Butter Makes It Good...

I love the Anthony Bourdin quote that the difference between your cooking and restaurant cooking is butter and shallots.

Definitely proved that one out this evening, when I made one of the best 30-minute meals ever, courtesy not of the over-perky Rachel Ray but of Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle & Simone Beck.

Let me back up a moment. 

My mind has been on food even more than ever the past week or so...putting together the menu for the annual Christmas feast with the extended familia los G's, reading this fun book that my office friend loaned me: The United States of Arugula: The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution (how can you resist a title like that?!), then finally watching Julie & Julia (which I received for Christmas) on Sunday night. 

So I *had* to crack open our copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and cook from it this evening. And I made the most glorious butter-seared oven-roasted chicken breasts in mushroom-shallot-cream sauce with baby peas, followed by the over-the-top Jacques Torres hot chocolate that Santa gave me (with a shot of peppermint schnapps for good measure). Pretty simple but just over-the-top, lick-the-plate good. And I even improvised a bit (cognac instead of wine and duck stock instead of 

And duck was cheap, so I bought one of those and will try that tomorrow or Thursday night, perhaps with cherries. And carrots, or carrot & fennel soup, and little french green beans, and chocolate puff pastry, and...ooh, boy, I can see I'm going to have to make good on that whole I-must-start-exercising thing.

Christmas Dinner Update

Dinner was delicious, and we did a lot of the prep work the day before, which worked out well. There were 16 adults and 4 kids, and not TOO many leftovers.

We did the fresh ham (a 15-pounder!), not the Porchetta, although I'd still like to try that some time. The ham was really awesome.

Doubled the kale, and tripled the green beans, although probably double would have been fine. Did between 1.5x and 2x on the corn pudding; was a bit over there as well, and on the salad (full head of iceberg and two hearts of romaine with four carrots and a bunch of radishes).

Made TWO ice cream cakes (which was definitely one too many, as usual with our desserts):

• one with crumbled pecan sandies in vanilla ice cream with a cajeta drizzle and canela-brown sugar whipped cream, and 
• one with crushed peppermint candies in vanilla ice cream with a hot fudge drizzle and peppermint whipped cream. 

Shockingly, the cinnamon-caramel was the clear winner in the taste test, even for me.

Christmas Dinner

I'm posting this a bit early (still a toss-up on the entree, depending on what the butcher says is available), but I want all the recipe links at my fingertips no matter where I am:

• Cocktails & kiddie sparklers using the Lavender Lemon Drop and Mojito from modmix
• Texas Caviar (Black Eyed Peas) with tortilla chips (or as a salad with the meal)
• Fresh Ham with Citrus Rum Glaze OR Porchetta (Pork Shoulder) with Roasted Fingerlings
• Corn Pudding
• Quick Cooked Greens (probably the garlic & red pepper flakes variation)
• Green Beans with Bacon & Onions (might skip if we do the Porchetta)
• Crunchy Salad of Iceberg, Romaine, Carrots & Radishes with homemade French Dressing
• Peppermint Chocolate Ice Cream Cake

Looking forward to the final decision!

Too sweet!

So I'm talking to G-man on the phone, and I can hear the Juj playing with his cousins in the background.

You wanna talk to him?

Sure, if he wants.

A short conversation ensues, during which I tease Juj about how bored he must be in San Antonio, with nothing to do but stare at the walls.  (He's really been to a pops concert and his cousin's basketball game and had a sleep-over with the aunties and another with his cousin.) Then he says, without any tearfulness or anything, but I can tell he is serious...

Don't talk to me because it makes me want to give you a hug.

Really! Good thing I'll be there in person soon!

Si-i-lent Night

All is calm.

G-man and the Juj took off for S.A. today, and I took a nap.  A little sad not to go with them, since I need to do a couple more days of work to close out the year, but it's a lovely change of pace.  I'll have to take J off somewhere myself some weekend so that the hub can experience this.

And now the cats and I are going to enjoy a quiet evening in front of the fire...

Babies & booze

Forgot to mention that this Saturday saw the delivery of my new baby cousin twins, Joey & Nevi!  (Congrats to Carrie & John AND the proud grandparents; thought Aunt Becki & Uncle Joe might burst from joy!)

And wanted to add a recipe for my current favorite nightcap I made up, the Peppermint Pillow:

• one shot each peppermint schnapps & vanilla vodka in a coffee cup (eyeball it, as Rachel Ray sez)
• top with marshmallows (two big ones cut in half, although a little handful of small ones would probably be good, too)
• add a piece of candy cane, since you have leftovers from decorating the tree (at least I do!)
• fill the cup with milk
• microwave for 90 seconds, so it gets good & hot and the marshmallows puff up
• top with a shot of whipped cream from a can, since you bought too much at Costco (oops, am I projecting again?)

The faster I go, the behinder I get...

Actually, I'm not nearly as stressed out as I can be at this time of year.  G-man has been taking care of all the holiday shopping (reminds me that I really am thankful I married a man who likes to shop!), we've not really done much entertaining (didn't even cook Sunday dinner this week), have only been to one holiday show (Look Out! Science is Coming!)

Unfortunately, the Juj came down with something last night (basically a heavy duty cold, I think); woke me up at 3 AM to say "I think I have a fever" and he was right. Pretty droopy today, but did finally seem to get his appetite back somewhat in the evening, when I made him a scrambled egg with cheese for "lunch" around 4:30 or 5, and then he ate the delicious chicken enchiladas that G-man and Unca Ron brought us back from Cowboy Chicken a bit later.

A day spent on the couch did allow us to catch up on some  movies we'd missed in the theatres, including Up which was great although it did make me cry a lot. ;-)

What else? Well, the tree is now fully decorated, the washer has been replaced (this has not been a great year for appliances for us, although the upside is that most all have either been repaired or replaced at this point), there are Nutcrackers on the mantel and a Nativity on the china cabinet, and I even mailed out some Christmas cards.

And last Sunday, we had a yummy pre-Christmas dinner with Ron & Elsa of:

• Spinach Salad with blue cheese & leftover spicy pepitas
• Prosciutto Standing Rib Roast with Figs
• Broccoli
• Baked Pears with amaretti cookies

So really, I just need to count my blessings, which are MANY, and get on with it!

Family fun

Today we had a fairly lazy morning, although I did get up and get a yummy breakfast from the Chick-Fil-A drive-through (thank goodness it's closed Sunday and not on my way on weekdays!). In the afternoon, we got a tree, which is now up and lit and waiting for further decor, thanks to the G-man.

And we picked up a gingerbread house kit (prebaked but I did have to erect the house myself) which Julian and I decorated, and then "hid" in the oven to dry, in order to avoid having the cats eat it. I guess December can officially start now!

Snow in Dallas? On December 2nd?!

Well, it didn't snow long, and it didn't stay, but I do have photographic proof of this wacky phenomenon.