I Digress

Wow, what a month, huh?  It was the longest month, it was the shortest month.  I also do really think we had our best times and worst times of 2012 this December.  Luckily, the worse part was earlier, when we were juggling a whole lotta stress and work; the best was the last week, when we all just took time to chill out, hang out, and be.  Together.  Obviously the blogs didn't get much action, but that's life.  Now I have lots to blog about.

I just checked my VGP 2012 photo folder and there are like 30 recipes I never got around to posting.  I will.  Plus some really awesome awesomeness I made over winter break.  In the meantime, I've made some other really good food that's not traditional VGP material, but I want to share.  Sorry no piccies of my own, just links.  But the pics on the links are really great, so go there.

Sometime this month, I started craving scrambled eggs.  But not my own scrambled eggs; no one wants to eat those.  Rubbery gray-yellow blobs with burnt edges - no thank you!  We've taken eggs OFF our breakfast chart, except the occasional hard-boiled, because I have one of these, so I don't mess them up.  But other than that, I'm not very good at eggs.

I really wanted some good ones - creamy, well-seasoned, not over-cooked.  I didn't know when I could get out to a good diner for some.  Then a few nights ago, I decided, I can do this.  The internet is a wealth of knowledge and crazy foodies - there must be instructions on making proper scrambled eggs.  I didn't have to go far.  Thank you, theKitchn.  Absolutely amazing, and just what I was craving.  I'll (hopefully) never overcook my eggs again.  I even had chives!  It was a great meal for one.

Photo from theKitchn

 Now let's talk about Christmas Eve.  We hosted, and including us, the headcount came to sixteen - eight adults and eight children.  I would say dessert was the worst part, and even that was pretty good, so it was a lovely successful dinner, thanks to my brother Dave's helping hand when we got in the weeds.  Here's what we had:

Appetizers
Creamy Wild Mushroom and Goat Cheese Cups
Cranberry Curd and Cream Cheese on Baguette
Cranberry Juice with Ginger Ale

Salad
Pomegranate Salad with Honey-Cinnamon Vinaigrette

Main Course
Roast Stuffed Pork Loin with Port Sauce (it looked just like the picture!)
Roasted Cauliflower with Fresh Herbs and Parmesan (so good and easy - definitely doing this side dish for Dinner Swap sometime!)
Citrus Green Beans with Pine Nuts (also delicious)

Dessert
Salted Caramel Cheesecakes 
Hot chocolate stir sticks (recipe coming)
(ice cream for the kids)

The cheesecakes were OK, I just had some trouble getting them neatly out of the muffin tin, so they were messy looking.  The caramel sauce from the recipe didn't turn out well, so I rummaged in the fridge - and it may not surprise you I had at least three kinds of caramel in there - and made a sauce from Smucker's caramel sauce, Nestle dulce de leche, and Fat Toad Farm Vanilla Bean Goat's Milk Caramel.  It was breathtaking.

Photo from myrecipes.com

I guess that's all for now.  My New Year's resolution is to keep baking and posting whenever I feel like it.

I'm into lofty goals like that.