The other day, I was IM'ing my sister-in-law. I'm not great at IM'ing. I get kind of confused as the conversation jumps in different directions. As you're waiting for the other person to type, you introduce a new topic, then they do, then you're responding to something old and they're responding to something different and, well, it's an interesting mess. It's so...I don't know...non-linear. Fun, but sometimes some of the conversation threads get left hanging.
That happened to me the other day. My sister-in-law is hosting Thanksgiving this year. Her first. She's pretty excited. She likes to host really elaborate, cook-for-a-few-days kind of events. So as we're IM'ing, I asked what I could help with. She said the mashed potato bar.
It turns out she wants three kinds of mashed potatoes (regular, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower, which I know isn't technically a potato, but mashes up like an Atkins-freak's messed up rememberance of mashed potatoes. Of course, I've already owned up to my opinion of Atkins and cauliflower). And she'll serve them in martini glasses, with a toppings bar of things to add on top.
That sounds pretty neat, doesn't it?
Then she IM'd that she has a list of FIFTY toppings, like mini marshmellows and wasabi and chives.
Do you think she was exaggerating, or do you think she really has a list of 50 toppings? I don't know if I can even think of fifty potential toppings. But I believe she could. I have to send this to her to see if she was exaggerating for comic effect or just reporting the facts.
So what type of potatoes would you choose from the mashed bar? And what would you top it with?
I think I'd go with a mix of regular and cauliflower, with sour cream, chives, and bacon. If those are choices. With potentially fifty choices, I'd guess things as boring as those would be on the list!
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Current NaNo Word Count: 51,569
Current NaNo Attitude: Still excited about being past 50k. I took Sunday off, and now I'm aiming for writing 1k a day until I reach the end of the novel. I'm close. I forgot about some subplots, but as I said, that's editing now. I'd guess I'm within 5k of ending, and I could be even closer if I skimmed over some stuff. I'm not rushing it, but I'm trying not to drag it out, either. It'd be fun if I actually finished the novel in November, but if not, at least I passed 50k in November!
The Balance by Neal Wooten
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Canus is a land in which three races of man live in precarious balance with
one another. The Fathers of the city in the sky, the Scavs (who call
themselv...
10 years ago
10 comments:
There was a mashed potato bar at my brother's rehearsal dinner. I had never heard of such a thing! They even had the purple potatoes. (No cauliflower, though. And my mom does mashed celery root and cauliflower as her potato substitute. It's tasty, but it's not potatoes.)
Anyways, I'm sort of a purist. I'd go with bacon, sour cream, and cheddar cheese (all the better if I can melt the cheese on with the bacon and then add the cold sour cream later). Maybe some scallions, or to get fancy, barbeque sauce.
Shit, now I'm hungry. :-)
BUTTER! GRAVY!
More butter!
More Gravy!
Yummy yummy yummy
If your SIL is like my SIL, you better believe there are 50 toppings.
Just to be different, I'd go with mashed sweet potatoes with candied pecans on top. And a big splash of bourbon. On the side in a full-sized cup. Chugged.
OK, so you've outed "me" as your SIL. Now maybe I'll have to change my name to be something more memorable. Anyway. It's not really my first Thanksgiving but we'll pretend it is, because I love Thanksgiving, and it makes it all new again. It is my first T-day in recent memory because as you know, we usually go to our MIL's house.
So, I never said we'd really have FIFTY toppings in our mashed potato bar. I said I had a list of fifty toppings and I WANTED to have all of them. Pretty much because they all sound yummy and I can't make a decision to save my life. It's not like we're having a banquet on turkey day, or even enough people to justify so many toppings. I just like variety, I guess, which always gets me to cook too much. And then get in trouble with the husband.
But I digress. If you're wondering, here's a sampling of toppings from the topping list: (votes and suggestions from your commenters are welcome!)
herb butter, bacon, cheddar, sour cream, scallions, chives, sauteed mushrooms (and you know I'm not a mushrooom person), steamed broccoli, caramelized red onions, bleu cheese, roasted japanese eggplant, wasabi, taco meat, green chicken chili, "crunchy topping" (French's onions), gravy, marshmallows, brown sugar, candied pecans, salsa with tomato and cilantro
See how easy that was to get to 20? And I didn't even cover the really interesting ones.
Dang it, you're going to get me to start blogging again.
I have to call Goddess on this one and say that I'm much more the purist. I like mashed white potatoes with butter and sweet potatoes with brown sugar and butter. That's it. Nothing else. Yummy!
I love this idea! But I think I might break the martini glass. Seriously. There's a lot of stuff on the Thanksgiving table...and those glasses tend to the delicate...and I tend to the klutzy.
I definitely vote for the blue cheese!
Yay for plastic martini glasses!
I was going to add carmelized (sp?) onions. I see you have red listed, but even regular onions.
I adore mashed potatoes - I've never heard of doing a bar before! I could make a whole meal out of that.
OMG. This is my *DREAM* bar!!! I'm such a potato person. I was once picked on for dipping my potato wedges into my mashed potatoes at KFC. (Have you tried it? It's SO good!!)
So...I'd add potato wedges to your bar *grin*
Wonder if my family would go for this. And how classy! Martini glasses. Nice touch. :)
I'm all about simplist is easiest...that sounds complicated! I'd go for regular potatoes, with cheese, ranch, bacon, and onions.
I like mashed potatoes made with red potatoes so much better than russet, but I don't know if my family will buy it. If they will, I'm totally doing that this year. If not, well, I tried.
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