Christmas Preparations 2023

[Kim Shook]

Looks like no one has started this topic yet, so I'll go ahead.  I'm WAY behind in my preparations this year.  House looks like we're moving tomorrow AND that a motorcycle gang has broken in and ransacked the place.  Tree is up, but nekkid.  I've got the menu down, but almost no shopping done.  Still have gifts to buy and all the wrapping paper is in the attic, where I can't get to it.  And poor Mr. Kim is not able to be of any help because he's in budget meetings until late at night.  Sigh.  BUT - I've accomplished two items.  The day before yesterday I made two batches of Pretzel Pecan Turtles:

Will never buy these star shaped pretzels again. They look great, but over half the bag was broken. 

 

 

Yesterday I made my turkey gravy.  Necks, seasoning, mirepoix, and a little tomato paste going into the oven to roast:

 

Out of the oven:

 

A couple of hours in the IP and the resulting stock:

 

Gravy with some of the meat pulled off the necks added back in:

 

It's a start, I guess.  I need to get my timeline composed.  That always helps me when I've got big projects to get done.  Who else has gotten a start?

[TdeV]

I've spent the past several days putting in an order of bakery items from Goûter in Toronto for my Canadian relatives. Not done yet, but closer.

[MaryIsobel]

6 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Looks like no one has started this topic yet, so I'll go ahead.  I'm WAY behind in my preparations this year.  House looks like we're moving tomorrow AND that a motorcycle gang has broken in and ransacked the place.  Tree is up, but nekkid.  I've got the menu down, but almost no shopping done.  Still have gifts to buy and all the wrapping paper is in the attic, where I can't get to it.  And poor Mr. Kim is not able to be of any help because he's in budget meetings until late at night.  Sigh.  BUT - I've accomplished two items.  The day before yesterday I made two batches of Pretzel Pecan Turtles:

Will never buy these star shaped pretzels again. They look great, but over half the bag was broken. 

 

 

Yesterday I made my turkey gravy.  Necks, seasoning, mirepoix, and a little tomato paste going into the oven to roast:

 

Out of the oven:

 

A couple of hours in the IP and the resulting stock:

 

Gravy with some of the meat pulled off the necks added back in:

 

It's a start, I guess.  I need to get my timeline composed.  That always helps me when I've got big projects to get done.  Who else has gotten a start?

You are light years ahead of me ma'am! Cold rain yesterday delayed our plans to put the outside lights up. I did spend a fair amount of time "thinking about Christmas." Does that count? Most of my major gift shopping is done. Need some stocking stuffers. I have all the ingredients for gingerbread, shortbread and sugar cookies, just need to get my rear in gear!

 

[chromedome]

We've ordered our turkey from the local farmer (at a whopping 70-cent/lb premium over a plain old supermarket bird) and that's about it, except I've been to Costco for walnuts and for ground almonds. I need to reorganize the freezers before I start my cookie-making binge, so I'll have a place to put them.

[Maison Rustique]

Christmas will be at my sister's this year and it will be early, so we think a brunch. I hope so because I'm planning on things I will bake--scones and breads. She is not much for planning ahead on these things so that's as far as it has gone.

[Darienne]

Ed bought a turkey for Canadian Thanksgiving, just when our stove gave up the ghost.  So whatever it was that we ate...it was small enough to fit into our toaster oven.

 

So we'll have this turkey at Christmas.  Our vegan daughter will be with us and refuse, of course, to eat it.  That's about it for me at present I'm afraid, although I'll enjoy reading the plans of others on this topic. 

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

I need to reorganize the freezers before I start my cookie-making binge, so I'll have a place to put them.

This is my problem every single year!  We end up eating bizarre meals in November and early December because I'm desperately trying to make space for my Christmas baking and candymaking.  You'd think I'd learn!  And we have 2 freezers plus the one in the refrigerator!  

 

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

Christmas will be at my sister's this year and it will be early, so we think a brunch. I hope so because I'm planning on things I will bake--scones and breads. She is not much for planning ahead on these things so that's as far as it has gone.

This is my MIL and SIL.  They don't decide until the last minute what they want me to bring and I'm a big planner-aheader. 

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

Christmas will be at my sister's this year however my mom is turning 90 a week before Xmas and I will be cooking for that.

This year my cooking project, not for my mom's do, will be to attempt my memere's tourtiere from scratch.

 

[chromedome]

3 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

This is my problem every single year!  We end up eating bizarre meals in November and early December because I'm desperately trying to make space for my Christmas baking and candymaking.  You'd think I'd learn!  And we have 2 freezers plus the one in the refrigerator!  

We have a full-sized chest freezer in the kitchen, plus a full-sized upright, plus two smaller "apartment-sized" chest freezers, plus the drawer in our massive French-door refrigerator. All of which are stuffed. Plan is to pack one of the small chest freezers with rabbit, a second one with "overflow" garden veg and supermarket bargains, and the upright with the current "working quantities" of veg, frozen stock, container portions of prepared/made ahead foods, etc. That should free up a portion of the large chest freezer, and a shelf or two of the upright, for Christmas stuff.

