As we head into Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we do. But it’s not easy.

With all the arguments about fresh vs. frozen, heritage vs. broad-breast white, free-range vs. barn-raised, it’s often hard to know where to turn for a quality turkey.

Politics and environment aside, you must know your own palate. Do you prefer white meat that tastes slightly sweet? Then stick with commercial broad-breast whites, which are breed and often chemically enhanced for those characteristics. But if you want a genuine taste of turkey, with the kind of deep, natural (and even gamey) flavors that the birds had before the giant food companies got a hold of them, go to Maple Lawn Farms in Fulton, Md., and buy one of its fresh, free-range toms or hens.

It’ll require some effort, yes. Maple Lawn is no longer taking orders over the phone or online for Thanksgiving turkeys,  but you can still pick one up at the farm. Employees will try to get you the size of bird you want. After Thanksgiving, you can once again e-mail a request to Maple Lawn.

Adventures in Shaw has a much longer list of turkey suppliers here.  Y&H also checked with Ecofriendly Foods about its supply of after-Thanksgiving birds. Here’s what a spokesman wrote back to Y&H:

We will have plenty of extra birds in the weeks following Thanksgiving, both our heritage birds and our hybrid/cross. (I can give you a better description of them if you need although they’re pretty well defined on our website at ecofriendly.com.) While we’re distributing fresh birds for Thanksgiving, it’s likely that buyers later in the year will be offered frozen birds. We expect to have plenty at the markets and they’re available on a first come, first served basis until we run out. If someone does want to actually reserve a particular type of bird or size of bird to ensure they get what they want, they can send a $40 deposit payment for each turkey they want via Paypal to feedback@ecofriendly.com. When they leave the deposit they’ll need to let us know:

• Their first and last name
• Telephone number
• Email address
• The type of bird (breed) they wish to purchase
• The approximate weight or weight range of the turkey they would like to reserve
• The specific market and date they will pick up the turkey(s), either Saturday in Arlington Courthouse or Sunday at Dupont Circle.
• Note:  If you reserve online and you want it for the upcoming weekend, you must place your online order by 7PM Tuesday of that week. That’s the only way we can make sure we have the order with enough advance notice to make sure it gets on the truck for delivery to DC for the upcoming weekend.

You can place an order in person at the market for a specific bird to be reserved and delivered the following week.

It’s also important to note that during the holidays, Ecofriendly is not always at the farmers markets so our staff can be with their families on the weekends following the holidays. So during December, the only dates we’ll be at the markets for people to get turkeys will be December 5/6, 12/13, and 19/20.

Finally, remember: Don’t buy a fresh turkey more than a day or two before you plan to cook it. Otherwise, you might have, shall we say, a Food Safety Issue. Not a good thing for the holidays.

Photo by Alan Vernon. via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License

According to a wsbtv.com report, here’s how the incident went down:

Channel 2 Action News reporter Jeff Dore was there as Deen and organizer Elisabeth Omilami helped pass hams down a relay line.

Dore said Deen playfully threw one down the relay line like a football and someone said “Back at ya!” and threw it back. It hit her in the nose.

“He threw the ham back and I was unexpecting the pig and it just hit me full on,” said Deen. “‘Bout knocked me for a loop!”

Dore said Deen laughed after she got an ice pack for her face and made jokes about a swollen nose.

“It just got hit with a hog, so what can I expect,” she sniffed. “Ran head on into a hog.”

No word on how badly the ham was hurt.

This is both creepy and cute. But you’d think the animator could have at least bought a pumpkin pie without a dent in the tin.

As we head into Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we do. But it’s not easy.

Because there aren’t many fresh greens available at this time of year, your best bet is to start your meal with a soup rather than a salad.

Squashes, of course, are abundant, and few soups are as sweet and satisfying as the one found on almost every restaurant menu at this time of year: roasted butternut squash. The soup’s ubiquity is a testament to its popularity — and to the ease at which you can buy good gourds.

The squashes are available from countless local farms that sell their products at the District’s many farmers market. Try pairing it with a winter green, like chard or kale, which you can blanch, chop, and mix into the soup pot for added flavor.

Photo by wrestlingentropy via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License

Carrie and I were in Bethesda for other reasons on Sunday when we drove by this line snaking down Bethesda Avenue. I had to stop and investigate.

Georgetown Cupcake was celebrating the opening of its second store, the twin-locale named, Georgetown Cupcake at Bethesda Row, by giving away its namesake treat from noon to 6 p.m. As I was snapping these pics, a person approached the front of the line and asked a couple how long they had been waiting for their courtesy cupcake.

The answer: 30 minutes. Y&H’s internal dialogue with self: I don’t care how bad the economy gets, I’m not wasting 30 minutes of my weekend for a free cupcake, no matter how good they are.

