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Boxing Day

When I put the memory card from my big camera in my computer to upload my Christmas pictures, I found a picture from the big snow we had two weeks ago. We had 9” of snow on December 11 and 12. Here’s what that looked like on the deck.

Snow on the deck two weeks ago

Now that we’ve had three warm days, we’re seeing large patches of green grass again. Weird weather. Still, not a bad thing to reduce the accumulation before we get more. Also, all the snow slid off the solar panels, so we’re back to as much production as we can get during the short daylight hours.

One of the girls laid a truly giant egg last week. Hilda thought it must have three yolks, it was so large. I ate it for brunch this morning, and it only had two.

Giant egg next to two normal pullet eggs. That had to hurt.

In preparation for Boxing Day game night, I roasted the rest of Jake. This time, I tried cutting the leg and thigh away from the breast and wing. I couldn’t get both pieces to fit in one roasting pan, and I didn’t want any hanging over the edge like last time. I put the leg/thigh in my auxiliary roasting pan. The breast then had a large bare patch where the thigh used to be. I cut the excess skin from the neck and grafted it over the bare spot with toothpicks.

The other half of Jake, in two parts. Note skin graft held in place by toothpicks on the breast.

Would both pans fit in the oven at the same time? Of course not. The oven was plenty wide, but was not deep enough for me to get the door shut when the large roasting pan was parallel to the walls. Bah.

Before this year, I always thought that Thanksgiving was the easiest of menus. Pop the turkey in the oven, and you’re done. I never understood why people thought it was hard. This was because I had always cooked a 12-pound turkey. Even with the white and dark meat separate, I could not get the meat done. There seems to be a law of cooking that you can’t ever get the thermometer probe in the coldest part on the first try. I started with the breast. When it got to 165°F, I pulled it out and repositioned the probe. It dropped 15°. Back in the oven. It took longer to cook the breast, which was probably about 8 pounds as to cook a whole 12- to 14-pound bird, just because the meat was so thick. It was finally done at 3:30. I thought that surely the thigh and leg would be done for dinner at 6:00. But no. By 6:00, I was only to the first repositioning of the thermometer, and it ended up taking three tries before I finally found the last spot to get cooked. At 6:20, I gave up and served white meat for supper.

Breast meat finally done, thigh and leg going back in the oven for another half hour

By 7:30, I had the meat stripped from the bones, the bones and skin in the slow cooker for stock, and the roasting pans washed. It certainly felt good to sit down.

Jane joined us for Christmas lunch. She made roll-ups of smoked beef, cream cheese, and dill pickles for hors d’oeuvres. Here is our sommelier pouring the champagne.

Terry pours the champagne; Jane's roll-ups in foreground

For our main dish, I made Tuscan-style roast pork with garlic and rosemary from a recipe I found in the Cook’s Illustrated 2016 Annual. I made an infused oil the day before by sautéing lemon zest, garlic, rosemary, and red pepper flakes in olive oil. I strained to oil and kept the garlic, etc. Christmas morning, I made a paste of the reserved garlic mixture and 2 ounces of bacon in the food processor. I totally messed up butterflying the pork loin. As you can see from the photo, the stuffing makes a “Z” shape through the meat rather than a perfectly symmetric spiral. Oh well. The point is to evenly distribute the paste through the meat, and I think I accomplished that. Some of the infused oil was used to brown up the roast after it was done in the oven. The rest I mixed with 2 tablespoons of juice from a grilled lemon (only I forgot to measure, but it was fine) to make a vinaigrette to serve with the meat.

Hilda made roast potatoes, celeriac, carrots, shallots, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

Main course--Tuscan-style pork roast and roasted veg

We had to take a respite between dinner and dessert to digest and have a glass of wine. It is never hard to fill the time with stories at laughter at our family dinners. During this time, Bertie showed up at the bird feeder. He’s been hanging around again, but not for the company of the hens. He’s just hungry. I went out for my camera and got a picture of him ducking around the coop.

Bertie making an escape around the corner of the coop

A few minutes later, he was on the deck. Terry, who was the only one of us to spend any amount of time outside yesterday, said that the wind was nasty, and that Bertie was probably just looking for shelter.

Out of the wind on the deck

We had cookies for dessert. My dad arranged the tray. I accused him of being stingy with the Christmas bison. In his defense, he said that the bison were at the bottom of the container, and by the time he got to them, he’d run out of room. 

Cookie platter

The two turkey roastings had been hard on the oven. I started a self-cleaning cycle before I went to bed. Not a good idea. The house soon filled with smoke. Hilda called down to ask if we were burning candles or something. I'm sure she thought the house was on fire. I was both surprised and relieved that I didn't set off the smoke detectors. Perhaps I should clean the oven more often. 
Tonight we will have turkey sandwiches. I hope all the guest will take some turkey home as well.

