Merry Christmas - Christmas Eve 2007

Yesterday was a very nice day. As I mentioned in the last post, we had planned to spend the day much like we did on our first Christmas in DC by ourselves. And we did.

Our first stop was the ice rink just outside the National Gallery of Art . It was pretty crowded with skaters and we enjoyed watching everyone having fun. Although Jim really wanted to see the Zamboni. After we finished watching the skaters, we headed over to the museum to see the Edward Hopper exhibit. Nighthawks is one of his most famous paintings and it was really something to see it for real.

Once we were done with that we headed towards the National Christmas tree.....but wait! They were clearing the ice rink.....could it be? Yes!! They were bringing out the Zamboni. Jim's inner child took over so I told him to go on and run ahead, I'd catch up. Camera in hand, he trotted off. He cracks me up sometimes. We sat on the cold ledge of the ice rink while the Zamboni driver smoothed out the ice. When he was finally done the skaters were chomping at the bit to get back on the ice. After watching them resume skating we got up to continue our stroll to see the tree.

We arrived at the tree just as the sun began to set. Jim took this picture of the back of the White House. I love how he caught the last rays of sun reflecting off the building. He also took this one of the Washington Monument.
Then we turned our focus on the National Christmas Tree and all the little state trees that surround it. The National Tree is a live tree planted in the 1970's and now stands just over 41 feet in height.Both of us are from Tennessee so we took this shot of the Tennessee State tree decorated with purple iris, the state flower.Now remember be mentioning that we sat on the cold ledge of ice rink? Well, my ass was still frozen from it so I headed over to the Yule Log, actually a huge pit filled with huge logs and very toasty warm. A few minutes facing the fire then a few minutes with my back facing the warmth and I felt much better.By now the sun was set, the full moon on the rise and we had dinner reservations at Corduroy waiting for us. It was about a 7 block walk and I debated taking a cab since I was a little tired. After spending 4 weeks laid up with my neck problems, I wasn't completely back up to par. But after a few minutes rest on a bench in front of the White House I decided to walk. It was a nice evening, the streets weren't crowded and we took our time.

We arrived at Corduroy with enough spare time to enjoy a pre-dinner drink. Champagne for me and Murphy's Stout for Jim. (Oh, ok, we had two each). By the time our glasses were empty it was time for dinner. My favorite appetizer of all on the menu is the lobster salad with basil oil. OMG it's so good. Diced lobster meat mixed topped with micro greens and drizzled with basil oil. The only other appetizers that tempt me are the soups which change seasonally or the Salad of Beets, Baby Carrots and Goat Cheese.

Since we were both ordering seafood as our entrees, we selected a bottle of Aubry Brut Champagne to go with it. Wonderful stuff and like most of the wine list at Corduroy, the mark up isn't bad at all.

Jim selected the Striped Bass served with kabocha squash seasoned with Thai spices. The bass, as always, was cooked to perfection. The squash was very tasty and had a nice light bite of heat to it from the Thai seasoning. I ordered my favorite entree, Seared Sea Scallops, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Chardonnay sauce. Sweet delicious scallops each sitting atop a pillow of the smoothest, creamiest garlic mashed potatoes ever and surrounded by the rich, tasty Chardonnay sauce and mushrooms. It's heaven on a plate.Too full for dessert, we ask Katt, our server extraordinaire, for our bill and wished her a Merry Christmas. We were full, happy and tired. It was a great way to spend Christmas Eve together. After we got home we spent a little bit watching TV then went to bed. I slept like a rock and don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.

Merry Christmas everyone. Tomorrow I'll post about our Christmas dinner, roasted capon with saffron and lemon. I'll just say this much tonight, *brpp* it was delicious.

Christmas Eve Memories

Today Jim and I will spend the day like we did several years ago. We will be spending the holiday in DC by ourselves and the memory of our first Christmas Eve up here is one of my most favorite memories. If I could have planned a perfect Christmas Eve, that day would be it.

Like I said, several years ago, Jim and I spent Christmas here in DC by ourselves. It was the first time either one of us wouldn't be with our family for the holiday. I had to work on Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas so going home to be with our families wasn't going to happen. While we were sad about not seeing everyone, we were also looking forward to spending the holiday just by ourselves. We were pretty much still newlyweds having only been married for a year and a half.

