Thanksgiving is over...

Well, the holiday is over, and I had a very nice relaxing holiday.

Thanksgiving dinner consisted of a trip to Luby's with my mom. This usually surprises people who know me. I, generally, like to cook, and my mom is an excellent cook... and I will admit that I've cooked a few turkeys in my life... but ultimately, it was just me and mom, and neither of us particualarly wanted to cook, and neither of us wanted to put the other to the trouble, so off to Luby's. It was certainly nice to have all morning out of the kitchen cooking and all afternoon out of the kitchen cleaning up the mess... Treated myself to a nice long nap.

But I was listening to National Public Radio and heard a great cooking tip... Now if you're one of those people who have a hard time making pie crusts... (Some of us just can't do it... There's probably a support group somewhere... ) this might be worth trying.

To make a wonderful pie crust, use cold vodka instead of cold water. The reasoning is this... the water combines with the flour to make gluten, which is that wonderful hard crust on breads... but the gluten is what turns your pie crust into something hard and rubbery.... alcohol, ie: vodka, will not form gluten with flour. Plus, the vodka evaporates and leaves behind the flour and shortening to make a really flakey crust. This was all according to a real live chef on NPR, so I'm gonna assume he knows what he's talking about... I haven't tried it yet. I make about 4 pie crusts a year and they turn out better than some but not as good as others, so I'm gonna try it eventually, but if any of you are feeling adventurous, let me know how it turns out. Also, I'm wondering if I could use whisky or rum to give the crust a flavor with pecan pie or something... although now that I think about it, pecan pie is usually pretty overwhelming flavored all by itself so I'm not sure I'd bother.

Anyway, later today, I'm off to the flea market. I gotta start packing because I'm going to have to move the booth next month. There's a better booth closer to the front and actually a little bit smaller and cheaper.

later...