. You would think that all that sugar would make the dough taste sweeter than it does. Yet, some kind of chemical reaction must occur when the potatoes meet the sugar, rendering the taste and texture unique and not overly sweet. continue reading »

I have not been writing much here lately. The reason I’ve been MIA is that I’ve been Martened, Tarted and Torqued. About six weeks ago, I brought home a tiny, new orange-striped kitten named Marten. This occurred at about the same time that I began to occasionally contribute to the ezine Sequential Tart. At the same time, I began to teach myself how to use and script the Torque Game Engine. It’s hard to write much in your blog when you’re Martened, Torqued and Tarted at the same time. My long-term vision for Squirrel Tao has not changed, but it’s going to be slow going for Squirrel Tao to evolve into the blog I want it to be. I work full-time, and it doesn’t take much to disrupt my free time in the evenings and on the week-ends. People would laugh at me if they knew the impact that one little kitten has had on my life recently.

Martened

I picked Marten up at the local pet shop, which sometimes adopts kittens out on Saturdays. There were two cages full of kittens. All of them were asleep except for Marten. He came up to the cage wall and rubbed the side of his face against my finger. Then he swiped at it. continue reading »

Summer has always been a very busy time for me, at least in my (so-called) adult incarnation. It’s not my favorite season, really. I prefer spring and fall. I even like winter these days, now that I have a fireplace to enjoy. There’s no work to do outside, and I often read, write and sketch with the flames of the fireplace flickering a few feet away and my cat curled up by my side. Time has a way of slowing down in the winter. I like slow time. In the summer, just the opposite happens. Time speeds up. Yet, every season has its unique pleasures. For me, the simple, daily pleasures of the summer are to be found in my garden and flower beds. Without these, most summer days would be little more than a blur of busy bustling.

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