Christmas Dinner at Home

Christmas Dinner was quiet. My family plus a friend. It was a fairly simple dinner. I served some of my usual hors d' oeuvre's. We had some shrimp with bacon which was delicious but was too spicy for some. I also made some dates stuffed with Parmesan cheese and also wrapped in bacon.

Four our entree, I made pork tenderloin baked in red currant jelly and mustard.  That always comes out perfect. I also made some mashed potatoes made with a good amount of butter, milk and Parmesan cheese.

For the side dish, I roasted Brussels sprouts in olive oil and balsamic glaze. I chopped up cooked beets, added some feta cheese, mustard and Japanese mayonnaise. With these 2 vegetables, the consensus was..... we had no need for a salad. Fine with me!

I can't take credit for dessert aside from the fact that I ordered it and  I thank Gunter, who was kind enough to pick it up the day before. This was a chocolate caramel Buche de Noel. It looked beautiful; dark and shiny. I kept my fingers crossed as sometimes, when baked goods look too good, disappointment sets in after the first bite. This was an exception. I served small slices (something I don't do as a rule)  since it looked very rich. It was indeed rich and smooth as velvet.

My friend Cindy came over to join us for dessert shortly before we opened our presents. When everyone was ready to go home, I remembered that I had not served the last course for the evening. I had everyone sit down to have one last drink for the road. I served Raspberry wine from Trader Joe's and poured a small amount in a chocolate cup from World Market. The wine is more like a liquer (higher concentration of alcohol), I actually got this idea from the Chocolate Festival I attended 2 weeks ago. It was a hit!

A quiet and simple Christmas dinner and a Merry Christmas......