Feeling thankful

With Crime in the Spotlight-er Allison Meldrum, Belinda Bauer
 and Elly Griffiths after our terrific Bloody Scotland event

Craig every second Tuesday.

Kia ora and gidday everyone, I hope you’ve all been enjoying some fabulous reads as we hurtle towards the holiday season and new year, whether new books or older ones. 

There are so many good and great crime and thriller fiction tales out there, including several terrific fresh voices that have joined the genre we love in 2025; plenty of cool authors to discover as well as enjoying old favourites.

THE VANISHING PLACE alongside some award-winning
Kiwi crime debuts, in Waterstones in London. 

An example: recently I read an outstanding debut from Scottish-Kiwi author Zoë Rankin, The Vanishing Place, a thriller which takes readers deep into the rugged, deadly magnificence of the New Zealand bush. It’s a compelling, atmospheric tale set on the ‘wild West Coast’ of Zoë's adopted homeland’s South Island, entwined with smalltown secrets, past sins, atypical upbringings, and religious fervour. An exceptionally strong sense of people and place. 

I got to meet Zoë several years ago at Rotorua Noir, our first-ever New Zealand international crime and thriller writing festival (sadly, our only one thusfar - due to COVID killing the planned sequel in 2021). A aspiring crime novelist, Zoë won a short story competition we ran, and was able to read her story onstage before our local and international authors and attendees, including Guests of Honour Alex Gray (Scotland), Kati Hiekkapelto (Finland), Lilja Sigurðardóttir (Iceland), and Michael Robotham (Australia). 

So it's terrific to see Zoë's debut hit shelves late this year - and even more so, for it to be so bloody good. Last week it was included in the Washington Post's Best Books of the Year lists, in some very fine crime thriller company including SA Cosby and Laura Lippman. I really loved both of Shawn and Laura's books too this year, King of Ashes and Murder Takes A Vacation. Very different kinds of crime novels, but exceptionally written. 

It's strange to think that we're already at the 'Best of the Year' time of the year. Hasn’t 2025 flown by? 

So much going on in the world, but still plenty to be grateful for, including the enjoyment provided by – and sometimes transformative power of – books and reading. I've certainly felt that recently, with a few less-than-ideal thigs going on in terms of  few relative's health issues and workplace/financial pressures. Like going for a long walk, especially in nature, diving into a good book has a remarkable calming or recentring effect for me. 

nature - it's pretty cool, even on grey London days

Walking in London has been fun lately. While the weather has been very average at times (Kiwi euphemism), the autumn, or Fall for north American pals, leaves have been in vivid colour for several weeks. Though they've started to all go the last week or two, turning into 'skeleton trees' as my 10-year-old has called them since she was little. 

No matter what's going on in life I always feel better after a good walk, especially in nature. Plenty to be grateful for. 

On that note, on Thursday my many American friends will be celebrating Thanksgiving, a holiday we grow up in New Zealand hearing about through books, TV, and movies, but is not traditionally part of our annual holiday or celebrations calendar. Having said that, I did participate in a big Thanksgiving Dinner for more than a dozen people in New Zealand back in 2012, as I had an American flatmate (housemate or roommate for US pals) at the time. 

An Auckland Thanksgiving

My flatmate Leah had a good group of friends who were fellow ex-pats (Americas working in Auckland), who I'd met and hug out with a bit that year, and we ended up hosting. Somehow even though it was mainly her friends and their visiting relatives, guess who ended up having to cook the large turkey? The Kiwi guy. Fortunately thanks to some orange slices, butter and seasonings under the skin, and no doubt a fair bit of beginner’s luck, and we got there. 

Even though it’s not a traditional holiday for me or my family, I do really love the explicit ‘giving thanks’ element of Thanksgiving. Gratitude is a vital thing, especially in turbulent times. Like walking and reading, it can re-centre us. 