Then again, I’m probably the anomaly here. People wait just as long (or longer) at the original location to pay for a Georgetown Cupcake.

More pics from the Sunday celebration after the jump.

As if you needed any more proof that we’re mired in a recession, just check out the top posts from this week: They’re focused on good, old-fashioned drinkin’. Here’s to better times, y’all…

In the meantime, the most-read posts from the week:

1. Women of Craft Beer: A Quick List (*)
2. Paste Names Best 25 American Breweries
3. The Passenger Set to Open Tomorrow
4. D.C. Dish Hall of Fame Leaderboard: Same As It Ever Was
5. Yaku to Close and Turn into a Rock ‘n’ Roll/Sushi Concept

* A certain light-drinking Budweiser beer was, once again, the most-read item, but we’ve stopped counting it.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery

As we head toward Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we do. It’s not easy.

You want options with your first drink at Thanksgiving, and apple cider gives you exactly that.

Now let me say this: The apple cider from Twin Springs Fruit Farm, based in Orrtanna, Pa., may be the best I’ve ever had. Buy lots of it, because your guests will drink the stuff as if it were water in the desert. Twin Springs sells its cider at farmers markets around the area, from Dupont Circle to Arlington. You can serve the juice any number of ways: straight up; mulled with cinnamon, allspice, cloves, ginger and/or nutmeg and served warm; or stirred over ice with a good bourbon to make a holiday cocktail, perfect for surviving even the most tedious of family gatherings.

Photo by Phillie Casablanca via Flickr Creative Commons, Attribution License

Little has gone the way Janet Yu expected in trying to reopen her Hollywood East dim-sum parlor in the Westfield Shopping Center in Wheaton.

The owner quickly discovered that the new space, a former restaurant in the mall, was not suited to her needs, at least not as currently equipped. The duct work needed to be replaced. The gas lines needed to be upgraded to handle Hollywood East’s powerful woks. The bathrooms needed to be expanded.

The whole space, in short, was in dire need of an overhaul, save for the air conditioning and the ceiling, Yu tells Y&H this afternoon. “We gutted the whole place, and we had to start all over,” she says.

The unexpected build-out has, of course, delayed Hollywood East’s expected reopening date following the restaurant’s unceremonious ousting from its former location on University Boulevard in Wheaton. The dim-sum operation was supposed to celebrate its grand reopening in August. Now, Yu says, she’s looking at a soft reopening on Monday, Dec. 14.

Even more painful is the price of the upgrades. Yu says the costs are “almost $200,000 more than I expected.” She tried to turn to the banks for a loan but found that path blocked.

“It’s not good for anybody,” Yu says about bank loans. “Nobody wants to fund restaurants, even SBA.”

The good news is that the new Hollywood East will be about 700 square feet larger than the old space, and it will be much greener, with energy-saving lights and wind-powered energy. The reopening will also mean good news for many of the former employees who have been not-so-patiently waiting for the restaurant’s re-emergence.

“Some of them are just collecting unemployment,” Yu says of her employees. “Some have been trying to find part time jobs.”

Yu is hoping Hollywood East passes all the necessary inspections for the Dec. 14 opening. That way, employees can get acquainted with the new space — and reacquainted with the menu, which will remain the same. “Then we can have a big Christmas party for customers,” Yu says.

As we head toward Thanksgiving, Y&H wants to help you eat like a pilgrim (a Native American, too, because we’re all about equal opportunity eating here). In other words, we want to help you eat locally for the holiday. Almost 400 years ago, the pilgrims had no choice but to eat local. These days, we do. It’s not easy. First up: the appetizer course.

For a great opening spread, try a slection of local cheeses, charcuterie, breads, and jam.

Several local dairies hawk their cheeses at area farmers markets, including Everona Dairy, Keswick Creamery, Blue Ridge, and Cherry Glen. For charcuterie, check out Red Apron, which sells Nathan Anda’s wide-ranging selection of house-cured meats at Planet Wine in Del Ray and at the FRESHFARM Penn Quarter market (until Dec. 17). Or order Jamie Stachowski’s holiday charcuterie board, which includes enough sausage and salami and pâté to serve 10 people, by calling the chef at (202) 413-7355.

Some of the best breads anywhere are being baked by Atwater’s in Baltimore; you’ll find their terrific baguettes and San Francisco-style sourdough bread at the FRESHFARM Dupont Circle and Takoma Park farmers markets. For jams, check out Copper Pot’s excellent line of spreads made by former Mio chef Stefano Frigerio. You can order them at www.copperpotfoodco.com.

Your guests may never make it to the dinner table after this opening feast.