We Smelled It ... It Had To Be Eaten! Christmas Eve Food Porn posts #1170 & #1171!!

[nts4wdw]

Merry Christmas!!

I've got to come back over when I can spend more time with your recipes. We are just having ham!

 

[Circusgirl]

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!!! ​

 

[OurDogCisco]

Can't wait to see your pictures. I made the asparagus bundles last night. Yummy... We had Baked ham, Roasted Red Bell pepper soup with Polenta croutons, Cheesy potato casserole (I have munkins in the house), Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Asparagus Bundles & rolls. For dessert I made cheesecake and apple cake. Today, I'm making Rum cake for dessert.

I didn't take pictures... Silly me... what was I thinking? Now, I kinda wish I did. Sorry...

 

[BriarRosie]

Ah, I'm way behind! All those recipes sound wonderful!

I've been letting Trader Joe do some cooking for me. Last night he made me chipotle chicken skewers, and frozen veggies. The salad I took care of, with Romaine lettuce, sliced baby carrots, tomatoes, avocado, and crumbled some of Joe's Chevre goat cheese with honey.

I think I'm ready to update my report. It's about time I did! LOL!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Merry Christmas!

 

[BoosGram]

Brenda,

Just to show you how smart you were to purchase the special edition of Beedle the Bard when you did, note that Amazon is now selling used copies for $325! Waaaahhh. Now I'll never get it .

 

[oybolshoi]

Brenda,

Just to show you how smart you were to purchase the special edition of Beedle the Bard when you did, note that Amazon is now selling used copies for $325! Waaaahhh. Now I'll never get it .

HOLY MARKUP, BATMAN!!!!

 

[Tatania]

I didn't have time to check this thread in the last days so will have to make the asparagus recipe for New Year's. It sounds amazing.

Dh said he would bring some sherry, to which MIL replied, "Please respect your BIL and leave your wine at home." BIL is a preacher.

Having left all organzied religion behind in my mid-twenties I'm confused about this attitude - which I know is shared by other Christians. If memory serves me, didn't Jesus partake of alcohol (I mean after he changed water to wine he would have had some?) and during most of history, the assumption has been it was wine that was drunk at the Last Supper and then used in the communion ritual. I'm curious as to why a glass of wine is considered taboo. I know Muslim's don't allow alcohol but Christians?? Since when?

I used a lot of Disney recipes this year for Christmas dinner and posted my review on the Disney recipe thread. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1575103&page=172
The Garden Grill Cranberry Relish was the best ever and the The Walnut Poultry stuffing (Cooking with Mickey Around the World) was very, very good.
The Yam Casserole from Tusker House was one of the most popular dishes of the evening and I'll be making that again. I've been doing the Andrew Sutton (Napa Rose) turkey recipe for 2 years and it's everyones favourite turkey ever.

 

[BriarRosie]

Brenda,

Just to show you how smart you were to purchase the special edition of Beedle the Bard when you did, note that Amazon is now selling used copies for $325! Waaaahhh. Now I'll never get it .

Wow I'm lucky I ordered mine 10 days ago. I had been on the fence about it, then caved in after seeing Brenda's photos. I'm really glad I did, but I'm sorry you missed out on it.

 

[oybolshoi]

December 24th: Let the Cooking and Mixing and Eating and Drinking Begin!!!

Ahhhh, the holidays. Jay and I being the surly, uncommunicative types that we are, it's easier for us to show our love and affection by laying forth a bountiful spread of food and drink for people rather than by coming out and actually telling them how we feel.

Emotions can be so awkward.

Jay was working from home on Christmas Eve and I had to work until 3PM ... it was close to 4PM by the time I got home and could get my baking started. But before I get into the food porn I thought I'd share a few pictures of our Far-Outhouse decorated all purty-like for the holidays.

Hey kids - watch Santa pull a six-foot tall pipe cleaner outta his butt!

It's only appropriate that we would have food-related ornaments on our tree.

Jay's spicy ornament

Bendy's dilly of a pickle

In our dining room we had just enough Dicken's Village pieces to cover the piano ... Jay's mom used to give me those for Christmas gifts until she found out that all we wanted to display were taverns. Our village only has two taverns and one brewhouse ... looks like we need more!

It takes a village ...

That cool little trunk we got from the WDW Florist really came in handy for some of my favorite, breakable ornaments. I can't hang them on the tree thanks to a certain four-legged furbaby but they're too pretty not to display.

Fra-gee-lay

I loves me a fireplace! It's so "The Night Before Christmas ..."

Ah, toasty warm!

The first order of any holiday gathering is a double-batch of Brandy Milk Punch. Mmmmm, quite possibly our favorite holiday beverage.

I've got mine ... where's yours?

Breakfast drink of champions!