So in keeping with the season, I’m certainly very thankful – among some more personal things – for books and reading and the many unexpected opportunities a childhood love for the crime and thriller genre had grown into and has brought me over the years. Just in the past few months alone I’ve got to be involved onstage with some terrific festivals in England and Scotland, interviewing outstanding writers from several continents (some onstage in front of enthusiastic audiences, some backstage for magazines and newspapers). I've got to catch up with old friends and hang out with some cool new people, and even had a few readers kindly buy and ask me to sign copies of books I've written or edited, Southern Cross Crime (which came out in 2020 to some lovely reviews and later awards recognition but strangled distribution and a string of cancelled 

I'm still not used to signing books myself, but
it is kinda a cool feeling (Bloody Scotland)

events during the height of COVID), and our Dark Deeds Down Under anthologies of Australian and New Zealand crime and thriller short stories. 

I've got to chat with some other really cool authors from all over the world for podcasts, which in the last few weeks includes: fellow Kiwi RWR McDonald, whose superb Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel-winning debut, The Nancys and the Case of the Missing Necklace, was published in the UK last week; Icelandic star and fellow Rotorua Noir alumnus Lilja Sigurðardóttir, and the modern-day Queen of Crime herself, Val McDermid. 

I’ve also got to see, from afar, the Ngaio Marsh Awards, which I helped start in my home country of New Zealand back in 2010, recently celebrate its fifteenth anniversary at a fabulous event in Dame Ngaio’s hometown of Christchurch, complete with an improv murder mystery performed by a famous theatre group. It's been so cool to see New Zealand crime and thriller writing, aka #yeahnnoir, has grown in leaps and bounds since our awards began. I'm very grateful to everyone involved, as it has really been a passion project built on goodwill and the 'smell of a oily rag', as my Mum would say. I'm thankful for all our authors - both Kiwis and international authors who've read and supported our #yeahnoir storytellers and events, or even presented our awards in the case of the likes of Val McDermid, Denise Mina, Michael Robotham, and others. I'm grateful for all our judges who've given their time and expertise, all the libraries and librarians around the country who've hosted events, our long-time partners WORD Christchurch, and all the readers, critics, publishers, bloggers, media, and others who've embraced or spotlighted #yeahnoir. 

Kiwi authors Jared Savage, Claire Baylis, Denise Fitzpatrick
and Zoë Rankin at a Rotorua Mystery in the Library event

This year we also surpassed 120 free ‘Mystery in the Library’ events put on by the Ngaios for audiences all across Aotearoa (occasionally overseas) over the past decade, highlighting hundreds of local authors in local communities, and promoting the value of libraries to society. It's a fun full circle thing for me, given how much I loved libraries (my primary school and high school ones, and the local public library) growing up - I'd alternate my free time in the holidays between sports fields, home or friends' places, and the library as a youngster in Aotearoa.  The Ngaios were also sparked by visits in 2008 to two libraries thousands of miles apart, Vancouver and Papatoetoe. 

Christchurch City librarian Fiona with the first 
Dark Deeds Down Under anthology

I also worked on good chunks of both Southern Cross Crime and the first two Dark Deeds Down Under anthologies in a few local libraries in SW London, along with enjoying fun times and many cool activities there with my daughter over the years, from preschool Wriggle & Rhyme sessions, to meeting authors, to books clubs, and arts & crafts. 

So yeah, very thankful for libraries. 

How fortunate I feel to get to be involved in various ways in many wonderful book-related things, all over the world, from interviewing authors to judging awards to putting on events to helping authors get published, and more. So I’m thankful for all the wonderful authors out there, my fellow Murder is Everywhere columnists, and also and especially to the many, many  readers who love mystery and thriller fiction. Happy holidays, everyone. 

Until next time. Ka kite anō.

Whakataukī of the fortnight: 

Inspired by Zoe and her 'word of the week', I'm ending all my MIE posts by sharing a whakataukī (Māori proverb), a pithy and poetic thought to mull on as we go through life.

"Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi, engari he toa takitini"

(My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective)

Bringing booklovers together - our "Nefarious Newtown" event earlier this year
with Jennifer Palgrave, Carl Shuker, Jennifer Lane, and Helen Vivienne Fletcher

Thankful

Wendall -- every other Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving. I thought I’d take this opportunity to write about a few things I’m grateful for today.

First, I am so grateful for my husband. Today is the anniversary of our first date and I want to thank him for making me laugh every day for the last twenty-three years. 

 

We never pass up a chance at a photo booth.

 

The king of funny faces.

He sent off for an inflatable Dino from Japan.

I am also grateful to the Murder is Everywhere crew. It is a privilege and a pleasure to have spent almost two years now with all of you interesting, talented, erudite writers and to be a part of the blog. I’m also grateful for all of you who follow us.

 

My first Bouchercon with most of the writers from MIE.

 

As always, I’m grateful to Stevie Wonder for still being alive. Same goes for Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne, Stephen Stills, Bob Dylan, Rickie Lee Jones, Stevie Nicks, Keith Richards, and on and on. For more details on how music is vital to me, see my blog from November 14.

 

 

I am grateful that James and I now have a balcony. It may overlook a freeway (we pretend the constant sound is the ocean) but it’s a private place outside to read, drink coffee and cocktails, and watch the hummingbirds while the sun rises and sets. Makes all the difference.

 

 

I am grateful to all my professors at UNC, especially the late Doris Betts, who gave me the best reading lists and taught me to think, always dig deeper, and check my sources.

 

My writing and thinking mentor, Doris Betts.

 

I’m grateful to live in California, where succulents abound.

 

Huntington Gardens.

 

A palm tree from my neighborhood.

 

I’m grateful to have grown up in the 70s, where great, profound, irreverent, and hilarious movies were in theaters every week.

 

To be a moviegoes when Altman was at his peak was a privilege.

When news was news.

No words for how prophetic this was.

When Jill Clayburgh, Diane Keaton, and Sally Field were movie stars.

Still stunning.

My idol and still one of my favorite films.

"Serpentine!"

Too many funny lines to quote.

I’m grateful that mystery organizations, librarians, and independent bookstores exist and for all the amazing people who have helped me with my research, read early drafts, chosen my stories for anthologies, and generally supported me as a writer, especially my sister, Kim. The rest of you know who you are.

 

At Chevalier's with Tim Hallinan.

 

My very first signing with Anne Saller at Book Carnival.

My first published story, thanks to Naomi Hirahara.

 

Also grateful I can still hear, see, and type!

 

Have a great holiday.

 

--Wendall

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 Michael - Thanksgiving

I've been blogging on (alternate) Thursdays since MurderIsEverywhere got underway all those years ago, so I've done quite a few Thanksgiving day posts. Last year I even took the liberty of writing about the tradition even though I've only participated in the event when kind friends included me on one of my visits to the US. 

When it comes to actually being thankful, we have to admit that it's been something of an up and down year. That seems to be pretty well par for the course these days. Still, there are a lot of positive things to be grateful for. Here are a few examples. Please add your own favorites.

• We're alive! Admittedly, staying that way is more expensive than it used to be, but consider the alternative.
• Covid has dropped out of the news. Apparently more or less everyone has had it now in one strain or another. (Yes, even the guy in the cartoon.)

• Donald Trump isn't President of the United States. Yet.

• We've had nice warm summers.

• There no shortage of turkeys. In fact, judging by Congressional shenanigans there won't be one any time soon.

• South Africa won the Rugby World Cup. As for the Cricket World Cup, check back in four years time.

Finally, here's my take on the Turkey's role in all this from last year's blog:

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Assuming that you celebrate it, of course. Turkeys generally don't, except perhaps for the one who gets feted at the White House. 

Although many countries have a harvest festival of some sort, Thanksgiving is rather specifically a North American festival, although there are spin-offs in the Caribbean and even in Liberia, because of their American connections. Black Friday, however, has spread around the world as a bargain sale day. That shows the power of commerce and marketing, I suppose.

