A Good Christmas Day

Yesterday, was a very nice day in the Red Molly household. Mr. Red Molly and I woke up about 6:30 to a rainy windy morning. Mr. Red Molly made a fire and my daughter came over about 7:30 and about that time her brother got out of bed and we made mimosas and I served up a strada and then commenced to opening presents. I received a lot of very nice gifts from my family and I thank them very much for their thoughtfulness in gift selecting. A favorite gift that my daughter gave me was a pumpkin that she knitted and felted and although it was incomplete she made a paper lid with a note on it that said she was unable to find the correct color of yard to make the lid but had ordered it and will complete the pumpkin soon. One of the other gifts from her was a very nice piece of luggage. One of the special gifts my son gave me was 2 bottles of really really nice red wine and a note that said the wine would be paired with a gourmet meal cooked by him for me and Mr. Red Molly and another couple of really special gifts I got was Mr. Red Molly gave me a 4-cd set of Johnny Cash - Legend and two tickets to the Metropolitan Opera to see Le Nozze Di Figaro which means I also got a trip to NYC. We are planning to go in mid April. It was a very nice morning indeed.

Yesterday afternoon all of us went to an open house at a friends house and had some holiday cheer and then we returned home about 3:30 and Mr. Red Molly's mother came over and we unwrapped more gifts and then my son and I got started getting our Christmas dinner ready. In order to have more time to spend with family and friends, I decided I would plan a dinner that did not make me a slave to the kitchen on Christmas Day so I eliminated the cooking of a turkey and made a delicious do ahead chicken dish called Chicken Marbella from The "Silver Palate Cookbook". The recipe calls from dried prunes but I substituted dried cherries and with the green olives and dried cherries it made for a festive holiday dish. I also made Soubise which is braised rice and onions from the "From Julia Child's Kitchen" cookbook which I used wild rice and brown rice instead of white rice. I also made Haricots Verts with Caramelized Shallots, that recipe I made up. I just blanched the beans and caramelized the shallots on Saturday and last night I just reheated and tossed them in a little butter with s & p. The last dish I made was a salad with Red Leaf Lettuce, Pears and Walnuts with a Poppy Seed Vinaigrette dressing. If you click on the link to the recipe you with see that it is actually made with watercress and I have made it before many times with the watercress and I perfer the red leaf lettuce, it easier and prettier. This time making it I also subsituted sherry vinegar for the apple cider vinegar and olive oil for the corn oil. And along with all this my son cooked a whole red snapper outside on the grill. The dinner was delicious with very little leftovers...that's a good sign. The English Plum Pudding that my son poured warm cognac over and lit it for a dramatic presentation was definitely the icing on the cake. It was better than I remembered, certainly worth the time involved making it and the Cranberry Caramel Bars were also very good and I will make them again. Everything I served yesterday with the exception of the fish my son grilled, I had almost everything done the day before so I was only in the kitchen about an hour last night to get it all finished and served; however, I did work ALL day on Christmas Eve to get everything prepared along with making a divine Butternut and Hazelnut Lasagne with a white sauce from "The Gourment Cookbook" that I served Christmas Eve but it was worth it to have a relaxing Christmas Day. My only complaint for yesterday was the weather; after the morning rain the afternoon was cool sunny breezy just a a beautiful spring day nothing like the cold overcast snowy wintry day that Christmas Day should be. I also forgot my son put together a great cheese plate for a starter. It included a little aged gouda, pierre robert, yabera, duex de mon, blue d'averuge, humbolt fog and idizabal. He placed these cheeses along with nuts, grapes and sliced apples with sliced french bread and a little honey on the side. Photo above. And below is a copy of some of the above mentioned recipes.

It's after 1 o'clock and I am still in my pajamas and I gotta go and get dressed. I hope everyone had a great Christmas.