"I'm stuffed!" "Me too!" "Aren't we all?"
So I decided to do prime rib for Christmas dinner. This sort of flies in the face of accepted wisdom that says "don't cook fancy things you've never cooked before for special occasions." But you know, we're not insanely well off or anything so it's not like I was gonna drop a significant chunk of change on meat to practice with. Also we made homemade chili last week and so we had that as a fall back. So I bought a boneless 3lb prime rib at TJs and decided to hope for the best.
Around 5pm or so, when I pulled the roast out of the fridge where it had been aging just a little since Monday, I looked at my meat thermometer. Every recipe I had, including the info on the back of the roast package said that 135F was the ideal temp for medium rare. Me, I'd eat it all but blue in the middle, but Nancy...not so much. Anyway, my meat thermometer? Starts at 140F. So then there's this debate. Do we run to the store, which was going to be closing at 6pm, and pick up a better thermometer, or go by the time helpfully listed on the package? Teh lazy is strong in us; we chose to stay home.
Anyway, I put the roast in the oven and cooked it for just a little under the time specified and took it out before the thermometer read 140F and...and...OMG it was really incredibly good. And for once, my timing on everything else wasn't too off. The steamed broccoli was a tiny bit softer than I like, but the mashed potatoes (I mashed up a bag of small mixed red, yellow and purple potatoes so they were kinda pale pink) were really good and the yam (with brown sugar, cranberries and pecans) dish we get from TJs was as good as it was back on Thanksgiving.
Plus, it was a 3lb roast, people. Can you say roast beef sammiches?
So presents. We wrapped everything last night with the intent of opening them this morning. We don't have a tree, mostly because we have an incredibly destructive cat. I had a plan to get around this , but wasn't able to get the thing I needed and so the presents were wrapped and put on the dresser with care.
We figured that as a Christmas Eve--actually early Christmas morning--thing, we'd open the gifts from my sister. Mom did her traditional transfusion right into the bank account, but Debra sent us presents from Amazon, which, she'd warned me, were not wrapped. She hadn't been sure they'd get here on time, but they did for grate yay!
I got Seasons Five, Six and Seven of The West Wing and Bake Until Bubbly, a casserole cookbook. So I can watch DVDs while enjoying a tasty hot-dish. :) Thanks, Deb!
After opening those gifts, we noticed that the aforementioned cat was really interested in the wrapped presents, even though we'd done without bows or ribbons. So we decided, what the heck; it was technically Christmas--in fact, NORAD was telling us that the fat man was in San Francisco, no doubt enjoying the attentions of guys who like older Bears--and so we might as well just go for it.
I got Out of the East--Spices and the Medieval Imagination which just looks fascinating and will no doubt lead to "the one where they're caravan guards" or something like it.
Shower gel and lotion in champa scent--I used them this afternoon and wow, do I smell GOOD!
A totally awesome messenger bag which caught my eye ages ago and has been on my list ever since.
Three bracelets--two silver ones that look like tiny Celtic torcs and one made of larger pieces of pale green beach glass and smaller rock crystal beads.
Byzantium Perfume Oil from Villainess--which smells lovely at first sniff. If I like it, I can get soap, Whipped (body butter) and Smooch (scrubby exfoliating stuff) in the same scent so I can layer it. Also, is that not a cool bottle? It's too tall to fit in the tiny cedar chest I keep my perfume in but it's still totally awesome.
Also, a stocking full of nice bars of chocolate--one each with nibs, pomogranate, orange peels and coffee, and a tin of the dark chocolate and orange "pearls" from Godiva. The latter are teh yum.
I also have an amazon gift cert to spend--thank you, person who knows who she is. :)
I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Christmas. *hugs you all*
Around 5pm or so, when I pulled the roast out of the fridge where it had been aging just a little since Monday, I looked at my meat thermometer. Every recipe I had, including the info on the back of the roast package said that 135F was the ideal temp for medium rare. Me, I'd eat it all but blue in the middle, but Nancy...not so much. Anyway, my meat thermometer? Starts at 140F. So then there's this debate. Do we run to the store, which was going to be closing at 6pm, and pick up a better thermometer, or go by the time helpfully listed on the package? Teh lazy is strong in us; we chose to stay home.
Anyway, I put the roast in the oven and cooked it for just a little under the time specified and took it out before the thermometer read 140F and...and...OMG it was really incredibly good. And for once, my timing on everything else wasn't too off. The steamed broccoli was a tiny bit softer than I like, but the mashed potatoes (I mashed up a bag of small mixed red, yellow and purple potatoes so they were kinda pale pink) were really good and the yam (with brown sugar, cranberries and pecans) dish we get from TJs was as good as it was back on Thanksgiving.
Plus, it was a 3lb roast, people. Can you say roast beef sammiches?
So presents. We wrapped everything last night with the intent of opening them this morning. We don't have a tree, mostly because we have an incredibly destructive cat. I had a plan to get around this , but wasn't able to get the thing I needed and so the presents were wrapped and put on the dresser with care.
We figured that as a Christmas Eve--actually early Christmas morning--thing, we'd open the gifts from my sister. Mom did her traditional transfusion right into the bank account, but Debra sent us presents from Amazon, which, she'd warned me, were not wrapped. She hadn't been sure they'd get here on time, but they did for grate yay!
I got Seasons Five, Six and Seven of The West Wing and Bake Until Bubbly, a casserole cookbook. So I can watch DVDs while enjoying a tasty hot-dish. :) Thanks, Deb!
After opening those gifts, we noticed that the aforementioned cat was really interested in the wrapped presents, even though we'd done without bows or ribbons. So we decided, what the heck; it was technically Christmas--in fact, NORAD was telling us that the fat man was in San Francisco, no doubt enjoying the attentions of guys who like older Bears--and so we might as well just go for it.
I got Out of the East--Spices and the Medieval Imagination which just looks fascinating and will no doubt lead to "the one where they're caravan guards" or something like it.
Shower gel and lotion in champa scent--I used them this afternoon and wow, do I smell GOOD!
A totally awesome messenger bag which caught my eye ages ago and has been on my list ever since.
Three bracelets--two silver ones that look like tiny Celtic torcs and one made of larger pieces of pale green beach glass and smaller rock crystal beads.
Byzantium Perfume Oil from Villainess--which smells lovely at first sniff. If I like it, I can get soap, Whipped (body butter) and Smooch (scrubby exfoliating stuff) in the same scent so I can layer it. Also, is that not a cool bottle? It's too tall to fit in the tiny cedar chest I keep my perfume in but it's still totally awesome.
Also, a stocking full of nice bars of chocolate--one each with nibs, pomogranate, orange peels and coffee, and a tin of the dark chocolate and orange "pearls" from Godiva. The latter are teh yum.
I also have an amazon gift cert to spend--thank you, person who knows who she is. :)
I hope everyone who celebrates had a lovely Christmas. *hugs you all*