FCG’s Thanksgiving Day Feast – Back to Basics: Perfect Roast Turkey
Thanksgiving Day is the only day where I cook for my whole family, which includes all the aunts, uncles, and cousins that live on the other floors of my house. This will be my 4th year continuing on with this tradition and I always look forward to it even though I am not much of a chef. The years before that my immediate family and I would just order a $40 dollar roasted turkey from a Chinese restaurant and we would have that with rice and other dishes that we make. I have to admit that Chinese restaurants can make one hell of a roasted chicken, but not this big turkey bird. It always seems to be too dry and flavorless and I end up finishing the gravy that comes with it. I mean like, how healthy can that be? And that is why I roast my own bird!
Perfect Roast Turkey w/Spanish Rub
Before this big day, my friend and I took a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond and picked up this:
Five Hungry Guys hitting up Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries: Queens
Five Guys Famouse Burgers and Fries
13201 14th Ave, Flushing
(718) 767-6500
Having never heard of Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries until recently (I know, where have I been?! Stuck in the office too long!) and having only eaten In N Out Burger this past summer when I was in California (absolutely delicious by the way), I was all too happy to raid this burger joint. My Australian friend, Gary, wanted to hit a Greasy, fatty, delicious Burger spot before we hit the bar and him leaving the States for his home down under. I was recommended this place.
Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries Queens NY
Five Guys Famous Burgers: Juicy Cheese Burger
Late one friday night, my group of, wait for it… Five Guys… No really it was five of us guys! We wanted a good burger dinner before hitting up Barcade in Williamsburg. Did this place hit the spot of five hungry guys? The pictures will do most of the speak. More after the jump!
Ultimate Drag Dining & Cabaret at Lips NYC!
Lips
2 Bank Street
West Village, NYC
(212) 675-7710
Entrance of Lips NYC
Lips Bar and Restaurant is located in the diverse neighborhood in West Village where high fashion run wild and people are free to express themselves [perhaps sexually]. How did I end up or learned about this fancy establishment? Well it all started with an idea of having a bachlorette party for my dear friend Victoria whom I am the maid of honor for. She did not wanted a boring shi-shi dinner where a bunch of her friends exchanged gifts and talk about her future. Rather she wanted somewhere along the lines of exciting and fun, like having Chippendale dancers which I am definitely not a fan of. She did express interest about Lucky Cheng’s, but I heard that place is overrated and not as entertaining. So, while googling a place similar to Cheng’s, I came across to Lips! There are many good reviews about the entertainment value of this restaurant so I thought that I should give it to try!
Inside of Lips NYC
When I told my co-workers that I was coming to this fine establishment, they thought that I was going to a drag-revue strip club. Please let me inform you that this is a restaurant and there are no stripping at restaurants, at least to my knowledge. Lips is a bar and restaurant that has drag queens as waiters/waitresses who also give you a show, which means lip-syncing to the song of their choice and dancing. You need to make reservations to see this “show” which is located on the floor of the restaurant that starts at 7pm, 8:30, and 11:30 so make sure you book fast. There is a cover charge fo $7/person and this show lasts about 30-40 mins. The drag hostess goes around the restaurant asking about the names of one or two people in each party and pretty much joke and tease them. Then afterwards each drag waitress lip-sync and dance to the song of their choice and touch and tease people at the restaurant. It’s quite entertaining.
Let’s move to the food portion of this post!
Strawberry New York Style Cheesecake
It has been a while since I’ve made a cheesecake, and last weekend I decided to actually do it. I remember my first time was with my friend Chi who taught me how to make it for the first time. I was still in high school and he was in my kitchen telling me to smash graham crackers to make a good tasty crust. I believe I also used teddy grahams, but I could be wrong. Having a good crust is definitely just as essential as the cheese of the cake. Unfortunately I can’t recall the recipe that we used back in the days, so I looked up a New York Style Cheesecake recipe that proved just as good.
For those of you that don’t know, what makes a cheesecake “New York” is heavy cream, cream cheese, whole eggs, yolks, cottage cheese, and lemon. All these ingredients gives the cake the much needed cheesy richness as well as the smooth consistency that literally melts in your mouth when you have it. The best New York Cheesecake that I have ever had in New York is Eileen’s Cheesecake. Hands down!
I decided to go with Emeril Lagassi’s recipe on the Food Network website. There are a lot of positive reviews so I figure that I should go and give it a try and of course change a thing here or there. Here is the following recipe:
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (Do not get the pre-packaged one. By your own graham crackers and crumble it yourself! My favorite is teddy grahams!)
- 2 1/2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, plus 1 1/2 cups
- 2 1/2 pounds cream cheese softened
- 1 tablespoon of lemon extract
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 5 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- Strawberry Sauce, recipe follows
Please click on the below link to see more:
Slice of New York Style Strawberry Cheesecake
Whole Chicken in a Can – Sweet Sue Canned Whole Chicken!
If you thought the Duck-in-a-Can I had from Au Pied de Cochon was weird, you’ll have to check this one out from Tracy at ihatemymessageboard.com. It’s amazing what you can fit into a can these days. I wonder whats next, maybe an Ostrich? I should start a new section specifically for Poultry-in-a-Can.
If you think about it, it looks absolutely disgusting but its cooked meat in a can like any soups, chilis or hundreds of other meat products. But somehow it just makes me queasy looking at it and it doesn’t look much better after its been cooked (notice the feathers still on the chicken)
Whole Chicken in a Can
Chicken in a Can (Tracy @ ihatemymessageboard.com)
Chicken in a Can (Tracy @ ihatemymessageboard.com)
Chicken in a Can (Tracy @ ihatemymessageboard.com)
Chicken in a Can (Tracy @ ihatemymessageboard.com)
Chicken in a Can (Tracy @ ihatemymessageboard.com)
Be sure to read the entire article and see more pictures from Tracy over here. Of course its not for the faint of heart!
