December 26, 2024. Lunch - Open faced Chicken Sandwiches. Snack - Pita Pocket Sandwiches, Dinner - Standing Rib Roast, Red Rice with raisins and Pecans and baked broccoli
I woke up at 2:30 and blogged until 5:30 when I watched Newcastle beat Aston Villa. Then I watched Chelsea lose to Fulham and finally, Leicester lose to Liverpool. It was a long and not always exciting day of soccer.
At 9:00 I heated a blue corn griddle cake left from our brunch at the Harvest Restaurant covered with maple syrup and ate it for breakfast with a cup of green tea.
At 1:00 I walked around the block on my way to accumulating 3288 steps.
Then at 2:30 Suzette made a plate of lovely small open faced sandwiches with slices of chicken garnished with cranberry sauce on slices of nine grain bread.
Then we brought in the slab of rib steaks and cleaned it.
Later around 3:30 I made two pita pocket sandwiches stuffed with salami, feta, tzatziki, Labni and lettuce. Then Elaine and I made her recipe for granola, six parts,1/2 part of coconut oil, 1/2 part homey, 3 parts oar flakes, and 2 parts some other seed or nuts. We used pumpkin seeds and pecans, for the two parts of other.. Then I napped until 5:00 when we started preparing dinner.
Dinner - earlier in the afternoon we had cut the slab of Rib steaks in half. One half was for dinner and the other half I cut into three thick steaks and a small rib roast that I wrapped in Saran and Suzette took to the freezer in the garage.
Suzette followed a Martha Stewart recipe for Prime Rib Roast. She coated the outside of the roast with crushed bay leaves and fresh sage, salt and pepper. And let it dirt for two hours. Then she cooked the roast for 1/2 hour at 450 degrees and turned the heat down to 350 degrees for 1 1/2 or until the internal temperature reached 120 degrees, which produced a rare to medium rare meat. There was lots of reddish clear juice when I carved six 1/3 inch thick slices of roast at 7:45.
Suzette also cooked the red rice we received as a Christmas gift with Orange zest, raisins, and a variety of spices, including nutmeg and roasted a colander full of broccoli flowerets.
We called Billy and Elaine at 6:00 to bring cream and eggs.
I sliced five large portobello mushrooms, a shallot, and two cloves of garlic that Suzette sautéed and added chicken stock, Marsala, and cream to to make a mushroom sauce.
When Billy and Elaine arrived with the cream I whipped 2/3 cup into soft peaks and added three T. of Long’s horseradish, 3 tsp. of Worcestershire sauce, and a dash of salt to make a horseradish sauce.
Billy and I found a bottle of 2019 Grand Cru St. Emillon Bordeaux in the win refrigerator that we opened at 7:00 to open up.
Luke and Ari arrived at 5:00 and began gathering crystals and other of his possessions he wanted tipi take to California tomorrow and he and Ari planned their trip to L.A.
By 7:45 everything was ready. We connected a pouring spigot to the top of the open wine bottle and Luke poured the wine and I sliced the rib bones off the roast and cut them into four separate ribs with the meat attached and cut six slices of roast and placed them on a platter with the riblets and the rice was put into a serving bowl, as was the baked Brussels Sprouts and we were ready to eat.
We lit the candles on the table and then gathered at the Mexican clay animal figurine menorah and Ari led us in the prayers for Hanukkah and we lit two candles with the shamus candle and then we sat down at the dining room table and ate a fabulous dinner.
After dinner Luke made a pot of red bush tea and I served slices of the chocolate dessert covered with a layer of creme anglais.
Then we ate chocolates with Calvados or cognac
When Ari’s friends came for a dip in the hot tub, there was a clean up in the kitchen, and we went to bed at 10:00.
Everyone said they liked the meal.
Bon Appetit
