Unless you live in a multi-generational household, or are visiting with out-of-town family, a grandparent's Christmas Day starts gently. Waking up early to check on Santa's delivery systems? Nah. I'm no longer Santa nor do I expect anything to show up under the tree from someone riding a sleigh, or even an Amazon truck.
Well, let me correct that last point: a jelly roll pan under the tree would have been nice. I ordered a new pan. Five days ago. It was to come two days ago. It did not come. With a bomb-cyclone tearing through half the country you have to be forgiving when things get delayed. Still, it's been sitting in a Madison warehouse for several days now. I don't know why. [Too, the holiday skirts I bought for the granddaughters? Delayed. The candles for my older daughter? I think they basically got lost in the ocean somewhere. No one knows where they are. And that jelly roll pan! Any day now! It's not a tragedy. I can still use the old one, although I'd like you to take a look at the state of that old one:
Yep -- it's fine for roasting beets for Sunday dinners, but has perhaps too much patina for a delicate jelly roll. And Christmas requires me to bake a Yule Log, which in turn requires the use of a jelly roll pan. It looks like the log this year may have a faint taste of every food that has been roasted in that pan over the years!]
But let me return to the gentle wakeup that is ours on this Christmas Day.
It's beautiful outside! Still cold, but that is fitting for late December. Hello, world!
Breakfast. I want to believe that there exists a panettone out there that Ed will like. This year I'm trying a chocolate one from Pasticceria Cova in Milan. I read that it was Verdi's favorite. If it's good enough for the Maestro, it's good enough for us, don't you think? I did not import it, by the way. Any number of food stores on this side of the ocean sell Italian panettone. You just have to read a ton of online descriptions and decide which one sounds good and is affordable. I could, I suppose, try to bake one some day, but every good recipe out there has been "jealously guarded" for decades or even centuries, and so I will leave it to the pastry chefs to do their magic.
Well? Did he like it? More yes than no! I'm safe to keep it on the Christmas menu going forward.
And now I have to speed it up a bit. That Yule Log has to be baked early. I start in on it right after breakfast.
I think my younger daughter's candied cranberries looked great when she sugared them for her daughter's birthday cake. I would have done well to glance at a recipe. Only after I cooked the cranberries did I realize that this was totally unnecessary. Ah well, the berries look fine anyway and the cooked popped ones can be served along with the roasted chicken for dinner.
Onto the airy (flourless) chocolate cake. Once cooled, it's filled with orange zested whipped cream. I'll frost and decorate it once it sets.
And then I attack the chicken: I feel a little like I did on Thanksgivings past. The bird is only five pounds and so I estimated that a three day defrost is plenty. Instead, it barely sufficed. Tiny ice crystals around the edges remain.
Roasting a chicken well is an art, and there are a million ways to do it.
I spatchcock it, dry brine it with salt, and return it to the fridge for a rest.
How did it get to be so late??
Alright. Set table, and get back to that Yule Log.
Make the chocolate ganache. Then frost.
Done! Now all I need to do is to assemble it and dust it with "snow." I'll let a grandchild take care of all that.
Now for the potatoes, the veggies, all those other foods that make Christmas dinner what it is...
And this is when the young family comes. Bearing gifts, they travel afar. Well, not too afar. Still, suddenly the Christmas tree looks... full: of gifts, of young ones...
So much work to get everything wrapped, so quick to get it all undone!
(the trick is to settle into your favorite activity without Sandpiper disrupting your play... Sparrow especially is feeling vulnerable as his cubes are a total temptation for his little brother, even as all the Sparrow wants to do is fire off numbers questions at us while playing with them. Did you know that 48 and 48 are 96? -- he'll say. And in the next breath -- Sandpiper! Leave those alone!)
(who, innocent me?)
(let's get that Yule Log finished! Gaga, it looks like a Y! Well now, trees can look like a Y....)
Chicken's ready and so are the potatoes, corn, beans and salads!)
Dinner!
(you have to be their age to think of this as the funniest game ever!)
I make lots of desserts, but I have to say, my Yule Log, done according to a Gourmet Magazine recipe from decades ago, is the one that everyone loves and wants seconds of. Everyone.
The evening ends with dancing.
Ed and I sit back and watch, like the two old guys that we are. Ah, young people these days -- we mumble knowingly....
You could say that this ends Christmas for us, but it wouldn't be true. Tomorrow, my younger girl comes with her family from Chicago. Our family gathering will continue then.
I do hope that you had a fantastic weekend and that your celebrations, or at least moments of joy last well beyond this day!
With so much love...