The library closed at 1:00 that day and Jim was going to take off at 2:00. We planned to meet at the Botanic Gardens near the US Capital and stroll around the lush tropical foliage before heading out for a late lunch. After admiring all the beautiful plants, we went outside and it started snowing, awwwww. Only dressed in a sweater, I was cold but totally enjoying strolling arm in arm with Jim as we walked to Red Sage for lunch (Red Sage sadly closed recently). As we ate lunch we looked out the window as the snow continued to fall, gently coating awnings of the buildings across the street. When we were finished eating we walked a few blocks over to the National Christmas Tree. Still snowing, we slip-slided our way around the tree, me huddled close to Jim because I was freezing. After admiring the tree as well as all the little state trees that ring the big one, we headed to the nearest Metro station and headed home. Once there, we warmed up and sat in the living room with the Christmas tree lights on. It will always be my favorite Christmas Eve.

Today, we will head out to the National Gallery of Art to see the Edward Hopper exhibit then walk down the National Mall to see the National Christmas tree. After that we'll meet a few friends at our favorite restaurant, Corduroy, for a holiday drink or two then dinner in the dining room afterwards.

Christmas in Knoxville (Otherwise known as Foodfest)

Foodfest? Yes, it seems all we did while in Knoxville with my family was eat! The joys of having so many good cooks in the family is lots of good food when we all get together.

On Christmas Eve we went to my Aunt Marie's place. She lives one block over from my parents in my grandmother's old house. She put together a beautiful spread that included beef on crusty bread with two sauces, swedish meatballs, a spiral cut ham, shrimp, little quiches, crab rangoons, and a chicken stew that you ladled over a big biscuit. It was all wonderful and everyone had a good time. Especially one of her three dogs. The little thief was able to get his nose at table level and stole several pieces of beef off the platter before we caught him. Jim and I wanted to drive around and look at the Christmas lights but were too pooped so we just went back to my parents house and crashed.

On Christmas day we had a nice breakfast then had some snacks during the afternoon as we waited for everyone to gather at my parent's house to open gifts. After we unwrapped our gifts, mom started to get dinner on the table. And some of you may already know what my family's traditional Christmas dinner is......Lasagna. Let me just say that it was better than I ever made. Mom's the pro, I am the apprentice. One day I will make lasagna as good as hers.....one day......

And if that wasn't enough, a couple of hours later she brought out dessert. A dark chocolate pie topped with homemade whipped cream. Oh.....my..... It was rich, creamy, and absolutely delicious. Needless to say, everyone waddled home that night. And yet, we still had two more family dinners to go through!

The next night we gathered at my brother's house for dinner. He had some snacks for everyone to nibble on before dinner. On the menu a pork roast with pepper and cranberries and risotto. My brother made the roast and I did the risotto. Add in a salad, some homemade bread and we had some good eats. And for dessert, creme brulee. *burp*

For lunch on Wednesday we took my nephew Steven for his much anticipated sushi. My brother met us at the restaurant and I think we all had gills by the time we were done.

Finally on Wednesday night we ended the foodfest with one of my favorite dishes, sauerbraten and kartoffelkloesse (potato dumplings). YUM! Mom only makes this once every few years because it's such so labor intensive. You basically have to brine the meat in a water and vinegar solution for a few days. Then on the day you're going to prepare dinner you remove the meat from the brine and brown it on all sides. Then you stew it for several hours. In the meantime you make the potato dumplings. You have to boil the peeled potatoes the put them through a ricer......don't just mash them. Then you add some egg and some flour to the mix. Mom also adds a little surprise in the center....homemade croutons cooked with some onion and butter. Now this is the tricky part. You get a big pot of salted water to a rolling boil then add the dumplings, cover the pot and DO NOT open it for 20 minutes......otherwise you wind up with mush which is what happened to mom. The first batch never came together so we had to start all over again. After several frustrating hours, I took over forming the dumplings and gave her a glass of wine. And we held our breath as we waited for the second batch to cook. Thankfully they held together. It was only later that night that she realized that she didn't rice the potatoes which was why the first batch of dumplings just fall apart. This was the one meal we forgot to get pictures of but let me tell you, it was so good!

We followed it up with a dessert that started out as some cookies that flopped. Mom tried to make a black and white cookie recipe from Food TV but they were too flat and not cakey enough. She was prepared to toss them but I said we could salvage them by making a trifle with them. I broke up the cookies and layered them with some vanilla pudding and frozen strawberries. It was actually a very nice light dessert. And a refreshing way to end to feeding frenzy.

We all had a great time although it seemed to go by too fast. And we were all full.

Bah Humbug!

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. I don't think Sophie was too happy with me when I put these antlers on her and started taking pictures. What do you think?

Merry Christmas!

And don't forget to head over to Sweetnicks tonight for some more holiday hounds for her weekly round up of Weekend Dog Blogging.

Christmas Dinner

A few hours after coming home from our dim sum lunch, I started putting together the lasagna and creme brulee. I got the lasagna assembled and put in the fridge where it would stay until it was time for the oven. Next I started on the creme brulee, and I must confess, it was not made from scratch. I used a mix that I bought in the store. But to my surprise, it was really good! And so easy to make. Once that was done I set the table then put my feet up, I was pooped.

