When Anjuli and I get together in a kitchen it is like the improvisation that goes on between jazz musicians. She has an idea and it sparks me, I enhance on it, back and forth we go until, from these sparks, a dish is created. It just flows from mind to mind and heart to heart with no effort and no ego. It is quite amazing to me. I used to sing in the 60s with a partner. Sometimes we would hit a perfect note together. The feeling of the perfection of the note would make the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It had a life of its own. When Anjuli and I cook together sometimes we create a dish that feels like that. We can just feel that it is right.

Everyone pitched in to create an incredible spread this Thanksgiving. Thanks to my friend Dan, who has spent many a Thanksgiving with us, for taking most of these photos.

With the bird safely in the oven by 9:30, and mom onto making a pumpkin pie, we relaxed a bit, then got into full swing around 1pm. My favorite part of Thanksgiving is those three or four hours when we’re all cooking in sync, everyone handing around spoons for tasting, adding a little of this or that and tasting again. In the midst of all the activity, the oven was turned off accidentally for a full hour with the turkey inside. I’d have to say it actually improved the texture. The turkey turned out to be incredibly succulent and flavorful from the browning outdoors. We also found time to invent a new dish - bulgar with roasted shiitake mushrooms, peas, plumped prunes, and mint. It was a wonderfully sweet and savory alternative to bread dressing.

I wanted to show you all the excitement we had this morning when mom’s bird went into the domed pizza oven out back. Her friend and mason Nick came over to assist us in searing the bird. Except for it initially blistering because the temp was up to 600 F (in mom’s words POW POW POW), everything went off swimmingly and it is now a delicious golden brown. The bird was expertly rotated on an enormous peel by mom with Nick’s assistance. We carried it ever so carefully into the kitchen and then into the oven. As we closed the door Nick sighed in relief, admitting that he’d dreampt that it had fallen on the floor. Well we say, HAHA! Can’t wait to taste it!

That was very fun posting on Anjuli’s blog. I had no idea how excited I was going to feel when I actually saw it up there. It took me by surprise. Sharing with all of you is so tantalizing.

I have been cooking for 2 days straight, 8 - 10 hours per day. Can you believe anyone would actually still do that, more, that they would actually enjoy it? I have burned about 10 hours of music on CDs, all kinds of music; oldies, Latin music, classical and I listen as I cook. I even dance a little. Anjuli’s dad just retired and he cooks too so there actually is a shared experience going on. I can even get him to dance with me once in a while.

Anjuli has been inviting me, her mom, to post on her blog. I am a little old for this sort of thing, but I will give it a shot. I certainly love her blog. I feel honored.

Ramani, Anjuli’s dad, has been bothered by spicy food lately. He grew up in Bombay, so this is not something we take casually. This is up on the level of Greek tragedy. He strongly felt that without heat there can be no flavor. Poor guy. But yesterday he had an epiphany. We created a dal with herbs, garlic and onions and he loved it. I don’t mean he sort of liked it, it was ok. I mean he loved it.

Anyone who stopped by last year around Thanksgiving will remember I cooked some family recipes away from home.

This year is a family reunion, two families actually, each cooking in our own kitchens and bringing the food together. When my mother was growing up Thanksgiving was very much about tradition and ceremony. In our home it’s generally about new experiments, cooking what you like, and different families coming together to share what they love with each other. We split the menu in half and find out how it comes together on Thursday!

Eating this popcorn makes you want to spend some serious time investigating how to smuggle good popcorn into bad movie theaters. It has all the fixings of an addictive movie snack. Or afternoon snack. Or light dinner. Or anytime you’re lounging, sitting, and want something seriously delectable, salty, and a little spicy to pop into your mouth every two or three seconds. This recipe has the double win of toasted cumin and the nutty, caramel quality of good Indian ghee. So let’s just say it’s reminiscent of both caramel popcorn and the kind studded with real good peanuts. Do yourself a favor and buy some real Organic kernels and pop them yourself on the stove in a little bit of oil or ghee.

…November 11, 2009 in Connecticut, around 3:30pm to be exact…
Girl wants to make soup for boy on a chilly afternoon. A lazy, delicious conversation ensues.

Boy: What do we have on hand?
Girl: Turnips, carrots, onions, potatoes, and homemade soup stock, some tomatoes, cannellini beans, and all the spices and herbs (at least dried) we could want. Let’s stick to the things that are in season together, and nix the tomatoes. I’ve never made a turnip soup, but let’s try one. They’re a little starchy, sweet, and a little tangy, I think. That’s a good place to start.

We have been making these shockingly gingery ginger cookies since summer. They are head-to-head with my other favorite ginger cookie, the ginger snap. We’d been looking for thick, chewy, and gingery cookies (but not so much it burns) for a long time. I’m a longtime fan of 101cookbooks.com, and Heidi has definitely found a winner with these triple ginger cookies. Instead of pondering the ideal source of ginger (dried, crystalized, or fresh), why not use them all? Why not indeed. Ginger has long been considered a good way to whet the appetite. So why not have these before and after dinner?

It’s not the most romantic photo (apologies, it was so good we couldn’t help but eat it immediately!), but this Cavalo Nero Caesar salad is a stellar addition to the curious category of “winter salads.” I had this one at Il Buco in the East Village a month back and I couldn’t believe how flavorful it was, so I just had to try it myself. I always tend to enjoy the rich anchovy egg Caesar salad dressing in the fall/winter, but Romaine is a ridiculous purchase this time of year. The Black Tuscan Kale (Cavalo Nero) has a much more mellow bitterness than its kale cousins, but the leaves really sweeten up when you parboil them. I find the salad works well both with raw and cooked leaves. Kale is a wonderful winter vegetable, rich with calcium, lutein, iron, and vitamins A, C, and K. It’s also rich in sulforophane, which boosts the body’s detoxification enzymes and also has anticancer properties.