Christmas cookies

Jane, Hilda, and I made Christmas cookies yesterday. After careful consideration, we narrowed it down to five different kinds: sugar cookies, chocolate sugar cookies, Mexican wedding cakes, thumbprint cookies, and apricot-filled sour cream cookies. We each made our assigned dough the day before. I was in charge of rolling and cutting. Jane put the cookies on the trays, and Hilda did the baking.

Cutting out the sugar cookies

We started with the sugar cookies because they had to cool before we could frost them.

Over the years, I have found that the best ungulate cookie cutter is a Christmas bison. Their broad backs and stubby legs are far more structurally sound than skinny legs and narrow antler attachment points of reindeer and moose. Believe me, I’ve made my share of bald reindeer torsos and female moose. Bison are not, of course, traditionally associated with Christmas, but I make them look festive by putting a wreath and bow around their thick necks.

Cutting out the chocolate bison

We debated long and hard between thumbprint cookies and caramel pecan bars. The latter are always nerve-wracking because caramel is tricky. You have to melt the sugar without burning it and then stir in heavy cream, which is a big, sticky pain. The bars are really good if all goes well. Nevertheless, we decided to make the thumbprint cookies. They were easier and used up jam, of which we have plenty.

Hilda and Jane filling the thumbprint cookies with jam

I didn’t get pictures of the apricot-filled sour cream cookies or the Mexican wedding cakes. My recipe for wedding cakes only makes 20. I’m planning to make another batch before Christmas, thinking that my half of the cookies will be gone by then. We only had to divide the batch in two because Jane already made her family’s version, little shorties, at her house. When making little shorties, one presses the balls down with a fork and bakes them for an hour. In my Mexican wedding cake recipe one leaves the balls as balls and bakes them for 15 minutes in a slightly hotter oven. Because of the shape difference, we call mine “little roundies.”

We were all done with the baking before lunch.After bowls of turkey soup, we started in on the frosting. Jane and Hilda did all the base coats while I colored the frosting and loaded the piping bags.

Applying the base coat of frosting

Jane doesn’t like to pipe, preferring to decorate with sprinkles.

Stars and bells with sprinkles (the round ones are from the last bits of dough, the so-called "dog cookies")

Hilda did most of the piping on the sugar cookies while I put the wreaths on the bison.

Some of the cookies decorated with piped frosting

A herd of chocolate-frosted Christmas bison

We were all done by 2:30, including the clean up. Not a bad day’s work. 

Another trip to Chicago

Last Friday, I was in Chicago again, this time with Terry. We began as usual with lunch at Christkindlmarket. I debated all the way down on the train between currywurst and potato pancakes. The potato pancakes won. Terry wanted a brat with sauerkraut. I sent him to the beer tent for beer while I got the food. Even though the potato pancakes and the brats were sold in the same trailer, the man at one of the two windows told me I could only get the brat there; I had to go to the other window for the potato pancakes. I was sufficiently annoyed to stiff him for the tip.

We found space at one of the long tables in the beer tent. It was too cold to eat outside. About a quarter of the beer tent had been reserved for two parties. We were surprised that a person could do that. The parties arrived while we were there. Servers provided them with mulled wine and foil-covered plates of food from the vending area. There were pastries, potato pancakes, and thin sausages cut in 1-inch pieces stuck on toothpicks.

We walked up to State Street to look at the lame windows at Macy’s. We went inside to see the tree in the Walnut Room. The lights changed color. I liked the blue best. Moving images of snowflakes were projected on the ceiling above the tree.

The Walnut Room in Macy's

There didn’t seem to be much of a line for tables in the Walnut Room, but it was hard to tell because they give people remote buzzers so they can wander around the store while they wait.

We went to Millennium Park next. The snow that I’d seen fall on the Bean the previous Saturday night had broken into pieces that were sliding down the sides. It reminded me of plate tectonics.

Plate tectonics in snow on the Bean

It was a bitter wind that blew down Michigan Avenue as we walked north to the Hancock. This is the sculpture by the Tribune Tower. It’s called “Return Visit.”

Terry walking away from "Return Visit"

We wondered if Abraham Lincoln had ever been to Chicago. Terry was sure that he had. I maintained that Springfield was much farther away back then because of the state of transportation. Also, I couldn’t remember how big Chicago was in Lincoln’s day. He was already dead by the time the city burned in 1870. My brother later settled the question. Lincoln accepted the Republican party nomination in Chicago in 1859.

