The Ingre­di­ents of the Holiday

We are safe­ly home.  We have not slept, hoist­ed lug­gage, opened mail, unpacked, done laun­dry.  The usu­al.  Changed cred­it cards and mon­ey in wal­lets.  Yawned.

I have spent the day drag­ging, with John, the Christ­mas tree out of the liv­ing room and down two flights of stairs, a feat I com­pared, to my friend Alyssa, to drag­ging a pile of Pringles out of a tiny space with­out crunch­ing them.  Agony.  And the orna­ments.  Why so numerous?

We all took naps.  Then I opened the emp­ty, pris­tine refrig­er­a­tor and felt hungry.

“Gee,” I said to myself, “Self, your jeans are tight.  Why would that be?”

The two choic­es seemed to be that they have smal­l­ened, or I had largened.  And it was but the work of a moment from that obser­va­tion to my own mem­o­ry of the sheer LIST of ingre­di­ents that marked our hol­i­day, for me to come to the obvi­ous con­clu­sions: food is GOOD.

I thought, just for fun, I’d list what I remem­ber buy­ing and cook­ing.  This will help me in my quest to fit into my jeans, as well as pro­vid­ing a VERY hap­py gas­tro­nom­ic mem­o­ry of my hol­i­day.  And onward to a bit more restraint!

THE LIST (as I would shop it if I were at Stop ‘N Shop in my town in Connecticut)

shrimp to stir fry

had­dock to fry

oys­ters for stew

duck legs for cassoulet

pork bel­ly for cassoulet

pork ten­der­loin for roast

lamb shoul­der for cassoulet

pork sausage for Christ­mas morn­ing, and for cassoulet

beef ten­der­loin to grill

buf­fa­lo mince for chilli

whole chick­en to roast

chick­en parts to bake

count­less eggs to scram­ble for break­fast or a mid­night snack

beets to roast

cau­li­flower to roast

but­ter­nut squash to roast

fen­nel to roast

car­rots to roast

aspara­gus to saute

cel­ery and onions, sage and mush­rooms for stuffing

pars­ley, cilantro, basil, tar­ragon for garnish

broc­coli to steam

spinach to cream

red pep­pers to make into soup

mush­rooms to make into duxelles

toma­toes, avo­ca­do, red onion, basil for salad

gar­lic to roast

green beans to saute

pota­toes to mash, to grate with cheese, to steam for hash

straw­ber­ries, blue­ber­ries, black­ber­ries, rasperries

mel­on

pears

apples and bananas for cake

moz­zarel­la, goat cheese, ched­dar, feta, Parme­san, ricotta

home­made chick­en stocks, turkey stocks for soup

the olive oil, lemons, bal­sam­ic vine­gar, salt, pep­per, Fox Point, cel­ery salt, Ital­ian sea­son­ing, papri­ka, cumin, cayenne, chilli seasoning

chick­peas, black beans, red kid­ney beans, can­nelli­ni beans, Bel­u­ga lentils

pas­tas, toma­toes, pine nuts, Vod­ka for the occa­sion­al emer­gency pasta

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and Non­na’s Christ­mas cap­puc­ci­no, lime and savoury cheesy cook­ies as a garnish!

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I am quite sure I could set this all to music if I weren’t so… jet­lagged. Soon, I promise!  In the mean­time, a tiny bit of aus­ter­i­ty shall pre­vail.  Plus ten­nis… I hear rumors from John that indoor ten­nis is in our future.  More to come.  But in the mean­time, I’m tear­ing up that gro­cery list.  It only encour­ages me.

I am CER­TAIN that some­where, it’s bed­time.  So good night.