Just some happy music for you today

Michael Pratorius wrote this nearly 500 years ago..well not this arrangement of it..but the theme...and this performance is "sparkling" like our wine tasting this week and the event at The Market on Saturday at 10am.

Have a nice day.

Big doin's at The Market

Sunday Bruch...come eat, sample, watch the parade...knosh with friends.

We will be there, decking the halls so to speak. What a great morning it will be.

Bright Lights and Whirligigs

Sometime during our wine tasting this afternoon (3-6pm 132 Front St. Greenport hint hint), it will be dark enough outside and we can turn on our little whirligigs in the window.

We are using our term "whirligig" a little loosely but to be somewhat correct they aren't just those things that spin on Antiques Roadshow after spending a century on a barn - they are anything that spins.

Whyrlegyge, chyldys game...is the oldest reference we can find and that's from the middle 15th century. One of the words, gyge, is old English and probably French in origin, and it means to spin.  The gigue or jig, the dance itself, comes from this word and spinning about.  Too much? OK.

Anyway, about halfway through the tasting our little Whyrlegyges will start their work. You can bask in the soft lights and the motion and all this new found knowledge....and if you don't remember Fantasia from your Childhood, you might like the lights in this. Magic. Pure magic.

A little waltz music

We think that a waltz is something to imagine as much as "do".  Men in their formal evening wear, women in long gowns, champagne, couples swirling about...it is like a fairy tale that we never grow tired of even if we can't waltz worth a lick. A lot of us grew up to the Nutcracker Suite at this time of year and the Waltz of the Flowers was like a bit of that magic.  Some of us owned great big picture books that had snow scenes and glowing windows, horses and sleighs and all kinds of folks on skates on frozen ponds and creeks.  To memories!



Just a nip of winter

We are all decorated out for the holidays - lots of lights and flashy things in our window, the Village tree across the street, the carousel and its lights at dusk...well it is mighty festive.

In case you haven't ventured out, there is a hint of what is in store for us in the next few months.  Some of our thoughts turned to sleigh rides and snow, perhaps a twirl around the ice rink when it opens.

We were talking to a friend this morning who recounts sleigh rides in northern Michigan and the horse, all tinkly with the bells, making a great deal of noise when things started up and then, momentum gained and the riders snuggled in under the blankets, snow falling slightly faster than the sun setting - and it becomes all "winter quiet".  We liked that phrase, "winter quiet".

We liked it very much.

Bubbly Season

For good or for bad, better or for worse, lean times, hard times, good times, perhaps all times - there is something about popping the cork so to speak and pouring a toast.

The period between Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve seems to be ripe for this. Uncle Ned, wobbly to his feet and raising a glass in praise of the Turducken or mom and dad watching the presents being ripped apart and treating themselves to a mimosa so artfully hidden in the OJ.

Whatever it is, the bubbly associates itself with this time of year and before you go out and get some for a friend's gift or for lugging home to chill until New Year's, we recommend you taste some and learn some about it - why it isn't champagne for instance - and why we have, on Long Island, some of the best sparkling wines going.

Or you can just drop in and say hello and flash a smile and get it returned.

We promise not to play Lawrence Welk and his Champagne Music Makers but then again we just might.

And you thought we were just a regular wine and spirits store - Julia Child move over

We would like to report that this is easy.  Actually, after you have gone through the drill one time, it is. 
We heartily recommend that you open the liquor cabinet about an hour before you start. Makes this a whole lot easier.

For you readers who want to do this over the holidays coming up, well, I can't tell you every cook's secret but:

1.  use a big turkey and just debone the ribs etc....leave the legs and thighs where they are..otherwise you get a football rather than a bird.

2. just buy chicken breasts and thighs - SKINLESS...no one will every ever know.

3.  If you can get duck breasts, well they are unbelievable in this...but to do the entire duck thing, you have to render the fat in the skin otherwise you get rubber skins, and that is too much fat by 10x's.

4.  Because all the fat is out of this to start with, any dressing you put in...and you should layer it, needs to be on the moist side.

OK so far?  Bone the turkey.  Put it on its skin side down. don't worry...it will be a mess so just get plenty of room. FLASH: "pre-lay" the butcher's twine underneath as you will but binding this together at the end and it gets heavy....

Last...butterfly the breasts...that thins them out and makes for more even cooking.

Steps:

1. turkey skin down...season it liberally...then spread a fairly thin layer o dressing over all the breast meat.
2. butterfly the chicken and duck breasts so they are thinner...or you can just buy chicken that is already presliced breasts into scallopini like cuts.  layer this out.
3. cover with a thin layer of dressing
4. roll the whole thing up and use the butcher's twine to  kinda make it work.  you can use some skewers to get it to look like  a turkey if you want....for heaven's sake...don't get crazy.
5. We recommend, like all turkey, the low and slow method.  breast side down for 3 hours at 250. Breast side up for 9 more hours at 250 (it will flip easy and not fall apart). total 12 hours at low heat.
6. The inner temp should be in the 160 range as this will cook like crazy on its own after it is out. It stays steaming hot for an hour plus.  Just measure the temp in the dark meat of the turkey...when that is done it is all done.

Also it helps if you have a dog and a cat, 2-4 grand kids under age 4, no counter room, and a few other distractions .... that makes this a piece of cake.