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Better Than Ezra By Far
Dec. 26th, 2009 12:39 pmIn our household, holiday success is judged mostly in food terms. Unlike Thanksgiving, I did not eat myself into a stupor on Christmas, but we had a tasty day all the same. Brunch was brioche French toast with sweet-potato/maple puree and toasted almonds (excellent) and bacon (which we love but don't allow ourselves too often) and mimosas with fresh-squeezed orange juice. The child was allowed his touch of champagne, too. Dinner started with spicy pumpkin-sherry soup (many thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
therealsnape for the wonderful recipe) and moved on to beef wellington, sauted sprouts with chestnuts, and roasted potatoes with rosemary. Dessert was brown sugar ice-cream with homemade dark hot fudge. (We stupidly forgot to bring the pate for the beef wellington, so my partner had to improvise with a paste of pine nuts and coriander. Delicious, although the absence of the pate probably means that "wellington" is a misnomer. But we're calling it that anyway.)
On the gift front, I received a graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice, my favorite perfume, and .... a KINDLE! My excitement knows no bounds. It's all charged up, and my first book has been purchased (a Charles Todd detective novel), and I will probably soon bankrupt myself. Can't wait. Nothing will replace the pleasure of actual printed books for me, of course, but I love the idea of having a steady supply of light reading literally at my fingertips. Binge reading is one of the ways I deal with stress, and it will be great not to have to haul innumerable paperbacks with me on my travels. You should have seen me trying to carry a month's supply of reading material to Poland when we spent part of the summer there in 2006. (Books in English could be had in Poland, but the selection was small and the import prices were high. It's my own fault for not being multi-lingual, I know, but there it is.)
And just in case all this isn't a sufficient embarrassment of riches, the child's gift to me was -- hand-drawn pictures of McGonagall and Snape! As soon I'm near my printer, I'll scan these masterpieces and post them so that you can share the joy, too.
therealsnape for the wonderful recipe) and moved on to beef wellington, sauted sprouts with chestnuts, and roasted potatoes with rosemary. Dessert was brown sugar ice-cream with homemade dark hot fudge. (We stupidly forgot to bring the pate for the beef wellington, so my partner had to improvise with a paste of pine nuts and coriander. Delicious, although the absence of the pate probably means that "wellington" is a misnomer. But we're calling it that anyway.)On the gift front, I received a graphic novel version of Pride and Prejudice, my favorite perfume, and .... a KINDLE! My excitement knows no bounds. It's all charged up, and my first book has been purchased (a Charles Todd detective novel), and I will probably soon bankrupt myself. Can't wait. Nothing will replace the pleasure of actual printed books for me, of course, but I love the idea of having a steady supply of light reading literally at my fingertips. Binge reading is one of the ways I deal with stress, and it will be great not to have to haul innumerable paperbacks with me on my travels. You should have seen me trying to carry a month's supply of reading material to Poland when we spent part of the summer there in 2006. (Books in English could be had in Poland, but the selection was small and the import prices were high. It's my own fault for not being multi-lingual, I know, but there it is.)
And just in case all this isn't a sufficient embarrassment of riches, the child's gift to me was -- hand-drawn pictures of McGonagall and Snape! As soon I'm near my printer, I'll scan these masterpieces and post them so that you can share the joy, too.