Gotta post the menu, it seems
So many of my buds are posting Christmas menus that I'm starting to feel like I'm not keeping my end up...
As I type, we're missing Christmas Eve at sister Katie's. Bob & I had been having the clan over for nog and cookies since we moved to Springfield in 1986, but Katie took over last year to keep it in Northern Virginia. We're staying home tonight because we're hosting Mom & Katie for Christmas Day tomorrow. Dinner was simple -- Bob had found some very funny tricolor pasta in Christmas shapes (Santa, tree, gift), so we ate it with tomato sauce, ricotta, & parmesan, plus lemon green beans and a green salad; all Christmas colors. Cider to drink, and for dessert Christmas cookies, liberated from their long exile in the freezer.
Tomorrow's breakfast is our traditional (and only once-a-year) eggs Benedict and baked apples. For dinner we'll marinate a rack of lamb in rosemary and orange, and roast it. Accompaniments will be roasted broccoli with shallots and lemon, a baked brown-and-wild rice pilaf, and a salad of mixed greens with pine nuts, dried tart cherries, and manchego; Mom's bringing the wine. Two desserts: a two-year-old (!) plum pudding with brandy butter, and (because Katie's not wild about plum pudding), individual hot-fudge cakes. The only make-aheads (shallot butter, ramekins of cake batter, and puddings) are done, and the rest will come together quickly after they get here in the midafternoon.
My other Virginia-based siblings are doing in-law Christmases this year, so Friday (Boxing Day) will be the big family get-together at our place. Various folks are bringing nibbles, and we've got Marcona almonds (oh, baby), assorted yogurt-covered fruits, and various cheeses/dips and crackers/veggies to stave off starvation during the afternoon. We wanted supper to be simple & homey after all the Christmas excesses, so I've made a chicken ragu which will be reheated & combined with with Italian green beans and strozzapreti (which I was tickled to find commercially!), and we'll add a big salad, bread (thanks to sister Susan), and -- ridiculously out of season -- ratatouille, just because I felt like making a pot. And the rest of the pudding, and as many cookies as people can eat.
And to be completist, New Year's Eve will be at sister Cindy's. All I know at this point is pulled pork and champagne. Oh, and cookies.
As I type, we're missing Christmas Eve at sister Katie's. Bob & I had been having the clan over for nog and cookies since we moved to Springfield in 1986, but Katie took over last year to keep it in Northern Virginia. We're staying home tonight because we're hosting Mom & Katie for Christmas Day tomorrow. Dinner was simple -- Bob had found some very funny tricolor pasta in Christmas shapes (Santa, tree, gift), so we ate it with tomato sauce, ricotta, & parmesan, plus lemon green beans and a green salad; all Christmas colors. Cider to drink, and for dessert Christmas cookies, liberated from their long exile in the freezer.
Tomorrow's breakfast is our traditional (and only once-a-year) eggs Benedict and baked apples. For dinner we'll marinate a rack of lamb in rosemary and orange, and roast it. Accompaniments will be roasted broccoli with shallots and lemon, a baked brown-and-wild rice pilaf, and a salad of mixed greens with pine nuts, dried tart cherries, and manchego; Mom's bringing the wine. Two desserts: a two-year-old (!) plum pudding with brandy butter, and (because Katie's not wild about plum pudding), individual hot-fudge cakes. The only make-aheads (shallot butter, ramekins of cake batter, and puddings) are done, and the rest will come together quickly after they get here in the midafternoon.
My other Virginia-based siblings are doing in-law Christmases this year, so Friday (Boxing Day) will be the big family get-together at our place. Various folks are bringing nibbles, and we've got Marcona almonds (oh, baby), assorted yogurt-covered fruits, and various cheeses/dips and crackers/veggies to stave off starvation during the afternoon. We wanted supper to be simple & homey after all the Christmas excesses, so I've made a chicken ragu which will be reheated & combined with with Italian green beans and strozzapreti (which I was tickled to find commercially!), and we'll add a big salad, bread (thanks to sister Susan), and -- ridiculously out of season -- ratatouille, just because I felt like making a pot. And the rest of the pudding, and as many cookies as people can eat.
And to be completist, New Year's Eve will be at sister Cindy's. All I know at this point is pulled pork and champagne. Oh, and cookies.