Home Depot Hero (and Curried Turkey Salad)

I was at Home Depot the other day because Thunder absconded with our rake.

And then she ate it.

I was in there buying another one when I saw this, mostly blocking aisle 6:

At that moment, I fell a little bit in love with whoever made the Toilet Monster.  I don’t know who that is, but what I want to say to that person is this:

Bravo, my friend.  Bravo.  Even though I have no toilet issues that need solving at this time, I feel like we understand each other.  I feel like you’re a dreamer. 

Why do I think that?  Because I doubt this idea came from corporate.  I doubt upper management’s business plan vis-a-vis plumbing equipment was for each store to nominate one employee to hand-decorate the old demo toilet. 

If that memo exists, I stand corrected.  But no, I think this was a grassroots effort.  I think you took it upon yourself to move some serious toilet appliances this month.  And when you saw that demo toilet in the back room, you said to yourself, “Hells yes.”

Well “hells yes” to you, buddy.  Hells yes.  That is the kind of ownership and initiative we should all be taking.  We could stand to spend a little more time identifying problems and proposing real solutions around here.  All we need is an idea, a patch of fake grass from aisle 4, and some poster board from aisle 20 to get this thing started.

I agree with you that we can’t wait for the big ideas to come down from on high, and we can’t wait for permission or approval.  Kind of like how you didn’t run the Toilet Monster by your manager before you rolled it to the front of the store.

And you know what?  It worked.  It worked because I came home with a 3-pack of 5/16″ x 3″ galvanized steel toilet tank bolts and a Fluidmaster Adjust-a-Flush 2″ toilet tank flapper, and I have absolutely no idea what they do.

Happy Thanksgiving,

Katherine

~~~~~

And Happy Thanksgiving to you too, everyone!

You may find yourself over-stocked on turkey this weekend.  You might curry it right up into a colorful, tasty salad.

I used chicken for the salad pictured here because I’d be nuts to make two turkeys in one week.   You could definitely use Indian chutney, but the closest thing I had was pepper jelly (like a sweet and spicy pepper relish), and it was great.  You can leave out the turmeric if you don’t have it handy.

Curried Turkey (or Chicken) Salad

Ingredients

1-1 1/2 lb. chicken or turkey (this will dress the equivalent of 3-4 large chicken breasts)

1 lb. potatoes (preferably red new potatoes)

4 large stalks celery

2 red bell peppers

5 bulbs/stalks green onion

1/4 c. pecans or almonds (toasted) or cashews (not toasted)

1/3 c. plain yogurt

1/2 c. mayonnaise

5 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. turmeric

about a 2 inch-long knob of ginger root (can substitute ground ginger to taste)

1/2 lime, juiced

1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar (or to taste.  Can substitute honey)

3 tbsp. pepper jelly or pepper relish

salt + pepper to taste

1-2 c. apples, mangoes, raisins or grapes (optional)

Directions

Put a salted pot of water up to boil for the potatoes (and if you are not using left-over turkey or chicken, put a second pot up, per the below.)

Wash the potatoes and boil them until they are “fork-tender.”  Cooking time will vary from about 10-20 minutes depending on the size of the potatoes, but you should be able to slide a  fork all the way into them.  Do not boil so long that their jackets pop off.

Remove potatoes and run under cold water to stop the boiling.  Remove skins with a knife or a vegetable peeler.  Cut the potatoes into bite-sized wedges and place in a large bowl.

If you have left-over turkey or chicken, dice it into bite-sized pieces.  Otherwise, bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Lower heat just a little to a simmer.  Add chicken and simmer (uncovered) for about 8 minutes.  Turn off the heat and cover the pot.  Let it stand until chicken is cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Confirm that it’s not pink in the middle, and remove chicken to cool.  When it is cool, dice it and put it in the bowl with the potatoes.

Wash the 2 red peppers and remove the ribs and seeds.  Chop the red peppers into pieces about 1 inch by 1 inch big.  Place them in the large bowl containing the potatoes and chicken.

Wash the celery and peel it.  Cut celery at a slant rather than straight down.  Place celery in the same large bowl.

Add any chopped apple, mango, raisins (simmered in some orange juice until plump) or halved grapes, if desired, to the bowl.

In a different bowl, whisk together the 1/3 c. plain yogurt, 1/2 c. mayonnaise, 5 tsp. curry powder, 1 tsp. turmeric, the juice of 1/2 lime, the 1 1/2 tbsp. brown sugar (or honey) and the 3 tbsp. pepper jelly or pepper relish.

Peel the ginger root and cut into several pieces.  Pass the ginger root through a garlic press and whisk the resulting juice into the bowl with the spices.

Adjust the spices, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste, and then combine the dressing and the chicken/chopped ingredients.

(To avoid having too little or too much dressing on the salad, I like to use a third bowl.  I combine about half the chicken with half of the dressing, see how the ratio of dressing to salad looks, and work from there.)

Clean and dice the green onion.  (I like to rinse them and then cut snippets of the green onion with scissors.)

If using almonds or pecans, toast them at 350 degrees for a few minutes, until they are aromatic and barely browned.  If using cashews, you don’t need to toast them.

Serve the salad sprinkled with green onion and nuts.