Thanksgiving prep and giant cauliflower

Since the years of the farmshare, when I got enough corn to feed a herd in my shares, I have been very sparing in my use of it.  Like squash, of which I got waaaay too much, this year I have not touched it at all.  Lost total interest in eating it.  Maybe it will return. And this is the best corn, freshpicked at the farm a mile away, home to eat, all that.

So, since Handsome Son needs his corn at Thanksgiving, I bought a few ears and prepped them for the freezer, thereby fulfilling the charge laid on me at his birth, to be Perfect.  

I don't like prepping corn, all sticky, and that.  And I remove the kernels my own way, not by cutting vertically, which I think it a fast route to the bandaid box, but horizontally.  You get them off just fine cutting down with the ear laid flat, and you can swipe off any missed kernels afterwards.  So four ears, or their kernels, are now lying in a bag pressed flat on a plexi board, in the freezer, so when they freeze, I can shake them loose to separate, and they'll be easier to use.

And there was the first cauliflower of the season, fresh out today, absolutely enormous, and expensive.  However, it smelled wonderful, and before this picture, I'd swiped Duncan off the counter because he was enjoying the leaves, green salad for him.

I cut it into medium florets so that when I want to use it, it will be interesting as cheese cauliflower, or cauliflower cheese, and if I want soup, easy to reduce.  So it's now in the freezer, which is having trouble getting the lid down.  Cheese cauliflower is when you have the whole head or sizeable chunks of it, and baked it with a cheese sauce over.  Cauliflower cheese is when you make a sort of casserole of cheese sauce with much smaller bits of cauliflower.  Technical point there, very important, write it down.

I'm not fond of prepping, but when I come to cook I'm always glad I did, having ingredients sorted ahead of time.

Thinking maybe cheese cauliflower with roast chicken next time Handsome Son comes calling. Possibly next week.

It's a Hindu nine day festival, starting yesterday, and one of the neighbors gave me a dish of a very sweet food, with noodles and maybe condensed milk, not sure, but very sweet, and I gather it's a feast before the fasting of the nine days. It seems to coincide with the Jewish High Holy Days this year, wonder if they both do the same astronomical math to arrive at their dates. Good wishes to my Hindu readers and Jewish readers and blogistas!

One of my Indian friends remarked that they have tons of holidays in India, but people don't get scheduled vacations, so they seize on this sort of partying time to visit relatives and generally live it up.

 The odd thing is that it's the same reason the medieval Christian year in Europe had so many church festivals, since it was the working folks' only time off, and they made the most of it.  Especially the time between Christmas and the Epiphany.  No crops at that time, so once animals were cared for, you could stoke up the fire and get out the mead, I suppose.  And a lot of the festivals were centered around the agricultural year anyway.

 And while I'm sending wishes, back to the present, many thoughts to the people who are struggling with earthquakes and hurricanes, seems to be a season of disaster for so many people.  Remember, best help is money!  send if we can.  And remember them in the months to come.  This sort of cataclysm isn't over in a few days.