Sausage Potatoes au Gratin

Every year, two big batches of Todd’s famous potatoes au gratin makes it way to our Thanksgiving table. It’s one of those dishes that the whole family is religiously (and hopelessly) in love with. All these eaters ask about the potatoes au gratin first, before anyone ever asks about the turkey. Regardless of how much decadent, calorie-laden, decadent goodness hides behind every serving, there’s rarely ever much left over. It’s occasions like these that when it comes to calorie-conversation, we all say, “who cares?”

That’s right, who cares. When the holidays roll around, what’s most important is that were enjoying good food with great people. Now. Let’s do this.

We’re mixing things up a bit this year, but not to the extreme to where there will be mutiny by taking away the precious potatoes au gratin dish. We’re going to make this beloved dish a little extra special and savory by adding sausage. Yes, sausage in potatoes au gratin sounds like a great plan and pretty much, a whole meal in itself. Especially delicious when we add in a homemade sausage which is insanely good. Well, maybe add some brussels sprouts and the turkey then Thanksgiving will be complete. Although we keep batting around the idea of having a Thanksgiving week, just so we can try all of the dishes we are craving this time of year.

It’s incredibly rewarding dishes like these ring in the holidays in the most delicious way possible. Comforting foods, especially those baked with love in the oven, are what makes our cold days warmer and our souls a little more satisfied.

If you’re already a fan of potatoes au gratin and sausage is already a star on your favorites-list, then definitely try these potatoes. And if you’re a purist and don’t like anything interfering with your creamy au gratin? Then make it without the sausage and use the original au gratin recipe we posted a few years ago. Either way, you’ll be pleased to know that what ever you cook, there’s something for everyone. Even the vegetarians!

And for many of you who often ask about the difference between a potatoes au gratin and scalloped potatoes? There’s many varying answers, but traditionally potatoes au gratin (or gratin dauphinoise ) is a French dish where the potatoes are cooked in cream or creme fraiche. No Cheese. Though there are many variations of potatoes au gratin using cheese, most will call potatoes cooked in cheese as scalloped potatoes. Either way, how ever you cook your potatoes, make it your own and share it with those you love.

Eat more potatoes,

diane

Yield: Serves 6

Total Time: 2 hours

This is an adaptation from our classic potatoes au gratin which we previously had posted and is also in our cookbook, Bountiful. It is an all-time favorite for our families and friends, especially in the cooler months. All ingredients are approximations. Learn to cook this recipe by feel and it becomes very easy to make smaller or larger dishes to suit the occasion.

1 1/2 pounds (680g) uncooked sausage1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil4 pounds (1.8kg) Yukon or Russet Potatoes2 Garlic Cloves1 1/2 Tablespoons Kosher or Sea Salt, or to taste2 teaspoons fresh cracked coarse Black Pepper3/4 teaspoon freshly grated Nutmegabout 3 cups (700ml) Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350°F

Remove the sausage from the casings and break into small chunks.Heat a large skillet over medium high and then add the olive oil. Stir in the sausage and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until browned.Crack the garlic cloves break them up slightly then rub the insides of a 9"x11" baking dish. Discard the bigger chunks of garlic and set aside the baking dish.Peel and slice the potatoes about 1/8" thick. Put the sliced potatoes into a large bowl.Season the potatoes with sea salt, black pepper, and nutmeg. Toss the slices to coat evenly.  Slap a potato slice against your tongue to test for seasoning.  It should be noticeably seasoned but not overpoweringly so.Layer the potatoes and sausage into the prepped baking dish, pressing down on the top so everything is fairly level.  Pour the cream over potatoes just to the point where you can press down on the top layer and the top potato slices disappear under the cream.   Give a couple presses down on the potatoes and then taste cream for seasoning.  You should just marginally taste the salt.  Add a sprinkle more if needed.Put in the oven and bake for a total of about 1 1/2 hours (larger batches will take longer). Every 20 minutes or so, open the oven and with the back of a large spoon, break the crust the cream is starting to form and turn over any of the top sausage pieces that may be beginning to brown. (On the final "crust breaking" the consistency of the cream should noticeably thicker and have absorbed into the potatoes a decent amount). For the final 20-30 minutes, leave everything untouched to form a golden top. Cream should be nearly all broke down and absorbed with just a bit of creamy, buttery-ness between the potato slices.Remove from oven allow to cool a bit before serving.  It will retain an intense heat for at least 10-15 minutes.

Prep Tips:
Lay down newspaper on counter tops and peel potatoes over the newspaper. When all done, roll up and compost or throw away; instant clean counters!

