December 22, snack. Some mixed nuts, courtesy of the Mu Dynamics guys before lunch.
December 22, snack. Some mixed nuts, courtesy of the Mu Dynamics guys before lunch.
December 22, dinner. Joel's Roast and Latkes. Wow. Fresh-made applesauce by Jan (using Jonagold apples), plus latkes. And a very tasty chuck roast with an equally tasty gravy. You know, I could eat this almost every Sunday of my life and be happy. Making it was not all that hard either; the roast is pretty easy and the latkes just are a bit messy. But wow how good was that? With the entire family: Trumbos from San Diego (Bruce, Sheryl, James, Sam), Don & Barbara, Dale, Mom, Jan, and me.
December 22, dessert. A Price Club Macadamia Nut Chocolate Thing.
December 22, dessert. Some milk chocolate thing that came out of a tin. Mostly cracker/cookie, with chocolate on it. Not bad.
December 22, dessert. A Barbara Ann Bomb. These are 7-layer coconut cookies that BarbaraAnn makes and sends over every year. They're really good.
December 22, dessert. Penn State Creamery ice cream and Schramsberg Blanc de Noirs. This was mint chocolate and raspberry.
December 23, breakfast. The usual, plus a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice
December 23, lunch. Pho 88, a bowl of House Special Pho (number 52), which is mixed meat and seafood over cellophane noodles. Yum. With San Diego Trumbos, Don and Barbara, and Jan. That's Sam over there.
December 23, dinner. Breaded and fried and re-heated chicken parts, cole slaw (good!) and tomatoes. I made some honey mustard sauce. The chicken was, to be honest, inedible.
December 23, dinner. Some Sun Chips which are somehow supposed to be better for you than eating pure lard with a spoon.
December 23, snack. At Scott Forier's parents' place in Tucson, a little snack of colored olives. They had been flavored with smoke flavor, more on the red ones than the green ones. I don't want to know how the red ones got red. Still, tasty.
December 23, brownies. At Scott Forier's parents place. Yum. Not some outrageously over-done brownie, but a very standard and classic brownie. Simple, yet delicious. People don't often make brownies like this anymore, which is shame because they're so good.
December 24, breakfast. The usual. And a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice.
December 24, early morning snack. A cookie from the Harry and David's box. GOod.
December 24, snack. Pistachios. While writing, pistachios are good brain food. With Sam.
December 24, late lunch. Mr. K's BBQ. All the good bits: rib, sliced brisket, hot links, greens, and beans. Best BBQ in Tucson.
December 24, dinner. Green corn tamales from the lady who sells them in front of Bookman's, salsa, cole slaw, and some beans. Close to traditional (the tamales would have been holiday ones, not green corn), but a great way to eat nonetheless. In the back, a 1994 Beaulieu Vineyard Private Reserve.
December 24, dessert. A Barbara-Ann Bomb.
December 25, breakfast. Start with a glass of fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice, because coffee will be at Don & Barbara's.
December 25, breakfast. The usual, but carried over to Don & Barbara's for presents-opening ceremony.
December 25, breakfast. A fried egg and some bacon. I fried up four pounds of bacon (Barbara feels that we need low-fat milk, but will buy bacon in the four pound package), and then used the enormous pile of tasty fat to fry my egg. Yum.
December 25, snack. During present opening, See's Candy. Lordy. I should have applied this directly to my hips.
December 25, dinner. Prime rib roast (on sale at Albertson's for $3.75/lb if you buy the whole one, which I did). Au jus, of course. Brussel's sprouts and mushrooms, baked in butter, which makes them even better. Key here is driving the water off of the mushrooms. Mashed potatoes, with cream and butter and carmelized onions. And one of James' buttermilk biscuits. Yum.
December 26, breakfast. The usual.
December 26, snack. Some salame.
December 26, lunch. A BBQ Beef sandwich made with leftover Mr. K's brisket, some BBQ sauce, and a bun. Jan's cole slaw.
December 26, snack. A Barbara Ann bomb.
December 26, dinner. Barbara's ham, some asparagus, and Joel's twice-fried potatoes. In this case, I used $12 worth of lard frying $1.50 worth of potatoes (10 pounds, on sale). And caused a spillover, which took 90 minutes to clean up the next day. So maybe fries are best bought from someone who makes a lot of them every day. I think. Even though the lard is really good.
December 26, dessert. Karen Kuehn's peanut-butter chiffon pie, from a recipe from the Master Bakers in New York. Really good. Outstanding pie, really. Beyond most basic pies. Brought fresh all the way from New Mexico.