Vacation.....of a sort. I'm taking this week off to take care of all-sorts of neglected things. Including my blog. So stay tuned - I'm learning to use Adobe Illustrator and will be uploading some of my tests.
I'm also doing Thanksgiving this year - as a single person, cooking a turkey is normally an exercise in excess, but this year there's Jennifer, Rosie, Annika and a couple of friends coming over. So I've ordered the bird, and am planning the menu. I'm thinking a wild-rice risotto/stuffing dish, sweet potatoes, cranberry orange relish, a fluffy salad and snacks. Oh and mashed potatoes, just so there's something to put under the gravy. And how does one make gravy without the evil wheat you ask? Why with potato starch, it gives a smooth texture somewhere between cornstarch and regular flour and absorbs all the wonderful flavor from the drippings. And there is no learning curve, since it works about like a regular flour roux - in fact I've used potato starch to make a roux for cream-based soups, macaroni and cheese and other sauces. Even when I could eat wheat, I preferred it in soups, because of the creaminess. One note though, it seems to take less salt in the final product, so be gentle with the shaker. :)