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Doilies! 🙂 https://pieceworkmagazine.com/push-pull-doily/

And someone else made them for me, too! Bonus! I'm just so tired this year, I didn't even want to make my own. 😆 But I will probably still end up spending quite a bit of time on salad, side/veggie dishes and dessert. I will report back on taste/quality!

@FauxPas, please try and remember to tell us what that vegetarian tourtière tastes like. Mushrooms, potato, lentils, walnuts, sourdough bread crumbs –– what's not to like! 😋

I'll second that. Costco sells them in their usual large quantity and they freeze very well. Ask me how I know.

I went through some drawers in the dining room and pulled out a few things: Lots of lace tablecloths and a billion lace? Crocheted? Things in all shapes and sizes like this:

Not Kirkland, it's made by a Quebec company - Plaisirs Gastronomiques. It's quite big, almost 2 kg. This is the vegetarian one, from a small local place - Honey Grove bakery: I'll just put out chutneys and sauces and people can choose what they like. Edited to add: And the sun just came out and temp has climbed to 17C (63F) so it's feeling pretty mild for mid-December. 🙂

Probably should have been Gumbeaux

No no I really don't! I really appreciate the information.

Biscoff (made in Belgium) If you're ver flown Alaska or Frontier Airlines you've had the,.

Two days ago I made some xá xíu for little ones bánh mì. Of course there were leftovers*. So, today I took a huge chunk of Spiessbraten-roasted pork belly out of the fridge and started to shave off thin slices … Kewpie mayonnaise got mixed with the congealed jus**, elevated with a bit of Dijon mustard and spread generously over some toasted chiabatta*** A pile of shaved pork belly, some hefty dill pickles and I was all set**** … On a productive note: while all this happened I prepared a truita (a Catalan tortilla de patatas) for my wifes work brunch tomorrow. Her colleagues do like authentic Catalan food 🤪 —- *That’s what I tell my wife. Of course there were not leftovers of the xá xíu, but I bought 2.5 kg of pork belly and used only 600 g of it on Saturday. ** You know it must be intense if someone used jus instead of juices. Or the German word, whatever that might be. *** German chiabatta with the consistency of a sourdough rye, but made entirely from wheat and yeast (according to the lady in the bakery, telling me with a facial expression not unlike sourdough rye). **** Full disclosure: there was a Jägermeister involved. Small bottle, though …

Yeah, you can almost not water basil too much.... unless it's not getting much light, but yours looks like it's getting enough. It could always like more, but you can tell by the "internode length" which is the distance between trusses. But you're a master gardener so you would know more than I!

Thank you! I do try to keep in mind that the people receiving the food probably prefer something familiar. Even non-Cajun ethnic food usually has inauthentic seasoning, like Tony’s, added to it. We get mad when “our” food gets bastardized, but have no problem doing it to everyone else’s cuisine! Sorry for the delayed response, but I missed seeing the notification that there was a new post.

Rain is going to clean out the frigging snow, so no white Xmas. Which is fine.

Thank you for telling me! I've been watering every other day. I will step it up.

Grilled salmon with 'green' sauce. It was a puree of arugula and cilantro (4:1 in favor of arugula) with serrano chiles, garlic, lime and olive oil. Sides were chunked grape tomatoes and Persian cukes, along side of (store- bought frozen) fried breaded medallions of espinaca and queso.

At least when this picture was taken, he looks like he could use a drink... when the leaves start curling in like that, it could be a sign of water stress. I once had a basil plant (it was really big) that could go through almost a gallon of water a day!

It's currently 47F and windy, god knows if we'll have snow or not. (Such a weird weather pattern for us) Stepdaughter requested halibut this year (she doesn't get seafood in her house so Christmas Eve with her is always something from the water). Since I did halibut chowder last year, this year I'm planning on pasta with lemon sauce and halibut, shrimp cocktail for an appetizer (her dad's request), maybe salmon dip.

@chromedome i love your updates! For your grinder- our local rental store rents grinders. (Think backhoe, bobcat day rental. Not rent to own a couch.) If that's not a thing where you are, maybe put a post on a local Facebook group offering a trade for a day of borrowing a grinder. (Quail eggs for a weekend of use? A bunny or two- live or not? Etc). If you go the Facebook route, be sure to point out that you aren't a schmuck with no clue. As you know grinders are an expensive investment, I'd want reassurance loaning mine to a stranger! And don't hesitate to ask around your friend group,a woman I know is letting me long term borrow her dead husband's sausage stuffer.

Ed (whose Mom actually was French Canadian) makes an excellent Tourtière. I think we need one for this Christmas. Ed got the recipe from his French teacher when we lived in Quebec.

I'll be curious to read what the Tourtière from Costco is like. Is the brand Kirkland? Are you having the cranberry chutney with the Costco ot the bakery one?We have a local restaurant that makes really good ones at Christmas and sells them as a fundraiser for a local charity. I bought one last year and it was really good so I ordered 3 of them this year.

White Christmas is not likely here, but it does happen now and then. Today is high of 13C (55F) and low of 7C (45F) but later in the week, temps will drop a bit more. I cooked big turkey dinners for last few years for several holidays and I wanted something different this year - and easier for me! I decided I wanted Tourtière for Christmas dinner (and not just as Christmas Eve meal). They aren't hard to make but I saw Costco has a nice-looking one and will try that. Also bought a vegetarian version from a local bakery. Both are in the freezer. I'll make a cranberry chutney to go along with that, maybe a mango chutney also as i have mango in the freezer. I'll make an interesting salad and a couple of side dishes. I'm thinking of a butternut squash gratin from Leite's Culinaria. And something green - like broccoli or snap peas or green beans. Or maybe even Brussels Sprouts, local farms have some delicious ones. Pumpkin pie, because my husband loves it and it's easy to make. Maybe some mulled wine.

That's the cajun way to do it!

Chicken thigh and andouille Gumbo--yes side of tator salad/ crystal hot sauce

Sliced the sourdough sandwich bread yesterday and made hot chicken sandwiches for dinner. Rather than roast a whole chicken, I just roasted chicken breasts. "Diner food" served as always with our traditional twice fried fries and canned peas.

Remember when the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed like a year? Now it seems like a couple of days lol. I'm doing brunch on Christmas Eve day, again, for us and Ronnie's kids and grandkids. I'm so glad I posted on last years thread--I think I'll do almost the exact same menu. What's everyone else doing? Are you going to have a white Christmas?