But back to the turkeys. How do they fit in? One's immediate thought would be that wild turkeys were common, and so when it came to celebrating a plentiful harvest, they were available for the center piece of the feast. However, it seems more likely that the turkey was added afterwards when Sarah Josepha Hale, the 19th century American author of Mary Had a Little Lamb and other classics, popularized turkey as the main course for Thanksgiving dinner by featuring it in her novel, Northwood.

The domestic turkey is a descendant of the north American variety. Probably these turkeys' best chance is to be sent to the White House as a Thanksgiving gift. That's been a long tradition. The presentation of a domestic turkey from the National Turkey Federation to the president is followed by the pardoning and then the turkey goes to a good home instead of a good dinner. 

Apparently, Ronald Reagan came up with the idea when he was getting flack over the pardoning of Oliver North in the disastrous Contra scandal. All rather odd, since the turkey had obviously done nothing that required a pardon whereas Oliver North obviously had. 

History does not record whether the president has a different Turkey for dinner afterwards...

A Message from our Sponsors:

Don't eat and drink too much tonight. Remember you need to be up early tomorrow to shop!

Perspective

Annamaria on Monday

                                 Photo credit: Mark Hanson &Martin Pugh, SSRO, PROMPT, CTIO,NSF

I woke up in the wee hours of this morning and picked up my phone to find out what time it was: 3:30.  I also learned that NASA had sent me, as it always does in the night, its picture of the day - the Horse Head Nebula that you see above. I get those pictures every day because I subscribe, and I subscribe because the galactic photos have the wonderful capacity of keeping me in perspective. It's a very good thing when one is taking one self too seriously to think about how tiny we are in the grand scheme of things.

Today's picture was so beautiful that it inspired me to write a blog about that very subject. That's when it hit me that I was already too late to have a blog up on time. The only excuse I can offer is that I completely had forgotten to write one on Sunday, because I have spent the past few days totally focused on having a real Thanksgiving with my family at a time when two of my beloved family members are going through extreme difficulties. The rest of us are determined that we will celebrate as we always do without putting any burdens whatsoever on the people we want to protect.

What popped into my midnight head at that point was that I might throw together a blog about perspective. I also thought about a song that concerns devotion to family and the vastness of the universe. It's from one of my favorite musicals - She Loves Me. I share it with you here.  Like my blog today, it is called Perspective, and it is sung by a character who explains why he never stands up to boss.  It links up, sort of, with Horse Head Nebula.

I knew if I was going to do anything even close to a decent job of writing a blog and get everything ready to keep my Thanksgiving promises, I had to get some more sleep. Somehow I managed to do a big of that.

Now I am about to click "Publish" on this meager post, which hours late! Please forgive my tardiness.

For readers in the USA: I wish you and yours a beautiful Thanksgiving.  To my blog mates: one of the things I am most grateful for throughtout the year is your precious friendship.

Cranberry Orange Sauce in the making

Thanksgiving Day

Stanley - Thanksgiving Thursday

 For friends and readers in the United States, I hope today is one for giving thanks. 

The year has been so bizarre that I fear for many it won't be. There will be friends and family who are no longer around to share the day with. There will be families who cannot come together to celebrate because of the COVID-19-virus restrictions. There will be people who have lost their jobs. And there will be those who have completely depleted their savings. 

To everyone who feels that giving thanks is the last thing they want to do today, I can only hope that 2021 is much better.

In these tumultuous times, it is reassuring to see some traditions continue.

The President practising his pardons.

Cheers!

HAPPY STRANGE THANKSGIVING

 Kwei--Wednesday

(Image: Subbotina Anna/Shutterstock)

Thanksgiving 2020 will likely go down in history as one of the strangest for many people. Now, apart from dreading having to deal with troublesome Uncle Frank another year, there is a much more serious specter looming over the decision to travel to get together with family and friends: Covid-19.

Although over three million people have reportedly passed through our airports already, a good 71% of travelers say they are more comfortable going by car than flying, according to a Volvo Car-USA and Harris Poll. 

