Christmas 2013

Greetings, my nearly nonexistent readers! I have returned. You my commence cheering and shouting. Any one? Any one?

Ok, so maybe I’m the only one cheering and shouting. It’s been a crazy few months. Lets revise that. It’s been a crazy year. In case you have forgotten, I am a full time teacher who dabbles in food and the performing arts. My passion is the performing arts and food, but more on that in a later post.

Christmas was an amazing time of food. A. Maz. Zing. I made some pretty spectacular food. I’m not going to lie. I’ll try to post photos and recipes……lets be honest, I’ll post photos. If there’s one thing you all should know by now, it’s that I’m a slacker. And when I say, “I’ll try to get that done”, it means, “you’ll never see it happen.” Shame.

First I made a Paris Brest. “SHOCK,” you say. “Nay,” I respond. Get your mind out of the gutter. It was named for the location in France that it was made. And yes, “Brest” is the geographic area not a lewd reference. Sheesh! People these days!

Basically it was a wreath of cream puff dough filled with an almond praline cream. It was supper yummy. And decadent.

The next picture is of an eggnog cranberry cheesecake. Thank you Saveur magazine! It was tart and delicious. It looked really pretty too.

Next is a traditional pumpkin pie. We cooked down the pumpkin ourselves.

I make the most amazing mashed potatoes. They are full of butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and heavy cream. I dot them with butter and broil them. They are finished with chives. They are magical. Agreed, they should not be eaten every day, but they are amazing at holidays.

There is a picture of my sage stuffing as well. It was not as satisfactory as I had hoped. I’ll fix that for next year.

My sweet potato casserole was good. I topped it with pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, and of course butter. It was crunchy, creamy, and delightful.

Then there was my pulled pork. I need to take just a minute to explain this dish. It was probably the best pulled pork I have ever eaten. FOR REAL! It was porky, and salty, and savory, and wonderful. Everyone raved about the pork. It was a giant pork shoulder that I seared, slow cooked, and then marinated in a reduction of the cooking liquid and smoked pork skin. There may have been a tear or two that I shed upon the consumption of the pulled pork. Life changing.

I had vetoed a simple pork loin, and ham is all but banned from my book. But that pulled pork……a thing of beauty. You will definitely see it again.

I shall endeavor to post my foody ways in a more frequent manner, but I make no promises. I find that making and consuming the food are way more fun than writing about it. But I guess that’s the whole point of being a foody. It’s really all about the food…..mostly.