Christmas!!!

Christmas was good this year. J's mom came out to visit so we picked her up at the airport around noon. Our tree this year was the dressform again. We were too lazy to get the real deal. We did get our stockings up though (even if we blew off the rest of the decorations). J made a new one for herself and for Thom which are super cute. She's so handy! I started dinner while J went to the airport with Thom. We had cider braised pork shoulder, rosted artichokes with garlic and pancetta bread crumbs, brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and mint, polenta, and pear cranberry crumble for dessert. It was all very good, I've done the pork a couple of times and it's pretty easy, just takes a long time. The artichokes were a little dry, I think it was the bread crumbs I used. I should have made them but used store bought, and not the freshest. The brussels sprouts were really good, though I got most of them to myself because, well, because they're brussels sprouts. The artichokes, brussels sprouts and crumble all came from the bistro cooking book Roz gave me for my birthday. The gift that keeps giving, thanks! Here's a pic of the spread.




Lots of fun.