Around 6, I fired up the oven to 325 and put in the lasagna and let it get all gooey and bubbly. At 7:30 it was time to eat and we were hungry. So much so that we completely forgot to get a picture of the lasagna when I took it out of the oven!
So Biscuit Boy grabbed the camera (with the new macro lens he gave me for Christmas) and quick took a picture of his plate then went into the kitchen and snapped a shot of the leftovers in the pan.

So how did it taste? Delicious. Once we all got our plates fixed table got very quiet with only the clinking of silverware against plates and the occasional grunt of pleasure to be heard. When we finally finished, I cleared the plates and sat for a little bit to let dinner settle. Then we decided it was time for dessert. Biscuit Boy grabbed my creme brulee iron and handed his brother the camera.
Hey, wait a minute.....those are my new toys! I somehow got crowded out of all the action! Ugh! Well at least I wouldn't have to worry about me setting the house on fire. Biscuit Boy would get the credit if that happened.
So I sat back and watched the boys play in the kitchen. You can see the smoke coming off the creme brulee in the picture above. And just how did the new creme brulee iron work?
Well, for the first two brulees, it worked like a charm. But after that things got a little messy, and charred. The directions said to heat the iron for 5-10 minutes and that it should be hot enough to caramelize three brulees. We didn't find that to be the case.
Brulee number three (the one in the upper right corner) got a little charred and the sugar started to stick to the iron. Biscuit Boy put the iron back on the burner and tried to reheat it. When he tried to caramelize the last two brulees the sugar burned almost immediately. The smell of burned sugar filled the kitchen. Since the last two were going to be mine and his anyway, we could still serve the pretty ones to the in-laws. The brulees were smooth, creamy and very tasty. If I hadn't told anyone they were from a pre-made mix, nobody would have known the difference. Even the dogs were enjoying the last little bits from our bowls.
This is Java. He's my in-laws Boston Terrier. Traveling with him was George, my brother-in-law's miniature Schnauzer. Java just couldn't stand the wait for a bowl to lick so he did his best to bring to our attention. And it worked. While Biscuit Pup and George got to lick our finished bowls clean, Java got a spoonful all to himself.
Ah, creme brulee heaven.

MERRY CHRISTMASFrom all the Biscuits.
(Biscuit Girl, Biscuit Boy and Biscuit Pup)

Oh Deer!

My nephew and I decorated the tree today (Finally!). As we merrily listened to Christmas music, we carefully unwrapped each ornament, stood back from the tree and looked for the perfect spot to place it. All was going well, until.........

I handed my nephew Rudolph. He looked at the tree and found the perfect spot and hung the ornament.......in more ways than one. As he stepped back from the tree, it hit us at the same time.....Rudolph was one HAPPY reindeer! And I don't think it was his nose that Santa used to guide his sleigh either.










Now I should have been the adult and not blinked an eye, but we both looked up at each other and started snickering. Biscuit Boy, who had been working on my computer, turned around and asked what was so funny. I replied, we have an anatomically correct reindeer. He just shook his head and turned around. But you could see his shoulders shaking as he tried not to laugh out loud.

And the winner is.....................

Lasagna.

After intense negotiations with Biscuit Boy, we have decided to make Lasagna for Christmas dinner. Among the contenders were the infamous Barbacoa, Lasagna, Osso Buco, or Peking Duck from Mark's Duck House. All were worthy of being our dinner choice but in the end, lasagna seemed to be the easiest one to make (or in the case of the Peking duck, to pick up).

The dinner menu is now complete. Salad, Lasagna, Meatballs and garlic bread and Creme Brulee for dessert. I only have to decide which kind of creme brulee to make. Will it be regular, chocolate, pumpkin or cappuccino? You'll just have to check back after Christmas to find out.

For now, I still have too much else to do before deciding which flavor to make. We have a Christmas tree but haven't decorated it yet, I still have to make cookies, Biscuit Boy still needs to make him famous Bourbon Balls and we have to get this house cleaned up!

My nephew, a.k.a. "Eel Boy" or "Unagi Man" is here for a few days to visit. We're going to finish his gift shopping today then go out for sushi for dinner. That's where his nicknames come from. When he was 11 or 12, we fed him sushi for the first time. He absolutely loved the eel. Thus he was called Eel boy. Now that he's nearly 20, I told him it was time he became Unagi Man.

Thankfully we know of a great sushi place that has $1.00 to $1.75 a piece sushi because this kid...I mean, young man, can pack the stuff away. We kid him about setting him in front of the sushi chef and having sushi tossed to him until he pops (or our money runs out). I think I'll feed him a nice big lunch today...hehe