On Christmas Day Dad came over and we toasted to Christmas and opened presents, most of which were supplied by NC Catherine and were greatly appreciated. After that we sat and played a game of Scrabble and then I began to prepare our Christmas dinner. Here is a photograph of our Scrabble board, and one of the chicken salt/pepper shakers that L. gave me.
While I might not otherwise have bothered, I ended up getting a tree so that our little people guests could enjoy the fun of decorating it.
Here is an ornament that J. gave me. I may fast become that woman with all the chicken paraphernalia.
When Dad and I went to Sansom Street Oyster House, we ended our Center City time at
DiBruno Brothers, where I went a little cheese crazy. Let's see if I can tell you what all is what. Cabra La Mancha was a semi-soft goat's cheese that I liked very much. A little Delice Bourgogne is never a bad way to go when considering creamy, brie-like cheeses with a little bit more going on in the taste profile. We went with the creamier of Roqueforts something that started with 'Carles.' I'm reading off the receipt, which cuts off some details. Dad also thought that a little Livarot would be a nice addition; I agreed. And then a big hunk of Cotswold. I also put a little citrus/ginger salami out as well as chorizo, also purchased at DiBruno Bros.
I also took out the wooden cheese instruments Dad gave me at some other holiday in the past two years. The tablecloth was one Mom gave me months back after declaring my roommate's dining room table especially ugly.
So he- and she-J. and N. and S. came for Christmas dinner, which was a lot of fun. I worried that the apartment wouldn't be big enough to contain the kids, and I haven't actually been a sit-down dinner hostess type in over three years, so I forgot how much I like feeding people, even if I manage to make every smoke alarm go off and spill wine all over the oven. S. tried a bit of the cheese while working out.
For dinner I made a mushroom lasagna. I read a number of different recipes before kind of creating my own. But I did, for the first time ever, try making a Bechamel sauce, and I was quite pleased with the results.
I also poached a salmon in white wine on a bed of mint with shallots on top. I definitely didn't overcook it, which was my primary fear, but I think maybe I could have given it another five minutes under direct heat before letting it rest. He-J. made a great green bean casserole type dish too. Not really a casserole?
The kids went with apples and peanutbutter. She-J managed to skin an entire apple in one piece; I was very impressed.
Throughout the cheese and dinner courses we went through a bottle of champagne and one or two bottles of white. Maybe Dad will figure out how to leave a comment and let us know what those wines were. Perhaps one was a white Bordeaux and the other a Sancerre? Maybe not. I could be making that up.
S. and Dad had some sort of conversation.
I plugged my television and DVD player in (I watch just as much television as the next person, just on-line) and set the kids up to watch Dumbo. Turned out the lights and gave them a lantern too.
But the movie didn't hold their interest as much as the grown ups did. And I didn't help it by being more than willing to make them quite a bit taller than usual.
This looks like it ended poorly/like I have no defined face...but you would be wrong, S. did not wallop his head two seconds after this photograph. And I do, in fact, have a face with defined end points on the whole. I'm just in mid-no N. you cannot climb on my shoulders while I am still making sure your brother doesn't fall over speaking mode.
The boys also had a puzzle, which both she- and he-J. worked on a bit while N. climbed on and around them.
In this photograph I like how it looks like N. is talking to the tree. Also: note that there are many decorations on the tree, most of which were homemade by she-J. and S. It was the most well decorated per square inch tree in all the land.
For dessert She-J. made cookies. A lot of cookies.
Only one of which was shaped like a chicken. I ate it. Even after someone put their grubby little fingers all over it;)
I forget exactly what was going on here, or why. But it seems that instead of telling N. to get his brother's filthy sock out of his mouth, I chose to take photographs.
For both socks.
Hopefully N. hasn't gotten hoof and mouth disease.
S. was strangely pleased with activity it seems. It was a festive evening and I enjoyed it. It reminded me that I am capable of cooking a proper dinner for other people, and that my house can be cleaned up and made fit for such things (well, this was made easier because I just threw all my roommate's stuff into the hallway). Maybe I'll turn a corner and encourage people to eat with me more often. I'll definitely invite the J. and J. crew back, if they'll come, which I think they would because she-J. told me as much. Woot. Thanks to Dad for underwriting the cost of the meal and driving up to be a part of the holiday.
This was tofu with shrimp on the inside.
Dad wanted to try the crawfish, but was disappointed, which wasn't too terribly surprising to me. I have found the larger, more expensive, plates at most dim sum places to be lackluster. The one exception to that general rule would be the broccoli.
The inner workings of the tofu/shrimp cubes, on display for everyone.
The taro was good.
This Cover Girl stuff was supposed to result in a smoky eyed look. But it just turned me into a goofus and I have no doubt that the minute I scratch my eyes it'll all come off anyways. Nonetheless we're going to have dinner, and it's going to be great.
While I might not otherwise have bothered, I ended up getting a tree so that our little people guests could enjoy the fun of decorating it.
Here is an ornament that J. gave me. I may fast become that woman with all the chicken paraphernalia.
When Dad and I went to Sansom Street Oyster House, we ended our Center City time at DiBruno Brothers, where I went a little cheese crazy. Let's see if I can tell you what all is what. Cabra La Mancha was a semi-soft goat's cheese that I liked very much. A little Delice Bourgogne is never a bad way to go when considering creamy, brie-like cheeses with a little bit more going on in the taste profile. We went with the creamier of Roqueforts something that started with 'Carles.' I'm reading off the receipt, which cuts off some details. Dad also thought that a little Livarot would be a nice addition; I agreed. And then a big hunk of Cotswold. I also put a little citrus/ginger salami out as well as chorizo, also purchased at DiBruno Bros.
