The Christmas Roast Post

On the third day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

Three French hens, two turtle doves, and a blog post full of love from me.

Merry Christmas from The Cheesecake Addiction! I hope it was very merry!

Far too much in the way of food happened to fully detail it all, so I’ll hit the highlights.

First, on the 23rd, I filled my first huge truffle order! I sold twenty two bags, large and small, and spent much time over the weekend slaving in the kitchen with CDR hand rolling the truffles to chocolatey perfection.

Then on Christmas Eve, CDR and I woke up crazy early so that I could make cheesecake. And I’m telling you guys, this time, it was PERFECT. No cracks at all! Just delicious. I  was mighty proud.

Me, admiring the lack of cracks in my beautiful cake!

Don’t forget the sour cream topping!

While the cheesecake set up in the fridge, CDR and I joined the rest of my cousins for our annual Christmas Eve trip to confession and then to lunch at Navy Pier. Never a dull moment with my Uncle John, let me tell you. Naturally, St. Peter’s was closed until 4pm, so we had to pile back into our cars and go over to St. Mary of the Angels. But not before we discovered Uncle John had the direct line to one of the priest’s, Father Santiago–an envoy from the Vatican. He called ahead to make sure they would be able to accommodate our large group (15 in total, though only 8 confessors). Upon arriving, we were surprised that we were directed to the rectory, and shown into the priests’ private chapel. Father Hillary took confessions, while Father Santiago told us the story of Christmas.

Then burritos at Navy Pier. Then home to help my mom with dinner. Check out the 17 pound rib roast.

This baby was rubbed with dijon, salt, pepper, and mustard seeds and cooked to a luxurious 130 degrees. Yummy.

And then we dug into the cheesecake.

Delicious!

On Christmas afternoon, before driving to Uncle Chris and Aunt Donna’s, we took the left over ribs, and made ourselves a luscious stock.

Left over rib roast

Ribs with parsley, carrots, yellow and red onions, garlic, salt, pepper, and bay leaves.

Add water (10 cups into the crockpot).

 

Simmer on low for up to 24 hours!

And a French 75.

Check out the Weekly Cocktail page tomorrow for the recipe!

Merry Christmas, kids. Just 363 more days to go. What adventures can we cook up this year?

 

Pulled Pork

Hello, again! Yes, rehearsal has kept me very busy and cooking has been a difficult task to accomplish. This past weekend, though, was spent baking, chopping, and roasting as I helped my aunt prepare for my cousins 8th grade graduation party. We were feeding a lot of people. I never got the final count, but there were about seventy people there…and there are A LOT of leftovers. But I’m not here to tell you about that. Because my rehearsal schedule usually requires me to leave my house around 5:30, I haven’t been able to make dinner. But  yesterday, I saw the crockpot. A crockpot? In the summer? Yes. My mom had taken out a 1 pound pork loin to thaw, and told me to do the rest.

I chopped an onion into a medium dice and put the pork loin on top. Then I added about 16 oz of BBQ sauce (whatever kind you like), and two large cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. Salt and pepper went on top, and before putting on the lid, I added two cups of water. Set the crockpot on low (so that it cooks in 8 hours) and walk away. Come back in 8 hours to shred the pork and then put it on a hamburger bun (or even more delicious: a Hawaiian role). Enjoy.

In other news…hmm…let me think. My summer has been going pretty well. I feel its been tumultuous in the sense that I’ve been having an amazing time, but at times (and mostly this last week) still feel down–for reasons unimportant to blog readers! But in the last few days, I’ve felt a lot better. My summer thus far has included many ridiculous adventures, and it holds the promise for many more. I guess I’m just saying that I’m not going to complain if I spend the next eight weeks soul searching. The good outweighs the bad. 🙂

Culinarily (which, I decided IS a word) speaking, my taste buds are all over the place. I have a feeling the next few days are going to be a foodie’s adventure. Perhaps my music taste lately (light, surf rock) has my mind on the tastes of California, but my cajun spice rub has me dreaming on New Orleans.