Bah Humbug!

So, the night after Christmas and all through the house, all the creatures were unwinding even the mouse.  Finally, with the holiday over we can relax and feel like vacation is beginning.  For some people, holidays can be a time of extreme angst, loneliness, irritability, stress and busy-ness from shopping, depression from overeating and drinking, or maybe for people like me, well, I just have a strong preference for regular days.  And a holiday that involves shopping under pressure and wasting money on things we do not need is all the more bad.  The end result is just crappy shit from China ending up in a landfill and some other stuff taking a trip to goodwill.  Just a tip, if you buy your kids a book of test prep for the SSATs, don't wrap it and give it as a present.  Throw in a little religion, and you have a holiday.  So, go ahead, call me a Grinch but I like about 362 days a year so maybe you holiday lovers are the Grinches.

We did have a rockin' Christmas eve with so many vegetables all of which are good any old night, so no need to wait for a holiday.  I went with my jalapeno sauce derived from Nobu 57 but made it slightly differently.  I was really not liking the grape seed oil that was recommended in the original version and decided I needed plain old olive oil.  I was pleased with the results.
Quick recipe:
1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
2 jalapeno peppers
1 small clove of garlic
I blended it all really well and it tasted fabulous.

Roasted vegetables:
6 parsnips, peeled and cut in random chunks
6 Jerusalem artichokes (see I did mix in religion) washed and cut into chunks
25 shitake mushrooms, cut in half
Brussels sprouts, whole
cauliflower, cut in small florets
Thin strips of ginger
Spread vegetables out on cookie sheets (I prefer stainless steel and avoid nonstick) and drizzle with olive oil. Shuffle around so all get a little oily, mushrooms especially will stick to the pan if not oiled.  Put all of the ginger on the Brussels sprouts.  Sprinkle with chunky sea salt and chunky black peppercorns, barely ground.  Bake on 425 for 15 minutes and then lower heat and keep cooking until soft.  The shitakes should get a little crisp and the Brussels sprouts browned. (Try to put same sized items together so if one pan needs longer the smaller vegetables do not get overcooked.) Serve the sauce on the side in case your guests are wimpy about spicy food.


I had the opportunity to make two huge kale salads for Christmas because I made a marinated one in Dijon vinaigrette and I said, famous last words, you may taste some of it. So basically, my kids ate the entire thing.  I started over just making my simple one, sundried tomatoes with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Dijon Vinaigrette:
1 tbsp. mustard seed (1 tablespoon)
2 tbsp. good organic German mustard, anything kind of golden, not so much bright yellow
1 tsp. raw honey
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (aged a lot)
2-3 tbsp. extra virgin first press extremely high quality olive oil
Mix it all up.

To prepare the kale, use lacinato or dinosaur kale, and cut in very thin strips.  No one likes chewing on a large mouthful especially if the kale is curly so better to use the very dark blue green bumpy variety.

For a quick easy dessert, we made an apple crumble.  We simply ground pecans in the coffee grinder and put them with some maple syrup over sliced apples and baked until the topping was golden brown.

Anyway, it was quite a holiday.  As usual, I ate white flour, felt sick, spent a good portion of the day slamming the gym for being closed.  And to add insult to injury, our tree landed on its ass.