We stopped at an art gallery to look at sculptures and paintings that we would never own. The man working there told us that the gallery included works by three different artists. One of them was from France. I don’t remember where the other two were from except Not Chicago.

Even though the day was overcast, we had perhaps the best view we had ever had from the Signature Lounge. We could see all the way to where the bottom of the lake curved into Indiana as well was a good distance to the west.

If you look carefully, you can see the Lake Michigan shoreline curving to Indiana in the distance

Terry looking westward

On our way back to the train, we stopped at Dylan’s Candy Bar. It had rows and rows of open stock candy. The signs said it was all $7.49. Terry went a little crazy and filled one bag each of white chocolate coated pretzel balls, white chocolate nonpareils, and (bleah!) assorted licorice candies. I filled one bag with a few things that looked interesting, such as peanut butter malt balls, dark chocolate malt balls, dark chocolate nonpareils, and a few gumballs. A note on the latter—several stores were decorate with gumball themes. I’d developed a hankering. Upon checkout, our breath was taken away when we where charged $14.99 a pound. Upon questioning, it was revealed that we had not read the fine print. It was $7.49 per half pound. So we ended up paying Godiva prices for dime store candy. Oh well. We wrote it off to a holiday splurge.

A few flakes of snow were falling in the city when we got to the train station. The snow increased was we moved west. There was a good inch of snow on the truck in Harvard.

Graduation was Saturday. The weather forecast was iffy. It changed several time during the week from freezing rain, to piles of snow, and finally, snow ending in the middle of the night. I had no trouble getting to graduation and back. The snow started again in the afternoon long after I was safe at home.

By Sunday morning, the wind had died and the sun was shining. It was 3 degrees below zero. Terry and I got out early to shovel the driveway. We cleared all the places where he couldn’t get the snowblower and in front of the tractor shed door so he could get the snowblower out. I was amazed at the difference a hand warmer in each mitten made. If I could keep my fingertips from freezing, I was quite comfortable.

When I was no longer needed for the driveway, I walked through knee-deep drifts down to check on the solar panels. Terry had previously brushed the snow off the bottom two rows. The wind had kept those clear. I got the brush on the extension pole and cleaned off another row. It took quite a while (I didn’t have my watch) and made my shoulders tired. But hey, we now had 60% of the panels working.

At noon, we bundled everyone up and set off for Northbrook for Christmas Observed with my brother and sister-in-law. We went to Music of the Baroque’s Christmas concert at Divine Word Chapel. The Chapel is a huge room with a very tall ceiling. Predictably, all the heat was up there. I was glad to have a wool sweater and long underpants. The music was wonderful.

We went to Morton’s Steakhouse afterwards. We all ate too much, as is our tradition. Here is our annual family photo.

Family photo at Morton's Steakhouse

By the time we got home, the temperature had dropped to -12°F. It was good to settle into my nice warm bed for the night.

Weekend in Chicago

My friend Amy flew in from Virginia this weekend for a little getaway. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a hotel room all to myself, so I booked a room at the Virgin Hotel for Saturday night and went down to join her.
The room was very nice. Note the little back rest at the foot of the bed. This was a surprisingly comfortable place to sit. 

My room at the Virgin Hotel

I had a nice view out the window.

The view from my window

The shower was very fancy. I hoped I would be able to figure it out on Sunday morning.

Fancy shower

After lunch in the hotel restaurant, we each had a couple of hours of me time in our respective rooms. Amy wanted to wait until it got dark and the snow started before we walked around to see the windows at Macy's and the Christmas lights.
The windows were lamer than ever. We took a turn through Christkindlmarket.  We started at the Eternal Flame Pigeon Warmer. 

The Eternal Pigeon Warmer

We walked around the back of the tents where I saw for the first time that they were secured with giant cylinders of cement.

Cement cylinders weigh down the Christkindlmarket tents in the Windy City

We found an entrance and maneuvered slowly through the huddled masses. The probability of colliding with someone toting a cup of hot mulled wine seemed high and the consequences dire. I had packed light--I would be wearing anything that got spilled on me until I got home, and that wine smelled nasty. We escaped unscathed.
 We went to Millennium Park next. We admired the giant Christmas tree. Everywhere we went, people asked us to take photos of them.  I asked one couple to take a picture of us in return. 

Amy and I in front of the Christmas tree in Millennium Park

We went around by the Bean, admiring the reflection of the Christmas tree and the buildings.

The Bean in snow. Our reflection is in the middle, me in the red coat and Amy waving both hands next to me.

Amy wanted to try a Korean place that she’d seen on her previous trip, Wow Bau, one block away from the hotel.We both had the pork belly buns and potstickers. The steamed bread was very soft. Something had a tremendous hit of garlic that I didn’t fully notice until I was done eating.

