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Unfortunately, husband and I have just come down with a particularly nasty virus and had to cancel our Christmas dinner plans. I'm not up to cooking (or even for shopping for the last few required items) and we certainly don't want to pass this bug on to others, so tourtières will stay in freezer for now. Tentative plan is to reschedule for NY Eve dinner. We'll see how we feel, we are really quite sick right now. 😞 A local restaurant chain (White Spot) does a fairly decent packaged turkey dinner for two. It's designed for reheating with par-cooked veggies, etc. We were able to pick one up yesterday and will have that tonight and/or tomorrow. Also, our heat pump shut down overnight. We reset the breakers and the fan started to run, but it doesn't seem to be heating house. Waiting for a service call. We do have a gas fireplace and it's not really cold outside but still.... 🙂

Pulled pork from yesterday, smoked overnight and then finished in the oven. Chilly last night so it was easy to keep the smoker around 225', which yielded a nice smoke ring. Mopped the butts every few hours, and finished with a glaze of homemade BBQ sauce. These were huge pork butts, probably took 17 hours or so, and even so the meat near the bone was more in slicing than pulling range. Still, no complaints. Pulled pork sandwich with homemade BBQ sauce and coleslaw on a potato roll. Leftover bacon and chorizo potato salad to go with, courtesy of Mrs. C. The BBQ sauce was a Paul Kirk recipe, jazzed up with ginger, lemon zest, and lemon juice.

@curls, yesterday I was able to purchase a Three Chocolate panettone for shipment to Canada. They won't get it for Christmas, but they'll get it soon.

The finished baba-savarin au rhum, basted with rum syrup, glazed with apricot jam/rum. This will be served with whipped cream. Verbena cake , a pale green crumb, studded with red raspberries, will be served with a raspberry coulis. Now to transport the 3 cakes along with other goodies!

@Duvel that chicken was wrapped in burlap ? @ 30.20 euro's a kilo ? for the burlap ? hope to see pics of that roasted . please

Roasted salmon with melting cherry tomato sauce over spinach

It was statements like this that convinced me that a low oven was probably OK. I do avoid as much thermal shock as possible, usually putting the dishes in a cold oven (my CSO doesn’t have a preheat function on Steam Bake anyway) and placing hot dishes on a rack or insulated pad rather than directly on a cold countertop. I think a lot of people assume that “oven-safe” means anything up to baking and broiling at 500°F so manufacturers may want to avoid the term. They really are a high quality product and I hope you’ll get as much use out of them as I have!

I roasted a small rack of pork for dinner last night, just because I wanted pork gravy to serve tonight with our Christmas Eve Tourtiere . Nothing better than rich pork gravy.

@Maison Rustique, I asked them over and over if I could put the Duralex in the oven, and while they never said Duralex was oven-worthy, you'll see above that they came as close to saying the Duralex could be put in the oven as possible. Some corporate rule, probably. 😂

She's in Toronto now.

I asked Duralex this question: "I don't need to cancel the order if I can put the Duralex into a low oven. A friend puts her (defrosted meal) in a Duralex into a Cuisinart Steam Oven at 275ºF for half to full hour. And has done so for years, apparently. Can I do that? (I'd like to have an official okay)." Duralex has responded: To answer your question, Duralex glassware is specifically designed for durability and versatility. Our products are shock resistant, meaning they are manufactured to withstand sudden temperature changes ranging from -4°F to 266°F. This makes them perfectly suitable for both hot and cold liquids. For your convenience, they are also: Microwave and Freezer Safe: You can take them directly from the freezer to the microwave without any issues. Dishwasher Safe: Designed for easy cleaning and daily use. [\end quote] AND they decided to ship me my containers!

I just finished reading "Toast" which I'm still not sure if I like it or not, but he does talk about a number of British foods that I was unfamiliar with or had never tried. I now want to either make or buy some mushroom ketchup. I see @andiesenji's recipe above. If I wanted to buy some here in the US or order online, any recommended brands?

@Shel_B I am pleased to report that the new cheese blintzes are quite tasty. I don't think that there are any changes from the original recipe. I went back to Trader Joe's and got a few more boxes of cheese blintzes. 🙂

Please be kind enough to post your opinion. Thanks!

These were on those POS stands by the registers, and the display did it's job, the box came home with me. Overall, I give these a very low rating, maybe a one or a two. The ratio of filling to crust and topping was very low, could barely taste it. However, the overwhelming taste of sugar was front and center. It's a sugar bomb, not a flavor bomb. 👎

Toasted pecan and boozy fruit, 1/2 pound pecans and 1/2 pound sultanas and apricots, tablespoon of finely chopped candied orange rind. This is basted with a rum, sugar syrup several times, then glazed with Clementine jam/ rum syrup. An old Craig Claiborne recipe that was in the NYT, it is also in his book, “Southern Cooking”, the kumquats recipe is from Claudia Flemington, “The Last Course”.

An interesting article from the Grauniad. Antarctic chef. A tent, an electric stove and -40C temperatures: the chefs who cook ‘on ice’ in Antarctica | Food and drink | The Guardian

Beautiful bowl of wontons in soup. I've never heard of turkey wontons but why not? They don't do turkey here in any way.

Another dish from the “things in a bowl “ series. This is homemade turkey wontons in bone broth with bok choy. It’s topped with mung bean sprouts, coriander, green onions and fresh chilli.

Sadly no Goûter panettone for me this year; they are sold out of the traditional version. Will get my order in earlier next year. Glad that they are doing so well.

Whee! Against what seemed like staggering odds (including my needing to be home for a signature) my two panettonnes from Gouter arrived today! I realized they're still wrapped in their swaddling, but even now the aroma is intoxicating. I'm so pleased they arrived in time for me to share with family and friends during the holiday travels. There will still be PLENTY for me.

Also love the Silver Palate cook book. I got turned off Martha when it became very obvious that she had a huge staff who did all the things that she claimed to do herself.

That looks delicious. Sorry about your cold - A friend and I went to a concert last night - Johnny Reid. It was a great get together but people coughing and sneezing were freaking me out!

It does look great but it really doesn't look like Tres leches cake.

Carlos's girlfriend was here for dinner tonight. So I made a seven layer lasagna yesterday and had it in the refrigerator ready to bake. I'm glad I had it ready because yesterday afternoon I came down with the mother of all colds. I guess that's my Christmas present. I found ricotta for the first time in about 4 years and went a little overboard on that but otherwise it was pretty good. Served it with green beans and bacon. Watermelon, green salad and homemade bread, no pictures.