Christmas Eve Chaos

Ok, every dog has its' day, so the saying goes.  While doing my Christmas Eve baking for my in laws gathering, there were several minor disasters which almost ended in me wearing sweatpants and spending the entire evening on the couch with a teeny tiny glass of red wine.

I based my menu choices on my mother-in-law informing me that for their holiday gathering they would be doing 'pick me up' food.  That way, she said, nobody would have to cook anything.  Hmmm....  So I decided to make the pastry wrapped brie recipe from the Pillsbury website and I altered a mini-pie recipe from the same site.  Of course she then decided a few days later that we would be having prime rib and lobster (certainly no complaints with that) so my selection of appetizers seemed a little bit inappropriate.  Oh well.  I already had everything, I'm refuse to go to the grocery store again.

We begin our Christmas disaster on the day before, que hazy memory scene.  I had gotten Red a pound of hand cut bacon from our local butcher for his birthday and promised I would cook it up Saturday morning.

Fast forward to Saturday morning.  The pastry wrapped brie (I have included the link at the end of this post, which I followed this recipe almost exactly and it came out amazingly).  I have all the dishes done and put away, all my ingredients out, and the yeti happily kicking Kaptain Kalamari in his bouncy seat.  I am READY to bake, until it happened.  Red poked his head in the kitchen and requested his birthday bacon just as I was cooking down the cranberry sauce and toasting the almonds.  I really couldn't say no, could it?  Needless to say, the bacon was the proverbial straw on the camel's back.  Cranberry sauce and almonds got burnt, thrown away and re-done.  In my frustration I forgot to add the orange peel to the sauce.

However, when we finally arrived at Christmas Eve and baked the brie, it came out better than I could have planned.  It was quite delicious and I will certainly be making it again.  While peeling the fruit, however, there was a minor incident with a vegetable peeler that involved me shortening the end of my left index finger a few millimeters.  Oh well, the sacrifices we make for a nice presentation.  It was met with mixed reviews.  The foodies in the crew loved it.  The picky hillbillies I am about to be related to thought it tasted like 'moldy corn'.  Thank you.  I appreciate the compliment.  I'll make grilled cheese next time.  With Kraft and Wonderbread.

I was planning on posting the mini-apple pie adventure that was laced with profanity, but I'm being told its time to get off the computer and help take down our mangy Christmas tree.  I'll be back later.

Brie in Puff Pastry with Cranberry Sauce