ellen_datlow | A delicious holiday

I ate too much--cheese and bread and some kind of smoked cod and a clammy dip on toast and incredible homemade charcutier by Sid (one of the regular guests at my friend's annual Christmas dinner). Then goose and scalloped potatoes, and brussel sprouts and I drank too much (champagne and then red wine and finally bas Armagnac).

Beforehand, my friend Donni and I exchanged gifts (birthday as well as xmas) at my place. She's decided I need things that eventually disappear--like food and drink--so she brought me an intriguing looking bottle of white wine from Oregon and a bottle of red, some chocolate mint Baileys, an olive oil dip for bread, and a wine set with corkscrew, stopper, foil cutter, and wine ring (I don't know what the latter is for)...

Previously, I'd opened gifts that came by mail: a nice bottle of shampoo/bath oil from my friend Suzi and a wondrous Bosch sculpture from Mikey and Richard (of the amazing Cougar Gold Cheddar cheese) called "The Temptation of St Anthony.

I still have a bunch of gifts to exchange over the next week and beyond: New Year's eve I'll be having dinner at my friend Ellie's where we will exchange gifts and hopefully Rob K and his fiance Gwen will be attending so we can exchange our gifts. Then a New Year's Day brunch where a whole bunch of other gifts will be exchanged.

And then I still have my friend John, who I promised to visit to his new house upstate in January and my sister...and there might be a few things still winging their way to me from out of town friends...so it's a monthly ritual this year, not a one day thingie.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

and wine ring (I don't know what the latter is for)...

If you mean a slender "cuff" that looks like it will fit about houlder-height on a wine bottle [the shoulder being the sloping part below the neck, natch], it's supposed to prevent any wine from spilling/running down the side of the bottle after you pour.

/wine toy neep

Yup. That sounds like it--I suspected it might be something like that--nice to confirm it :-)
thanks.

Ooh, goose, yummy.

We had duck and parsley potatoes, stuffed cabbage and chocolate cake, chestnut puree, wine, and no cheese afterwards. I'm stuffed for the week.

What was the chestnut puree used for? to put on the cake? I loooove anything with chestnuts.

No, it's a separate dessert. I make it with lots of rum, added to the puree, a little sugar and vanilla, topped with whipped cream. It is my favorite holiday dessert.

It sounds incredible.

SO coming over next year. Ummm, where do you live? ;-)

It's already next year. I live in Florida, so you can just hop over any time.

I had the same reaction...me too? me too?

Of course, you too. Just hop over when you're down here visiting your parents.

I'll be in Orlando for ICFA in March. Not visiting my folks then because the triangulation is too expensive.

Not to mention troublesome. I believe we have the worst public transportation in the States.

chestnut puree w/ rum AND warm weather & sunshine!

See you in December! *waves from the frozen Northlands*

Chestnut puree with rum but no sunshine. It was 37 this morning, which I cherished.

Orange Slush weather!

It may be that warm up here by tomorrow.

It's been pretty chilly here in NYC for the last two days. Warmer weather forecast tomorrow. But where's MY snow?

I'd love to have a little snow; hadn't see snow in two years.

Ooh, goose! Sounds lovely.

We had a delicious ham, sweet potatoes with little marshmallows and brown sugar (mmm), and a ton of other good stuff. But no goose! *covets*

Glad you got some nice gifts! I got a new iPod to replace my 4-year-old dying one, so I'm happy!

I looooove sweet potatoes with marshmellows--my mom used to make them for Thanksgiving, along with french cut stringbeans, cream of mushroom soup and French's fried onion rings on top...I still love both those dishes.

Ooh, I am a big fan of the onion green bean dish, but sadly onions aren't a big fan of *me*, so I don't really eat that one anymore. My mom makes the sweet potatoes with marshmallows for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and they always go quickly. I love holiday food!

This year for Christmas my grandma sent us all recipe books compiling a bunch of "family favorites" that she used to make. I'm SO excited. It's like a midwestern smorgasboard of food choices. Heh.

(P.S. Sorry, I accidentally posted that under my other name first. Gah! That's like, twice I've done that now. Oops.)

Ah, I was wondering why that was deleted. No problem. What a nice gift.

Green Giant has the green bean/mushroom soup/fried onions in a frozen package. They call it "Green Bean Casserole." I don't buy it too often because of the calories, but it's good.

Ooh. I bet it is.

Nom-nom-nom. My favourite nom of the holiday thus far is (scandalously) my own melon-rind pickle, which I only made because I hate throwing out so much melon-rind (when I make melon & ginger jam, for gifts). I wasn't sure about it at all, but it is utterly gorgeous with cold meats.

And armagnac! I think I was armagnac, in a previous life. Either that, or I'm aspiring to it in the next. Do you know the old adage? "Cognac is the wine-drinker's brandy; Armagnac is the brandy-drinker's brandy." Actually of course I am a wine drinker too, but hey...

Ok So what's Bas-armagnac? Armagnac from a lower region of France?

A slightly different geographical region, yes. Bas-Armagnac is lower land (I think), and makes the better wines (for brandy-making: lower in alcohol, higher in acidity). Haut-Armagnac is chalky soil, and its wines don't fare so well in the distillation process.

Most Haut-Armagnac brandy goes into blends; much Bas-Armagnac is sold as single-domain vintages. Nom-nom-nom.

In French, "bas" means low and "haut" means high, so that would make sense.

(I used to play an hautbois.)

Oh, hey: that's cool. Is there actually a distinction between an hautbois and a modern oboe, or do you just like the word as much as I do...?

(Also, did you know there's a variety of strawberry called an hautbois?)

Well, hautbois is the current French word for oboe, but a couple predecessors were called hautbois, too. I've played some of those, as well.

Yes, I knew about the strawberry -- there's another name, too, isn't there? Not alpine but something like that, I think.

A delicious holiday

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I am...

Re: I am...

Re: I am...

Re: I am...

Re: I am...

Re: I am...

oooh....

Re: oooh....

indeed!

Re: indeed!

Re: indeed!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject