Yes, agree, friend and I both definitely browned the meat well.
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one very very lucky dog!
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The lobster Thermidor looks awesome! Mrs. P made it as well for Christmas eve. It is one of my favorite lobster presentations. Very decadent. On Christmas day we had Dungeness crab and Alaskan king crab claws. We had some crab left over and Mrs. P added it to the leftover lobster thermidor for dinner the following day 
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We didn’t cook at all for Christmas day, we had work in Boston and Wound up staying two extra days so more of the gang could join in. Christmas Eve 20 hard working road grunts and their respective tribe tabled for Brazilian feast in Boston and then walked the city from our Westin hotel to walk off said meal. Gorging resulted in 2 days of IF for me and that diner meal on our trip back to NJ…which was pretty dare tasty. Now I give my ears and body a rest until NY Eve! 
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Boston is the right city for this. We often had dinner in Charleston and walked “home” to our hotel at the Longfellow Bridge.
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Holy mother what a meal.
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Our friends are visiting from D.C. with their two under 7. They arrived hungry and we settled in with nibbles - carrot sticks, baby carrots, and kettle chips with ranch dip. Bubbly wine and/or bubbly cider for all. For dinner I made cacio e pepe using Smitten Kitchen’s approach with a cheese-water paste and cooked the pasta in broth in the IP. I even got the squared-off spaghetti! Green salad with LindaWhit’s crowd-pleasing maple balsamic dressing and grilled brats on the side.
Local ice cream - salted caramel and pumpkin with almond Spekulatius for afters. It all went over well - a relief as their kids are as finnicky as mine! 
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I was going to make a chorizo hash with poached eggs, but the BF said to let him do it. What i got was a layer of thin-cut fries, chorizo, sour cream and an egg. Deconstructed hash, he called it. Still awfully tasty!
Salad with pink grapefruit and pepitas… a little too bitter, we didn’t finish it. More fries in the kitchen! 
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Decided to make a half recipe of gougeres, so that means champagne! Added a sliced pear and some pepper crusted salami and that was dinner.
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Mmm yess
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Um, not double carrots. Grape tomatoes. Actual carrot sticks. Can’t stand “baby” carrots anymore. 
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I’m with you there, re “baby carrots” - they’re not baby at all, just pared down flavorless orange ovals IMO.
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What great pics of your dinner, and the hash looks to die for! So does the salad, but sorry it was bitter…
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Great looking, as usual @ChristinaM! Your food always looks so alive. Do enjoy your guests, and all activities that ensue!
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CCJ…you are correct when I went to school 1+1=2…not sure today if anyone can do that math anymore…but it was a great time…I did have to teach how to cook the roast and poach the salmon, cutting the fruit and plating the shrimp was taught last year…what I did not teach them is how to shop for it all!!! (LOL)
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We need to start a thread on “how much we love baby carrots…NOT”
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“Baby carrots: terrible or awful?”
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Convenient!
You are right about math, Yesterday, I learned something new from Night07
So, I am going to try that after my breakfast. I hope my calculation is correct ( 2 tablespoon of coconut to 4 cups of rice). I cook rice only once a week 4-6 cups depending on number of people here .So the first portion is usually fresh. The rest, I wrap with stretch -tite I still have 2 servings of rice in fridge, but following this instruction, I will have rice tomorrow that hopefully will cut down my calories as well as increase resistant starch in my diet.
I know you must be enjoying your kitchen , looking at what you have accomplished as well as cooking and presentation. This year, my Christmas gift to myself is adding to my collection of crystals which I love and leaving some of them on my counter so I do not have to wait for guests to arrive to appreciate them. I use American Brilliant Crystals etc and in them, I leave my bread, part of cakes etc that does not have to be refrigerated and would be consumed within the next 24-48 hours. Have been searching high and low, googling for a large piece as the biggest ABC that I could find has only a 8.45 inch diameter dome and a whole cake could not be accommodated. I contacted AB society was told there was no such cake dome/plate in existence. So I searched for a cut to clear ruby red or cobalt blue one for almost 18[ months and suddenly, last Sunday, found one as the seller had just placed it on auction. I contacted seller, offered to pay it outright so she did not have to wait 6 days, neither do I have to compete with anyone interested and I got it. So, that will remain in the DR . smaller American Brilliant are usually more magnificent which is great for small cheese like Boursin. I am not sure you would find this useful but I love the idea. I use a lot of soy sauce, vinegar, garlic for dips, and found a very reasonable EAPG ruby stained piece and fits my little cup of the sauce need not be unsightly any more in the kitchen.
Just some thought for your beautiful kitchen with your stained glass lights!
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