I am thinking about making myself something delicious. Not celebrating with anyone this eve but curious what everyone else will be eating.
I’m celebrating it in family. 4 relatives, me, 2 cats, and probably 1-3 uninvited (but still welcome) guests. It’ll be:
- Snacks - 2 types of chips, mozzarella with olive oil and oregano, salsicho (local sausage, nice to eat with some sprinkled lime), olives.
- Booze - beer. Sis is bringing something else too but I don’t know what.
- Soda - for the kids. Or rather the 16yo “kid”. And likely for the adults to mix with the booze.
- Main meat - one of those big chicken breeds with fancy names, locally called “chester” or “fiesta”. If I were to choose it would be mutton, but I’m the only one who eats it so… I’m still glad that it isn’t turkey. At least Kika (cat #1) gets some chicken breast as a treat.
- Siding #1 - white rice otherwise there’s a bloody revolution here.
- Siding #2 - a yucca meal farofa. I wasn’t in charge of it, so I don’t know what’s in.
- Salad - a salad with everything and a bit more: ricotta, arugula, bacon, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, croutons, and a yoghurt-based dressing. Siegfrieda (cat #2) gets some yoghurt as a treat.
- Dessert #1 - a fake tiramisù with pasty cream instead of zabaglione + mascarpone because it’s how my family likes it. 22:00 yesterday and I was still preparing it.
- Dessert #2 - sweet french toasts with syrup. I’m expecting the sweet teeth in the family to drizzle its syrup over the tiramisù.
It’s theoretically for five people but we’re expecting 1~3 more to come in, and leftovers always become part of the Christmas breakfast and lunch, so we give ourselves the luxury to go a bit overboard. Plus three pairs of hands to cook, fuck yeah.
(Happy Christmas for everyone here!)
Soda - for the kids.
Just asking on your opinion, is it otherwise weird/rude to refuse drinking alcohol when it’s not due to religion or health issues?
I don’t think that it’s weird; it’s a personal choice, and I think that it should be respected. I said that the soda is for the kid because he got to choose it and from earlier experiences he’s the only one who drinks it.
No.
My family has a tradition of following my Nonna’s old family recipe for homemade pasta and sauce.
I’m having a ribeye, gratin potatoes, brussel sprouts, and a slice of pie. I’m having a glass of Maker’s 46 to cap it off.
I chose to eat alone tonight so I didn’t do all the fixings, but it’s enough for me. Last week was a tough one and for three days I’ve chosen not to deal with people. I may go out for a nightcap later but I’m not going to be dealing with anyone while I do.
By the way, PSA for anyone like me who has been saying gratin wrong for a long time, the proper pronunciation is gra-TAN (rhymes with Dan) or gra-TAAN (rhymes with Don). I said GRA-tin (rhymes with rotten) for 40 years on this earth.
Or at least, now someone who properly knows the exact right way to say it can reply to this and correct me.
As a Canadian, I really enjoy listening to Americans pronounce French words.
Editing to say, my French isn’t great but I don’t think you really say the N in gratin (or maybe that depends on regional accents, I’m not sure). I would say it more like “grah-ten” but without really saying the N. You kind of just hint at its existence. Maybe? We need an actual Francophone here…
there are millions of French words that get mangled by English speakers every day. Just speak French instead. And gratin does not rhyme with Don or Dan
Thanks for using your knowledge to tell us what it doesn’t rhyme with.
Super helpful or as they say in France apparently, ‘just speak french instead’.
I’m having lobster tail, mushie peas and unclel Ben’s rice. It’s not the most elaborate meal but it’s comforting and delicious.
gonna play some dino nugget roulette. some were recalled a couple of times recently… dunno if the bags in the freezer are ‘ok’ or not. don’t care, but i think they predate the recalls.
South American here, we celebrate on the 24 at night. Spent all day cooking with my parents, there’s turkey, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, 6 topes of hot sauce, carrot pudding for desert. Egg nog, spiced wine and a drink called canelazo made with naranjilla a relative of tomatoes and golden berries spiced with cinnamon and star anize
Sounds amazing!
An Argentinian friend told me she felt done if their Christmas food was a bit strange, as it was a lot of heavy food that you’d otherwise never eat in summer but that’s eaten anyway because it’s associated with Christmas. Does this fit your experience?
It’s ten below where I am, and I certainly wouldn’t mind being served up that dish haha
We sont really have many summer / winter foods here since I live in the equator and seasons are non existent. But Turkey it’s pretty much only a Christmas thing.
Normally, I would roast a chicken (Turkey is expensive and too big for my Japanese oven and Goose is also expensive and I have no experience with it), make dressing, roast some veg, make mashed potatoes and gravy, and probably make something like brownies for dessert. This year, we’re going to hang out with friends of the wife, so I’m not sure what the plan is.
I am making oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies, though, using my grandma’s old recipe. I actually put in a bit less sugar today and they turned out more like she used to make, so I’m guessing some things were left out of the recipe. I guess it’s also possible that the type of sugar differing is an issue (we don’t really have brown sugar that’s the exact same here in Japan as in the US, and we also tend not to use granulated sugar in a lot of stuff) as I’d end up with rather flat, crispy cookies rather than the more pillow-y type like I made this morning. Shortening could also differ somehow, I guess, from the Crisco she used.
Just made some home made chicken fried rice for me and the wife. Dunno about tomorrow yet, we haven’t decided between pork chops or chicken fried steak.
First year we have been alone for Christmas so we aren’t doing anything special. Didn’t even put up a tree
Indian takeaway for Christmas Eve on my end. Going thru a rough time and I have no family or friends, so this is the best way I know to enjoy myself.
Tomorrow for Christmas I’ll be making a small ham with brown sugar glaze and will use it for sandwiches, and I’ll use the leftovers for ham, green bean, and potato soup in a day or two.
chinese takeout, so original !
Eve, we made Cincinnati-style chilidogs. Chili was great, but buns weren’t great, and neither were the dogs, but it’s rough to get proper ingredients on a different continent. I may try it again this week but with cornbread (I have extra maize flour around, but no spaghetti).
I’m marinating a salmon steak in an Asian sauce mixture, and roasting that. I’ll make some fried rice and steam some broccoli, and pour the remaining sauce from the salmon over the broccoli. This is something I meant to do last night but didn’t get around to it, so it’s my christmas eave dinner tonight.
Family tradition is pizza and wings after church on Christmas Eve!
I’m on my own this year, since my wife is out of town. Friends invited me to have Christmas eve dinner with them last night. I brought vegan Swedish meatballs and rye bread (I made them both). They had a lot of good vegan and non-vegan food there. We also drank tequila and blackberry moonshine :). Tonight, I’m having leftovers, and I’m also making some cardamom buns.
Duck
