Moser Good Eats and Good Times: Thanksgiving and a Whole Lot More

There’s one thing I failed to mention in my last blog post that was inconsequential at the time, but as it turns out was the beginning of the end. Let me explain. Several years ago Verne’s brother Keith made it his mission to help Verne restore a ’52 Chevy truck. For over a year he spent a half day most weeks working with Verne on the project. Often he would take something home with him to continue his work, such as a fender or some other part. He would then return it in a few weeks repaired, primed and painted. My job was to plan a nice lunch each week as a thank you. His favorite lunch was my chili and corn bread. As the truck neared completion I figured Keith might ask me for the recipe. At the time and unknown to all but close family members, I used a chili seasoning mix called Billy the Kid Chili Mix, which was developed by Carroll Shelby (the car guy) and apparently had been a first place winner in numerous chili cook-off competitions. Well, out of necessity (too embarrassed to admit the truth of using a packaged chili mix), I set out to develop my own. It’s a blend of about a dozen Penzey’s spice, which are then added to the meat along with a bottle of pale ale and thickened with masa harina. There’s a bit more to it than that, but those are the basics. The truck was finished and as I expected Keith asked me for the recipe, which I was pleased to share along with my own container of Moser Chili Spice Mix. He was none the wiser and apparently never noticed a difference between the Billy the Kid and my knock-off mix, which is far superior to the original. It’s a winner. Not officially (like Carroll Shelby’s), but amongst the Moser clan (Verne and I in particular) it’s the best, Numero Uno.

Lauren has loved chili, all kinds, since she was a little girl and is one of my best customers. I sent her home from her October visit with containers of the mix for her own use as well as enough to make a batch of chili to be entered in a Nike Chili Cook-Off event mid-month. An opportunity to have my chili independently judged? This was exciting. To make a long story short, our chili won and she was given the first place award, a cutting board with the words “2017 Chili Cook-Off Winner.” Lauren told the story of her chili cook-off win at Thanksgiving, giving no credit to the creator...Me. I guess what goes around, comes around. In hindsight, it’s a little like my Billy the Kid chili scam. Nonetheless, I want the kudos. I want the first place award. I want the cutting board. My advice to you, Lauren, is nail it down, because it may just end up coming home with me next time we visit!

Our 2017 Thanksgiving celebration was much the same as previous years. The feast included the same family members (Verne and the girls, Scott and his family, and Jana’s boyfriend Andy) and was in the same location (Lauren’s Portland condo) that we’ve celebrated the holiday for the past few years. Lauren’s “Give Thanks” banner was hung on the wall and we decorated the table with the same colorful runner that we’ve used for the past decade. We even reused Lauren’s adorable centerpiece and paper trivia turkeys from last year. Our menu was also unchanged with turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, creamed corn and two different pies, pumpkin and Jana’s favorite pecan. There was one thing, though, that made this past Thanksgiving unique and it involved the turkey. A friend of mine, now writing for the Upcountry News, wrote her November cooking column on spatchcocking a turkey. The term was vaguely familiar to me as I’d read the same 2014 Bon Appetit article she referenced in hers. Only difference was she read the article and actually spatchcocked her turkey that year and has continued preparing it that way since. She was so enthusiastic about the process and result that I decided I wanted to spatchcock our turkey. Just to familiarize you with the process, it involves removing the backbone and flattening the fowl before roasting. For those who lack a sharp boning knife and the skill to remove the backbone, Jan suggested asking a butcher to “spatchcock the bird.” After more reading about the process I decided to take her advice.

Do you find the term “spatchcock” offensive (to the point of being laughable)? Well, I do. And Lauren did. As I live in Volcano, 650 miles from New Season’s Market where we’d ordered the turkey, and she lives across the street from it, the job of talking to the butcher about spatchcocking was on her to-do list. I’m glad it was, because Lauren’s hilarious story about the hesitant, jaw-dropping look she got from the butcher when she asked if he could “spatchcock” and the similar response she received from the woman in charge of turkey orders, had me laughing for a week. The funniest part of the story was when the woman said to her with a smirk, “Do you mean you want your turkey butterflied?” We had no idea!

Lauren's Thanksgiving Banner

Pretty table setting with little origami boats filled with candy

On Friday we all went to OMSI for a special exhibit called Illusion. The topic had such potential, but left all of us confused and disappointed. The curators missed their mark! In fact, I came closer with my optical illusion selfie photo below. We went on to Hair of the Dog for a couple of hours of cards (Asshole, what else?) and then dinner at Thai Peacock, which is becoming our go-to restaurant in Portland. Besides having the best Thai food in the area, it’s located within walking distance of Penzey’s and across the street from Powell’s Bookstore. It doesn’t get better than that.

#joyceselffie #optical illusion

Scott and his family left early Saturday morning. We three girls headed for Smith Tea for a class on creating our own black tea blend (Lauren’s birthday gift to Jana and an un-birthday present for me). The class started with a general discussion of tea followed by a tasting of about a dozen black teas. We then each created our own blend combining our favorite black teas with an essential oil, such as Bergamot (the oil that gives Earl Grey tea its distinctive flavor) or Black Currant, which I used, and herbs. We taste-tested the result and adjusted our blend as desired. It was an interesting experience. In general, I’m not fond of black teas as I find most of them too astringent (a tea term I learned in class), but having the opportunity to taste and compare the different black teas from various countries allowed me to narrow my likes to Pu’erh, a fermented tea from China. There is no better way to narrow the playing field for a product (beer, wine, olive oil, or whatever) than a side-by-side taste test.

Friday tea at Smith's with Ini

We finished our weekend with dinner at Laurelhurst to celebrate the girls’ birthdays. There has been something so special about the girls’ shared birthday. They always begin their big day with a call to each other (so sweet), just as I imagine twins do. Being so close to Thanksgiving, we are always together on or near November 29th and our weekend together always includes a birthday celebration. One of our favorite stories told and retold is that of their first shared birthday when baby Lauren put her hand in the cake, upsetting her three-year old sister, who wasn’t keen on sharing the cake or the attention. We’ve enjoyed thirty birthday celebrations since then and they’ve all been filled with love, laughter and shared memories (and presents, of course). Life is good.

Waiting to be seated at Laurelhurst

December started off with a weekend visit from Jeff. A couple of times each year he combines a business trip with family visits. This one included a few days in Los Angeles, where he got together with Jana and Andy for dinner, and ended his business mid-day Friday in San Francisco followed by a short drive to Volcano for a two-day visit with us. Jeff and I talk on the phone each week, typically Thursday or Friday afternoon when he’s driving home from work, but that’s never as good as our in-person time together. We spent Friday evening catching up with lots of humorous stories about Trish and the boys. Most of Saturday was spent in the barn as Jeff’s mission was to help Verne with the ’50 Chevy pickup and prove it with pictures. He has been involved with this project since he was 13 years old. This has got to be the longest auto restoration in history.

As Christmas approaches, I’m reminded of one of my favorite holiday movies, Love Actually, and its theme song, Love Is All Around performed by Bill Nighy, because love seems to be all around us. Last week we attended Jandy’s (Jana and Andy’s) second annual holiday party in LA. This year it was much more than a holiday party. Surrounded by friends and family, Andy proposed to Jana. And, she accepted. It’s official, our daughter is engaged to be married next year. Two others near and dear to us, Maria (once a daughter-in-law and later a daughter) and Ruben, were married in November. Here are a few pictures of the bride and bride-to-be. It warms my heart to see the girls so happy. Ruben and Andy are two lucky guys!