December 24, 2025, Breakfast - Scone and lemon curd Lunch - Pasta with Pesto and Oysters and tamale. Open House.
Every year our neighborhood puts out luminarias. There are thousands of them. This year, as usual, Willy was in charge and Eli helped him set them up and light them.
For breakfast we ate scones baked by the Bistro’s baker smeared with homemade lemon curd and several people ate the beef tamales Jody brought last night.
Starting at 11:00 we started cooking. We combined two recipes to make a bowl of tuna tartare. I followed the recipe in Mastering the Art of French Cooking to make a mayonnaise sauce by creaming three egg yolks with 1/4 tsp. of salt and 1 T. of Dijon mustard and then slowly drizzling in a cup of good olive oil. I added the sauce to 3 T. of capers, 1/2 cucumber diced, then slowly drizzling three egg whites sieved and one medium shallot minced. After mixing some of the sauce with the minced tuna to make the tartare there was tartare sauce left. We decided to play with it. I tried a little soy and mirin, but that did not work. Then I tried lemon juice and sour cream and that worked. We used the sauce as a sauce for the Gravad lax.
Billy went to play pickle ball in the morning
At noon Suzette made pasta with pesto and fresh oysters that was very similar to the linguine, pesto, and oysters we ate at Belon in Tokyo.
Then Elaine and Suzette chopped beets, butternut squash, onion, and I snapped about 1 lb. of asparagus stalks and cut them into 1 inch lengths. Suzette added cranberries and roasted the vegetables and added the asparagus near the end of the roast to make a roasting pan of roasted vegetables.
Ari and friend arrived from their long drive from Idlewild in the mid afternoon. I missed her name but she stayed for the party before leaving to drive to her relatives in Santa Fe.
Finally, I sliced a side of Gravad lax and Suzette grilled the teriyaki Salmon on water soaked cedar and Elaine and I filled two boards with cheeses and I sliced baguette slices and toasted them in the oven. Then Suzette fetched her fruitcake from the basement and I sliced that and arranged the slices in a circle on a platter. At 5:20 Suzette grilled the teriyaki salmon and filled a serving dish with roasted vegetables on the table. Everything was placed on the table and buffet by 5:40.
We walked outside to look at the luminarias and I spent a few minutes talking to Kathleen and Travis and met Clint’s wife and learned that Clinton had taken a position at Dartmouth Medical Hospital.
Jody brought another aluminum roasting pan filled with tamales, this batch was fruit filled, pineapple, raisin, strawberries, etc.
Aaron and Monika brought us a bottle of Japanese whiskey, which we will enjoy. Zeenat and Nizar brought a special bottle of wine and Karim brought a tin of cookies. Other gifts accumulated on the counter in the TV room.
Suzette set a bowl of bonito flakes, a bowl with miso, and a bowl with shopped green onion by the electric tea kettle in the kitchen and made hot miso/bonito drinks for the more adventurous guests.
When I returned to the house at 6:00 a flood a visitors began arriving. We had expected 20 to 30 and probably double that number showed up. Marty and Jill were glowing and hugging me. Jane brought two lady friends who I showed the art collection to. Zeenat brought Nizar and Karim came. Mike and Joy came, Cynthia and Ricardo came, Aaron, Monika, and Alex came. Bryce and his folks came toward the end of the evening. Ellie and kids came to see Willy. Bill and Regina and two sons came, Adam David. Jeff and his son came and we discussed the January book club selection with Billy. There were several others I did not meet and several I do not remember, of course.
I tasted all the food and it was excellent. The two ten inch slabs of teriyaki salmon were cooked to perfection and the adjusted tartare sauce we made for the salmon was unique and delicious.
Almost everything put on the table, including the cheeses, was eaten.
Everyone left by 9:00 and I sat down and watched Hawai’i beat Cal in the last 15 seconds with a back up quarterback in an exciting Hawai’i Bowl.
Then at 10:00 we went to bed.
I went out at 2:30 to enjoy the luminarias without any cars or people. I love the peacefulness surrounded by the beautiful luminarias.
Bon Appetit
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