Christmas menu
Interspersed with scrabulous moves and phonecalls, Julian and I spent Christmas day cooking and feasting.
THE MENU that emerged at a very slow pace, over seven hours was this:
Bloody Mary
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A walk on soft moss in the blazing winter sun
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Six Gillardeau oysters
Champagne
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Roasted langoustines with a fennel, lemon and chili salsa.
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Foie gras on toast
Saussignac, Chateau Court les Mûts 2004
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Velouté of Cardoons and Chestnuts
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Roast venison, with red wine sauce and chanterelles.
Roasted potatoes with sage and pancetta
Green cabbage
Chateauneuf du Pape, Domaine de Brousset 2004
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Bread and butter pudding.
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A good sob on the sofa in front of the film 'Once'.
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What did you have?
posted by ruth at 9:49 AM
6 Comments:
That sounds divine.
We had roasted prime rib with scalloped potatoes and Merlot, a traditional American green bean casserole, crescent rolls, and four kinds of pie for dessert.
It seems very staid and pedestrian next to your feast, but it was delicious.
We had, starting with Christmas morning, free-range scrambled eggs with fresh raspberries, toast and a pastry with dried fruits, nuts and scrumptious, from our neighbor who gives us this every year for 20 years. Our 24 and 26 year old sons join us for opening gifts, including the obligatory toy from "Santa", which this year was remote-controlled helicopters you can fly indoors, which they proceed to play with and gives everyone lots of laughs. Grandparents arrive, and Christmas dinner of salad with pomegranate seeds, candied pecans, and champagne dressing, boeuf bourguignon, mashed potatoes and green beans, except the bagger at the market forgot to put my green beans in my shopping bag, so NO GREEN BEANS. Apple tart and pumpkin chiffon pie, two beautiful pinots, and a collapse in front of the fireplace. I treasure this, as I believe we will soon be including girls who look close to becoming fiancees. Whom we like, I hastily add, it'll simply be different. Ah, life.
We had smoked Scottish salmon on toast and a poached egg on top... endless cups of tea while Christopher worked on his lego robots (he's teaching it to chase Gusdog). Turkey went into the oven with lemons and bay leaves inside, and we had it with mashed potato, roasted parsnip and carrot, port-infused gravy and sausage meat stuffing balls from Waitrose because I can only cook so much in one day. And then a lemon cheesecake I made the day before. With a bottle of Malbec. And then later many different cheeses and some port.
And then later we played some duets, without fighting too much even. And I almost finished knitting a jumper.
I had the $9.98 Christmas Turkey dinner special at Norm's 24 hour a day diner. In my salad days, my friends and I used to call it "Worm's", and then during my money earning days I hardly set foot in it. Now I pretended to read Musical Semantics by Ole Kühl while enjoying the smiling joy given off by all the families around me. The food was not worth mentioning (that yank concoction, iced tea, to drink). I went home to my delirious cat (Lord Buckley) who had received some catnip from Santa. He looked up at me and winked "last year you were in Paris, eating oysters too, but we are cats who walk alone and all places are alike to us". C'est vrai.
thank you kaycie, anonymous and erin. It's good to hear what people eat in the different corners of the world! Peter you made me choke on my coffee laughing! Nice one. My Dad (a rather well known artist) lives in Peckham and has lunched in the Peckham caff most days of his life (even whilst often dining in Mayfair in the evening). He may have been seen reading the same book as you. They are marvellous places if you can take the greasy bit of the spoon! Happy Christmas all.
ruth i wanted to say i rented the movie "once" after reading your post...it was lovely and i too had a good sob over it. i watched a second time and just enjoyed the music all over again. my husband, the budding gourmet, prepared a live lobster (our first) and i asked if he/she would die quickly in the boiling water...to which he said, "no i hear they squeal." i left the kitchen immediately and came back when the deed was done. as my husband is allergic to shellfish, i devoured the entire lobster myself with a lovely bottle of wine. happy new year and i do enjoy reading your blog!
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