Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I am very glad we have taken many pictures so I can recall the days, they are beginning to blur. I will have to refer to my wonderful friend Lisa to get the details. I often ask her "what did we do yesterday?" And she asks, "did I take a shower yesterday?" Sometimes it's hard to remember without a sniff.

So Christmas Eve we went down to Jill's. Her Mother is in town and her little daughter M is there for PJ to fight with. Jill served many wonderful foods from her 2' x 2' kitchen. We started with cheese and pate and Champagne, then we had foi gras and oysters served with Sauternes (sweet white wine) different wine. There was a different wine for each course...(Here is where I say "Lisa what were those lobster things called?") Quenelles is the answer. That was the 2nd course. They looked like white hot dogs. They're basically just flour and egg and ground lobster. Next we had duck and little potatoes sauteed in duck fat and broccoli. That course was served with red wine. For dessert we had little piping hot chocolate or pear souffles served with fig wine. You can see why I cannot remember much. It was amazing and the kids actually got along great with each other. As you can see from the photo below.

PJ caught whatever crud M was carrying and now we are all sick. Each one of us has a slight variation of a cold. I have a cold sore, PJ has bags under her eyes and water coming from all the orifices and poor Lisa has a horrible cough. If I had her cough I would probably pee my pants just from force, but luckily she has the ability not to pee her pants. (Even though she's old enough to wear Depends.)

Christmas day we took a taxi to Lisa's friend's apartment. This in its self was a luxury - no stinky people to fight with on the bus and no stroller. The ride was scary (crazy drivers) but we made it to a beautiful part of the city and to a very luxurious 7th-floor apartment with two potties and a terrace.

Our hostess and her two grown children were Indian and very kind and sweet. The group was mostly people from Lisa's school and they all have the same complaints about college students. They are rude and talk in class. Strange...if you PAY to go to school, shouldn't you give a care?

Anyway, the food again was many courses and different drinks for each. We had hot mulled wine and foi gras. This is very traditional around here for Christmas. Dinner was ham, pork curry, prawn curry, rice and roasted vegetables (fennel, carrots, etc.) served with red wine. Then came a turkey. My eyes popped out of my head. I thought, wow, this woman has been cooking for days. Not 20 minutes went by and it was time for dessert and Champagne. This dessert was a Christmas pudding that had been steaming for 8 hours. It had carrots and raisins and other unknowns. She poured cognac on it and set it on fire! The cake was beautiful, it burned in bright blue and was served with brandy butter. We also had a slice of ginger bread. This was the most decadent and festive thing YET!

The adults (not me, I am the kid tender) played balderdash. PJ and I watched a movie as she got sicker and sicker. I felt terrible for making Lisa leave her adult fun but we had to go. (But she assured me that it was ok. Even though she's the queen of vocabulary - she knows words like sacerdotal - she had never heard of any of the words and was losing.) We took our taxi home and were eager to batten down the hatches for a couple days while the sickness passed all three of us.

The next day Lisa made a roasted pork loin with apples, garlic and shallots. On top of the pork, she slathered blueberry jam. She had wonderful stuffing with celery, raisins, orange juice and white wine. (She didn't tell me she also mixed in duck liver pate.) For dessert, she poached some pears in butter, cinnamon, orange peel and red wine but we were too full to eat them. We were able to drink the hot wine and butter that she strained off, however (Ahem). The next morning, we warmed the pears and topped them with Crème fraiche (kind of like sour cream) and granola and had them with our morning coffee. The meal the night before was the most comforting to me. I think it's the stuffing that says "holiday" to me. Very, very yummy.

Are ya drooling yet?

Food glorious food!
Kelsie

PS: I asked Lisa to edit and she added a few "Lisaisms." I would never say she is of a certain age to wear Depends, or use words like sacerdotal... (even though she does. xoxoxoxo Lisa)