I was very fortunate late in November and came into a lovely gift card for Williams Sonoma and promptly went boffo ordering yummies for the holidays. First up ... a box of miniature croissants. They have to thaw / rise overnight and then can be popped into the oven to bake for about 15 minutes. These were incredible ... much better than they had any right to be coming out of the freezer. And the box of mini-croissants came with two dozen pre-formed flaky delights, so we've got plenty to last us over the next week or so.

Here they are right out of the freezer:

They kinda look like baby elephants...

The next morning after they've "riz"...

Fresh out of the oven - delectable!

The first thing I baked once I settled in at home was my eggnog bread. I'm not a big fan of eggnog but certain members of my family are and this seems like a good compromise that everyone can live with.

Eggnog-ie goodness!

Have a slice why dontcha?

And then it was time for me to bake my Gingerbread Spice Cake while my Cheesecake Ice Cream was getting all cold and frozen in the freezer. The recipe actually calls for a ginger-orange glaze but I opted not to make that - I think it would have been too much with the ice cream, which is really rich.

I love it when a cake bakes up just right!

To be continued ...

 

[oybolshoi]

December 24th: Remorseless Eating Machines Never Stop Feeding Their Faces...

So what did we eat while all that baking was taking place? We started with sushi from a new place that's just opened up here in lesser Stinktown - we love their nigiri and their rolls. Nothing fancy, just really fresh, tasty fish.

I'll take the lot!

And to wash down the fishies we had some nigori sake. Unfortunately it wasn't the one that we tried while in Florida dining with Erica and Lionel - we tried to order some and no one here in Stinktown could get their hands on it. So we asked for a recommendation and this is what we ended up with:

The Snow Maiden ... ever-so-good!

Who-so-ever amongst you thinks that Mickey doesn't endorse drinking, take a gander at these glasses we picked up in October...

Fill 'er up!

Sake Shots!

Nigori is usually the sweetest of all sakes and its name roughly translated means "cloudy" for its appearance because it's unfiltered. We did not find this sake to be overly sweet, but it was very smooth and flavorful - not at all harsh like some sakes can be. We really enjoyed it and will probably buy it again when we have need of some sake.

And while this may not be the best accompaniment for sushi, we had lots of fresh bread and my favorite French cheese to munch on throughout the night: Fromager d'Affinois!

Cheesie does it!

And then we played with our wheel of brie ...trying to re-create on a larger scale the fabulous brie / raspberry puff pastries we had in August while taking part in Jay's work anniversary trip.

Packaged brie...

Raspberry preserves (seedless!)

All wrapped up waiting for the oven...

Ain't it pretty all cooked up?

Tasted better than it looks!

The taste combination is wonderful but we think that the next time we're going to try small brie puffs similar to those pear / blue cheese puffs we made at Thanksgiving. For one thing we didn't use enough of the raspberry preserves and for another the whole thing was too much even for the two of us to eat in one evening. It would be a great serving size for a group of people but it's a bit much even for two gastropods like Jay and me.

And the final picture of the evening is actually from the prior week's work gathering at Annie Gunn's where my manager gave me the green light to order the foie gras appetizer.

This was Foie Gras with Pears and Duck Confit ... I wish I could tell you more about it but they don't list it on their website (cowards!). What I can say is that it was pretty darn tasty. Not on par with Vicky & Al's in preparation or presentation, but for a Stinktown establishment it was quite good. We let all those at the table who wanted to try it do so, and they all agreed that it was far better than they had expected it to be.

I like being at the top of the food chain!

Coming soon ... lots and lots of Christmas pics!

 

[ChelleinNC]

Making me hungry as always Everything looks wonderful! Hope you had a very Merry

 

[oybolshoi]

Making me hungry as always Everything looks wonderful! Hope you had a very Merry

Makes us hungry, too!

We had a really nice holiday, thanks! And I hope you and yours did as well.

 

[DisneyMom5]

Love the trunk o breakables. I, when I still had usable flat surfaces not covered in kid stuff, used to put glass ornaments in a pedestal dish. I like the way off tree ornament arrangements look.

LOL on the Tavern collection!

I have NEVER had a bundt cake turn out so beautiful! What's your secret???

We're off to our final Christmas today.

Have a good one!

 

[oybolshoi]

Love the trunk o breakables. I, when I still had usable flat surfaces not covered in kid stuff, used to put glass ornaments in a pedestal dish. I like the way off tree ornament arrangements look.

LOL on the Tavern collection!

I have NEVER had a bundt cake turn out so beautiful! What's your secret???

We're off to our final Christmas today.

Have a good one!

Hiya MomofMany!

I never thought about putting the ornaments in a glass bowl ... I bet that would have been really pretty. Funny thing happened on Christmas day - my eldest nephew Dylan was over and he saw them on the table that we'd loaded down with snackables and thought they were spun sugar. It's a good thing he didn't try to eat one.

