The best thing on the table was the fresh Lebanon Bologna that Suzette’s Mom and Dad sent us from Pennsylvania. The cutest dish was penguins made by Lisa Battaile LaForest, Michele Varner Johnson’s sister, who is a PHD Geography professor and a penguin lover. They were constructed with a slice of carrot cut into the shape of feet, a bottom black olive sliced open into which cream cheese was placed to make a white fronted stomach on a black backed body and then another smaller black olive for the head into which a slit was cut and a small triangle of carrot inserted to make a beak. Then the middle black olive was draped with a thin slice of red bell pepper to give it a Christmas scarf.
Suzette’s mustard and kale greens sautéed with shallots were
excellent, but the two most popular dishes on the table appeared to be Suzette’s
roasted Brussels Sprouts with pinon nuts, garnished with threads of Pecorino
Romano cheese and Mother’s Van Cliburn shrimp mold, made by Suzette; followed by Michele’s
lovely baked five bean medley with white, lima, kidney, fava and another bean
cooked in vinegar, mustard and brown sugar.
There were three very strong dessert selections this year; Susan Palmer’s Red Velvet cupcakes with a creamy white
icing, Suzette’s pecan caramel in cups made with a cream cheese and flour dough
and my French baked chocolate pudding with Crème Anglais.
Susan Palmer really did a great job of cooking this year. I asked her to cook three of my favorites
that she prepares so well: Julia Child’s cheesy biscuits, her roasted seasoned
pecans that always remind me of fancy parties of my Texas youth and pickled
shrimp in an onion, caper, vinegar and sugar marinade. As I mentioned she also prepared the red
velvet cupcakes that melted in your mouth and last but not least, she made my
mother’s cranberry and lime salsa, which is a recipe I had lost, but Susan
had saved and went so well with the ham.
I made mulled wine and this year it was great because I used
sweet limes from Pro’s Ranch Market ($.99/lb.) along with regular lemons and
some orange juice in the five cups of juice added to the negrus along with 6
bottles of Concha y Toro’s Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot wine ($7.99 for 1.5 liters
at Costco).Suzette and I had a discussion about posole or garlic grits. I made posole because I think hard core New Mexican's expect it. But I was wrong and should have simply made garlic grits because it went so well with the other Southern dishes. The second attempt at cooking the ham worked out well and the caramel and bourbon glaze was delicious.
Mike and Catherine and Devin stayed overnight and Mike
brought a bottle of Brunello (Costco $27.99).
We had lots of old friends and their extended families this year, Alan and his girlfriend and sister, Bill and Regina
Turner, Rahim Kassam’s family, Robert Schiller, Aaron Lohmann and his friend
Andrea who brought some awesome Christmas cookies, Davida and Josefo, Cynthia
and Ricardo, Ed and Michele Johnson and their family, Ken Gillen and his wife
from the book club, Dale Alverson and Jennifer Bean from the neighborhood and a few others. Then at 10:30 or 11:00 Willy’s friends showed
up, Drew, Eli, another fellow whose name I missed who went to Sandia Prep with
Willy and Emily Graf. They became
instant friends with Devin, Catherine’s daughter, a junior at University of Virginia,
who joined them for their late night ramble around the neighborhood.
I had ridden my bike to Rio Bravo and after cooking and prepping
and serving and talking all day I could hardly stand straight by 11:00, so Suzette
and I aborted our usual walk and drove around the neighborhood and Old Town instead
and went home to bed.
I loved the evening. The
house with all the lights lit and a fire in the fire-place seemed to exude
warmth and friendship among all and Mike helped clean up, as I had asked him to
do, so I was spared that function, which made my evening much more enjoyable.
Bon Appétit and Merry Christmas
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