RoundAbout San Diego

We are all sitting on the couch with with swollen bellies wondering why we ate as much as we did. It has been a long and full day with presents and much eating and drinking.

The day didn't start too early and it got off to a good start with Multigrain toast w/scrambled eggs & Canadian bacon, coffee, and fresh fruit salad.

Klaus tucking in to the first meal of the day - his scrambled eggs



The idea was to eat a substantial breakfast that would last us until our dinner later in the day. Did it work? Not really! I had put out nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate to snack on if anyone got a bit peckish and a fair amount got eaten during the day.

Anyway, after breakfast we all sat around the Christmas tree drinking mimosas and opened our presents. I won't go into details but Santa bought us all some really cool stuff as well as the oddities that always show up in the stockings.

Before and after the presents were opened



It was a beautiful day and we spent some time outside reading before getting dinner ready. Yesterday we had all done a lot of preparation to make today easier. We had a nice table setting for the occasion.



The Menu
Butternut Squash Soup with Melted Blue Cheese. It was so warm we ate the soup out on the patio before moving inside for the main course.



Mustard and Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with Cauliflower Puree and
Brussels Sprouts and Roasted Red Onion



Arugula, Pear and Stilton Salad. We got to this part and skipped it because we were so full.

Christmas Pudding with Brandy Sauce for dessert. I had bought these items from the English import store and can't imagine a Christmas at home without them.

I bought Alex an electronic keyboard because he wants to learn how to play the piano. The keyboard is soft and rolls up for easy storage.


It was a fabulous day but I'm glad it's bedtime.

It's Christmas Eve and we all spent the day preparing for tomorrow's dinner. Before Janet and Klaus arrived I had made a 'To-do-list' for everyone. We had to run to the store for last minute items but generally it was a relaxing day at home chopping, slicing, and dicing for various recipes for our big Christmas Day dinner. We also had last minute presents to wrap and I had an early huge surprise. Around 4pm this afternoon Alex sent me to my room saying he had something he had to do but didn't want me to see. I was all excited thinking he and his Dad were putting together a bicycle for me which I had been asking for for a while.

It turns out that Alex had repaired some of the brick work in our fireplace and had a chimney sweep come in and fix our chimney for us and he surprised me with a roaring fire in the grate. We have lived in this house for over 4 years and one of the reasons we wanted it was because it had a working fireplace. Now at last it is really is working. Well, it actually smoked the house out a bit but we soon got over that after the windows were opened. We had to rearrange the fire a bit to make sure the smoke went up the chimney and not into the living room.



Anyway, with the warm glow of the fire, the tree with all it's lights in the front bay window it is definitely beginning to look like Christmas. We sat around drinking the eggnog that Janet had made using an old family recipe, and admired the flames for a while before I started putting dinner on the table.

Tonight's dinner was cooked 2 days ago before Janet and Klaus arrived. Just under half is already in the freezer for some future meal for us. Meantime, the cassoulet had sat for a couple of days and the flavor improved considerably. This is a perfect dinner for a cold winter's night. It's unfortunate that San Diego doesn't get many cold nights and tonight was no exception - especially with the fire going. Anyway, it was Christmas, it was winter, and we imagined the cold. I did make a couple of changes to the recipe - I took half of the pork and substituted with boneless, skinless, chicken thighs cut into chunks. I also omitted the directions in the last paragraph. I served this meal with a salad and a baguette for sopping up the sauce and it was fabulous.

Shortcut Pork Cassoulet

Ingredients

1 pound dried Great Northern beans
5 bacon slices, coarsely chopped
1 3 1/2-pound boneless pork shoulder, trimmed of excess fat, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces
1 pound kielbasa, cut into 3/4-inch-thick slices
2 1/2 cups chopped onions
1 cup sliced celery
1 cup sliced peeled carrots
4 large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 cups canned low-salt chicken broth
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 cups coarse fresh breadcrumbs made from French bread
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds
Chopped fresh parsley

Preparation

Place beans in large saucepan. Add enough cold water to cover by 3 inches. Bring to boil. Remove from heat. Cover and soak beans 1 hour. Drain.
Return beans to pan. Add enough cold water to cover beans by 3 inches. Bring to boil. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat until beans are almost tender, about 30 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 300°F. Cook bacon in heavy large ovenproof pot over medium heat until crisp, about 8 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to large bowl. Discard all but 2 tablespoons drippings from pot. Increase heat to medium-high. Working in batches, cook pork shoulder and kielbasa in pot until brown, about 8 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer pork and kielbasa to bowl with bacon.

Add onions, celery and carrots to pot. Sauté until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme; sauté 1 minute. Mix in broth, tomatoes with juices and tomato paste; bring to boil. Stir in meats from bowl, then drained beans. Return to boil. Cover pot. Transfer to oven; bake until pork is tender, about 1 hour. Maintain oven temperature.

Using slotted spoon, transfer 1 cup beans and vegetables from pot to processor and purée. Return purée to pot. Stir in wine. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Refrigerate uncovered until cool, then cover and refrigerate. Bring cassoulet to simmer before continuing.)

Smooth top of cassoulet. Mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan and oil in bowl. Sprinkle half of crumb mixture over cassoulet. Arrange bell pepper atop crumb mixture. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake cassoulet uncovered until pork and beans are very tender and topping is golden and crisp, about 45 minutes.
Garnish cassoulet with parsley.

Serving size 8 - 10.

Yesterday was my birthday and we went to one of my favorite restaurants in the North Park area - Apertivo.It is a very loud and lively place to eat dinner. You are surrounded by groups of people having animated conversations, drinking wine, and sharing small plates of fabulous Mediterranean food. The food is reasonably priced and the wine list offers a great selection at lower than usual prices. There's a small bar in the back corner where, if you're lucky enough to grab a spot, you can sit and talk about wines and food with the owner. The idea is to relax and order a medley of small plates to share with everyone at the table. With the wine and conversation flowing, you'll find yourself sitting there for hours. Last night we started out with a Caesar salad and capelinni with gorgonzola cream sauce and pecans. We then went on to the osso bucco d'angnelli (lamb braised in red wine), the criimini mushrooms cooked in sherry, the oven roasted potatoes, and the broccoli sautéed in butter and garlic. We finished with the lemon cheesecake mousse and hazelnut port. Everything was really great and the lamb was spectacular. I'd like to say we walked out of there but I think it was more of a waddle. As a last note I started this post by saying Apertivo was loud and lively and it is. This is the one complaint that many people have after eating there. It is not a place to go for a nice meal with quiet conversation. Apertivo is a great restaurant and I really enjoy the vibrant atmosphere.

One last thing - I finally joined the masses last night by becoming the proud owner of a cell phone. It's not yet charged but I look forward to walking around with it glued to my ear.