My sister and I happen to be two of those lucky people that have a birthday during the holiday season (December 30th, for me; 12/18 for her). So we all went out to dinner for our birthdays - and brought wine. Notice the date on that bottle? It's 1984 - the year I was born. My parents bought 2 cases of wine to be served at my rehearsal dinner for my wedding (a tradition my grandfather started by making wine the year each of his daughters were born for their weddings). My mom was 19 when she got married, this year I'll be 29 - good thing the wine was stored correctly!! Since I turned 21, we have been breaking out the wine every year on my birthday, just to make sure it's still good (of course). This was sooo yummy! Still good!
Another Christmas tradition in my family are a drink called Tom and Jerrys. This is basically eggnog on steroids. It consists of brandy and rum, topped with whipped eggs (the whites and yolks are whipped separately with sugar and then folded together), hot milk and nutmeg. It's an old German tradition to make these drinks. My mom tells a great story that every year, on Christmas Eve, the men would claim that they had to stay home from church to whip the eggs for the batter (since it had to be done by hand). So the women and children went to church and by the time they got back, the batter was whipped but so were all the guys! Totally schnockered. We usually serve them for our annual holiday church party and our philosophy is you get one once a year, whether you need it or not!
This is a pear coffee cake my mom made for dessert the first night I was back. She taught me to cook and I get my cooking ways from her. When we had it for dessert, she also made poached pears and a pear sauce. This was because she happened to be a Costco and got her pears there...this is so totally something I would do!! It was delicious as dessert and great for breakfast the next day. This recipe was in the most recent issue of Food and Wine magazine. I'm not sure what all was in the sauce, but it was awesome!
Here's a yule log my aunt made for Christmas Eve dinner. German chocolate theme - chocolate and coconut.
This is our Christmas Eve drink - Aperol Gin Punch. It packed a punch, that's for sure! It had Yellow Chartreuse in it - not something I've had before. It's from France and has a proprietary recipe. When we tasted it straight, it was herby with an anise forward flavor. On the sweeter side, would be great with tonic (then, I think everything would taste good with tonic). And, it claims to be the only liquor that a color is named after it.
This is my mom's dog, Romeo. She bought him a knight to ride him as one of his Christmas presents. He was happier with his new squeaky ball, I think.
What a great trip home! But I now need a vacation from my vacation...
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