My favorite holiday meal is always Christmas Day breakfast. We’ve been doing the same menu for years with tweaks here and there, but we started with a Nigella Lawson menu from the NYT and that’s still the template. This year we did baked French toast, yogurt parfaits with raspberries, Bombay frittata and chicken sausage. Sitting around our kitchen tables in our PJs and listening to. Vince Guaraldi’s wonderful Charlie Brown Christmas music is the best part of the holidays for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Andy's Pizza at the Mall before and after the Avatar movie which we loved. We had to go out from XMAS. The only non-Asian place open with a large table was Founding Farmers. The service was fine, the food was beyond terrible.

Wait, what mall had an Andy’s and a movie theater?

Montgomery mall has an andy’s now (just opened) and tyson’s galleria has had anys for a while and the movie theatre is in there too.

The simple things were the best:
Homemade stuffing from sourdough bread. Never get tired of this.

Applesauce for Hannukah made with apples and a pinch of salt, cinnamon, and nothing else. So fresh and like the essence of apple.

Turkey gravy - this was time consuming as I had to make a broth the day before out of turkey wings and necks. Then the day of I added the pan drippings from the roasted turkey. Definitely extra work, but the subtle depth of flavor was just amazing.

Finally … the turkey! I have never done well at turkey but I followed Kenji’s method of dry brining, then starting the oven at 500 degrees with a baking stone, then setting the turkey on the stone and turning temp to 300. The white and the dark were perfectly done.

Anonymous wrote:Andy's Pizza at the Mall before and after the Avatar movie which we loved. We had to go out from XMAS. The only non-Asian place open with a large table was Founding Farmers. The service was fine, the food was beyond terrible.

Wait, what mall had an Andy’s and a movie theater?

Anonymous wrote:Were the spices from Penzey’s? I love that company!

No but I have heard good things alone then! I used Burlap and Barrel. The Royal Cinnamon is astounding!

Anonymous wrote:Lactaid egg nog is delicious. You have to get it when you see it because stores only get so much. Just needs some nutmeg...and maybe some rum.

It’s funny you say this, I bought this brand because my dd is lactose intolerant, and we were all pleasantly surprised with how good it was!

Were the spices from Penzey’s? I love that company!

I make cinnamon rolls every year but this is the first year I’ve used pricier spices in the filling (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) bought from a speciality company recommended on Smitten Kitchen.

And wow, I’m not sure I can go back to buying spices from the grocery store. The richness of the spices was amazing, particularly the cinnamon. Several family members asked what was different about the filling and said it was the best batch I’ve made. I also got a few others, like black pepper, and the taste was so much stronger than normal. I can’t believe I’ve gotten so far in life, especially as someone who likes to bake, without upping my spice game like this!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Andy's Pizza at the Mall before and after the Avatar movie which we loved. We had to go out from XMAS. The only non-Asian place open with a large table was Founding Farmers. The service was fine, the food was beyond terrible.

For the life of me I can’t figure out how founding farmers still has such high reviews. on its best day it’s mediocre and regularly terrible.

Founding Farmers has been bad since at least 2016– does anyone remember the infamous Tom Sietsema review of it?!

Anyway, their main audience is tourists, so they don’t have to be good.

Cheese! OMG, so many good cheeses! I think my favorite was a blue with juniper berries. Incredible!

I made an amazing beef stew… yum. I also had amazing eggnog at a party.

Ordered Christmas from fogo. New go to.

Ghirardelli Dubai chocolate. Omg, so good.

Prime rib is my in-laws’ traditional Christmas dinner, and although it is not my favorite generally, my BIL did an exceptionally good job this year.

Also, my SIL made some really delicious gingerbread cupcakes, plus her fancier version of the classic peanut butter blossom cookie (a chocolate/peanut butter swirl center instead of the kiss) was outstanding.

My in-laws know I love drinking boiled custard at Christmas, so they bought bottles of it from their local creamery. I felt so lucky.