A new Christmas tradition?

We always have a big breakfast Christmas morning. "Nero Wolfe" scrambled eggs (cooked over a double boiler slowly for a long time), ham from Christmas Eve, homemade rolls, fresh fruit salad, bacon, sausage. The whole nine yards.

But to gild the lily this year, Yorkshire pudding was introduced. A puffy, dramatic and - actually - pretty light carb to balance the proteins.

Michael Ruhlman's blog yielded a very simple but terrific recipe. Basically 4-5 eggs and a cup of flour and then good fat (we used bacon drippings), popover pan and high heat. Wow!

These were architectural beauties -- golden, narrow hipped, huge on top, light and fluffy and and filled with air and deliciousness.

This may be the start of a new tradition after 20 years of wonderful meals. Our pals Kim and George are new additions as well, with bubbly and bacon, and who add freshness and friends to the breakfast table.

You can't buy a breakfast like this for food, wine or especially company. And that's the big present of the day.

Crappy dinner

Despite years of cooking, experience and interest in food-- some tag-teamed skills between us, the baker and the more savory cook -- now and then a really crappy meal comes out of the kitchen despite best efforts.

So: leftover burger, some beef broth, cabbage, carrots, lots of onions, celery, Great Northern canned beans and a bit of leftover rice = a totally sucky dinner.

The rice blew up in the broth, the beans and rice suck up any flavor so it was really bland and not soupy. I mean, it was food if you were really, really hungry (which I know is prevalent in so many places. ) But, wow. All this stuff and no flavor and crappy texture.

Hmmm, guess a little failure in the kitchen is always a bit of a bracing slap in the face and kind of refreshing.

English muffins for dinner, and the cook is humbled.