The Feast

So Christmas dinner was everything good: good food, good company, good behavior, adults included. Food wise, we had a few pleasant surprises, and only one disaster.

All my plans of cooking early never panned out. I started the yule log the evening of the 24th. I really need to work on my folding flour and melted butter into whipped eggs and sugar technique. I baked the cake part of the production and that's it. I never made the meringue or the filling. The cake is rolled up in my fridge. It might turn into a New Year's Eve log, or just a really flat sponge cake that no one eats.

I never even got to open the mead, which I was most looking forward to, since I didn't have any on my wedding anniversary last month. We have more beer, wine, and glogg than we can possibly drink. It looks like we will have to have another party soon. Primo will love that. He does not like dinner parties as much as I do, since he ends up doing most of the cleaning. Since I like to cook, I never get the feeling I'm slaving away in the kitchen.

So here's what arrived on the menu:

Appetizers
Crackers and smelly cheese (La Clochette Chevre, Epoisses, and Raw Milk cheddar. I think it was cheddar. I know it was raw milk)
pickled herring
lox
cream cheese (milk and dairy free)
--For the first time in 18 months I ate smelly cheese, and it was like manna from heaven. Ingrid is growing out of her milk allergy! I did limit myself on the dairy just to be on the safe side, but how I've missed La Clochette and Epoisses on hard bread.

Main Course
Roast Goose--she was a little on the small and lean side, but we got a good amount of meat from her. She'd been slaughtered and cleaned three days before (locally). Can't get any better than that if you're going to eat meat.
Swedish Ham with a Puerto Rican Flair--my brother-in-law Juan is a professional cook, and he fixed the ham. I didn't have any because I never got a second helping, but I heard it was great.
Cranberry Relish--I made too much. I'll be eating it with everything for the next week.
Wild Rice and Wheat berries with venison sausage and portbella mushrooms.
Stuffing straight from the bag with venison sausage and mushrooms. Not sure why I bothered with the stuffing. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough rice. Silly me.
Swedish Blood pudding. My mother-in-law thought no one would eat it. I assured her that I would, at least. It disappeared quickly, and it was a hit with our youngest guest. A few couldn't get past the name to try it, but that just left more for the rest of us.
Cranberry Sweet Potato Quiche. I make this every year, but with a nursling with a milk allergy, I haven't had any since I was pregnant in 2004. I made this one with Tofutti cream cheese and soy milk. I'll be eating it for dinner tonight.
Mashed Potatoes. I heard they were great, and I'm sure I'll eat some for lunch tomorrow.
Homemade macaroni and cheese. I passed it up so I could have a little extra clochette. It's in the freezer.
Friendship bread, with flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and oatmeal.
Collard greens. I used to hate them when I was little, but now I love them.
Mixed Salad Greens with walnuts, smoked mozzarella, and vinaigrette. Brought by Meg and Vincent, and I think Vincent made it (thanks for bringing something green!). I come from a family that does not eat enough fresh vegetables. I find I feel sick if I don't have fresh green with a heavy meal. The salad took up 1/3 of my plate so I could save room for dessert, and my digestive system thanked me for the roughage. I skipped the mozz reluctantly.

Dessert
No Yule Log...
Carrot Cake. My mom makes the best carrot cake. Enough said.
Mochi. Again, I bought too much, but that just means more for tomorrow's game night.
Apple pie. Haven't tried it yet, but the same person made it this year as last year, and it was delicious.
Assorted cookies. These were the cookies I got to see in production last week. Everyone was too full to indulge in the sweets, but I noticed the cookies seem to be disappearing into thin air today. They were wicked good.

Primo, a man of few words, gave a Quaker-style blessing.

We never played Werewolves, and the kids didn't decorate any gingerbread houses. We can save that for another time. In fact, the older kids played in Bea's room, and I saw them twice the whole evening.

And the on-going saga of my dad and his health continues. It's really worse than I thought, but nothing new. I've been checking my dad's blood sugar twice a day, and it's been in the mid to high 300's. Last night after dinner it was 457. I think it's really the first time in the 3 or 4 years he's been diabetic that he's had his blood sugar checked regularly, so he's actually seeing what he's doing to himself. Even still, it feels like he's paying lip-service to my mom's and my pleas that he cut back on the sugar and fat. It's easy to say you'll change. It's harder to do it, especially at a family feast, where everyone pigs out. A few days ago I lost it and really dug into him about not checking his blood sugar and eating things that are verboten for a diabetic. I got nowhere.

Several days of almost non-stop eating (with a diabetic who doesn't take care of himself) really forces one to look at her relationship with food. For another post.