So I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas day.

Christmas dinner at Bonnie's traditionally features
lobster for everyone except Harriet, who gets beef.
The guests are family and close friends; this year
the family included her two daughters plus their
spouses and children (the son is coming over next
week); the friends being myself and Bonnie's late
bestie Gail's old roommate Effie, who is 70-something
and recovering from a bad fall and her beau Archie, who
is grumpy, 80-something, and deaf as a post.

Piper Heidsieck brut cuvee nv was a clean tasty wine
but kind of characterless; I wonder about the purpose
of such beverages if not intoxication pure and simple.
This, it turns out, is also the latest United Airlines
bubbly. Olives, pickled peppers, marcona almonds, and
a couple cheesy things - Cheddar from Cuba, NY, which
I didn't taste, with crackers, and Gail Perrin's cheese
disks (no recipe immediately at hand, though I may have
posted it in the past),

Crudites - carrots and multicolor peppers with two
kinds of onion soup mix dip - one made with thick
yogurt, billed as for Kate (the health not), and one
made with sour cream and seasoned wuth a tablespoon
of hot pepper, billed as the one I would deign to eat.

A 1 1/2 lb lobster each. I boiled them 15 min in
very lightly salted water and served them with melted
unsalted butter. Some people eat only the tails, so
there were extra claws for Joe the birthday boy and
other hungries, plus I had 3 extra bodies.

Somebody bought the 90+ Sancerre 16, which had notes
of citrus and tropical fruit and was acidy but not
too much so.

We'd picked up a decently marbled 3-rib Choice small
end roast, Market Basket for $7/lb (so just under $40).
Rubbed it with my rub (described in this packet), started
it off at 450, with the oven immediately turned down to
250 for 90 minutes. It came out medium-rare, which is what
I do for crowds that include the squeamish.

Kate's boss had given her a bottle of Alpha Zeta Amarone
2013, so we had that. Aroma of dried fruit, much more
amabile than Amarones used to be, smooth, fairly low in
tannin and acid both. A hint of sweetness. Pretty good.

Bonnie made pomegranate citrus watercress salad made with
arugula instead of watercress. People liked it - I thought
too many greens, too few fruits.

Normally she bakes a chocolate cake for her son-in-law
Joe's birthday, but this year she pled lack of time (we
got back from the southland less than 48 hours before)
and bought frangipane tart from Formaggio Kitchen. I'd
have saved a couple yuppie food stamps and made a cake,
but she didn't want herself or me to expend the effort,
and she's not poor. The tart was quite good, especially
the almonds.

Coffee and silly games in the living room for afters.
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Quoting Michael Loo to All on 12-28-18 18:47 <=-

So I hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas day.

We did... we went to Taste of Japan, and had all-you-can-eat... and
ended up bringing a substantial amount home each, which we had the next
day...

My family's Christmas celebration was on Friday.... I counted 40 people
there (had the maybe's and the no-shows been there it would have been at
least 50)... still a fairly small percentage of the whole family (which
just keeps getting bigger).... Food was all informal... cheeses (a
number of varieties), pepperoni and crackers (likewise).... raw veggies
(I think mostly different color mini sweet peppers)... various hors
d'oerves (I brought frozen prepared ones from BJs, Ling Ling spring
rolls, Wellesley puff pastries and Bagel Bites... that might have been
all this year)... A ham sliced and served as cold slices... MG made a
couple of pans of pasta.... a tiramisu cake (commercially made) and a
large strawberry cheese cake that Christy made (and I think they left
before it was served)... Even less formal than in prevous years....

There was some rotisserie chicken soup in a pot on the stove, and fresh
fruit (apples, oranges, manderines) available, too...

A 1 1/2 lb lobster each. I boiled them 15 min in
very lightly salted water and served them with melted
unsalted butter. Some people eat only the tails, so
there were extra claws for Joe the birthday boy and
other hungries, plus I had 3 extra bodies.

You made out fine, then... :)

We'd picked up a decently marbled 3-rib Choice small
end roast, Market Basket for $7/lb (so just under $40).
Rubbed it with my rub (described in this packet), started
it off at 450, with the oven immediately turned down to
250 for 90 minutes. It came out medium-rare, which is what
I do for crowds that include the squeamish.

For Christmas Eve, for just the two of us, I roasted a 2-lb piece of
Wegmans garlic studded rib roast... had it with fresh steamed broccoli
and a couple of broccoli & cheese potato gratins from Weggies.. Still
have the half of it for another meal... probably will be later this
week... :) Mine came out close to rare.... :) (I'd clipped a digital
coupon for $8 off on the roast.... the smallish hunk with the coupon
turned out to be reasonably reasonable...)

Bonnie made pomegranate citrus watercress salad made with
arugula instead of watercress. People liked it - I thought
too many greens, too few fruits.

I would probably have agreed with you... :)

Normally she bakes a chocolate cake for her son-in-law
Joe's birthday, but this year she pled lack of time (we
got back from the southland less than 48 hours before)
and bought frangipane tart from Formaggio Kitchen. I'd
have saved a couple yuppie food stamps and made a cake,
but she didn't want herself or me to expend the effort,
and she's not poor. The tart was quite good, especially
the almonds.

Sounds quite nice.... :)

ttyl neb

... Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

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