If you are doing a large batch, put the peeled potatoes in a bowl of water to keep them from browning.

This is also a great time to hone knife skills. However for another quick and easy method, slice with a mandolin or food processor slicing blade. Personally I prefer slicing by hand - it's a bit meditative with the added risk playing with a sharp knife, but some days the food processor or mandolin save precious prep time.

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Thai Yellow Curry with Beef and Potatoes Recipe (Kaeng Karii)

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October 03, 2013Thai Yellow Curry with Beef and Potatoes Recipe (Kaeng Karii)

Over the weekend, I used Pok Pok chef/owner Andy Ricker’s recipe for Thai beefand potato yellow curry in the October issue of Saveur magazine.  I’d spentquite some time making his Thai yellow curry paste so I wanted to use the curryand see what else I could glean from his recipes.

First off, I’d somehow assumed that yellow curry was onlyfor chicken (Viet folks make similar kinds of yellow curry with chicken andpotato) but Ricker prescribed beef and a long simmering in unseasoned coconutmilk. I was curious about the pairing of beef in a Southeast Asian curry.Perhaps it would lend depth to the mellow yellow curry paste?

Cooking the beefin coconut milk reminded me of how Italian bolognese sauce requires simmeringground meat in milk and white wine. The result would no doubt be rich, despitethe small amount of meat involved. Smart low-meat cooking.

Another thing that intrigued me about Ricker’s recipe wasthe notion of “cracking” coconut cream (what you get at the top when thecontainer of coconut milk is left to sit for 1 or 2 days). That is, the thickcoconut cream is cooked until the solids disappeared and the oil remained. Thena good cup of the paste went into the pot and fried. Yes, a cup of paste seemedlike a heck of a lot but I’d tasted the paste and it was not frighteninglystrong. (Maybe the stuff from the stores are made to be extra strong?)

Red and yukon gold potatoes, coconut cream scooped from the can, and beefy goodness ready to go
Crackingand frying the curry paste made sense. A number of Malaysian and Indonesian seasoningpastes are often fried to meld flavors before the protein and liquid are added.And, using the natural sweet nuttiness of coconut oil ties the entire dishtogether, kind of like rendering chicken fat for a chicken and rice claypot.

Ricker also called for adding water to second simmering. Hiscurry promised to be lighter, runnier than what you’d normally get at Thairestaurants. Runny curries are what I remember from eating in Chiang Mai in theearly 1990s. We sat down at a market curry stall, pointed to a couple of curry potsand the vendor dished it up on tin plates. At room temperature, the curry wasethereal tasting, not thick and creamy. You tasted the curry paste’s nuancedflavors and it didn’t weigh you down.

Okay canned palm sugar, homemade curry paste, and "cracked" coconut cream
I always let my curries rest before serving. With the Thaiyellow curry, we ate it in a near-tepid state with rice, boiled grean beans andsome sliced cucumber for refreshing crunch; I also made canh, a clear Vietquick soup.  

A batch of this curry yielded about 8 servings and afterreading Austin Bush’s piece on kaengkarii, I added a side of chiles and soy sauce to subsequent meals of Thaiyellow curry. We mixed them into the rice and curry at the table for spiritedheat and savory depth. As with stews, this curry tastes better as it ages.

So how was the curry over all? It was excellent, full ofcomplexity yet well balanced enough to be elegant. The beef imparted gravitas.Thumbs up on the DIY Thai yellow curry paste and this curry. I now  have a cup of yellow curry paste left in thefridge for another run, maybe with chicken and potatoes. Ricker's Thai cookbook coming out soon and judging from this little curry experiment, good things are bound to come from from the publication.

Note that I used a canned coconut palm sugar that I had toscrape with a fork; it was okay stuff but very compact so use a little lessthan what’s called for or the curry may be on the sweet side.

