So...whats for dinner?

Carrie - more, much more.  And some of the same areas are bigger.   Not a pretty scene at all!

Michelle. I, too, hope the carbo kicks cancer's ass. ((HUGS))

Eric

(((((Michelle)))))) I am so sorry. Also hoping the carboplatin is a big, mean grinch. I really hate this f}#%*ng disease. Not fair at all. I am always thinking of you and sending you positive thoughts.



Debbie and Apple, hoping things are good with you too.



Laurie, enjoy the pageant! I really miss those days.

Well I am grateful that it is rain here instead of snow, but geez that's a lot of rain.



Had a Christmas lunch in work yesterday. They got sausage, peppers and onions (we're good), meatballs (I am a meatball snob, I only like mine, they were yucky), and baked ziti. Then everyone brought something, there are only 30 people there. I brought fruit salad, there was a good pasta salad and seafood salad, and some pretty easy dips. There was some home made cookies and one home made pie. Other than that surprisingly, everything was store bought. They were good, there were cannoli, cake, cupcakes, soft pretzels, egg nog, sodas and carrot cake. It says something about all of our hectic lives I think. Hoping to make some home made cookies tomorrow. My DD is 15, and I want her to remember always making them for Christmas.

Thank you all for your ideas about scaling back Christmas, but that isn't going to happen this year. We are a small group this year so I have to take individual tastes into consideration. The white bean chili for example could not be eaten by at least three people. I would be more likely to get really good Chinese take out! But that isn't happening. I have dropped the soup, and the ravioli starter already. The dessert is being outsourced to my daughter. [That girl has a way with sugar and butter.]

If I don't feel better on the 26th, I will call my endo and tough it out before then.

Tonight my husband and I will decorate the tree and wrap the presents together. I am making some pizzas. We will have a fire going in the fireplace and some Christmas music playing. We both felt that we needed to reserve some time together and try to get into what is called the "Christmas spirit." I have decided that as of today, I am on vacation. My clients have all been taken care of, and I need to take care of myself for a few days.

*susan*

Forgot to respond to SpecialK.  Sure hope your appetite improves so that you can enjoy the Christmas food with your family.

(((Michelle))), that's a pretty crappy Christmas present! Really hoping your new TX does the job.



Well, the casino outing wasn't the money making venture I'd hoped for, but the meal was outstanding. I managed to snag some lamb shanks so dinner is Julia child's lamb shanks and white beans. Can't wait!

Auntie, I love lamb shanks.  Such a good winter meal.

Susan, for a tired person, that's a very ambitious menu!  So elegant compared to my eclectic "down home" collection of dishes like German potato salad, creamed spinach, sausage cornbread dressing, shrimp mold, baked sweet potatoes and more.  If Thanksgiving was excessive for carbs, Christmas dinner will be worse.  And we'll have two pork meats, fresh pork roast stuffed with garlic, green onions and cayenne and a boiled ham, the kind that is completely covered with skin.  The ham is my mother's contribution.  She has no concept of a balanced menu and never did.  It was common when I was growing up to have round steak with gravy over white rice, potato salad and maybe corn on the cob! 

The game plan at holiday meals with my family is to put a lot of dishes out there so that everybody finds something to eat.  The children are particularly picky and eat a very limited variety of foods, mainly chicken and something with ground beef.  If you really wanted to make them happy, you'd just set out a bucket of bought fried chicken.  Their main interest will be the presents under the Christmas tree. 

My mother turns 90 on Dec. 27th and 5 of her 6 children and spouses will be present.  Plus some grandkids and greatgrandkids.  We should have a nice time and everybody will have departed by 3 or 4 pm.  Oh, a non-alcoholic gathering, too.  My niece and her boyfriend have alcohol and drug abuse issues and I would feel uncomfortable having anyone drink around them. 

Oh boy, whose house to go to -- Carole's or Susan's? Your dinners sound fantastic!

Road trip! I am going to both. You are making my mouth water.



I am baking toll house and butter cookies with my DD tomorrow. Hope I don't burn any. My two sisters and my brother, my nieces and nephew and in laws are coming over for Christmas Eve. I am making hot sausage, meatballs, baked ziti and a salad. We'll have a few cheeses and crackers and some frozen hors d'ouvers from Costco. Dessert will be the cookies and a delicious chocolate tort cheesecake also from Costco. Hopefully no one sees Susan orCarole's menu and heads there instead.



