Merry Christmas 2011

On Christmas eve our family visited some Peruvian Friends for Dinner, as has become our tradition for the past 5 or 6 years. In Latin American culture, Christmas is celebrated on Christmas Eve at midnight. This year our friend made everything herself; all of which turned out fantastic. My favorite of which was her turkey-breast stuffed with ham and Swiss cheese, though everything turned out great. I brought two loaves of freshly-baked ciabatta and a nice bottle of Argentine Malbec. Despite the crust on the ciabatta being about 2-minutes overdone, the crumb was still perfectly soft. I was worried, but the loaves quickly disappeared.

Crowded; this was as close as I could get.

Christmas dinner was quiet with just the four members of our family. I prepared a Cider-Baked Christmas Ham, which I saw on a new episode of Cook’s Country. It was filled with apple flavor, but the texture was somewhat dry because I used a spiral sliced ham. The ham was accompanied with these holiday scalloped potatoes and some green beans, which were a blend of the following two recipes; green beans with bacon and special green beans. I will post the details of these dishes over the next few days.

My photo above the the famed Rockefeller Christmas Tree. A few weeks ago we had a four-course Italian dinner, and saw the Christmas window displays of the department stores on 5th Avenue. As always, New York is always so full of energy.

Somebody’s been eating cookies and milk

Opening their Christmas presents

Great American breakfast. Who needs IHOP?

Enjoying a beautiful Christmas breakfast

Crowded; this was as close as I could get.