Cast Iron Chaos: 2011-11-08

When I came home from work last night, the kids downstairs were playing in the driveway (in the dark…hello, Daylight Savings Time), and they greeted me by name. One of them, whose name I think is Jen, even asked, "Do you need any more taste testers?" I guess they liked that deep dish pizza. On the other hand, I noticed they didn't mention the Halloween toys at all. This means their parents probably hid the toys, threw them out, or maybe (hopefully) they gave them out themselves. Since the kids obviously didn't know, I didn't mention it.
I can't get that pho out of my mind, especially since I found a recipe for it in the cookbook I use for my bread pudding base (The Cook's Canon : 101 Classic Recipes Everyone Should Know). I have most of the ingredients, but I'll definitely need to make a trip to Kam Man for the meat (oxtail!), star anise, fish sauce, and some rice noodles. Then again, Kam Man might even have pre-made seasoning bags for the broth, and perhaps even pre-sliced meat, since pho is such a popular dish. Pho is to Southeast Asia what pizza is to the US. Since I must do my laundry and ironing tonight, the Kam Man trip will be tomorrow evening after work.
One person on the Occupy Boston wiki commented on my proposal for a Thanksgiving cookout: "Great idea! Coordinate this with Dave, who's organizing food donations. If you send me your email I'll get you his number, which I don't think I should put directly here without his say-so. - pcovery" I haven't received an email yet, and no one else has commented on the Occupy Thanksgiving wiki page yet. I don't expect there to be a lot of commentary at all; and I suspect that if I can get even a few people to show up to cook, it will probably be an accomplishment. I'm committing myself to doing it all by myself – if anyone else shows up to cook on Thanksgiving, then that will be good. If not, I'll cook alone. (As George Thoroughgood sings, "Yeaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, with nobody else…") I've found three possible locations to scout out, and since I have Friday off from work I'll drive around and take a closer look at them: Artesani Park on the banks of the Charles River, across from Cambridge; Franklin Park in Dorchester; and Arsenal Park in Watertown. All three of these places are supposed to have permanent grill setups for public grilling, so I would think there would not be a problem at all if I (and anyone else) show up there on Thanksgiving morning, get out my coals, and start cooking. Each of these locations are listed in Mapquest as being about a 15 minute drive from Dewey Square; and since it will be Thanksgiving, there won't be a ton of traffic to get into the city. Once I decide on a location, I'll make up some flyers and post them in Anonymous-friendly locations – the Occupy Boston tent city, of course, and a couple of college campuses around town.
If I end up doing it myself, I think I could cook three turkeys and a pot of vegetable stew. I have two 14-inch pots (the Le Creuset and my Lodge dutch oven), a 12-inch deep camp dutch oven, and the Lodge 5-quart oven. That should be enough to do three birds and a pot of stew. All I have to do is get the birds and thaw them out in advance (on my porch, in a big plastic tub, about three days before Thanksgiving), place each bird in its own pot with marinade, line the tops and bottoms of the pots with coals, and wait about four hours. Simple. Then I'll take the pots, place them in my car (note to self…get a heat-resistant tarp at Home Depot to allow placement of the hot pots in the car!), and drive into Boston to Dewey Square. From there, I'll just wait until the pots are emptied and watch over them so that they're not stolen. Then, I'll put the pots in the car, go to Chinatown, and have some more pho. My own Thanksgiving with my family will be on Sunday, November 27.
I promised Panik I'd call him last night, but then I was too damn tired. I have to call today.