Monday, A new start, so excited!

  Wow, where did the last three days go?  It was a whirl wind here for a few days.  The girls came down with babies and husbands for New Years and we had a house full and only one toilet.  That was fun.  I am sure the men snuck outside a few times to water the roses.TMI

   New Years eve we ordered Pizza  as I had cleaned all day and I knew that New years day was going to be a lot of hard work.  Oliver whom we shall now call Bawliver kept us up most of the night on New years eve. Love that kid but he is a crank.  I finally took him from daughter at about 5:30 in the morning and put him in bed with Hubs and I and we got about 2 hours of sleep.From 3:30 to 5:30 in the morning he laid on the floor and smiled and cooed and kicked and talked to his very tired grandma.  Little heathen.

New years morning I made pancakes, bacon and eggs, because that is what Schmills wanted and then the girls and I got busy and cleaned things up and started to get ready for our sea food feast.  I was a little nervous, although I have done this I don't know how many times. I think it was because Li sis's boyfriend is kind of a gourmet and I was worried that I would over cook something,or something would go wrong.

Now this family takes seafood seriously. It is part of our Scandinavian history.  The table is set with the good Christmas china.  Everyone has an extra plate for shells and discards.  Everyone has their own butter warmer, and crab crackers and picks.  It is quite an elaborate table setting and we can set for twelve. These things have been passed down and added to over the years.  Daughter #2 brought her butter warmers.

The meal starts out with oyster stew, and a shrimp cocktail.  As those are eaten, I have oysters boiling,  and a Scandinavian dish called poor man's lobster cooking in the electric skillet.  This course is then served and those that want oysters can have them.  Everyone loves the cod/lobster. Once I remove the oysters, I cook the large prawns and when they are served I start cooking the crabs.  These come out in threes and we split them in half until more come out of the hot bath.  It is quite a lot of work and I am jumping up and down with the timing of all the food.

Lil sis brought the crab and a large relish tray and a spinach dip.  The girls had to set the table and get out all the paraphernalia. I also make a Italian (yea can you believe that?) fennel salad as a palate cleanser.  It is normally served at Christmas with the Italians feast of the 7 fishes. We had a huckleberry cheesecake for dessert flavored with lemon zest. Believe me we were full. I was wiped out.  But lil sis stacked and got all the dishes ready to wash.  Nothing can go in the dishwasher because of the gold trim on the china. Both daughters helped dry everything while I washed china, crystal and silver. They also put so much of it way for me which was nice. I went to bed early and slept late the next morning.

Poor Mans Lobster recipe

Take fresh or frozen cod and cut into 2 to 3 inch pieces. I cooked 10 pieces.  Place in skillet with one stick butter (8 tbls)and one cup of white cooking wine.  Boil down until juices are almost gone  and cod is browning.  Serve.  This process of boiling in liquid will cause the cod to shrink and take on the consistency of lobster. The cod will absorb the butter and the wine flavor.  It is very, very good.

Christmas fennel salad

2 fennel bulbs sliced thin (reserve about 3 tablespoons of fennel fronds for dressing)

2 green apples sliced thin (leave on skins)

1 large pomegranate seeded

Lime vinaigrette dressing 

 juice of 3 limes squeezed

2 tablespoons good olive oil

2 tablespoons sugar

salt/pepper

chop up fennel fronds and add to this mixture toss with salad

We only eat like this once a year thank goodness.  This year was over kill as we had a meal similar to this at daughters, then at Hubs folks and then at our house.  Now I definitely need to start a diet tomorrow.

 Today we had 5 missionaries for dinner.  I spent the afternoon switching the Christmas china and the regular china back into the hutch.  Hubs and I went and bought a huge roast last nice as they had them on sale for $2.88 a pound.  I paid $14.54 for this roast and it completely filled my cuisinart dutch oven.  I seared it well and roasted it with the lid on at 400 for one hour and then took the lid off and cooked it for another hour at 350. I made 5 lbs of small red potatoes (.98 a bag) and mashed them with butter, garlic and hot milk.  Also made a gravy with roast drippings. I made a nice tossed salad, green beans and corn.  We had root beer floats for dessert.  It was fast Sunday, so needless to say only a couple of slices of roast were left all the rest of the bowls were empty. Those boys were hungry and they left happy.

I have started my new savings challenges for the year and you will hear more about those later in the week.  I have two bride dresses to get out this week, three brides made and one mother of the bride.  Also a slew of alterations and zippers.  Kim must get back in the saddle.  But I am looking forward to earning some money and funding all the challenges I have for the year. Covid may have us in its grip for a while longer, but we do not have to let it own us.

What plans do you have for the new year?  Any debt pay off?  Any money saving integrates?

Have a great and productive day staying positive while you are in the negative.

Kim