Christmas Holiday

We had a great meal at the Rushes Restaurant in Waterloo. Everyone enjoyed themselves. I pigged out on the starters this year, I had mussels which were really delicious, smoked salmon, crab claws and smoked trout. Thought about going back, but figured I wouldn’t eat any more if I did. I then had roast sweet potatoes, mashed swede (turnip in Canada) and turkey with a little gravy. I went back for a bit more turkey, the turkey was really moist. Finally I finished with a huge piece of carrot cake, couldn’t resist it. The beef this year was very overdone, and I didn’t even look at the ham. There were masses of other things available, but one can only eat so much after all. I drank a couple of glasses of Pinot Grigio with my meal and finished off with coffee. Some of our group, Matt included, were pigging out on the Brie, I thought about joining in but by then I had eaten more than enough. I almost felt pregnant I had stuffed myself so much. We got home around 8:30 and Matt checked the TV. There was a concert with Pavarotti and friends so we watched that and then I watched another version of The Nativity Story. That didn’t finish til midnight by which time Matt was fast asleep.

I bought Matt a recording of The Italian Tenor by Vittorio Grigolo for an under the tree present so he played it through in the morning. I was a tad disappointed as there wasn’t a lot of material that I recognised although there were a lot of things by Puccini, what a wonderful voice that young man has. He hasn’t made many recordings yet, there is one other which appears to be show tunes, but I am not really interested in that. We have heard him touted as the new Pavarotti, I think he certainly has the makings.

Boxing Day (Dec. 26 for those who don’t have this holiday) Matt called his family in the UK as usual and sinlaw Mike (Scolopax Chronicles) mentioned that they had had turkey with peanut sauce. We have asked for the recipe so when they send it I will pass it on. Sounds good. Basically we had a very quiet day and for supper had a roast loin of pork, just a small one for two of us. We had Brussels Sprouts, but I didn’t follow the recipe posted below.

Many people will have today and tomorrow off to make up for the fact that Christmas and Boxing Day fell on the weekend, however, I was surprised to find our grocery store was open yesterday although we didn’t go, I am guessing their hours will now be back to normal. I was surprised, on the way to dinner on Christmas Day, that so many restaurants were closed, I would have thought there were enough people out there to have used such restaurants on Christmas Day. Guess I am wrong, they presumably know what they are doing.

Here’s something a little different. A friend in the UK says it took her 3 hours to take the leaves off the sprouts in order to make this recipe from Heston Blumenthal. She didn’t write quite so politely about it, however, it does sound interesting. I actually like Brussels Sprouts anyway, but I appreciat different ways of cooking vegetables.

Heston's Christmas Trimmings - Brussels sprouts

''Many people ask me how to make Brussels sprouts taste nicer. For me, the best way to eat sprouts is to treat them like cabbage by separating the leaves and cooking them in butter with smoked bacon, but please don’t overcook them!;''Heston

Serves: 6

Ingredients

400g Brussels sprouts 5 smoked bacon rashers, 50g unsalted butter

Method

1. Slice the bases from the Brussels sprouts and carefully separate the leaves, pulling them off the sprouts.
2. Fry the bacon in a frying pan over a medium heat until soft but not coloured. Remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Set aside.
3. Melt the butter with the bacon fat in the frying pan over a medium low heat. When the butter is foaming, add the Brussels leaves and stir in the bacon. Add 2 tbsp water and cover the pan.
4. Allow to cook for 3–5 minutes and season with salt and pepper.

Cook's tips

The Brussels sprouts can be shredded with a knife if time is short.

Have a great day