As for my secret on the cake ... I just make sure that the pan is really well greased and floured. I also sprinkle in some of the dry cake ingredients into the flour used to coat the pan so the cake doesn't come out looking "ghostly." But that's it ... I don't do anything else (nor does Jay when I ask him nicely to take care of the pan for me while I'm alternating wet and dry ingredients and a handmixer ... ).

Have a good day and enjoy your upcoming Christmas!

 

[whogirl'smom]

Beautiful Christmas pics! Everything looked so good--you must sit by the oven with a book to make sure nothing burns.

I am off to make your asparagus bundles this morning for our party at my former boss' house. This is my favorite get-together of the whole season!(other than my parents' of course) Brenda, I have to say the milk punch was a HUGE hit! We made two batches for Christmas Eve and had one glass left the next day, which my mom called dibs on. I have never seen her drink two glasses of anything alcoholic, but she did of this!

And to Tatania re: the alcohol thing--you should have been there for the political discussion that erupted thanks to my smart a## husband!

 

[DisneyMom5]

Hiya MomofMany!

I never thought about putting the ornaments in a glass bowl ... I bet that would have been really pretty. Funny thing happened on Christmas day - my eldest nephew Dylan was over and he saw them on the table that we'd loaded down with snackables and thought they were spun sugar. It's a good thing he didn't try to eat one.

As for my secret on the cake ... I just make sure that the pan is really well greased and floured. I also sprinkle in some of the dry cake ingredients into the flour used to coat the pan so the cake doesn't come out looking "ghostly." But that's it ... I don't do anything else (nor does Jay when I ask him nicely to take care of the pan for me while I'm alternating wet and dry ingredients and a handmixer ... ).

Have a good day and enjoy your upcoming Christmas!

My dd5 ate a glass ornament when she was around 18 months. We still can't figure out why she thought it was a good idea to take a big bite out of it. It was my dd14's Piglet ornament too! LOL It didn't hurt her, it was some sort of non-sharp glass (???).

I am just a bundt cake idiot. [I also cannot hard boil an egg to save my life!]
Good thing I can cook other things.

Jay sounds talented. I'm teaching my boys to cook. I want their future wives to love me.

 

[oybolshoi]

Beautiful Christmas pics! Everything looked so good--you must sit by the oven with a book to make sure nothing burns.

I am off to make your asparagus bundles this morning for our party at my former boss' house. This is my favorite get-together of the whole season!(other than my parents' of course) Brenda, I have to say the milk punch was a HUGE hit! We made two batches for Christmas Eve and had one glass left the next day, which my mom called dibs on. I have never seen her drink two glasses of anything alcoholic, but she did of this!

And to Tatania re: the alcohol thing--you should have been there for the political discussion that erupted thanks to my smart a## husband!

BOOYAH!

I was wondering how your family reacted to the milk punch - I'm really glad to hear that everyone enjoyed it. Ours is gone ... Jay and I finished the last of it last night. We would have wiped it out Thursday night but we were all drinking impromptu power-nog instead. Power-nog, by the way, is what we started calling the Oberweis eggnog once I mixed in some whisky ... is there anything whisky can't do?

I hope you have a great time at your work gathering - the asparagus bundles are tasty so hopefuly you'll have great party success with them.

And since our kitchen and great room are so close to each other I actually play on my laptop while keeping my nose turned toward the kitchen ... that's how I try to keep things from over-cooking. And after several years of crispy mistakes I realized that using dark baking pans seems to yield faster baking results so I adjust my cooking times to allow for that. Weird, huh?

 

[oybolshoi]

My dd5 ate a glass ornament when she was around 18 months. We still can't figure out why she thought it was a good idea to take a big bite out of it. It was my dd14's Piglet ornament too! LOL It didn't hurt her, it was some sort of non-sharp glass (???).

I am just a bundt cake idiot. [I also cannot hard boil an egg to save my life!]
Good thing I can cook other things.

Jay sounds talented. I'm teaching my boys to cook. I want their future wives to love me.

Jay cooks well because his mom didn't teach him to cook.

 

[oybolshoi]

Unrelated post ... just rambling ...

You guys want to know just how stupid the weather in Stinktown can be?

Last Sunday we had a high temperature of 18 degrees with a low of 3 degrees. As the week has progressed we've been on the receiving end of warmer temperatures and lots of rain as all these winter storms move to the north, south, and east of us. And now ... six days after a low of 3 degrees we are sitting at 67 degrees with a tornado and severe thunderstorm watch until noon.

Winter thunderstorms are the worst ... very unpredictable. Some of the worst tornado damage we've ever seen has come from twister touchdowns in December and January.

Here's what we local yokels say about it all: Don't like the weather in St. Louis? Wait fifteen minutes and it will change.

Have a good weekend everyone ... I'm going to get me some more coffee and talk Jay into diving into wii world.