Masked traveler (Image: OPOLJA/Shutterstock)

Air travelers interviewed on CNN and other outlets expressed how much they wanted to see, touch, and hug their loved ones after 9-10 months of separation from them. Neither the CDC advisory against traveling this holiday season nor the horrific Covid-19 statistics is persuasion enough: The death toll has topped 259,000 out of a staggering total 12.5 million cases with an average of 167,000 new daily cases and a projection of 20 million cases by January 20, 2021. Hospitalizations are surging and many hospitals are at capacity.

Some of us, myself included, find the risk-benefit analysis of millions to be baffling. You might be dying to see Granny again but she might be dying in two weeks after you kissed her on the cheek and gave her a puff of your Covid-19-laden breath. At the moment, personal family gatherings can act as super spreader events.

I believe flawed reasoning has determined the decision to travel and gather with family:

1. Hard to believe something I can't see. Viruses floating in the air? I don't see them, so I'm not that alarmed.

Corona Airport

2. A negative Covid test before travel means I'm okay. Long lines of cars formed at testing sites before this holiday week as people sought the reassurance that they were negative and "cleared" for travel. Unfortunately, between the time of the test and the arrival at the destination, contraction of the virus could occur. The test is only a snapshot in time: at this moment, I am unable to detect any virus inside you.

 

              Line for Covid-19 testing, Dodger Stadium Nov 18, 2020

              (Image: Ringo Chiu/Shutterstock)

3. I have my mask, I will socially distance, and I'll be fine. Here's the problem. If you are 

 traveling by air, you will undoubtedly run into areas of travel where you may be packed in with crowds

 of people you cannot possibly be distant from. Recall that in the bustle and hustle of travel your mask and other people's masks may slip down the nose or off the mouth. Are you planning to eat or drink at the airport or during flight? You'll have to take your mask then, won't you? If someone starts coughing beside you in your packed plane (and they will be packed), how can you be sure they are not spewing virus-laden droplets? This may seem like doomsday thinking, but think of the stories you hear about Covid-afflicted people who believed they had been very careful but still got the disease.

4. Willful blindness. People who no longer want to deal with a painful problem can go into denial and    choose to ignore the issue. This is exactly what happened to soon-to-be-ex-President Trump. There are also people who have a difficult time imagining themselves in the position of those who are struck down by Covid-19. They can't feel it. Others yet have become desensitized to the daily barrage of appalling numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and death.

5. The vaccine is coming, so no problem. You have no idea when you'll receive the vaccine, which, by the way, is not a cure for Covid-19. Between now and the time you get the vaccine, you could get infected.

Be ready, friends, this last spike of cases before the vaccine could be our worst yet as a result of the holidays.

What's Thanksgiving All About, Anyway?

Supposedly, in 1621, the Plymouth colonists and Wampanoag Native Americans shared an autumn harvest feast and this was the "first Thanksgiving." In fact, both Europeans and Native Americans had been having food celebration festivals all along. It was really in the 1830s that New Englanders looked back at the event and thought it resembled their version of the holiday and therefore designated it as the "first Thanksgiving."

I'm firmly skeptical of oft-repeated historic legends, because time has undoubtedly modified and changed the story to become something that the original event was not. The story of what happened to the Native Americans at the hands of Europeans disallows us from presenting the story of Thanksgiving out of context and as if it was all sweetness and light.

So, on many Thanksgiving feasts as I've gorged on excessive amounts of food, I have often felt guilty at the dining table as I think of the less fortunate. My mind strays to the question, "What exactly are we doing, and are we sure we know what we're celebrating?" Like many traditions, Thanksgiving's true meaning, if there ever was one, has undoubtedly been lost and turned into an over-the-top occasion. On the plus side, the warmth of company can be a joy. Perhaps just a little less stuff on the table? 

And so, me?

You can tell that I'm ambivalent to the Thanksgiving ritual. It's okay if I don't have one. This 2020 year, millions are out of work as a result of the Covid pandemic and government neglect and mismanagement, and I'm not sure I feel good about "pigging out." As I've done in the past, I might go out and help serve up some free meals for those who have little or nothing. I think I'll feel better. 

