We’re hosting friendsmas this year with a couple of close friends who don’t have family nearby - one is bringing a tenderloin over that I will be throwing into the sous vide and I volunteered for some sides and an apple galette.
Really hoping things turn out well: I made green bean casserole from scratch because half the company is lactase-deficient, Mr Gremlin requested stuffing (thank goodness I always keep a box on hand for emergencies), and we’re going to be putting out a board of cheese and snacks to nosh on while things cook. Another friend is bringing a squash and sweet potato rosti that should be fabulous. I’m so excited to eat good food and drink good wine tomorrow with good company! Happy holidays, everyone.
The super reliable pie crust recipe I’ve been using for years failed me today. Two apple pies to make - one for the neighbor with (mild) Covid - and it fails. It came out of the fridge from its overnight chill weeping moisture, which has never happened before. No changes to any of the ingredients.
I had a box of Trader Joe’s puff pastry in the freezer, so I subbed that for pie crust, and the results are … passable, I suppose.
We had Christmas lunch at mum and dad’s, which was bittersweet. My sister and her youngest got a “you’ve had a contact” text yesterday and couldn’t make it, which was especially hard as mum’s in palliative care at home and we weren’t honestly expecting her to be here for it. It was the first Christmas where two of my kids bought partners which meant she got to see the grandkids grown up.
To make it easier for dad we bought in all the food, and I bought my usual Christmas dishes and proteins.
My “usual” Christmas efforts are gougères and a salad:
Totally dig your darkroom clock timer! Also I think I grew up on this food. Velveeta processed cheese for the win! The only cheese I remember from childhood.
More gratuitous apple galette pictures. What can I say, it’s one of my favorites! I’m going to try and branch out a little bit in the new year, but it’s hard to argue with a classic.
This is the “famous” Ro-Tel queso dip, made from 2 cans Ro-Tel and 32oz Velveeta, melted, traditionally scooped up with Fritos. Some folks add crumbled cooked sausage, but I don’t.
The recipes are pretty simple, and it’s a beautiful tome. It has one-page write-ups of different tribal customs, a front-section about the Native American pantry, and beautiful photography throughout.
The most tempting recipes so far are the ones for rabbit, which I normally wouldn’t even think of.
One thing I wish it included is a map of the tribes included.
This year, I made cookie boxes for family and friends.
In an attempt to look less, um, rustic, I “elevated” the cookies, toasting pecans for the teacakes, making macarons instead of jammy dodgers, and adding a touch of almond extract to the pressed cookies.
The (weirdly psychedelicly expanded) checkerboards were a step too far, in retrospect.
I also gave in to decorating with royal icing because of watching a video by Dessert Person Claire Saffitz, and later that day seeing fancy sprinkles in the middle aisle of Aldi.
Apparently, I have been ignoring requests for sugar cookies with royal icing for over 25 years, mostly because it’s the one cookie I hated making and didn’t particularly enjoy eating, so I never really paid attention to how much the husband enjoyed them. I still hate making sugar cookies, so I supersized the speckulaas spice refrigerator cookies and iced them. This is the kitchen chaos during that decorating spree. And he ate all the cookies on that rack in two days.
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