[RWood]

This year it will be lasagne, salad, garlic bread and tiramisu or a yule log. I put my foot down for Thanksgiving and made other people do some of the work. I'll have to make the lasagne and dessert, but the rest is up for grabs. 

We decided to have a nice quiet Christmas Eve dinner for just me, my mom, my cousin and my dad. I'm looking at a ribeye roast, my aunt's au gratin potatoes and not sure what else yet. This way the chaos of my prima Donna cousin and the out of control grandkids of my other cousin can be whatever it is. We can be civilized the night before. 

I'm trying to get chocolates done, along with a few other gifts. Cocoa Bomb shells are done, just need the cocoa mix and marshmallows made. I need to get two boxes in the mail to CA in the next week. 

The decorations are almost all up, and we have one trip to Orlando to see Mark Tremonti sing Christmas, then three days later to Birmingham to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I'll be glad when it's over 😵‍💫, I'm already tired. 

[MaryIsobel]

12 hours ago, Senior Sea Kayaker said:

Christmas will be at my sister's this year however my mom is turning 90 a week before Xmas and I will be cooking for that.

This year my cooking project, not for my mom's do, will be to attempt my memere's tourtiere from scratch.

 

I'd love to see how you make tortiere. It's my husband's only request as far as Christmas treats go. His mother always made it, but there was no recipe. I think I've come pretty close to what he remembers after 30 years of tweaking a Canadian Living recipe.

 

[DesertTinker]

1 hour ago, RWood said:

This year it will be lasagne, salad, garlic bread and tiramisu or a yule log. I put my foot down for Thanksgiving and made other people do some of the work. I'll have to make the lasagne and dessert, but the rest is up for grabs. 

We decided to have a nice quiet Christmas Eve dinner for just me, my mom, my cousin and my dad. I'm looking at a ribeye roast, my aunt's au gratin potatoes and not sure what else yet. This way the chaos of my prima Donna cousin and the out of control grandkids of my other cousin can be whatever it is. We can be civilized the night before. 

I'm trying to get chocolates done, along with a few other gifts. Cocoa Bomb shells are done, just need the cocoa mix and marshmallows made. I need to get two boxes in the mail to CA in the next week. 

The decorations are almost all up, and we have one trip to Orlando to see Mark Tremonti sing Christmas, then three days later to Birmingham to see Trans-Siberian Orchestra. I'll be glad when it's over 😵‍💫, I'm already tired. 

Good plan! Take care of your and your immediate family’s needs first, then show up for the bigger family’s version, ready to quietly and serenely accept whatever happens when the “littles” or the “old enough to know betters”  go off the rails. 

[liuzhou]

Christmas here is just a normal day, so I don't really celebrate it, but I do insist on a good dinner. So, the only preparations I'm making is ordering in a supply of cheese.

 

In transit are these.

 

Brillat-Savarin

 

Manchego

 

Crottin de Pays goat's milk cheese

 

 

I also wanted some

 

Beijing Blue

 

... but it's out of stock. Still hopeful...

 

Cheddar I have.

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[liuzhou]

Nearly forgot. Having been born in Scotland, I don't recognise Christmas without these. In past years, I've  bought two packs of the non-alcohholic version, but this year they are carrrying the Glenfiddich type for the first time. so I've ordered one of each.

 

P.S. The Brillat Savarin mentioned above has arrived by plane from Shanghai and is now resting in my fridge.

 

 

Edited December 4, 2023 by liuzhou (log)

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

9 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

I'd love to see how you make tortiere. It's my husband's only request as far as Christmas treats go. His mother always made it, but there was no recipe. I think I've come pretty close to what he remembers after 30 years of tweaking a Canadian Living recipe.

 

 

Tell me about it. My mother learned from her mother and when my siblings and I wanted to recreate it for ourselves there wasn't a recipe and when we asked it was 'some of this' and 'some  of that'.

So it'll be a taste as I go project. I'm an obsessive note taker so I'll post if I'm successful.

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by Senior Sea Kayaker (log)

[Darienne]

9 hours ago, MaryIsobel said:

I'd love to see how you make tortiere. It's my husband's only request as far as Christmas treats go. His mother always made it, but there was no recipe. I think I've come pretty close to what he remembers after 30 years of tweaking a Canadian Living recipe.

 

 Ed, whose Mother was French-Canadian, got his recipe for tortière from a French-Canadian teacher who taught French from a Quebecois point of view when we were living in Sherbrooke, Quebec.  He usually makes two or three each Christmas but hasn't for a couple of years now.  

[ElsieD]

I've always made tourtiere from a recipe in the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook.  It is pork based.  It tells me that it was originally prepared with passenger pigeons or tourtes as they were known in French.

[lindag]

I've heard pigeons referred to as flying rats.