I also took out the wooden cheese instruments Dad gave me at some other holiday in the past two years. The tablecloth was one Mom gave me months back after declaring my roommate's dining room table especially ugly.
So he- and she-J. and N. and S. came for Christmas dinner, which was a lot of fun. I worried that the apartment wouldn't be big enough to contain the kids, and I haven't actually been a sit-down dinner hostess type in over three years, so I forgot how much I like feeding people, even if I manage to make every smoke alarm go off and spill wine all over the oven. S. tried a bit of the cheese while working out.
For dinner I made a mushroom lasagna. I read a number of different recipes before kind of creating my own. But I did, for the first time ever, try making a Bechamel sauce, and I was quite pleased with the results.
I also poached a salmon in white wine on a bed of mint with shallots on top. I definitely didn't overcook it, which was my primary fear, but I think maybe I could have given it another five minutes under direct heat before letting it rest. He-J. made a great green bean casserole type dish too. Not really a casserole?
The kids went with apples and peanutbutter. She-J managed to skin an entire apple in one piece; I was very impressed.
Throughout the cheese and dinner courses we went through a bottle of champagne and one or two bottles of white. Maybe Dad will figure out how to leave a comment and let us know what those wines were. Perhaps one was a white Bordeaux and the other a Sancerre? Maybe not. I could be making that up.
S. and Dad had some sort of conversation.
I plugged my television and DVD player in (I watch just as much television as the next person, just on-line) and set the kids up to watch Dumbo. Turned out the lights and gave them a lantern too.
But the movie didn't hold their interest as much as the grown ups did. And I didn't help it by being more than willing to make them quite a bit taller than usual.
This looks like it ended poorly/like I have no defined face...but you would be wrong, S. did not wallop his head two seconds after this photograph. And I do, in fact, have a face with defined end points on the whole. I'm just in mid-no N. you cannot climb on my shoulders while I am still making sure your brother doesn't fall over speaking mode.
The boys also had a puzzle, which both she- and he-J. worked on a bit while N. climbed on and around them.
In this photograph I like how it looks like N. is talking to the tree. Also: note that there are many decorations on the tree, most of which were homemade by she-J. and S. It was the most well decorated per square inch tree in all the land.
For dessert She-J. made cookies. A lot of cookies.
Only one of which was shaped like a chicken. I ate it. Even after someone put their grubby little fingers all over it;)
I forget exactly what was going on here, or why. But it seems that instead of telling N. to get his brother's filthy sock out of his mouth, I chose to take photographs.
For both socks.
Hopefully N. hasn't gotten hoof and mouth disease.
S. was strangely pleased with activity it seems. It was a festive evening and I enjoyed it. It reminded me that I am capable of cooking a proper dinner for other people, and that my house can be cleaned up and made fit for such things (well, this was made easier because I just threw all my roommate's stuff into the hallway). Maybe I'll turn a corner and encourage people to eat with me more often. I'll definitely invite the J. and J. crew back, if they'll come, which I think they would because she-J. told me as much. Woot. Thanks to Dad for underwriting the cost of the meal and driving up to be a part of the holiday.
Afterwards we went to Snockey's for another round of oysters. Dad had lobster in mind but our server let us know that no whole lobsters were left. Lobster fail. They did have a good selection of oysters, including two of my faves: Pemaquids and Kumomotos. These two types of oyster aren't very similar. Pemaquids have the snootfull of salt in your nose taste to them while the Kumomotos are more mellow. I was pleased either way.
Dad and I both ordered the split lobster tails as the next best thing to a full lobster, but I think we were both a bit disappointed. I know I was. Somehow I'm a bigger fan of a lobster boiled than a lobster broiled. At least in this case the meat toughened a bit and wasn't as tender or delectable as a lobster tail can be. I didn't even bother with the corn; I could imagine the large plastic bag of frozen cobs from which it came and eh.
So. The oysters were great, and the host that sat us was friendly and nice. The lobster was forgettable, and our waitress couldn't have been more disinterested in her work. A while after we sat down a family with two grown sons came in and I overheard the father figure getting a bit snooty/annoyed when she began to bring out their entrees before the oysters they ordered...mainly because she forgot to either pick them up or even put the order in. Not awful service, just, you know, unhappy-young-woman-working-at-her-family's-business service.
We shared the steamed mussels with fennel. Pretty good. Though I'm not an overly big fan of fennel, I still took care to sop up some of the broth with the provided toasted baguette.
We also tried the oysters fried up, which I also found quite to my liking. Very juicy still, the breading didn't mask the oysters' salty selves as much as encapsulate them in a loving embrace. Man, this is why I don't try to write too deeply about food. What does that even mean?
Dad also wanted to try the fried baby fish. They were definitely fried, and they were definitely baby-sized. Neither of us enjoyed them all that much. Salty and crispy were their defining characteristics.
Thanks to Dad for the dinner!
Then we went to another nearby haunt, where I enjoyed a Young's Double Chocolate Stout.
And L. had some sort of liqueur. I think.
In my earliest years of working in Philadelphia, all members of the office were under the collective assumption that Primo's didn't deliver. This made having their fare for lunch during the busy season an especially nice treat, as it required someone to actually go into Center City proper and pick up the goods when every minute not in front of the computer was a moment longer you would have to stay at work. Since we realized that they would, in fact, deliver, the frequency of Primo's sandwiches in my life has exploded. While they are consistently good, they are no longer transcendent to me; Primo's hoagies have, in a sense, become pedestrian to me. By that I mean, they no longer blow me away with their awesome combination of bread, meat, cheese and those indomitable long hots. I show respect for the sandwich, but I am not in awe of the sandwich.
The dragon doesn't really feel the same way. It particularly cares for the pickles. Anybody else have the experience of literally eating too much of a good thing?