 

If You're Tired of Turkey

Jeff—Saturday

No, this isn’t a political post, though I’m the first to admit that no matter whether it’s the nation or bird, mention Turkey/turkey and Greece/grease immediately come to mind.

Today, though, it’s all about recipes. Great recipes straight “from the old country.” That’s not to say I have anything against the magnificent variations on heritage Greek cooking that today has Greek cuisine featured at some of America’s finest restaurants, and I defy you to find a diner anywhere in the U.S. not connected somehow to a Greek.  

Still, in keeping with the traditional nature of Thanksgiving, I thought I’d take the opportunity to reprise some old time recipes you might just want to try now that turkey is a thing of the past—at least until Christmas.  As a bonus, though, I am including a very tasty Greek-style turkey, complete with stuffing, graciously contributed by public relations guru extraordinaire, Renee Pappas.

But first, a few of those traditional Greek dishes.

Who ever thinks of Greek food without “octopus” latching on to your thoughts?  To my way of thinking the best anywhere is found at New York City’s Periyali, and if you somehow get a hold of The Periyali Cookbook you’ll find some of the best Greek recipes anywhere.  Its signature octopus dish takes up five pages in the cookbook and three days to make!  But it’s worth it.

And while on the subject of worth it, the cookbook’s “Victor Gouras’s Sautéed Breast of Chicken with Lemon Sauce,” is my favorite chicken dish on earth.  I often watched Victor prepare it in his culinary-paradigm changing Patmian House restaurant on the Dodecanese Island of Patmos but his final cooking stage called for grilling the chicken in a panini-type waffle iron, not in the skillet called for by the recipe.  But let’s just keep that little secret between us chickoholics.

But I digress (to digest?).  Back to the octopus.  For those of you looking for a simpler way to prepare it than recommended by Periyali, let’s start with the basic premise of all dealings with octopus: First and foremost tenderize.  Unless of course you’re searching for a mandibular workout. 

Some say that if you start with frozen octopus the freezing process has already tenderized it.  I don’t buy that, even though I do buy frozen octopus.   I tenderize both fresh and frozen octopi, though not in the same way. 

The classic method for dealing with fresh is pounding the octopus one hundred times against a stone—definitely not recommended for the still frozen sort—and it’s the only method I use for those I catch in the sea. 

If you don’t happen to have a slab of granite in your kitchen or nearby, but still want to experience the slam-bam method, perhaps you might try using a sidewalk or an edge of a street in your neighborhood. Just be careful not to get yourself tenderized in the process by a passing motorist or charging PETA demonstrators.  By the way, this method has a critical final step. After the pounding is done, you must vigorously rub the octopus against the stone in seawater for five minutes or so, forming a froth as you merrily rub-a-dub-dub.

Okay, there’s a more practical approach to the tenderizing process, it’s one passed on to me many years ago by my buddy Panos Kelaidis’ mom.

Put the octopus and one full wine glass (“Greek size” she said) of red wine or vinegar into a pot, cover with a tight lid, and simmer for a minimum of two hours until a fork goes through it easily (octopus releases it’s own fluid as it cooks—or at least it’s supposed to). Remove the tentacles close to the head and grill them over a medium-hot charcoal grill or under a broiler for about four minutes.  Or sauté them in olive oil and whatever herbs you choose.  Once cooked, add olive oil and lemon to taste, plus pepper and a “bit” of the red wine (or vinegar) used to tenderize. And yes, I know there are a lot of other ways to do this, but you Yiannis-come-lately lost your chance to suggest your mommy’s favorite.

By the way, just in case you haven’t noticed by now, traditional Greek cooking follows the “by feel” rather than precise measurement approach—like the country’s accounting methods. (I know, I promised none of that.  Sorry.).

