christmas cooking and eating

i was going to try to write about my christmas cooking before new year's eve rolled around, but it didn't happen. so will write about christmas today, january 1st, and try to get to new year's eve in a couple of days.
for christmas cooking inspiration i looked through my december cooking magazines from present and past and again martha stewart provided me with many of my dishes. in defense of martha i will say this: her recipes are well written, easy to follow, and produce delicious food. and what is so wrong with that?
for christmas even we went to sandy's house, who is seth's dad's girlfriend. this is our second year in a row so i guess it's becoming a bit of a tradition. its kind of a riot because the guests include sandy's daughter and partner, her daughter's father and his wife, and her two sons. its like this huge extended family that by all cliches shouldn't get along, but do. and lobster is always served. who can beat lobster for christmas eve dinner? the one thing i realized though is that i rush through my lobster. as much as i love that sweet lobster meat, it drives me crazy to have my hands so dirty. i think i prefer a lobster roll, cuz i can take my time to enjoy the lobster without getting messy.
let me talk about what i brought. i have been quite literally obsessed with pepperdews recently. pepperdews are these amazingly sweet and hot little peppers from south africa. i find them in the antipasti bar at the supermarket. i must have had this dish at some point, but i decided that i had to make pepperdews stuffed with goat cheese as an appetizer. they were as wonderful as i imagined they would be. the creamy, salty, tangy, goat cheese was the perfect complement to the sweet spicy crunch of the marinated pepperdews. seth and i also picked up some fresh maine shrimp, which i blanched and served with cocktail sauce. everyone loved their unique flavor and texture.
as it is christmas i had to make some cookies and for christmas eve i made banana chocolate chunk cookies. i have made them before and they are so so so good. the banana improves on something i didn't think could be improved on, the chocolate chip cookie. the recipe calls for walnuts which i leave out and part whole wheat flour. if i had whole wheat flour i would use it but i just sub white flour for the whole wheat.
for christmas dinner we went over to the manach's. just before christmas the patriarch of the family, greg manach, passed away. as christmas is always at the manach's this was in some ways a informal memorial to greg. it was wonderful to be with family and friends and the food was wonderful. greg was an amazing cook himself and he made his living as a butcher so holidays with him were always guaranteed to be delicious. the main course on christmas is always bbq'd beef tenderloin and this year ethan did an amazing job. i contributed to the meal with a wild rice salad and almond-orange cookies.
the almond-orange cookies are just a variation on italian christmas cookies, which is really just the same cookie as mexican wedding balls or russian tea cookies. other than chocolate chip cookies, this is probably my favorite cookie in the world and is so full of memories for me. growing up my dad spent a lot of time hanging out at the fairfax bakery, the local bakery in my hometown of fairfax, ca. he would bring my brother and me in there a lot and sometimes if i was passing by on my own, i just might be lucky enough to spot my dad in the bakery. he would always buy us a treat and my stand-by were two russian tea cookies and a carton of milk. yum-yum.
in addition, i made potato latkes twice in two days to celebrate hanukkah. as a variation on the traditional, i love to mix sweet potatoes in with the regular potatoes. they are super labor intensive and result in a cook that smells like chinese food (as my friend emily frawley pointed out when we met her for drinks later that night) but they are worth it!

thankful

while i take time to ponder what i am thankful for on most thanksgivings, this one has been especially poignant in the thankful category.
first i was thankful for some time off. lord knows i deserved it after only one week and two days of work! so with five days off ahead of us, seth and i headed to cape cod for thanksgiving time with his family. we spent the actual day of thanksgiving with his mom. it was a glorious day as i was able to cook all the day away. for an appetizer i prepared a mushroom and bacon dip. it was delicious and far from low fat. i also made a cranberry ginger relish, and i again was forced to ask myself the question: if making cranberry sauce is so easy, why would anyone buy the can? i also made a chocolate pumpkin pie which was utterly decadent. i left off the drizzle of milk chocolate but i don't think the pie suffered.
together, seth's mom and i prepared the stuffed turkey breast that i suggested we make this year. we stuffed it with a sausage, sage, and apricot stuffing. it turned out great. i think it could have cooked a little bit less and i would have rubbed under the skin with butter instead of just over the skin, but it was wonderful. seth's mom completed the meal with string beans and roasted sweet potatoes.
the day was quite good and i was left feeling thankful for seth and good food. i do love martha stewart, but i have to say i was a little disturbed when i realized that everything i prepared, except the stuffing, was a martha stewart recipe. not sure what to make of that.
the part of the weekend that really made me thankful came saturday, when seth's best friend's sister, nena, was married. nena's father, greg, is dying of cancer. there was doubt that he would make it to the wedding, but he did. he is an amazingly wonderful man who, along with his wife betty, have raised three of the most awesome humans i know. greg and betty are two people that i look to as role models for parenting. they are only human and have their flaws, but they are amazing and manage to have so much dignity in such a difficult time.
this experience, with such strong emotions, both high and low, remind me to be thankful for many things. for each moment i have surrounded by loved ones. for those people in my life who love me for who i am. for tradition and change and loving each other and learning from one another through everything.