It does appear that I am the eldest of our developing Halverson foodie dynasty. I realized this on Christmas night when everyone from myself, to my son Pete and then the grandsons participated in the creation of our Christmas dinner at Peter's house.
My teenaged grandsons provided the always required layout of dips, shrimp, and munchies. Jon, 16, made a terrific quacamole and both the boys decorated the house so that when I arrived it had all the warmth and holiday setting to make opening gifts most festive. Fire in the fireplace of course.
Even many of our gifts related to food: a large heavy duty cutting board for me to replace my very warped standby, along with an assortment of alcoholic spirits for me to have on hand because I don't keep a large inventory of something I don't drink in the house. I gave Peter Alton Brown's new cookbook, a great book for an exhaustive treatment on just about anything to do with food. Also a gift certificate for two to Cheesetique, a cheese emporium in Alexandria.
We started the meal with grandson Chris' terrific butternut squash/leek pureed soup. I don't know what he put into it but it had many levels of flavor and a touch of a kick. Pete baked a crown roast of pork with the little footie slippers on it, rich and succulent and worthy of a pic that now appears on Facebook. With that flavorful and deeply roasted vegetables with chopped apples and a tangy spinach. For dessert, our friend Janice supplied a pumpkin chiffon pie that was smooth and rich. Both kids are great helpers in the kitchen and table conversation frequently relates to food and its preparation and dinners past. Jonathan at eight years old was the traditional pumpkin pie maker for the holidays and he early earned his own chef's knife to make him useful in the kitchen. His mother is an excellent cook, so I guess these guys had no choice. My late husband was chief cook when alive and while we both had demanding careers. I don't know if a passion for cooking is hereditary, but if so, good eating goes along with it.
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