Give Me Some Food

Back in November my mom called to ask me what I wanted for Christmas:

"I really want a cast iron skillet.”

"One of those god awful things that my mother use to have back in the 50’s? Those things are terrible! I hate how they feel and guck sticks to them and I was the one who always had to wash ours. Yuk!”

“Yup, one of those…”

 

 Merry Christmas to me!

Christmas morning with my parents is a tradition- if you can call it that. Traditions always feel kind of weird when they only involve three people (four once I got married). We open presents- Dad always gives Mom jewelry and Mom gives Dad shirts with pockets so he can keep all his nerdy stuff with him. Then mom makes a great brunch- it’s my holiday meal off. This Christmas, besides the cast iron skillet, I received many things to enhance my kitchen: a crème brulee set, the Martha Stewart Dessert Cookbook and a springform pan! The last time I tried to use my old springform pan- I ended up with strawberry cheesecake batter all over my dress, my stove, my floor, my sanity…you get the idea- my springform pan had a leak and therefore took a leak.

That night dinner was for my dad’s brother Rob and his family. Dad and Rob  are orginally from Pittsburg so they like the traditional meat and potatoes dinner. So I made a big hunk of meat:

Pleasing many people with the same roast can prove problematic.  Felix and Dad are quite paranoid that I will overcook it. First Dad will come into the kitchen (he also comes in to eat my raw ingredients when I’m not looking which is my personal pet peeve!):

“Don’t over cook that meat! That’s a good roast and it would be a shame to overcook it!”

Later, Felix wanders into the kitchen:

“Yum. This hunk of meat looks done. Don’t cook it anymore.”

“Felix, it hasn’t gone into the oven yet!”

And finally, Dad comes back into the kitchen:

“Kristen, is that delectable ten pound roast in the oven?”

“Yes?”

“It's already in the oven?! You’re gonna overcook it!”

“Dad, we’re eating in five minutes!”

“oh.”

So anyway, I take it out of the oven, and it’s rare, but my Aunt Deb and Cousin Jesse like their meat well done! It usually works that the meat is too rare for them and not rare enough for Felix and Dad. Alas…

Dinner actually turned out very well. We also had some parmesan green onion popovers, green beans, a blue cheese and candied walnut salad, and a citrus tart. All of these were from the December Bon Appetit. I swear I’ve cooked just about every recipe out of that issue.  Here are the popovers:

Atkins…take a hike.