By now the guests have departed, the boyfriend is doing the dishes, and other than the cat who thinks he could write a better blog entry than I (as evidenced by his insistence on walking on the keyboard), I have peace for the first time since six o’clock this morning.
Though a long one, this was a good Christmas, full of family and food. We started at my parents’ house, opening presents and eating the breakfast I spent yesterday prepping, then moved to my grandmother’s house just a couple of miles down the road, where we opened presents with the extended family, laughed, and spent a few minutes remembering the cousin who passed away earlier this year. Since those few minutes in which we pulled rubber ducks from a stocking dedicated to her, my thoughts have returned to her and her immediate family many times. This is the kind of thing I wish I could write about, or at least wonder if it would be appropriate to write about, but know that I don’t have the words.
After the presents were unwrapped, Fred and I headed back down to New Freedom to get ready for dinner with Fred’s son and his girlfriend. I made the recipe posted in the last entry, but overcooked the meat in the interest of Fred’s tastes. Never again will I cater to his poorly developed tastebuds. The sauce was excellent, but the meat was a shadow of what I believe it could have been.
Dessert, however, was good, and if you have a cooking bone in your body I highly recommend making this Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cake with Rum-Ginger Ice Cream just as soon as you can.
I have come to believe that anyone who can follow a recipe can at least pass her(or him)self off as a good cook. This is the kind of cook I am. I very rarely develop new dishes, but damn am I good at following directions. You’re welcome to come to dinner anytime between now and when classes start again. I’m always looking for an excuse to make something extravagant. Just please don’t ask about the rubber duck sitting in the living room unless you like your food extra salty.