RECIPE

Thai Yellow Currywith Beef and Potatoes

Yield: 8 servings,with 2 or 3 other dishes

Ingredients:

Two 13.5 oz / 390 ml cans coconut milk (3 1/3 cups / 810 ml total)1 1/2 pounds beef chuck1 cup Thai Yellow Curry Paste, at room temperature 3 medium regular shallots, or 10 small red Asian shallots3 large Yukon gold, red, or white potatoes2 tablespoons grated palm sugar or light brown sugar1 tablespoon fish sauceCooked jasmine rice, for serving2 or 3 sliced Thai, serrano, jalapeno, or Fresno chiles, for servingRegular soy sauce, for serving

Instructions:

Use a spoon to skim off 1 cup of the thicker coconut cream floating at the top of the can. Set aside. Pour the remaining coconut milk into a 4-quart (1 L) pot. Trimmed and cut the beef into thick strips, each about 2 inches (5 cm) long and 1/2 inch (1.25 cm). Add to the pot. The beef should be covered. Add water, if not. Bring to simmer over medium heat, then cook for about 1 hour, occasionally stirring, until tender. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the beef to a bowl and cover to keep warm. Measure out 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) of coconut milk and set aside. Save extra for another use.*Pour the reserved coconut cream into a 5 or 6-quart (1.25 or 1.5 L) pot. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until the oil separates and there’s little of the white solids that remain. Some golden bits are fine.Add the curry paste, then cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until slightly darkened and fragrant. Add the reserved coconut milk and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil before adding the beef, shallot, and potatoes. Lower the heat to gently simmer for about 40 minutes,  until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the sugar and fish sauce. Turn off the heat and let the curry rest and cool for about 20 minutes before serving with the rice. If there's too much oil/fat at the top, skim some off; refrigerating overnight will make the job easier. Offer sliced chiles and soy sauce to guests to add to their curry. Enjoy this Thai style, on a plate with fork and spoon.

*Employ the extra beefy coconut milk to moisten a vegetable stir-fryor enrich soup. It’ll keep for days in the fridge.

Related posts andlinks:

Thai Yellow Curry Paste recipeLeela at She Simmers delves into Thai yellow curry, clarifying what the term means and includes a link to her recipeBangkok-based photographer Austin Bush gives a quick lowdown on the Thai capitol’s best spots for kaeng karii, as well as the differences between Chinese and Muslim renditionsPosted | Permalink

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Comments Thai Yellow Curry with Beef and Potatoes Recipe (Kaeng Karii)

Over the weekend, I used Pok Pok chef/owner Andy Ricker’s recipe for Thai beefand potato yellow curry in the October issue of Saveur magazine.  I’d spentquite some time making his Thai yellow curry paste so I wanted to use the curryand see what else I could glean from his recipes.

First off, I’d somehow assumed that yellow curry was onlyfor chicken (Viet folks make similar kinds of yellow curry with chicken andpotato) but Ricker prescribed beef and a long simmering in unseasoned coconutmilk. I was curious about the pairing of beef in a Southeast Asian curry.Perhaps it would lend depth to the mellow yellow curry paste?

Cooking the beefin coconut milk reminded me of how Italian bolognese sauce requires simmeringground meat in milk and white wine. The result would no doubt be rich, despitethe small amount of meat involved. Smart low-meat cooking.

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Japanese Cooking 101, Lesson 5 extra: Fish bone crackers (hone-senbei) with shoestring potatoes

There's no need to throw away the bits of fish that you cut off when you filet them and so forth. Fish bones and heads can be kept for making soup. Or, if the bones are tender enough they can be made into delicious fish-bone crackers.

At the sushi restaurant in New York I worked at many years ago, the chefs used to serve these as extra treats to customers who sat at the counter. One of those was a lovely little girl, who used to come regularly with her father. She just loved those fish bone crackers. One year the chefs made a big batch of them and gave her a takeout box full for her birthday. She was so happy I thought her eyes were going to pop out of her head.

I've paired these with shoestring potatoes, which taste surprisingly sweet next to the umami-rich fish bones. The type of potato is important - choose a nice firm waxy type, not a floury type like Idaho baking potatoes. Alternatively you can use sweet potatoes.

A frugal way to deal with the bones taken out of small fish like sardines. Tip: Always fry the potatoes before you fry the bones, or the potatoes will take on the flavor of the fish.

Prep time: 15 min :: Cook time: 10 min :: Total time: 25 min

Yield: 2 servings

16 to 20 fish bones from fresh sardines 2 Yukon Gold or Bintje potatoes, or similar firm potatoes, medium sized salt, to taste flour or cornstarch, to dust the fish bones oil, for frying These are the fish bones taken out of the fish. Wash them off, and pat them dry with paper towel. Leave to dry out a bit on a plate for an hour. (Do this in the refrigerator if the weather is hot, or if you have some feline overlords about.)
Peel the potatoes and cut them into small matchsticks. Rinse them and then pat them dry, and leave on a sieve to dry out some more until you're ready to fry everything. When you are ready to cook and while the oil is heating up, coat the fish lightly with flour or cornstarch. Heat up some oil for frying. Heat the oil to a low cooking heat, about 170°C / 340°F (see this for how to gauge frying oil temperature with wooden chopsticks). Fry the potatoes until cooked but not browning yet. Take them out and drain. Heat up the oil until it reaches the high range, about 180°C / 355°F. Put in the pre-cooked potatoes and fry until a golden brown. Take out and drain. Put the fish bones in and fry until golden brown and crispy. Take out and drain. Lightly salt the fish and the potatoes. Serve as a snack or appetizer. It goes very well with beer.

(Below is for search engine purposes)

By Makiko Itoh

Published: April 26, 2013

Type: Japanese, fish, washoku, appetizer

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Creamy, Slow Cooked Scalloped Potatoes – first time and not last.

This is my first time, this curious obsession, of cooking with a slow cooker. For as long as I could remember, I’ve been stalking slow cooker recipes, often wondering how/why/what could possibly be the advantage having a slow cooker. Quite frankly, I’m more fearful of actually pressing a button on an appliance, leaving it on all day and coming home to a burned down house.

My gut feeling has always been to leave the house with everything turned off and I’ve been known to circle back on the freeway to make sure my curling iron was on off. That’s how much of a wimp I am about leaving anything with heat on all day.

Then there’s this talk, I hear, about how a slow cooker can cook things down to a wonderful, flavorful texture. Oh great, so will everything taste like a stew? Gloppy soup?

Then there’s the photographs I see on Pinterest with incredible cheesy, gooooeeey, decant mac and cheese recipes. Obviously their house didn’t burn down during the making of the dishes.

And the photographs of roasts cooked down to the perfect fork-tender texture slay me to eye-popping interest. Well, if they were able to pin this photo, then their house still must be standing up, untouched by fire.

Ok, so I’m comforted to know that people are still alive, standing and cooking food that makes my stomach growl at midnight when I’m browsing Pinterest.

So here I go, and I tell Todd that I want a slow cooker and I want it now. Like, right– now — so I can experiment with a scalloped potatoes recipe for Christmas.

Todd, the most awesome guy in the world, the same guy that will nurture dishes through hours of laborious steps just to get the perfect texture, and who doesn’t judge me nor my secret obsession. We bought a slow cooker that very day.

The first thing I made upon bringing home my first slow cooker (now 3 weeks ago) was a pork rillette dish. My traditional recipe calls for about 4-5 hours of braising the pork over the stove, but it also requires stirring the pot every 30 minutes. I successfully made the dish to tender perfection with only stirring twice.  Wow! And the cleanup was super easy.

Now I’m hooked and more curious to find out what type of dish can benefit from this all-day-cooking process with a push of ONE button.

Granted, there are some dishes that I would never cook in the slow cooker because I’m looking for a different flavor and texture. But for anything cheesy or stewy, I’m all for experimenting.

This time, I’ve been intrigued by scalloped potatoes in the slow cooker so that for Christmas, it can stay warm during the feasting without drying out. This is one of those potluck dishes that often dries out and gets cold so fast, that the warm-tender texture of the potatoes has dissipated.

My second slow cooking experiment were these potatoes and it was a super success, resulting in a cheesy, creamy and quickly eaten batch of scalloped potatoes. Best of all, the dish can remain warm, and still gooey, meltingly cheesy throughout the evening.

I’m hooked and look forward to cooking more from the slow cooker. Best of all, my house hasn’t burned down!

Any favorite slow cooker recipes that you have? I’ve love to see. Please leave your link.

Hail to the slow cooker!

-diane

Yield: Serves 4-6

Total Time: 8 hours

This recipe was cooked in a 6 qt. Crock Pot. ****The cooking time on this recipe is varies tremendously depending on how thick you cut the potatoes. I knife-sliced my potatoes at about 1/4". You can use a mandoline. As long as the slices are even and consistent, the batch will cook evenly. This 3 pounds of potato recipe took 8 hours on High (gently stirred 3 times, every 2 hours) to become soft based on how thick my potato cuts were. Look at my opening photo for a visual cue.

The flavor of this recipe can vary, depending on what cheese you select. I chose two cheeses with lots of flavor: extra sharp cheddar and fresh parmigiano reggiano. Have fun with it and try using your favorite cheeses.
We'll often make this and other similar potato dishes with russet potatoes or if we are feeling luxurious, Yukon golds. Different varieties will affect cooking times.