[Darienne]

You can't see my mouth, but it just formed that strange distortion when confronted by something deemed  'revolting'.  See the following from Google on the origins of the tourtière.   

 

Ketchup?  Yes!  Maple syrup or molasses or cranberry preserves?  Not on your nelly!!!!  

 

"Many people use ketchup as a condiment, though the tourtière is also often eaten with maple syrup or molasses, or cranberry preserves"

[rotuts]

@lindag 

 

they are 

 

yet they are taster roasted than squirrels .

[TdeV]

@Senior Sea Kayaker, you've probably done tons of research but I'm very interested in tourtière!

 

Montréal Spice Company Épices de Cru publish this tourtière recipe from the de Vienne Family.

 

There's also this tourtière recipe from pbs.org, this tourtière recipe from King Arthur flour, this tourtière recipe from New York Times, and this tourtière from Saveur.

 

Looking forward to hearing about your adventure.

 

Edited to add: I omitted @Ann_T's Tourtière

 

 

Edited December 3, 2023 by TdeV (log)

[chromedome]

20 minutes ago, Darienne said:

You can't see my mouth, but it just formed that strange distortion when confronted by something deemed  'revolting'.  See the following from Google on the origins of the tourtière.   

 

Ketchup?  Yes!  Maple syrup or molasses or cranberry preserves?  Not on your nelly!!!!  

 

"Many people use ketchup as a condiment, though the tourtière is also often eaten with maple syrup or molasses, or cranberry preserves"

I've never seen anyone eat tourtiere with maple syrup, molasses, or cranberry preserves. I have seen a grandkid apply a splot of ketchup to one, and presumably she wasn't unique in doing so, but it's not something I've seen an adult do. The Acadian-descended friend who introduced me to tourtiere (to be clear, it's a Quebec thing not an Acadian thing) served hers with extra gravy, and that's usually the only sauce/condiment I use as well. I've had others but hers is the version I mostly adhere to (no specific recipe as such), with pork as the dominant meat, onions as the only veg and allspice as the dominant seasoning. There are as many variations as cooks, as is usually the case with traditional favorites.

[ElsieD]

Mine also is simple.  Ground pork, onion, boiling water, garlic, salt, celery salt, pepper sage, ground cloves and fresh bread crumbs, no more than 2 slices worth.  The only thing it is ever  served with is gravy, never any of the other, ketchup, etc.  If you order tourtiere in a restaurant in Quebec it comes unadorned, at least in the places close to us.

[Darienne]

57 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I've never seen anyone eat tourtiere with maple syrup, molasses, or cranberry preserves. I have seen a grandkid apply a splot of ketchup to one, and presumably she wasn't unique in doing so, but it's not something I've seen an adult do. The Acadian-descended friend who introduced me to tourtiere (to be clear, it's a Quebec thing not an Acadian thing) served hers with extra gravy, and that's usually the only sauce/condiment I use as well. I've had others but hers is the version I mostly adhere to (no specific recipe as such), with pork as the dominant meat, onions as the only veg and allspice as the dominant seasoning. There are as many variations as cooks, as is usually the case with traditional favorites.

I should have mentioned that we are a ketchup family.  I think it's the one time in the year that the ketchup is brought out.  Heinz.  

 

23 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

Mine also is simple.  Ground pork, onion, boiling water, garlic, salt, celery salt, pepper sage, ground cloves and fresh bread crumbs, no more than 2 slices worth.  The only thing it is ever  served with is gravy, never any of the other, ketchup, etc.  If you order tourtiere in a restaurant in Quebec it comes unadorned, at least in the places close to us.

Gravy?  Gravy?  I think not.  Ketchup is traditional in Ed's family.  His sister and her husband still go to 

 

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

I've always made tourtiere from a recipe in the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook.  It is pork based.  It tells me that it was originally prepared with passenger pigeons or tourtes as they were known in French.

from the Canadian Encyclopedia:

Another creation myth persists in discussions about the dish: that tourtière comes from tourte, which also means pigeon. Passenger pigeons, which went extinct at the end of the 19th century, numbered in the billions at the beginning of the 19th century in North America. They were notoriously easy to catch, especially at their nesting grounds on Île d’Orléans, on the St. Lawrence River, where they were hunted and baked into pie.

[liamsaunt]

Christmas is going to be just immediate family this year.  I'm just not sure of the dinner location just yet.  My Dad really wants the dinner to be at my house so he can see all the decorations.  I hope it works out because it's much easier to cook and eat here, but he hasn't actually managed to get over here for a meal for a few years.  If weather or how he is feeling prevents him leaving the house, I'll be packing everything up and bringing it all to his house (cooking at his house is not an option).  He has multiple serious health and mobility issues, so it's going to be a game day decision.  My husband ordered a three bone rib eye roast from Snake River Farms for the main.  That's already here and stored in my garage freezer.  I don't mind cooking that, but my sister and I don't eat red meat, so we have to consult on an alternate main course.  Sides are still TBD.  It will all work out.  It always does.