Blog Catch-Up

Not ketchup. What with various travellings about and separations and Things That Must Be Done, the blog has fallen into abeyance. We thought we had lost all the notes for Christmas. But a miracle and we found them again. However, since reinsertion into a daily blog is a Maj. Payne, we have to add them all here in blog-reverse order. So now go the end and read from the bottom up, as always).

New Year's Eve Soletimboccas
Thursday 31 December
The folded kind, using little soles folded over a slice of lox, then dipped in breadcrumbs and fried. When they were done, deglazed the pan with wine and added cream and two cubes of garden tarragon that Barbara had chopped with oil and frozen.

Big old Steak with Horseradish Cream
Wednesday 30 December
Rubbed the steak with Worcestershire, and dusted it with ground herbs. Then a quick deglaze + horseradish + cream. Romaine salad with pseudo-Caesar dressing and oven croutons on the side.

Penne Carbonara
Tuesday 29 December
Gotta use up that bacon.

Venison Medallions with Sweet Cherry Sauce and Mashed Turnips
Monday 28 December
David's venison as a Christmas gift. Bacon in the sauce, with Marsala, and a tub of frozen stoned (dude!) cherries, which one of the Tytus Fellows had left in the Classics Dept. communal fridge. Cream in Turnips.

Penne with Asparagus and Lemon Cream
Sunday 27 December
Back to Cincinnati, so a simple dish on arrival.

Boxing Day Shepherd's Pie
Saturday 26 December
Venison-steward's Pie? for 20 or so. Made with David's V-burger, a chopped bagful of tiny carrots, some sweet onions, a small can of tomato sauce, and lots of fresh sage, plus dried rosemary, oregano, and allspice. Topped with mashed potatoes, and served with a romaine salad and croutons made with Holt's breadwreath.

Christmas Feast
Friday 25 December
Dinner was two turkeys, brined, barded with bacon, and cooked for hours in the outdoor smoker. They were tender and savory. There was also sausage dressing, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, cream gravy with sage, two kinds of cranberry sauce, green beans with country ham, onions, and almonds, yeast rolls, and a strange sort of broccoli salad with white dressing and raisins (not my favorite, but many liked it). And this is NOTHING compared to the three buffetsfull of desserts that are lined up. Holt baked two kinds of biscotti (cappuccino, and cranberry and pistachio for the red and green colors) and a Kentucky nutcake to bring down. There are family candy specialties, like homemade caramels and Martha Washingtons and something called puppy chow that's amazingly sweet, every kind of brittle and even homemade marshmallows. There were pumpkin pies and pecan pies and fudge pies. After an afternoon dinner, a couple of slices of these, covered with whipped cream, around 9 PM, went down fine.

Becky's Famous Gnocchi
Thursday 24 December
With spinach and sausage, now a Christmas tradition. So tasty. Along with Holt's tomato and spinach bread wreath—two Italian breads (from Carol Fields), one green one red, braided into challah-oid circle, and a salad.

JoLinn's Mexican Feast
Wednesday 23 December
Drive down to TN. We're welcomed by warming tortilla soup, guacamole, spicy dip, salsa and chips - for seventeen people.

Pork Scallopine with artichokes
Tuesday 22 December
Return to Cincinnati. Digging stuff out of the freezer.
It's wonderful to be able to use a two-person-size packet of lovely pork medallions.