3 pounds of Potatoes (1360 g), washed and sliced to about 1/8"-1/4" I kept the skin on but you can peel your potatoes if you please.3.5 cups (590ml) Heavy Whipping Cream1.5 teaspoons (8g) Sea Salt (based on how salty your cheese is)1/2 teaspoon (1g) freshly grated Nutmeg (or 1/4 teaspoon of dry nutmeg)1 teaspoon (2g) freshly grated Black Pepper2 cups (170g) grated extra sharp Cheddar Cheese1 cup (80g) freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheeseIn large bowl, combine heavy cream, salt, nutmeg, black pepper. Stir well. Add potato slices and gently stir to coat potatoes with cream mixture.In small bowl, combine grated cheeses.Spray or add thin layer of oil on inside of crock pot. In three parts, layer potatoes and cheese. **refer to step-by-step photographsAfter layering of potatoes and cheese is finished, pour left over cream mixture evenly over potatoes.Cook on high for 6-8 hours, gently stirring 3 times every 2 hours. When stirring, with wooden spoon, gently scrape the edges inside the slow cooker free of the cheese. When finished stirring, press potato slices down evenly into the cheese sauce.

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Bacon Potatoes au Gratin & more recipes on Cooking Channel

One of the best jobs in the world is doing what you love. It doesn’t really matter what it is, as long as you love doing it. For us, working with food and wonderful people devoted to their craft of feeding, cooking and creating in the kitchen keeps us satisfied and happy. The folks over at Cooking Channel are a fine example of dedicated, passionate individuals who love and care about food to the tenth degree.

We were super thrilled to be asked by Cooking Channel to contribute some recipes and photography to their blog, Devour. Working with the Cooking Channel Devour team is a dream. They’re all such terrific people and it’s such an honor to collaborate with each an every single one of them.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been sharing some new and original recipes and photography over at Cooking Channel Devour blog. Working on this project with them never felt like work because when does making bacon potatoes au gratin ever feel like work?

Please head on over to the Cooking Channel blog and visit some of our new favorite recipes.

Here’s a sampling to drool over and maybe gain a few happy pounds on:

Bacon Potatoes Au Gratin Recipe

Sweet Potato Fritters Recipe

Pumpkin Gyoza Dumplings Recipe

Turkey Sloppy Joes Recipe

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Curried Smashed Potatoes – Crispy Addictions

Smashed Potatoes. Not mashed. Cooked whole, smashed to flatten and crack, then seared on a pan to crisp up. It is our favorite way to have a good potato, and that’s saying a lot considering how much comfort and love we have for the almighty tuber.

Smashed potatoes have been around for quite a while, but for us our exposure and love of smashed potatoes comes from some of our favorite ladies in the kitchen. Cristina Ferrare fixed us up a batch for her cookbook we photographed, A Big Bowl of Love. Then made them again for the cover shoot party and somehow managed to stay gorgeous and camera ready for us while fixing up a feast for 25 people. That day it was a battle between Diane and Jen (who was so gracious to assist with the cover shoot) over who could eat more of Cristina’s smashed potatoes. They are goooood!

The next smashed potato adoration source was from LA’s restaurant maven, Nancy Silverton. Every restaurant Nancy throws her heart into is nothing short of amazing. Previous of Campanile and LA Brea Bakery fame, and currently mastering Mozza, there isn’t a restauranteur who impresses us more than Nancy. Her balance between being a tough, intelligent woman combined with her warm, nurturing love shows through in every project she embraces. Several of the best meals of our lives have been at the hands of this amazing cook. And her smashed fingerling potatoes served up at Mozza are nothing short of divine.

Diane and I were playing around with recipes to serve up for Thanksgiving and thought of these two ladies and their smashed potatoes. We decided to do our own twist on it and make a curried smashed potato. Highly addicting, we may have to break tradition and not make our Potatoes Au Gratin this year and make these instead. Or maybe just make both.

-Todd

Cooking Method

slowly cook baby potatoes until they’re tender

smash the potatoes gently

crisp the flattened sides in a hot pan

serve with curry sauce. Enjoy!

