[Sca-cooks] Christmas stuff....

[Elaine Koogler]

Hi Folks,
Hope all of you had a great Christmas...or whatever holiday you celebrate.
For us, it was delightful, and actually continues to be so...I love this
holiday season so much that I try to stretch it out as long as possible.
Certainly at least until Twelfth Night.

I'm so excited over my gifts from my sweetie.  He gave me not only the book
that one of you recommended, "Great Cooks and Their Recipes:  From
Taillevent to Escoffier" (wonderful book...have had a great time perusing
it!), but also a copy of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" by Julia
Child.  So pleased.  Can't wait to try some of the recipes.  I also was
quite amused/amazed to discover that I own the cookbooks by 5 of the cooks
in the first book...and, because of all I've learned here, had heard of most
of the others!  On the Julia Child book, I suspect most of you already own
this book, but somehow in my involvement with historical cooks and their
books, I had overlooked this classic, but now that's been rectified!

Our Christmas dinner consisted of a Crown Rib roast stuffed with a green
apple stuffing.  About half way through the roasting process, the meat
looked a little dry, so I added a little more of the apple juice used to
make the stuffing.  It helped a great deal and the whole thing came out
moist and delicious...in fact, my teen-aged nephew consumed two enormous
slices all by himself!  I used the Simply Apple juice which tastes like you
just bit into an apple and not like other apple juices.  I'm thinking about
using the Green Apple Riesling wine that a winery here in Calvert county
makes next year...but will experiment before the big day!  My very talented
husband made STC over asparagus...and a terrific carrot casserole that is
very reminiscent of a sweet potato casserole.  His sister did dessert...a
delightful pumpkin pie that featured a crushed ginger cookie and pecan
crust, crushed pecan trim and a dollop of whipped cream that had ginger and
nutmeg in it.  All in all, a wonderful meal!

Once again...I hope that all of you are having a wonderful, glorious holiday
season!

Kiri