Christmas on Agatite

The evening started off with a olive and fennel tapenade made by Brian, along with his "signature" selection of roasted peppers, olives and artichoke hearts - I think there was prosciutto too. One of Brian's Christmas gifts was a selection of salt from the spice shop in Evanston. We had a selection of Kosher flake salt, red alaea hawaiian sea salt, black lava hawaiin sea salt and portuguese salt cream. The salt looked beautiful on tiny little plates, but what was really good was the beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, ravioli salad, regular salad, Pam's most excellent lasagne and other salads. Erin made her first roux - something I fondly remember my mother teaching me. The roux provided a base for a gravy made from beef stock that I had made the day before. After all that effort, the gravy was just OK.

After a fine meal, we had a chocolate torte provided by Ann, apple spice cupcakes provided by Pam, and crescent cookies by Sheila. After dessert, Pam conducted some impromptu science experiments using knitting boots, keys, quarters and our german pyramid nativity scene. Then we opened presents. During the evening, Grace gave people massages with the back massager she had received for Christmas. I'm also posting a few shots of Grace and Carolyn wearing Grace's cape. (We think Carolyn really wants a cape as awesome as Grace's cape)

Thanks to everybody for all your help, the food was great, but the company was even better. Mike, Lori, John, Sean, and Janet and Freddy were missed but it's great to see all of your posts and photos.


The buffet was elaborate enough that many variations were possible, from Kevin's plate, above, to Brian's and Anne's below. Note that everyone seems to have endorsed Brian's decision to buy green beans rather than asparagus (see earlier entry Christmas food shopping). (These photos and commentary added by Pat.)

A feast at Sandra's, made by Edith and Ray

This blog is turning out to be a great venue for sharing news and photos from our extended families, and it is certainly proof positive that the participants -- from California to Florida to Chicago -- enjoy both cooking and eating. Thanks to all for their posts and comments, which are a pleasure to read.

Last night for Christmas Eve we headed over to Sandra's place where we snagged a rare parking spot just around the corner -- "the best ever" -- and when we got up to the 19th floor found Edith and Raymond busy in the kitchen fixing up a fusion feast that combined Peruvian, Japanese and vegan cuisines.

Let's start with the palmito salad, an adaptation by Edith of a Peruvian ceviche dish, without the fish. It included hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, lettuce, oranges and julienned strips of carrot. Excellent.

There were also Peru-style stuffed avocados with peas and carrots; miso soup with seaweed; purple potatoes with a rich mushroom sauce that combined shitake and other 'shrooms, providing a chewy texture as well as flavor; El Milagro totopos (corn chips) and a very powerful Peruvian hot sauce direct from Ay Ay Picante, the best of Chicago's Peruvian restaurants. I put the hot sauce on the palmito salad as well as the potatoes; what's not to like? We contributed "Carolyn's spicy peanut noodles," made by Pam.



We topped it all off with a lovely dessert called Masa Morada, or purple corn. I didn't taste the corn so much as a delicious sweet pudding with chunks of pineapple and orange segments in it.

All the while we discussed home repairs, the Republican presidential candidates (about whom Sandra seems a bit obsessed, perhaps because she's worried one of them could win), and Raymond and Edith's recent trip to Thailand. And food, of course. We talked about food and what we were going to cook next.

Christmas Eve at the Rickers

Sean and I drove down to the Santa Cruz mountains yesterday afternoon to the home/horse ranch of Nanette's twin sister Bernadette and her family -- the Rickers. Here are some photos of the festivities. Captions to come.

The hosts were Bernadette and John and their two daughters, Mari and Teddy, and their three dogs. Also present were Lee and Elena, Nanette's two kids, the Tuckers -- Sonia (Nanette's neice) and her husband Mark and their kids Alex and Jason. That's Jason above with his great grandfather, Ted (Nanette's father). More later.