Philadelphia is a great restaurant town, so we try to get down there for dinners or lunches when possible. I think we miss out a bit on some of the great casual or low-key places as a result, though, because a meal out there tends to be the main affair of a visit. Transport is a bit of a limitation, too. The commuter train here is a once-per-hour thing and it doesn’t go everywhere I’d want to eat in the area—some neighborhoods are a long walk or a rideshare drive to, and others really require a car.
Sometimes I’d rather go elsewhere in this area. The suburbs have a few good restaurants here and there and a lot of not-good ones. It’s always nice when getting to them is half the fun—we like going to a English-style pub called The Whip way the hell out beyond Longwood Gardens for that reason. So we tried a place I’d seen written up that’s on the way to Cape May in South Jersey called Sweet Amalia Market and Kitchen that has some outdoor tables and that specializes in oysters.
I’m pretty dubious about oysters from anywhere south of New England, but Sweet Amalia’s were really fresh and terrifically flavorable. Even though it was a bit chilly for sitting out, we liked the vibe overall as well as (almost) all of the food—I could easily see spending a good while at a table in the summer, or picking up a meal on the way to the beach. (The only culinary bump in the road was a roast pork shoulder, which was intensely salty for some reason.) Plus the market provided an unplanned opportunity to get started on some of my Thanksgiving shopping—I picked up some good-looking pumpkin puree and some heirloom white beans, both of which figure in my plans.
Cooking Thanksgiving is a big thing for me even when it’s only my immediate family. I almost always try at least a couple of new sides, even though I’ve done some fantastic ones over the years that I’d gladly do over and over again. Someday I feel like I’m going to kick over hard and do a completely themed Thanksgiving—all Mexican, all South Asian, all East Asian, something like that, but my eaters have very very strong preferences for certain things, most notably mashed potatoes done fairly traditionally and turkey, and I’m not sure they’d thank me for going all the way with a particular cuisine.
I generally game out all my meals for the week of Thanksgiving too. I want them all to be thought through right up to that Thursday. Afterwards, I kind of know what’s coming next—there’s an inevitable hash, there’s probably some enchiladas, and very likely a soup or turkey chili too. This year I started off with a sliced pork chop in some cheese grits with fried collards (perhaps making up for the pork that missed the mark for lunch that day). I’ve come to prefer quick-frying collards over long-stewed ones, which nobody but me will eat hereabouts. The fried ones mixed into the grits were more palatable, I think.
Then I made a gnocchi with sausage and peas, a NYT Cooking app recipe. Peas are a more divisive battleground in our household—two people (including me) love them, one person very much does not. I’m appreciative of the no-pea vote because peas are hard to eat around compared to many things, but not to the point that I won’t cook them at all. (The end product looked better with some chopped mint—it’s a bit hamburger-helpery looking here.)
What’s ahead for the week? Tacos tonight, some kind of pasta with shellfish tomorrow, and then strip steaks on Wednesday. I tend to avoid chicken going into Thanksgiving despite normally using it heavily in a weekly rotation because turkey is the main event and I like to keep other fowl away from it for a little bit, considering how much of it we’re going to eat for days after.
As for Thanksgiving, the ultimate Gastrodome battle? I’ll save that for next week’s column. I’ve only lost the battle once to a turkey, so let’s hope the trend holds. (On the other hand, my earliest Thanksgiving defeat was using blue cornmeal in a mushroom-based stuffing, which ended up looking a puke-y kind of green. That, at least, I will never repeat.)
Sounds wonderful. John loved Thanksgiving, so we always had a blow out. I tend to go very minimalist now or else ignore the whole thing. But I totally agree with the "eaters" about mashed potatoes and roasted turkey. I'm partial to cornbread dressing though I prefer it with yellow corn rather than with blue. Happy Thanksgiving, Tim and Family!