MrD and I do not exchange gifts on December 25. That comes to many of my readers as a surprise. My theory is why have only this one occasion to bring me gifts? Every day is a trophy H day. Bah Humbug to the rest. I like the holiday food. I love the traditional Canadian Christmas dinner with the turkey and the cranberries and the whole stuffing, mashed potato, pickles and pie until you burst and then start crying. Please call the fat helpers hot line listed below.
This year as many of you know an invitation from a neighbour for MrD and myself to join them for lunch turned into the trophy H enlisting the help of MrD and cooking lunch for seven...I had planned a nice quiet nosh on a rack of reindeer I had brining in a brown sugar and salted lavender bath. MrD in a rare spirit of the holidays readily agreed to make his family's famous beef roll called "Marcon", the star of every Filipino holiday table. He pretends not to cook and does so sparingly. He is a great cook. I pretend to cook. I am not bad. I do it constantly.
The deal was lunch at 13:30. We would provide the appetizer and the main at our place. We would then proceed to wander down the hall to their condo for desert.
They were on time. A very good thing if you ever plan to get invited back. Be on time and don't stay late. Now you know.
We greeted five guests with a cup of warm ginger sweet potato soup.
Our angels from down the hall showed up with tasty German sides of red cabbage and mashed potatoes and the holiday "Keugle" which is sort of stuffing in a dumpling shaped Christmas ball. "Yahvolt das vas gute". (sorry MrD for mein German!) I roasted off a pan of seasonal veggies. It is quite easy to keep the veggies separate with different spices then roast them all off on the same parchment covered baking sheet at 350 for about 30 minutes to 45 depending on your taste for crunch factor. Just chop them all in about the same size.
Our extra angels? The two homeless bachelors who shall remain nameless showed up with chocolates and wine so we let them in but gave them the uncomfortable chairs to sit on. I served the reindeer with a white truffle laced veal demiglace on a "Blue Willow" platter nestled beside MrD's festive meat roll snuggled in his family's secret sauce. Lots of lip smacking and oohing and aweing. The poor hungry lambs heading to the kitchen for seconds or thirds. A cheese ball wound us down. I blended cranberry Cheddar, sage Cheddar, Danish blue with lime juice, chopped dried apricots and figs that had soaked in rum for a year and some no name cream cheese. Dried fruit bread crackers for that and off we went to our neighbour's house for coffee, ice wine and platters of the finest German holiday deserts. Home made by our hostess. Our neighbour's sweet center piece and star of the desert feast was her own German Christmas cheese cake. I am not going to tell you how good this slice of heaven was. I hate the holidays. I ate like a hippo. I look like a hippo. A happy hippo.
Speaking of not getting any gifts.
We weren't but let's.
MrD and I did give our guests each something. I added socks to the gift pile. Socks as a gift? I can hear some lips curl up on one side. "Not a very trophy H gift"! I did first reinvent socks by slicing them into patterns. Socks meant to be worn over another plain pair or just on their own when you decide to let your leg hair down.
All the men reading my blog are encouraged to slice away at their own sock gifts from Mom, sis, Gramma, Aunt Edith, the lady at the office and that weird guy who pretends he knows you. Just follow a simple pattern and don't cut too many holes. These genius socks all came about the day MrD noticed a small hole on the ankle of my sock. MrD mentioned I should fix it. I agreed and went to my office and grabbed a pair of scissors. I cut matching holes on both socks and added a few.
This slice of fashion technique does work for every other piece of clothing. But remember do not try this on your underwear when you are wearing them. Trust me eh?
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