The theme of our Christmas Open House on December 24 was Salmon Three Ways, which is a dish we originally ate in Brussels. It includes on one plate, cured (Gravad), tartare, and grilled salmon. I was unavailable this year to help cook during the last two days, but, miraculously, I had already cooked a pot each of red chili and duck Posole that we froze and there was an entire filet of cured (Gravad) salmon prepared about one month ago in the meat department. I had also bought all the cheeses I wanted to serve this year and the fruits for the tropical fruit salad (pineapple, papaya, and two types of mangos).
We decided that for the grilled salmon portion we would make Teriyaki Marinated Salmon Grilled on a cedar plank, so Instead of mulled wine, we had Decided to serve warm sake. Willy had picked up three magnum bottles of Sake at Talin, which were simply immersed in a pot of hot water on the stove to heat.
The two dishes we had selected to make that had yet to be prepared were the Salmon Tartare and a Japanese style rice salad.
Here are the recipes.
On Christmas Eve, while I was still in the hospital, Suzette made these two dishes and organized the house and table and Willy put out and lit the 200 luminarias. Then at 4:00 when I was discharged Willy came to pick me up at the hospital.
I rested in bed until around 6:30 and then joined the party, by being propped up in an easy chair, while Suzette took care of everything.
Here are photos of the food table.
The fruit salad and salmon tartare
The rice salad
The Posole, red chili, tamales and sake were sitting on the stove in the kitchen, as usual.
Lots of folks came to the party, all the Kassam’s, Marty and Jill, Carole and Mark, Lynn Atkins, Reg and Bill Turner, Will Phipps and his girlfriend, Doug and Crystal, and lots of others who may not have said hello to me sitting by the fireplace, choosing to not disturb me.
Without the pain of the infected gall bladder or the muscle pain of my condition, I found it easy to sit and talk for three hours.
I returned to bed around 9:40 and Suzette shut down the party around 10:30, put up uneaten food, and came to bed around 11:30.
I was still not wanting a solid diet, so on Christmas Day. Suzette made us oatmeal with maple syrup for breakfast and hew ate Posole for dinner, except she puréed it in the blender into a lumpy homogenized stew. I watched two of my favorite Christmas movies, “A Christmas Story” by Jean Shepard and “Elf” with Will Ferrell.
Today, Suzette made us scrambled eggs with Salmon Tartare for breakfast.
I made a Vietnamese Miso Noodle Soup for lunch with three kinds of noodles while Willy cleared the yard of luminarias.
Here is a picture.
Today was Boxing Day in England, during which there are many Premier League matches. The two I particularly enjoyed were Tottenham’s 5 goal victory and Leicester’s victory over Man City.
TCU was playing in the Cheeze-it Bowl at 6:00, so Suzette made a simple stir fry of PPI Rice Salad, Teriyaki Salmon, and Salmon Tartare and we watched TCU play a terrific game against Cal. Both teams had outstanding defenses but mediocre offenses, so it was tied 7 to 7 at the end of regulation and TCU secured the victory in overtime by intercepting a Cal pass and kicking a field goal. It was one of the most impressive wins of Gary Patterson’s career in my opinion, because he did not have all his usual weapons like an effective aerial attack. I think it showed his true skill.
We watched the game from bed after dinner and then went to bed.
Bon Appetit
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