kayb

I lust after both the gift card AND having an amazing cheese shop nearby. Our superKroger has what contends it is a branch of Murray's, with a fair selection of cheese, but it's a long way from an "amazing cheese shop" unless all you've been in is the grocery store cheese counter. I do not suppose I will ever forget the fresh mozzarella I had from the Italian Market district in Philadelphia, in a tiny shop that sold nothing but fresh mozzarella. My daughter is presently in Rome and posted a photo of the caprese she had for lunch. I cannot fathom that the mozzarella is any better.

The aforementioned on another thread turkey and asparagus quiche. Some of the leftover ham went into a Christmas Day breakfast casserole. Have also made deviled ham spread and egg and olive spread (from the leftover deviled eggs). Still to come is recycling the leftover sweet potato casserole into sweet potato muffins.

Shoot me. I don't like any of 'em. Not even calamari.

Good Scotch cures a multitude of ills.

Gotcha. I've had, and made, that, and yes, it's GOOD. Just never heard it with that name.

@Porthos What are Scottsdale potatoes? Today, since Christmas dinner was early, I repurposed some leftovers into turkey and asparagus quiche. I'm taking it somewhere tomorrow, so I wanted a foil pan, and I didn't have a round one, therefore, rectangular quiche.

Breakfast casserole and leftover fruit from Saturday.

Add me to the offset spatula club! And a regular metal one, and a regular plastic one. A bigger pie server. A jar-opening thingy, and a bottle-opening thingy. And a widget that has a clear cup on bottom an assorted attachments on top including a juicer, a ricer-type thing they call an egg shredder, and I forget what other attachments. Cool widgets!

Glad you did. I used to read it to my kids when they were tiny. I think Dan wrote it in the late 1970s. I read it every year.

Santa's initials may be KB. Wonderful gift.

Oh, deara God. I would hurt myself. That looks marvelous.

1 box butter recipe cake mix 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup all purpose flour 2/3 cup vegetable oil 4 eggs 1 cup sour cream 2 or 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and diced small 1 cup caramel chips 1 cup chopped pecan (I expect walnuts would work) Bake in well-greased bundt pan 90 minutes at 325, until a skewer comes out clean. Cool completely, then glaze with: 1/2 cup half and hal 1/2 stick butter 1 cup brown sugar 2 tsp vanilla 2 pinches salt boil over medium low heat until it thickens somewhat. Cool a bit, pour over cake. This is one of the best cakes I've ever made.

Thank you, Jesus, that I have good cholesterol. Else it would have gone up 100 points reading this. That said, damn, that sounds wonderful!

I LOVE Christmas brunches!

Christmas dinner, early (Sunday, so maybe it was Festivus dinner). Tablescapes have never been my thing because I have never had room. One day, Lord... Child B (background) and Child C's arm as they help themselves. Fruit salad with dressing on the side, and cranberry salad. The dressing is one their grandmother used to make that they dearly love -- cream cheese, marshmallow cream and lime juice. Too sweet for some folks. Ham, smoked turkey, sweet potatoes. Cranberry salad, deviled egg and pickle platter (note @HungryChris' mushrooms in the place of honor in the center) and fried Broadbent's country ham. Dessert: Caramel Apple Pound Cake A few other odds and ends not posted. Much joy and chaos upon opening gifts. Three kids aged 6-8 with new kiddie polaroid cameras (who knew they made such a thing?) were a hoot. Not food related, but something I like to share with friends around Christmas time: Clarabell The Christmas Cow Take 15 minutes and read it. Have the Kleenex ready. The author, sadly no longer among us, was a fella with whom I went to college and later worked at The Commercial Appeal. Merry Christmas, and may 2019 bring you all the happiness, joy and good food you can stand!

Add one. A rum cake. With, from the taste, copious quantities of rum!

Now, I LIKE that idea. You could also do chunks of cheese inside the corn dog batter.

Plain old gold works fine. Different from russets, closer to a red potato, but not like that, either. My potato of choice unless I'm making latkes, and if I think of it, I'll get russets for that.

Welcome. Would love any of his recipes you might have and wish to share.

It was pretty much a riff -- the base is the sour cream pound cake you make starting with a cake mix. 1 butter recipe cake mix, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 2/3 cup vegetable oil, 4 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, which really doesn't make the classic dense pound cake, but a more open-crumb version. I added to the batter two peeled, cored and chopped Granny Smith apples; a cup of caramel chips; and 3/4 cup of chopped pecans. Baked it for about 90 minutes in a Bundt pan at 325. Let it cool overnight, and glazed it this morning with a glaze made of a cup of brown sugar, a half-cup of half-and-half, a half-stick of butter and a pinch or two of salt, cooked over medium heat until it boils and thickens a bit, then let cool a little. It's rich, and it's good!

I went through four pounds of pecans in holiday baking/candymaking, not counting the nearly 1 pound I burned and had to throw away. I like the pecans with the Chex mix sauce, too, and this year I made a new one: Pickapeppa Pecans, from Garden and Gun magazine. There's also a spicy pecans recipe floating around on here that produces a sweet--hot pecan...don't recall who posted it, but I made some of those last year, and they're wonderful. It was a good pecan crop year here, and I bought shelled pecans for $7 a pound. I bought LOTS.

Daughter got a FOUR-POUND box of Esther Price chocolates. Apparently that's a small factory in Dayton, OH. I believe they must have made those chocolates last week. Freshest boxed candy I ever tasted.

Oooohhh. Never thought of lobster tails in the CSO. And I have a couple in the freezer. That may be Christmas night (as Christmas dinner is tomorrow, instead of The Day).

I would focus on a flavorful braising liquid. Not so much the salt content, but, say, red wine for beef, or apple cider for pork. Lots of herbal elements. I swear by thyme and sage when I braise most anything, along with the typical onion and garlic.

Well. The treat baskets are all distributed, save one that'll go out tomorrow. The house is clean, the presents are wrapped (thanks to my favorite elf, my eldest daughter). The ham is baked and sliced, on a platter with the turkey, which was smoked. Two salads are made. Rolls are par-baked and just need to be browned tomorrow. There's a cake in the oven (caramel apple pound cake, which will get a caramel glaze tomorrow after it cools). Tomorrow I'll cook the sweet potatoes and mac and cheese and asparagus, and toss together the fruit bowl and make some dressing for it, and put together a cheese and charcuterie tray and a veggie tray for snacking until we get ready to eat, because I've learned you need to let the littles open gifts before they eat (and then they may not, anyway!). Oh, and there's a big pitcher of mimosas awaiting mixing and sipping. I have three bottles of Prosecco and lots of orange juice! A very Merry Christmas and healthy, happy New Year to you all!