Let me start by saying I hope everyone had an amazing holiday weekend. I hope you all had a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or any other holiday celebration you all engaged in. As you all know I was fairly bah humbug this year and I was really quite the procrastinator. However I do have to say it was a blessed Christmas weekend for me…although I still cant wait for 2011 to be over because I have high hopes for 2012. This weekend for me was filled with moments that touched my heart, amazing friends and family and life lessons. And of course some amazing food and wine. 

 Here are a few of my holiday highlights:

But before I move on to 2012 lets discuss some fun food and wine lessons/experiences from the past 3 days:

Let me start by saying thank you to Tom because on Christmas Night I finally opened the bottle of Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon and dear god I swear I heard angels. This wine paired with prime rib was definitely the closest I have ever been to heaven. It was truly one of the smoothest cabs I have ever had.

 

My Christmas meal consisted of prime rib from Green Acres in Simi Valley. If you haven’t been there or haven’t had their meat it is a must. This is a great family run business that has a beautiful meat counter and it is one of those last existing true butcher type locations that allow you to walk in, request a specific cut and weight of meat and they make it happen. The prime rib can be ordered already seasoned which is what I do and it makes Christmas extremely easy because all I have to do is put it in the oven and set the timer…so truly the most challenging part is hearing the timer and paying attention to it. The prime rib cooks at a high temperature first to give it that crispy exterior and then its slowly roasted for another 2 hours to allow for thorough interior and moist cooking. Holy yum!

With the prime rib I made a Tuscan Potato Casserole. This recipe takes small baby red potatoes and adds buttermilk, fontina and blue cheese to them after they are smashed. They are then cooked in the oven with a panko, parmesan and Italian herb crust which makes for decadent and rich flavors. I honestly think this was the highlight of the meal for me. I did put the blue cheese on only half of the potatoes because I was told that one of my guests could possibly be allergic and that his throat sometimes closes off when he eats blue cheese…although I thought briefly of just saying fuck it I decided that I wanted all of my Christmas guests to survive this year.

I also made creamed spinach for the first time thanks to Emeril…yes I know I use his name like we are close family friends and not just some celebrity chef who happened to have the first recipe to come up when I googled “Creamed Spinach.” However, creamed spinach is really easy and this recipe had a lot of great flavor from sautéed shallots and garlic…ahhh yes they are sautéed in butter…and well when you add heavy cream to anything it pretty much gets decadent…just saying.

And if anyone is looking for a festive after dinner drink I learned about mulled wine. This wine is actually from the Santa Ynez valley and it comes complete with the spice packet so all you have to do is put the wine, spices, apple juice and brown sugar in a pan bring to a boil (which I didn’t do) and simmer for 60 minutes. There is nothing better than a warm glass of spicy wine at the end of a Christmas celebration.

And although these recipes were not from the actual Christmas day I still wanted to share them. I was tasked with dessert for Christmas Eve and I made a Chocolate Tart which actually was my first tart and yes I even made homemade tart crust. This tart had a shortbread crust which was really flaky and buttery…hmmm probably from the 2 sticks of butter just saying. The filling was very rich and decadent and kind of reminded me of chocolate mousse in a pie crust. It was super easy to make and it traveled well in the car…no experience taking my tart on a plane or a boat so I can’t give you advice on that one.

Finally, if you are just looking for an easy recipe for a fast dinner during the crazy holidays this recipe for Salmon and Ravioli was great, super fast and still kind of festive…cause the salmon is almost red which is a Christmas color. 

I can hardly believe we have another holiday weekend a mere 4 days away. I am one of those people who holds New Years near and dear to my heart and I view it with a great deal of supersitition and trepedition. I believe that the way you spend your New Years is kind of like a reset for the year ahead so I always use that time to set my goals, set my mind set and set my aspirations for the next 365 days. I also use this time to reflect and look back on the past-remembering life lessons, experiences, laughter and joys. This next weekend will not be any different except for the fact that I have learned a lot in 2011 and it has made me stronger, more self aware and more reflective. Cheers!