Not to be outdone by his mom, Panos contributed his own simple recipe for a staple of Greek traditional fare, oven roasted lemon potatoes:

Small round ones work best.  Soak potatoes in a mixture of salt, two cups of water, and two cups of lemon juice for two hours. Drain the potatoes, and toss them in a mixture of one-half cup olive oil, fresh cut-up garlic, and oregano.  Line the bottom of a roasting pan with one row of potatoes, bake for one-hour and forty minutes at 375 degrees, and finish off with twenty minutes under a broiler to crisp them up nicely.

A nice accompaniment to the octopus and potatoes is this easy to make recipe for tzatziki I plucked from Roz Apostolou at the Hotel Mykonos Adonis, my home on Mykonos:

Peel, grate, and strain one large or two small cucumbers, and allow them to sit in a strainer for at least one-half hour.  Place the thoroughly strained cucumber on a tea towel and wring out most of the moisture.

To two cups of yogurt (you can use light but it really isn’t as good), add

The wrung-out cucumber,

One-quarter cup finely chopped dill,

Two to three cloves of crushed or grated garlic (adjust to taste and/or anticipated up-close and personal encounters),

Three tablespoons of olive oil, and

Salt (again to taste).

Mix it all together and voila!  Or rather opa!

Okay it’s time for the turkey. But I need a drink first, and here’s a “brandy margarita” sort of drink from bar maestros, Nikos Christodoulakis and Jody Duncan, proprietors of Mykonos’ legendary Montparnasse Piano Bar (now sadly closed). 

It’s their “Side by Side by Sidecar”:

Two ounces Wild Turkey 101 Proof Bourbon (if you’ve hit the lottery you can use Mount Vernon Estate rye at $85/pint or Buffalo Trace)

Three-quarter ounces Cointreau

One ounce slightly sweetened lemon juice

Put ice in a cocktail shaker and add all of the above ingredients. Shake the hell out of it, and strain into a chilled Mae West type champagne glass rimmed with superfine bar sugar. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Ahh, on to the Turkey…the floor’s all yours, Renee.

First, Renee Pappas’ twist on the traditional Greek stuffing/dressing recipe.

Soak overnight about 3 cups of currants (not raisins) in enough Madeira or Mavrodaphne wine to cover them.  Sauté one finely chopped medium onion, add in two pounds of ground meat and once it’s browned add in the currants and wine. Continue sautéing until the wine is absorbed, adding one teaspoon salt, one-half teaspoon allspice, and one-quarter teaspoon pepper. To the sauté, stir in two cups of prepared chestnuts cut up by hand, together with two cups of chopped walnuts and one cup of pine-nuts, and continuing sautéing all the ingredients together for about ten minutes.

In these days of food safety concerns the dressing doesn’t cook inside the turkey, but rather is served separately. So, stuff the turkey’s cavity with oranges and lemons cut into quarters.

Prepare a basting broth for the turkey by combining its neck, heart and liver with a few sprigs of parsley, sage, an onion stuck with cloves, two Knorr chicken bullion cubes and a carrot in eight cups of water.  Allow it all to simmer for about an hour.  Strain the liquid, throw away the innards and vegetables, and add to the basting broth one-half of the bottle of wine used in preparing the dressing (assuming you haven’t been drinking it just to keep up with all this).

Now on to the bird… 

To ready the turkey for the oven, massage it all over with melted butter and put it breast down (very important) in a deep pan lined in aluminum foil. Wrap the wings and ends of the legs in foil and place it in a pre-heated 350-degree oven.  Baste the bird every fifteen minutes. Once the bird's back turns golden, turn it over and roast until the breast is golden brown, remembering to keep basting (every fifteen minutes) with the broth and melted butter.  It should take about twenty minutes per pound to cook.

Once cooked, remove the turkey from the oven and place it on a large cutting board. Strain the basting liquid into a saucepan. Throw away the oranges, lemons and "gunk" and put the turkey back into the pan, tightly covered with aluminum foil, and allow it to “rest” at least a half hour before carving.

Add the rest of the wine to the basting broth and cook it down, adding a paste made of cornstarch and wine, to thicken it into gravy.

Enjoy.

—Jeff

.