We lingered until 5 minutes to happy hour at the hotel. Oddly, happy hour was from 7 to 8:30, which seemed late to me, but I’m not a city dweller. We got our free drink, split an order of samosas and called it a night.

We set out Sunday morning for brunch at the Hancock. This was going to be the Big Blowout Meal. Amy had studied the website more than I had. She knew there was a full buffet PLUS at least one entree from the menu.

The snow had stopped during the night. When we first arrived at the 95th floor, we had a nice view of Navy Pier...

Navy Pier from the 95th floor of the Hancock Building

And the city.

The view to the south

The restaurant had murals all along the wall and Christmas trees on top of the wine cabinet.

Murals in the Signature Room; Christmas trees on the wine cabinet. The buffet is to the left

Because the buffet included made-to-order omelets, I decided against ordering Eggs Benedict (my usual brunch go-to) and had the bacon and egg burger. Amy's strategy was to order something she would never make at home, in this case, braised short ribs. While we waited for our orders, we hit the buffet.

My trip to the buffet: omelet with ham, scallion, mushroom, and cheese; crab legs, shrimp, chocolate croissant, pineapple, canteloupe, cappacola, mini spinach quiche, bleu cheese

I hadn't even finished my crab legs when the burger came out.

Brunch burger with bacon, egg, and herb  garlic aioli, sweet potato hash with bacon, peppers, and onions

This is Amy's entree.

Braised short ribs with mashed potatoes/parsnips and sauteed Brussels sprouts

Amy went back for a bagel and lox. It should be noted that she did not have an omelet.

And then there were the desserts.

My desserts--walnut brownie, chocolate/peanut butter bar, pumpkin bar topped with whipped cream and praline, three moussse cake

Amy's dessert plate with cutest creme brulee ever, coconut brownie, and mini cream puff

I could hardly breathe when it was over. We headed north on Michigan Avenue to Lake Shore Drive. A few blocks later, we arrived at the International Museum of Surgical Science. Neither of us had been before. 

The outside of the International Museum of Surgical Science

The museum was a mixture of old surgical tools, many informational plaques, and surgery-related art. There were numerous paintings of surgeons through history. We wondered if they had been commissioned for the museum or had been collected from near and far over time. One room was lined on both sides with statues of important figures in medicine, such as William Harvey (discovered blood circulation), Louis Pasteur (if you don't know, look it up), Joseph Lister (first to sterilize surgical tools), and Ignaz Semmelweiss (found out that handwashing prevented childbed fever). All the statues had been donated by the same couple, suggesting a special commission.

The statue room-Pasteur is with the dog; Semmelweiss is standing above the woman with the infant

Madam Curie--I should have read the plaque to find out what she was doing there

On the fourth floor, quite unexpectedly, was a room dedicated to medicine in Taiwan. Why? Big donation to the museum? 

The Taiwan Room

Interestingly, Taiwan is second in the world for health care. Note that the United States doesn't even make the list.

Taiwan is second in the world for health care

Across from the Taiwan room was the Japan room. 

Tapestry from the Japan room

By the time we got to the fourth floor, dressed in layers as we were, our feet were melting inside our winter boots. We had to get back outside.

On our walk back to the hotel, we passed a building decorated with terra cotta peacocks above every window.

Terra cotta peacock at the top of the windows

We had a lovely walk in the snow. 

My legs were hammered from all the walking on cement. I took a cab to the train station because I couldn't stand the thought of power walking to get the 2:30 to Harvard. I had a nap on my way home. I didn't eat again all day.

Chicken in the snow

I went out yesterday afternoon to give the carrot peels to the chickens. The snow was deep on the pumpkin that we used for fall decoration until it started to rot. (We never got around to carving pumpkins this year.)

Snow-covered pumpkin

The fifth oak was beautiful with snow on its branches.

Snow on the fifth oak

When I got to the chicken run, four of the girls were hanging out under the shade shelters where there was no snow. I tossed the carrot peels as far into the run as I could, but they don’t weigh much and they landed in untrodden snow. The girls looked from a distance for a moment, hesitant to wade into the deep snow but drawn toward a delicious treat. What to do?

You mean we have to walk in the fresh snow?

Then Bess and Rose tried to get at the peels by stretching their necks way out.

Maybe if we stretch our necks out....

Soon, they ventured forth.

Oh, what the heck--let's just walk in up to our knees

Meanwhile, Opal and Gracie looked out from the snow-free kennel. Gracie lifted one foot out and pulled it back a few times before she set it down in the snow. She is such a spaz.

Gracie steps gingerly out of the kennel--and this isn't even her first snow!