Celebration meals.

(breakfast fixings: potatoes, onions, zucchini, tomatoes, garlic.)

If you are stressing out thinking about your celebration meal(s) you are not alone. We want so much to recapture all the wonderful memories of previous holidays, as well as add surprises to today's meal.
I concentrate on the main Christmas meal; for everything else, I try to simplify.

On the menu this year:
Christmas Eve: Fresh crab, served chilled, with hot butter, a fruit salad, a potato salad, crusty bread and chilled pinot gris.
Note: this year's storms are delaying our crab season. I'm prepared to switch to a cioppino made with shrimp, clams and mussels from the frozen food department

Shopping list:
1/2 a crab per person (your supermarket will sell freshly boiled and chilled crab. ask them to clean it before hand)
deli potato salad
deli fruit salad
La Brea whole wheat loaf
butter
local pinot gris (I like King Estate's)

For the Christmas Feast:

Standing Prime Rib (local beef from the Browns)
tossed green salad with pomegranite seeds
roasted root vegetables
au-juice
horseradish sauce
steamed green beans
popovers
Pinot noir or Cabarnet
panettone and ice cream for dessert

What's on your table this season?

Christmas is for remembering!

We live in the Northwest, home of Christmas trees, many as old as the story of Christmas.

Our feast up here is bound to this place and to all the other places we came from.  Hubby is from the Northwest; I'm from Italy; the children all grew up in Southern California; their spouses and companions come from different parts of the world, different ethnic and religious backgrounds too.

 It's a veritable United Nations when we all get together. 


Menu for Christmas Vigil:

Chioppino ( local fish, including crab, clams, perch) preferrably caught the day of the meal, by the family, at the local fishing holes, or markets of choice.

Bitter greens wilted salad from our garden pickings, such as broccolini, spinach, chard, kale, arugula, etc.

Crusty bread
Pizza with varieties of toppings
Apple and pear pies (from our orchards)


Menu for Christmas Day:

Standing Rib Roast
roasted root vegetables
peas
asparagus
fava bean soup
spinach salad
crusty bread

Panettone (my childhood favorite)
Cranberry Nut pie (using local cranberries)

This is our basic menu, the one we had at our first Christmas, in 1966, when we started our married life. As our children grew, and their spouses joined us, we added their favorites. Since our daughter and husband are vegan, I will add a mushroom pasta as well, or a farro salad with nuts and dried fruit.  Our daughter in law is Asian and prefers more noodle dishes. We will include something that reminds each of them of their favorite holiday celebration in their childhood.

May your holidays be bright and full of great memories.