Satellite image of the molasses swamp!
Change of plans… Sunshine was recovering from surgery during Thanksgiving, so I postponed the turkey, etc. until Christmas. I’ll probably make the ham on Easter.
It just made sense to wait… Sunshine ate very little for about a week or so following this last surgery. This one seemed to be the hardest on her, as she lost some weight – not enough that it worried me, but enough. Her appetite returned about two weeks ago and she is now ready for her Thanksgiving meal (on Christmas).
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Christmas Dinner for us is a repeat of Thanksgiving but I missed my stuffing so I included it here. It takes me too long to chop everything. Have to do a double recipe, so 2 loaves of Acme Sourdough bread, cubed and toasted.
I’m coming to really dislike adding fresh thyme, so hard to remove bitzy leaves but it must be done. What really takes the most time is peeling 18 fresh Chinese water chestnuts and slicing them. They stay crunchy.
Small Butterball, Woks of Life recipe, breast size down first hour.
Bourbon Cranberry Sauce
Gravy
Asian cuke salad (thinly sliced Persian cukes with shallots & chopped serranos, no seeds, dressing is Rice Vinegar, sugar, water. Very refreshing)
My daughter is making Almond Green Beans
A friend is bringing mashed potatoes and an Indian dish, maybe stuffed baby eggplants.
All I’ve got for dessert is the Fig & Walnut Biscotti I made.
I might try to squeeze in fresh warm popovers.
The dining table is set with tablecloth etc.
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OK, the table is set for lunch and the turkey is just about ready to go in the oven. Our full menu is:
Nibbles with drinkies - there’s a charcuterie plate, crab pate on toast, crisps & olives
Smoked salmon (gift to the family from the aunt in New Zealand). with soda bread
Then turkey with all the traditional British accompaniments including roast spuds, carrots and sprouts (mega yuk from me on the latter!). Experience teaches that it is unacceptable to deviate even slightly from the same old, same old usual offering.
Cheese - there’s Stichelton, Baron Bigod and Montgomery Cheddar. Crackers. Pickled clementines (also part of the gift from NZ)
Christmas pudding & custard.
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Fan-freaking-tastic!
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I spent most of the day yesterday gathering the final xmas eve ingredients – ciabatta for the cheeses, ketchup for the cocktail sauce, a few local products for my Secret Santee in our Facebook WFD group so I can send that parcel off on Thursday, and then food production started: my PIC made the coquito and his pistachio ice cream, I sliced up the gravlax & made the mustard sauce I hadn’t planned on, but then thought what the hey, and roasted the big-ass black tiger shrimp following @amandarama’s suggestion. They came out really well & I may never go back to poaching 
The toasted fennel seed I added to the cure for the first time really shone through. I will always add toasted fennel from now on.
Talked briefly to my sister around 9pm their time when they had just finished their fondue and evidently more red wine than what my dear sis is accustomed to 
, but everyone was talking at her & ready to open the presents, so we postponed our convo to another, more convenient time 
Our doors opened at 6pm with bublé for everyone. Our hosts for today brought Crab Maison (not Crab Louis I kept referring to), which seemed to be very different from the last time they made it & I loved it, i.e. instead of dippy it was soupy & heavy on the vinegar.
They’re known for pre-gaming, so… perhaps this was a case of CUI — who knows 
In any event, we had plenty of food & drink & merry.
And a plate of Isgro’s xmas cookies. They’re better fresh, TBH.
My (first) plate:
Merriness continues with pretty much the exact same crowd at their place later this afternoon: they’re having a soup bar (ginger-carrot, spicy corn chowder, and potato-leek). Our HK bud is contributing a Cantonese duck, I’m bringing the leftover gravlax, half of which was destroyed last night. My PIC is bringing his aMAZing pistachio ice cream & flourless orange cake.
Merry xmas, HO-HO-HOs
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This morning was crustless quiche Lorraine w/spinach, homemade cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, coffee, and fresh-squeezed mimosas. The kid has needed breaks for TV and tablet in between opening mounds of gifts. He was asking for someone else to do the opening.
Really happy with how tender and pillowy the cinnamon rolls turned out!
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National Health Service Christmas lunch provided courtesy a charity - for staff working on the NICU today. Was surprisingly OK. A couple of slices of turkey, a sausage wrapped in bacon, a piece of sausagemeat stuffing, a slightly over-roasted potato, mashed potato, steamed carrots and Brussels sprouts. Generic brown gravy provided in coffee jugs.
And the room of food coordinated by the senior nursing team:
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Thank you for all that you do 
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Roast pheasant, roast carrots, potatoes and parsnips Parmesan sprouts, peas and Yorkshire puddings. Slow roasted chicken wing gravy. Saint-Émilion to drink. Cheese and late bottled Port incoming.
Happy Christmas all.
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Lunch was nibbles –
Elderflower French 75 alongwith…
The dirty martini dip was phenomenal. I added minced boozy lemon zest, heavy cream, and a little mascarpone cheese.
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Wot she said, medgirl.
Hope you’re having an uneventful day.
As for Xmas Day at Harters Hall, everything went off well. Political issues were not mentioned - so there was none of the usual falling out, sulks, etc. So everyone just ate, opened presents, thanked the givers, went home at a suitably early hour. Nephew’s girlfriend, who we hadnt met before arrived with a food hamper for us. The two of them recently spent a couple of days in Poland and she bought most of the stuff there - I’m looking forward to the gingerbread biscuits. Oh, and the enormous panettone which may or may not have come from Poland - I’ve got a recipe for a version of bread & butter pudding, using it so that features in my future.
Just starting to feel a big peckish again, so it’s probably time to find a nibble or two. See ya later.
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Since I only have one oven and the stuffing needs to cook in there while turkey is out resting, I decided to make the popovers first, in the oven now, then I’ll reheat when everyone is at the table.
Then my small turkey will go in a bit after 2 pm.
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Glad to hear the report on the dirty martini dip! Looks like a promising recipe. What blue cheese did you use?
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Christmas Eve was Midwestern chili and box-mix cornmeal muffins. I also prepped for Christmas dinner - roasted the sweet potatoes and mixed/baked the corn casserole. And spent far, far too much time playing with appetizer “penguins” – those little carrot beaks are a PITA, and several destroyed olives needed to be eaten.
Today started with separate early breakfasts and a couple extra hours of sleep. Then sweet pineapple-upside down muffins for gift opening. Dinner was porterhouse steak, (commercial) spinach souffle, roasted cubed sweet potato, corn casserole, devilled eggs, cream cheese/black olive penguins, and some bag salad with added croutons. Water in the Santa mugs. Dessert mid-afternoon was choice of the 9 varieties of cookies I baked and froze the first week of December. I planned seafood for supper (2 versions of crab salad, bacon wrapped shrimp) but will save that for New Years --there are lots of mix/match leftovers for us to enjoy.
Merry Christmas
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Even though I buttered the pan generously, half stuck; I managed to remove ok. Next time I’ll butter and spray both generously.
It’s hard not to snitch one now!
Should I reheat at 300 for 5 minutes?
This is the Julia Child recipe, 2nd time for this recipe.
Dan, if you see a popover pan at a thrift store, give it a try.
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But the appetizer penguins are soooooooooooo cute!!!
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I used a “farmstead” – pretty pungent – blue cheese from Aldi. Pickings were slim. But it worked!
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Really happy with everything – except the ham. Way too long of a heat time, lost a lot of moisture. Waaah.
But overall, success!
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