As many of you know, Christmas and the holidays are a time for friends, family and food. My group of five friends and I have a close relationship: we’ve been friends for more than 10 years and have become as close as brothers. For that reason, two years ago, we decided to make our own day-after Christmas dinner, with just us guys.
There were some key differences between our meal and the traditional family sit-down. For example, football was the main attraction and we served Samuel Adams instead of wine. For our only side dish, we decided to stick to delicious Betty Crocker Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes (ready in just 20 minutes!). We also planned on serving turkey because none of us had ever cooked one before. And thanks to Sarah, Kris’s girlfriend, we had holiday decorations including a nice tablecloth and candles. She even set it all up before leaving us to cook.
Everyone arrived at Kris’s house around 1:00 – just in time for the game. We wanted to eat between 4-5, so we told Kris to put the turkey in the oven and we would worry about the rest later. At about 4:00, we started getting the mashed potatoes ready, and we told Kris to check the turkey. He took the bird out of the oven and started pushing the electronic thermometer into the turkey; he got about three inches in before he said he was having trouble.
Apparently Kris doesn’t cook meat very often because no one had passed on to him the important information that you need to defrost meat before you cook it. He just threw a completely frozen turkey in the oven! After about 15 minutes of laughing, we started wondering what else we could do. So we called Pizza Guys, and ordered three large pizzas.
So there we were, on our day-after Christmas dinner: six brothers, a nice Christmas table cloth, mashed potatoes, beer, and pepperoni pizza with the half frozen turkey still sitting on top of the oven. None of us had any complaints and we had a great time nonetheless.
This event showed me that while food is still my favorite part of holiday meals, sometimes the memories are just as good. Oh, and yes – we did light the candles.
Archives for December 2007
Ella Dining Room
Our office celebrated the holiday season last week with an amazing lunch at Ella Dining Room. Being an office of foodies and the like, I was looking forward to an afternoon to enjoy the company of our office away from our busy desks, and experience one of Sacramento’s top restaurants.
The restaurant itself was alive with a full lunch crowd. And the décor (which I usually evaluate as much as the food) was fun and modern, yet inviting and comfortable. Our resident party planner (aka Kim Bedwell) must have called weeks ahead, because FH got the two large tables next to the open kitchen, where we could see the wood fire flames and some food preparation – definitely the best seats in the house.
Because we had a large group we were given an abbreviated menu; even with a short list, the choices were not easy to make. We started with the Fried Giant Rock Shrimp with Chili Aioli and Wood Oven Meatballs, Roasted Tomato Sauce and Sheep’s Milk Ricotta.
The next course was a choice between salad or soup (I choice the soup special, which as great) but in my view the highlight of the meal was the entrée. We had a choice between a Wild Mushroom Ravioli dish or a Seared Sea Bass with Dungeness Snow Crab (I don’t have the exact menu names, since much of our selections aren’t on their regular menu).
By foodie code, I must give special recognition to the Seared Sea Bass with crab- it was amazing. The sea bass cooked just right and the crab was just buttery enough to melt in your mouth, but still flavorful. Below is a picture of the ravioli, which also got rave reviews.
Our dessert options included: Warm Bittersweet Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cake with Toasted Coconut Ice Cream OR Meyer Lemon Tartlet, Sweet Crème Fraiche and Blackberry Sorbet – both pictured below. I selected the chocolate option (usually do) and my favorite was undoubtedly the coconut ice cream.
I just glanced at the full menu, and am already looking forward to my next trip to Ella. Cheers and happy holiday eating!
Check out other blogger reviews of Ella Dining Room:
Edible Sacramento
MetroBlogging Sacramento
Tastes of Life
Midtown Guru
Hole-in-the-Wall Foodie Finds are a Good Thing!
I traveled to New York for Thanksgiving again this year on behalf of our U.S. Potato Board client. Healthy MR. POTATO HEAD made his final run down Broadway in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a bittersweet business trip as I had to say good-bye to our favorite spokespud but I also got to hang with potato industry members who were balloon handlers in the Parade. Getting to know the industry and their families is one of the great perks of my job.
I also dragged my family along, and following a week of fun in NYC, we headed upstate to Troy, NY to visit my grandmother and the rest of my mom’s family. There aren’t too many culinary hot spots in this old and charming college town, but my mom made sure we hit her three most memorable foodie finds. First, we had a traditional Friday night fish fry at Ted’s. A fish fry at Ted’s is a long and meaty piece of fried cod placed in a hot dog bun served with your choice of tartar sauce or Ted’s famous cocktail sauce (I preferred the tartar sauce and sans bun, but I’m not really a hot dog girl). We ordered sides of onion rings, fries and cole slaw. Far from healthy but delicious!
I know I just said I don’t love hot dogs, but our next stop was an exception. While cruising around showing the sites (there aren’t many) to my husband, we crossed the Hudson River into a town called Watervliet. Gus’s Hot Dogs is a true down-and-dirty hot dog stand. There is a walk-up window but it was too cold to slither down mini hot dogs outside. We walked inside and the six counter seats were packed, but one of the two booths were available. This was more of a mid-afternoon snack than a meal so we each ordered two hot dogs with “the works” – mustard, onions and chili sauce. The beauty of Gus’s is that the hot dogs are about a third of the size of a traditional hot dog. I can polish one in about four bites (my husband can do it in two, of course) and the works combination is truly a treat. We saw people with 10 or more hot dogs on their plates. The best is the pricing list posted on the wall.
Finally, we hit the Notty Pine, another Troy oldie-but-goodie that my parents used to frequent when they met in college over 30 years ago. We ordered the pizza which was served in a rectangular cookie sheet with a 1-inch lip. The crust was perfectly golden and the toppings were flavorful. The group was torn on our favorite. I enjoyed the pepperoni and sausage with a red sauce and others rallied behind the fresh tomato and basil with a white garlic sauce. Both were good and justify why “the Pine” has been open for so many years.
If you ever find yourself in Troy (why would you??), I’d recommend all three places. Tie and jacket not required.