In My Kitchen – December 2023 and January 2024

In My Kitchen this month I have lists, lots of lists.  I bet you have them as well. For the first time in many years we are hosting Christmas dinner up in Fort Bragg. We usually have Christmas Eve dinner with good friends in Oakland, then travel back up the coast on Christmas Day. This year is different. Don’t worry, those friends are still the very best, but this year we are hosting them to our condo in Oakland prior to the big day. A simple casserole of chicken with sweet potatoes and dates was on the menu.

I’ve been playing with puff pastry lately. This recipe from Tara Bench (known as Tara Teaspoon) came from the cookbook Delicious Gatherings. It’s titled spinach and artichoke tarte soleil and it does look like the sun. It was absolutely delicious and wonderful way to start Christmas dinner.

The rest of the meal was simple. Baked chicken, a shaved Brussels sprout salad, and baked butternut squash.

In My Kitchen I have some new cookbooks, they are always under the tree for me on Christmas morning.

Salad Freak is not new but one of my most frequently opened books for ideas.

This dish of roasted spareribs with tomato-wine sauce from Super Tuscan was a big hit. Slowly braised they turned succulent and the kitchen smelled like heaven. This is definitely a postable recipe and perfect for blustery winter evenings.

New Year’s Eve was quiet, just the two of us. I made Melissa Clark’s recipe for crispy potato and sour cream tart. That, plus a simple salad and a bottle of sparkling wine, made for a feast.

Our usual New Year’s Day chili party had been canceled due to a water leak in the house.

The Friday before the New Year’s weekend we woke to see a steady stream of water coming down the wall of our bedroom. It turns out there was a broken water pipe. The insulation between the house siding and the wall had finally become saturated with water, causing it to overflow at the intersection of the ceiling and the wall. Oh my! Our angel of a contractor sent over one of his best workers to fix the problem. He was able to isolate the leaky part until it could be repaired. We lost water to one bathroom but thankfully the rest of the house was okay. However, the water had to be turned off for a large part of the weekend while repairs were underway and I was not able to do any cooking. Hence the cancellation of my favorite way to start the new year.

We were able to join in on our annual New Year’s Day hike. Here is the group in front of the waterfall in Russian Gulch State Park.

 

I’m not in this one as I was the photgrapher.

In My Kitchen is a collection of posts from around the world describing what’s new in all our kitchens. It’s hosted by Sherry of Sherry’s Pickings. You can read all of the amazing blogging stories here.

It’s been stormy here and the waves are huge. I often walk the dogs along the coast and saw this amazing pod of brown pelicans a couple of days ago. There must have been a thousand of them perched on the rocks just off shore. It was an amazing sight and heartening environmentally.

This was only one of the rocky outcroppings. They were crowded on several more.