The Pork Boys Do the Holidays

As usual, the Pork Boys enjoyed a raft of delicious meals for Christmas, New Year's, and Kings' Day, all made from scratch by M.P., resident chef extraordinaire.

Unfortunately, your Head Trucker has gotten pretty lax in the picture-taking department, so we don't have a comprehensive set of pics.  I'm posting these here mainly just for our own future reference.

M.P. knocks himself out cooking these holiday meals, but now he is pooped and swears he won't cook another thing the rest of this month.  But he always comes up with some new culinary idea before February arrives.  I wish all my truckbuddies, and everyone in the world, could enjoy such delightful repasts.

Yule Dinner for M.P.'s kids and grandkids:

M.P. made a beautiful charcuterie platter with meats, cheeses, nuts, olives, and dried fruit.

M.P.'s clever rearrangement of the front room makes it possible now to seat 14 without crowding at the holidays.

Stockings were hung with care around the electric fireplace.

Veggies and homemade ranch dip.

Cheesy flakes.

Hummus.

La charcuterie de nouveau, prêt à manger!

The Christmas plates, bowls, and chargers all stacked and ready.

Our old china cabinet - actually two unrelated pieces stacked up.

Our new china cabinet, cobbled together from old bookcases, gives us more display and storage space.

Christmas Dinner, just us two:

Appetizers on the kitchen bar:  Devilled eggs, two kinds of crackers, a cheese ball, creamy chicken-liver pâté, and delicious mulled wine to wash it all down.

Duck a l'orange in the new roasting pan I gave M.P. before Christmas.

Our traditional Christmas dinner dessert:  chocolate mousse cake, 

homemade whipped cream, and raspberry sauce. Ooh la la!

New Year's Dinner:

I took only one picture to represent our dinner.  See if you can spot the ham, blackeyed peas, turnip greens, baked sweet potato, jalapeno cornbread muffin, pineapple casserole, and green fluff (pistachio pudding, Cool Whip, and mini marshmallows).

Kings' Day Dinner:

It started with luscious broccoli-cheddar soup topped with crumbled cornbread, a fine dish on a cold night.

The cardboard crowns have been our Kings' Day centerpiece for quite a few years now.

The roast beef was supremely tender and juicy, flavored with red wine and garlic.

From 6 o'clock:  roast beef with dark, rich gravy; roasted carrots too, yum; mashed potatoes; homemade croissant; fried brussels sprouts and fried oysters too.  A fine, hearty meal.

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