I know what you mean about the picky eaters Carol. I don't care any more. It is way too hard to please everyone. My DD and niece don't eat red meat. My DD won't eat anything with tomato sauce. My MIL's significant other can't eat a whole list of things because of kidney stones. Some people won't eat seafood. I say the heck with it. Eat the hors d'ouvers if you don't want the sausage, meatballs or ziti.

Lacey,

This IS what paring back looks like! I have another four seats at the table if any of your threats become reality. Tonight I deseeded and thinly sliced 4 lbs of Meyer lemons for marmalade. Should have done this weeks ago. My mother would pout if there wasn't a jar of the stuff under the tree for her. Tomorrow I need to make beef stock for the au jus, make some spiced pecans and do some work for a client. Then on Sunday it will get serious.

Our tree decorating "date" didn't get anything on the tree. But as we sat by the fire, I was able to wrap all the stocking gifts. I am horrified to see how little I have for my mother. She is the biggest kid in the room on Christmas. Clearly, I will need to make a trip out of the house tomorrow. I shudder at the thought. My plan B may be calling the kid who lives in downtown Andover, and ask her to walk around and find amusing items.

Eric, will you share you menu with us?

*susan*

Dry aging is simple. You wash the meat, wrap it in cheesecloth or a really clean lint-free kitchen towel, put it on a rack over a pan, and put it in the fridge. Every day, you pull off the cloth and rewrap. 21 days is optimal, 4 days though gets you a lot of flavor. Pull the meat out about 5 hours before cooking to bring to room temp, season, and cook.

Search for Alton Brown's "method" at foodnetwork [though there are lots of other posts, his is well written] if you want to read up on this approach.

*susan*

All the talk of "stocking stuffers."  Do you actually stuff stockings?  

DH and I usually just buy one "token" present for each other because we prefer to pick out for ourselves any item that might be expensive.  And we buy whatever we want and can afford throughout the year.  I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he said, "A spindle sander."  He knows the exact model and brand.  I wouldn't dream of buying a major tool for his workshop.  He asked me what I wanted, and I couldn't think of anything I'd want him to pick out!  Santa is long gone from our house!

Here's a true Christmas anecdote.  My niece who is quite poor and has three children (9, 7, 3) became very anxious (she has mental health issues, too) because her children were wanting Santa to bring expensive presents that she knew she couldn't afford.  She took the 9-yr-old aside and explained that there really wasn't a Santa Claus.  Parents buy the presents.  Her son, who is a bright boy, admitted that his class was about 50-50, some not believing in Santa and some still believing.  He said he had been inclined to believe because he knew his mom couldn't have bought the presents he and his sisters had received.  And, of course, she couldn't have.  Most years I was secret Santa along with other members of my family.  Last year a company played Santa to my niece's kids.

 I'm ambivalent about fostering the Santa myth other than as a nice story.  What do you moms and dad think?

Santa is REAL! We believe~~!! I will not be robbed nor will my child of magical thinking for as long as possible. I have such wonderful memories of Santa, reindeer and all the fun of creating illusion. 

I had surgery on the 14th and am still hurting from that but on the mend. I'm not sure what to make for xmas day and xmas ever. My DH got up this morning and went shopping before I could get up so I am not having much choice in what gets bought. He used a list I had started, thought he was doing me a favor by letting me sleep. Arg. I can't drive because of med and I have trouble still with the arm so not safe.

We have hams but I need some recipe ideas. Everything you all are making sounds so good. I wish I could get it together. I haven't even opened all the mail yet. Both DH and DD have been sick too and I've been hiding from them. I'm also recovering from pneumonia so with the surgery I just do not want to get sick again. I need to get stronger.

Any ideas for simple I could make.? In-laws are coming over. House is a mess. 

I'm trying to find a few minutes of uniterrupted time to type here. I keep geting paged.  "Eric..please report to the...." type of thing. 

Turkey and stuffing, green beans, dinner rolls, fruit salad, dinner salad, sweet potatoes, "regular" potatoes, squash and a favorite of mine that my mom used to make (equal amounts of canned crushed pineapple, canned mandarine oranges, sour cream and shredded coconut.  The juice is removed from the fruit cans before mixing together and then enough juice is added back in to make it "not dry").  Tomorrow,  if I can find some time, make a pecan pie.  It's my mom's "absolute favorite in all the world" pie.  MIL is going to bring some stuff too, so the table should be groaning before we are groaning... :-)

Eric