New Year's Eve!

Here we are at the end of another year!!  Not much has happened in our lives, but we'll try to catch up a bit here anyway!  School finished up with lots of homework due right at the end.  Of course!  And there was lots to go over for the final, too.  During that time we decided to get Christmas Dinner planned which was to be French cuisine this year.  In order to do it up right, my French co-chef needed his hat and apron to be appropriate.  I think he looked dashing, don't you?!

And these are some of the awesome braised onions he created for our Beouf Bourgninon.

The table was set with a Parisian theme - menu included!

We had not one but two desserts.  The first was a bûche de Noël ...

...and the second was cremé bruleé.  That was really fun to watch when Kent burnt the tops of the cremé!

After a satisfying meal we played B-I-N-G-O and Catchphrase and had an enjoyable day into the late evening!  It was so nice to have this group with us!

That did require that we head out of town for some rest and relaxation, though, so on the Sunday after Christmas we went up to Bellingham and checked out that area, including the little Dutch village of Lynden and up into Canada!  The funny story with that was that at the border the US patrol asked us if we bought anything other than the Tim Horton's donuts that he saw on my lap.  We told him, that Yes! we bought potato chips, too.  He said, "Ketchup?"  But of course!!  Only in Canada (at least on the West Coast) are Old Dutch Ketchup Potato Chips available!  Only the best chips out there!
Now, we're on to a New Year, new opportunities and new paths in life (we hope!)  2013 should bring us (God-willing) 2 graduations, an au-pair and a nursing student.

HAPPY 2013!!!!

 

Sunday Dinner

Today I made a standard pot roast that ended up being anything but standard!!  I started off with The Pioneer Woman's recipe.  And, in my humble opinion, took it to heights sublime!  She suggested using simply onions and carrots.  As far as I'm concerned, that's just not enough!  I added parsnips, celery, whole garlic cloves and potatoes.  As she suggested, I browned the onions, carrots, and my added parsnips and celery as well.  After searing the beef I deglazed the pan with a bit of red wine.  I put the meat in the pot, poured in the broth I made (boxed onion soup mix!) and added all of the veggies to the pot.  I had to cook it over low for a bit on the stove because I had my breakfast meats still in the oven at a much higher than 275º temperature.  After the oven cooled, I put the Dutch oven in the oven and let it do it's thing during Meeting.  The most delicious meal I've made in a long time!  I could have used more garlic.  Those things are like CANDY when they cook that long.  The only thing is the veggies were very soft, but VERY tasty, infused with marvelous flavors!