Christmas Day At Home with Family 2012, photo credit (c) Likeitiz

For this Christmas Day, we decided to cook a Holiday Brunch instead of going out to some fancy feast where someone else slaved all night for us hungry mortals.  And so, when Eliz of Mirth and Motivation asked on her December 25 greetings to her WordPress community, “How did you spend your Christmas Day?” Here’s what we did, Eliz:

This was all our daughter’s fault. She said she wanted a more meaningful celebration. Not trolling the never-ending buffet tables at the Ritz where just about every cuisine may be represented.  Not admiring the round table in the middle of the ballroom with all the desserts in resplendent display while a vintage toy train goes around and around the table to provide the whimsy!

No!  She wanted to make Christmas brunch!  And so, we asked everyone in the family to provide their favorites so we might include them. My hubby wanted a “roast beast.”  Marc wanted Eggs Benedict.  My sister wanted French Toast. Mitch wanted a full regalia of Scottish smoked Salmon with capers, chopped tomatoes, onions, lemon wedges, and Creme Fraiche.

And so, the menu was:

• A roast cowboy-style ribeye, bone in, with a porcini red wine sauce
• Eggs Benedict with uncured Canadian-style bacon on Rosemary ciabatta bread, topped with Hollandaise sauce (from scratch!)
• Smoked Salmon with capers, ripe Roma tomatoes, lemon wedges, onions, and creme fraiche
• Banana Nutella French toasts
• Salad of Arugula, Pecorino Romano, Fresh Strawberries with a lemon garlic olive oil dressing
• Carrot Confit
• Roasted Asparagus
• Sautee of six mushrooms with rosemary, thyme, and garlic (shiitake, porcini, chanterelle, crimini, oyster, and Portobello) We let the roast beast sit on this on the serving platter.

Dessert was to be:

• Lemon and Key Lime Sandwich Butter Cookies
• Hot chocolate cake with home-made Earl Grey  ice cream
• Apple Pie topped with crumble and served with caramel sauce on the side
• fresh fruits

We started at around 7:00 a.m. Christmas morning. Lara’s friend BunC was lending a helping hand. Marc had made the apple pie last Thanksgiving so we asked him to oblige again. Mitch helped with the French Toast.  We kept having to do the lemon sandwich cookies over because they were taking a lot shorter to bake and we kept on over-baking them. Are we getting too old to multi-task?  Yikes! Help!

Upper left: Smoked Salmon Spread; Upper Right: Banana Nutella French Toast, Lower Left: Eggs Benedict; Lower Right: Arugula Salad with Fresh Strawberries and Pecorino Romano

By 1:00 p.m., Hubby was getting a tad cross.  He was getting pretty hungry and the kitchen was smelling way too good!  We were still waiting for the roast to be done.  It took just a little longer to poach the eggs.  The Hollandaise sauce kept having to wait on a warm water-bath.

Finally, by half past one, we all sat at the table. First we admired the spread. Then, we literally attacked the food!  Yeah, yeah. We complain of the amount of work. But, we had fun. The cousins said it was great because the added benefit was they did not have to dress up for the Ritz.

Beau’s Visitors on Christmas Day, (c) Likeitiz

The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning up and receiving guests who came for coffee and dessert. Mostly, they came to spend time with Beau.  And yes, we had friends and fans dropping by the house until late into the night, both young and not so young!  I never thought we’d achieve a level of popularity (and fame?) through a rescued dog.

Lastly, is it typical of the empty nest to be discussing the intimate details of dog training, two-person dog bathing, diagnosing new skin rashes as they appear, and describing the staring matches between dog and alpha to establish supremacy?