The xmas meals, to be honest I wasn’t eating a lot (not my favourite meal anyway), as this year my role was to assure everything was going all right, meaning cleaning dishes between courses, serving everybody, making sure the kids were not trying to burn down the house etc… my MIL forgot the the capon and left it 1 hour in an switched off oven, result: too cooked, too dried.
At one point, the cats came hiding with me in a bedroom from the kids and I fell asleep for a few minutes and missed the coffee and just in time for the dessert.
Best wishes everyone! And to all our furry friends too!
Talking about 4-legs, while typing the post, MIL’s cat tried to throw the Christmas decorations on the floor, hunts and chase after them! Ripping the rug and fighting (playing) with my cat are their routine. They seem to be on steroids these days. So funny!
wild argentina shrimp, sautéed in garlic, a tin of anchovy and small amount of chipotle adobo sauce added to pasta
Pasta is barilla plus thin protein plus spaghetti cooked in shrimp shell broth with a parmesan rind,
Picture shows cooked pasta , before adding pesto and parmesan cheese
Vegetable dish was butternut squash roasted in EVOO, added seasonings ( S/P, garlic, Mexican spice from Rancho Gordo), added beets, diced apples, spinach and feta cheese with hoe made vinaigrette ( lemon, lemon olive oil, balsamic vinegar, S/P, mustard honey and wine vinegar as well as cider vinegar) Forgot to take pictures.
Bo eft overs.
Long day at work, even with just 11 of 35 home office employees in the office today. But ordering pizza for lunch for those of us there helped.
Need to start using up stuff in my freezer and pantry, so a half bag of Wegmans Girelle pasta, a garlic-cheese sausage from my butcher squoze from its casing and sauteed, some peas, a half can of canned pumpkin, a heavy sploosh of white wine, heavy cream, salt, pepper, and a grating of nutmeg all came together for an easy dinner, topped with grated Parm-Reg.
We did brunching again this year due to nephew going to his dad’s house at noon. I made granola nuts from smitten kitchen (amazing!!) and my mom made her famous sticky buns
Plus lots of fresh berries, a quiche from a local bakery, and various breakfast meats- including those tasty Field Roast breakfast sausages that were also popular with the omnis.
Photo didn’t catch the quiche or various meats and mimosas
We actually ended up at family friends’ for cocktails and heavy apps last night after some napping and a chill afternoon. No photos cuz that would have been weird but had lots of bubbly and some of the veggie options. We brought gougeres mom had in the freezer and baked and i made a quick olive white bean hummus from what i found in the cupboard to bring with various crudites.
I went to my sister’s tonight and we started jars of fermented pickles following the Noma fermentation recipe from my book, although i decided to add in a smashed garlic clove to each jar as well as some peppercorns. Unfortunately they won’t be ready to eat til i’m gone but i know my sister and nephew and dad will enjoy them
Mom and dad had the potato leek soup i made for dinner with salads i made before i left for my sisters.
She’s leaving town to go snowboarding in the morning, so i made us a quick dinner of all the perishable veggies in a stir fry - a bell pepper, zucchini, shredded a wedge of cabbage, a chunk of random broccoli. Added in some sesame oil, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. She added some leftover xmas prosciutto to hers at the end (random?) and i had two leftover field roast breakfast sausages (more random).
Eaten in our laps with more wine while planning our sister vacation for next fall which is long overdue yet much needed. A beach, sunshine, cabana boys and colored frozen drinks were our requirements.
The book is very interesting, although know it does not cover more common fermentations - i think they assume there are already so many recipes and techniques out there for stuff like sauerkraut and kimchi and such. The pear vinegar and maple kombucha are on my short list to make, what is most helpful is no unusual ingredients or professional equipment is needed. The book itself was not so expensive for me, i wanted the actual hardback book which was more than the e-book, i think $25-$30USD.
