[Sca-cooks] Christmas dinner plans

[Tara Sersen Boroson]

I guess it's time to start talking Christmas (yule, etc.) dinner plans!
  What does everybody here have planned?

Does anybody have a good recipe for eggnog?  I had one, but can't find
it.  I really don't like eggnog, so this is one of those few things that
I really can't intuit myself.

Here's my menu so far:

Hor d'ouvres
	Brie w/fig preserves, hard cheese, crackers, apples
  	Tapanade (some stuffed in cherry tomatoes,) pita, crudite
  	Mixed nuts (and I don't mean my crowd of friends ;)
Soup
  	Squash soup
Salad
	Spring greens, warm goat cheese, sugared walnuts and pears with some
mild, mustardy dressing.
Main
  	Turkey & gravy w/sage and giblets
	Sausage (turkey) and fruit stuffing
	Saffron couscous dressing
	Veggies roasted with maple syrup and pecans
	Cranberry sauce w/ brandy, dried cherries and walnuts
Dessert
	Clementines & Cherries
	Truffles (habanero, rum, hazelnut, plain, maybe orange)
	Cookies (some from the cookie exchange!)
	Panforte
	Flourless chocolate cake
Other
	Bread & Butter
	Wine
	Eggnog
	Coffee

The couscous and chocolate cake are kind of overkill, but both are my
husband's favorites.  I'm going to try the couscous recipe with the
large pearl Israeli couscous this time.  Breads will probably be a
wonderful rosemary whole wheat I made a few months ago, and challah.  I
really wanted to do a goose and a pudding, but too many people (i.e. my
husband,) won't try either.  Maybe next year I'll feed twenty people and
can justify making things that not everybody will like ;)

This is gonna be fun.

-Magdalena