I made smoked bluefish pate today to take to my niece’s house on Christmas Day. (Smoked bluefish is VERY hard to come by!) Also poached pears and made Golden Almond cake in preparation to making trifle composed of the cake and pear bavarian cream. (The latter a complicated combo of Italian meringue and pear custard made with poaching liquid. Bittersweet chocolate sauce on the side. Moan with goodness.)
Prime rib for us. H picked it up today. Over one hundred dollars for a seven + pounder.
We have been doing this for several years and it gas become a tradition. But I have no idea why. Neither H or my families did this. AND, H and I rarely eat beef. Can count on one hand how many times a year. Most of them now! Haha
Thanks, Consolation. The other day I did find a reference to the recipe and will riff off it. Do have the mushrooms. (Up late last night with that chocolate babkhalla (baking thread) and what a pain. Did use Callebaut, which I think you’ve mentioned.)
Brussels sprouts have a special meaning for me. As a teen, I was a vegetarian, and my aunt made these for every meal. Of course, I ate them at her table. Then, an Italian patient gave me her roasted recipe. They were delicious. My s/o loved them, so it became a food treaty for us. Whenever he visits, I make this special food.
D’s BF will not arrive until 8 pm
We are grilling NYS with a super rub (Contessa)
Truffle mashed potatoes (Contessa)
Salad
Salt and Pepper biscuits (Contessa)
Almond torte
Think I rather like Contessa :x
Her crispy cauliflower pasta is in the oven as a trial run–
I made 1/2 for BIL and his wife who is just coming home from the hospital.
I find her recipes are consistently good, @oregon101.
My mom is coming over tomorrow night to watch Christmas movies with us. We’re having a simple meal of clam chowder (Woodman’s recipe) and dilled parmesan popovers followed by tons of Christmas cookies and eggnog. Probably some bourbon or rum will slip in there…
Gonna skip all the previous replies…(forgive me…mom visiting and I needed a cocktail or three this evening, so bear with me on the typos)…but we are making the “fool proof prime rib” for Christmas Eve. Put the “prepared” roast in the oven at whatever time is convenient (aka 11 or 12 on the day of serving) at 350 degrees for about an hour or so. Turn off the oven. Leave in Oven…do not open the oven at all! About an hour or so before serving, turn oven back on and roast for another little bit (aka 30-45 minutes for 4 bone roast). The result is a perfectly medium rare prime rib…served with baked potatoes and a perfectly delectable blue cheese dressed salad…to. die.for. I am sure the sanitation patrol will tell me that the we will all succumb to food poisoning…but so far so good! LOL! Merry Happy Christmas-Hannukah-Kwanzaa~
I had no idea Brussel sprouts became the rage. 
I just love them! I make them pan-fried with butter, rosemary, salt, pepper, and a splash of white wine.
For Christmas Eve we have turkey soup made from the Thanksgiving turkey. It’s nice to have a relatively light dinner amid all the overindulgence of the season.
Christmas morning we have pastries. For Christmas dinner, it’s Honeybake ham.
I do not like brussels sprouts for christmas dinner because the odor overwhelms everything! If we eat them for normal meals, it’s only after I’ve grilled them outdoors and let them sit a bit to cool. Delicious, but stinky. BIL brought a bag of them marinated in garlic for me to cook for Christmas dinner last year, and I hated having to do it, but he put a lot of work into it, so I did it. I"m hoping he doesn’t do it this year…
Upon reconsidering my dessert plan while lying awake at night, I realized that from the sound of it the pear charlotte filling will not support layers of cake before it sets, and they will sink like a stone. Back to the drawing board. I think we may end up with a Savannah-style trifle with thinly sliced poached pears and scented with Kirsch instead of bourbon. Reduced pear poaching liquid will seep in there somehow. And the bittersweet chocolate sauce on the side.
Made the Golden Almond cake yesterday.
Cinnamon rolls are in the oven, I assembled the green bean casserole and stuck it in the fridge, and I’m about to start on the pies.
I just made the executive decision to do something crazy this year-I’m going to combine the pumpkin and the sweet potatoes, combine the pumpkin pie and sweet potato casserole recipe (editing as I go), and cook the entire thing in the casserole dish with the marshmallows rather than in the pie dish with crust. Anarchy! 
(that and I didn’t buy enough sweet potatoes, and there’s not enough money in the world that can induce me to go food shopping today).
Not cooking today. H and kids/son-in-law/boyfriend are doing it all. I am a happy camper!!!
Going to holiday cocktails at a friend’s house after evening church service at 6 pm, These friends have a Christmas Eve party every year and serve the same signature drinkl --a killer eggnog (they use the original Joy of Cooking recipe) that will knock your socks off. It’s fun, but I have to have presents wrapped before I go because one of those eggnog drinks does me in for the evening and if I have two, forget it. Cream and booze. Yikes.
@Consolation A trifle sounds like a fantastic Plan B!
I’m loving everyone’s play-by-play. Right now I’m heading to my local Little Free Library with a donation and thank-you card for the steward, then back home to make turkey soup.
XMAS Eve is also first night of Hanukkah so we’re doing latkes and just a salad, XMAS Day - bruschetta for an app, and lobster Mac & Chess with roasted bruzzel sprouts, Brownies w/ice cream for dessert. We are going very casual this year.
Eggnog French toast for breakfast tomorrow morning.
Lemme tell you, madeira is an amazing add to ham. My new favorite trick, thanks, Consolation. I decided to blend some usual steps, rather than follow a recipe (maybe when I realized I hadn’t gotten started and D1 was nagging us to get over there.) Some good apricot jam mixed with it. Later, some brown sugar with the madeira, for a crust and some minced dried cranberries soaked in it, for a little tart counterpoint. Will be good.
Sounds very fruity and interesting. (Sometime, try the “original” version. )
Just finished our Christmas Eve traditional shrimp scampi. Three dishes for our extended family appetizer fest are prepped. Breakfast casserole is sitting overnight in the refrig for baking in the morning.
I wanted to do baby back ribs for Christmas, because our “big” family dinner will be the 26th, and we will have both ham and turkey. (I’m only bringing asparagus and cheesecake). Husband really wants ham, so ham it is. Plus mashed potatoes, and a big salad, with lots of stuff in it, because kids are into it these days. We will have two kinds of brownies and ice cream for dessert. Tonight we ordered Chinese.