 Print This Recipe
Curried Smashed Potatoes Recipe
We like using fingerling potatoes the most for this recipe, but any small potato will work nicely (Baby Reds, Baby Yukons, etc.) Serves 4-6. 2 lbs. Fingerling Potatoes, scrubbed and dried1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil2 T unsalted Butter2 T Curry Powder (for initial braise of potatoes)14 oz Coconut Milk3 T Curry Powder (for curry sauce)3 T Honey1 1/2 T Fish Sauce1 1/2 T Chili Garlic SauceExtra Virgin Olive Oil for searing potatoesIn a large saute pan over medium heat, combine potatoes, olive oil, butter, and 2 T curry powder. After butter melts, stir to evenly coat potatoes, then cover and cook for 30 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from pan and set aside to cool slightly.Make curry sauce. Combine coconut milk, 3 T curry powder, honey, fish sauce, and chili garlic sauce in a medium saucepan. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes or until it thickens to a gravy-like consistency.After potatoes have cooled enough to handle, smash them to approx. 1/2? thick with the palm of your hand or the flat of a chef knife. Heat a large saute pan over medium-high heat. Add just enough oil to lightly coat the pan.Sear each side of the smashed potatoes for 1 minutes or until the face is golden and crispy. Combine with curry sauce and serve immediately.

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Sweet potatoes (satsumaimo) in the Japan Times, plus an update

This month’s Japan Times article is about sweet potatoes*, which are called satsumaimo in Japanese. Satsumaimo means “potato from Satsuma”, referring to a region of southern Kyushu which at one time was very powerful and influential. In the article I wrote about how the sweet potato played an important role in saving the people of the Edo (old Tokyo) region from starvation, and how there are still several Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples dedicated to honoring the sweet potato. There’s also a recipe of course, for ringo kinton, a wonderful sweet-sour dish. (And the recipe for the daigaku imo or “university potatoes” mentioned is right here.)

I also talk about the cry of the ishi-yaki-imo-ya or stone roasted sweet potato seller. I looked around on YouTube and sure enough, some people have uploaded videos where you can hear some ishi-yaki-imo-ya in action.

When my family moved back to Japan from the US (where we’d lived for a year; prior to that we lived in the UK for 4 1/2 years) when I was 11, we lived for 2 school terms in Mita, an area in Minato ward in central Tokyo, while our house in Hachioji was being renovated. Mita was and still is a place with many foreign/expat residents and several embassies, and the apartment building we lived in was right opposite the Italian embassy. I don’t know who was in charge there, but they apparently hated quite a lot of things about everyday Japanese life. They lodged a complaint with the management of our building about unsightliness of the futons being hung out on the balcony railings (Japanese people like to air out their futons every sunny day if possible), not to mention the laundry. (I guess because laundry hanging out is associated with poor tenements in Italy?) Another thing they objected to was the ishi-yaki-imo-ya’s sing-song announcement on his loudspeaker. The building management had no spine, and issued an edict to all residents of apartments on the embassy side to refrain from putting out their futons (which the residents revolted against, and only about half complied with). Bt the ishi-yaki-imo-ya ignored the requests to pipe down the announcements, thus risking an international incident. Good for him, we all thought. I loved rushing down from our 5th floor apartment to buy some piping hot potatoes wrapped in newspaper from him.

Anyway, I hope you check out the article!

(*I know a lot of people call them ‘yams’ in the U.S. too, but I find this very confusing since another totally different kind of root vegetable is also called yam, so I stick to sweet potato.)

I’ve been home now for a few days (they let me out on Tuesday, and it’s now Friday). The operation went very well, and while I still have quite a lot of pain I’m doing ok. I’d like to thank you for all of your wonderful well wishes! I’m quite overwhelmed. I’m going to be allowed until January to heal up, then the doctors will evaluate my need for radiation therapy and so on.

While my body is getting better, unfortunately I received some really bad news literally 10 minutes after getting home. My father, who lived in New York, had passed away over the weekend. I was in a state of shock and panic for a couple of days - I knew I couldn’t travel right away, and Max was all set to go on my behalf - but my sister Meg, who lives in Florida, has been an absolute star and been able to handle things as best she can. I’m hoping I’ll be well enough to travel to the memorial service in a couple of weeks. My father’s death was sudden, though not quite unexpected - he had a serious case of diabetes, but was doing quite well recently. We think that he passed away suddenly without pain, so that at least is a relief. I will try to write a bit about my father at a later time. (Oh, and I know there are quite a few fans of my mom who read this site - she and my father split up years ago, so she’s not grieving or anything, though she said she’s much sadder than she thought she’d be.)

In the meantime though, I’m going to try slowly posting again, though the pace will be rather slow. Writing is actually therapeutic for me. Please don’t worry that I am in deep mourning or anything like that, although I am of course very sad. It may sound cold, but I was never that close to my father, unfortunately. (If you read this I guess you got an inkling of that.)

What a year it’s been. I’m really hoping for a much quieter 2012. ^_^;

P.S. My father loved sweet things, including ishi-yaki-imo.

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Twice Baked Potatoes

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