Christmas Plans

Wow. 2010 seemed to fly by. Christmas is tomorrow, New Year's Eve is next week and in the time it takes to sneeze we'll be face-to-face with 2011!

Today, Christmas Eve, I'll be working hard in the kitchen. Carlos and I are hosting and his Dad is coming over for Christmas Eve dinner. Here is what I have planned:

Appetizers - Hummus with a drizzle of olive oil served with baby carrots, celery sticks and pita chips. I'll also serve a small bowl of green olives stuffed with garlic.


Pastel de Choclo (see my recipe) - This is a traditional Chilean casserole. Carlos' dad is from Chile and Carlos grew up eating this casserole so it'll be my pleasure to make it for them. I hope they both like it, especially since it's been a while since I've made it. This is a strange dish: ground beef with onions, shredded chicken, olives, raisins, hard-boiled eggs and topped off with a corn mush/milk/basil sugar mixture. Wow! It's a lot of work to make and I pre-prepped by grating the corn in advance and shredding some rotisserie chicken. 

Mixed Salad - I'm making a salad on the side mostly for me as I'm not crazy about the Pastel de Choclo and will need something to round out the meal.

Chilean Wine - Casillero del Diablo - Carmenere 2009. I bought a bottle for dinner. I was rushing to get home and when faced with a wall of bottles of red wine and very little time, I went through bottle by bottle until I saw the first Chilean one and grabbed it. I hope it's good ::fingers crossed::


Flan (see my recipe) - I hope this will come out better than last time. Even though I burnt the caramel this year and had to start all over, I think I got it right the second time and the coloring will be much better. However, I think I may have curdled the eggs a bit so the final product might not come out as smooth. I'm not very good at delicate desserts! But Carlos' dad likes flan so flan we shall have. I pre-prepped this by making this the night before and chilling it over night.

Extra - If I have some time, I might make an easier version of Raquel's Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake.


On Christmas day, Carlos and I will be heading to my parents house for a Portuguese/Dominican feast. My dad is making his famous Octopus salad, an annual Christmas tradition. My mom is making a smorgasbord of Dominican delights including her famous red beans and pressure cooked beef. Mmm... 

What will you be doing on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Any cooking/eating plans?

2 comments:

Alessandra said...

Hi! This recipe looks good! Merry Christmas! I wrote on my recent blog post too that it also goes by fast.

The1stdaughter said...

Isn't it crazy how quickly the year has gone by? It just seems like it only started minutes ago. We need to figure out a way to slow down 2011. Any ideas? hehe

By the way that Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Coffee Cake sounds delicious! Well, it all does, but that especially.