A New Year's Eve Wedding

Usually I find New Year's Eve depressing. I invariably end up at home, doing something un-extraordinary like, say, surfing the internet or reading a book.  I always take my NYE hermitage as a sign that I'm about to embark on another year of feeling kind of shiftless and out of the loop. This year I didn't have to dread that awkward transitory evening; my mother decided to get married on it! Although it made for a busier than usual holiday season, I appreciated the opportunity to get dressed up, travel, bake, and celebrate! My mother and (now) step-father decided to have a small wedding, but liked the idea of going somewhere special for it. They decided on a Bed & Breakfast in upstate Vermont. The place was beautiful, and I had a lovely peach-walled room to myself, window seats and all. I packed comfortable clothes for walking around downtown as well as my laptop (love the free wifi) and a couple of new books.  I managed to read almost nothing because I got sucked into watching The Human Centipede, a movie I can't even stand to think about for fear of getting re-grossed out.  Suffice it to say, a friend posted about it on Facebook, saying she made the mistake of watching the preview, and I took the challenge.  I think that says a lot about the kind of person I am.  Tell me no and I say yes.  Tell me yes and I say no.  Sometimes.

Anyway, the ceremony was short and sweet, the officiant being an old family friend.  The officiant's husband and I rounded out the wedding party.  My mother and I made a grand entrance, walking (in my case, stumbling) down the B&B's front staircase in our fancy dresses. We assembled in the wedding suite's sitting room and vows were read.  Afterward we all drove over to a different B&B for their special NYE dinner.  Let me just say that I have never, EVER gotten grossed out  by the richness of a meal. I swear I've never eaten so much cream in one sitting in my whole entire life. I started with lobster bisque, followed by creamy spinach-stuffed artichokes, beef wellington (tender beef smothered in a paste of mushrooms and liver, then wrapped in puff pastry), caramelized onion risotto, rainbow baby carrots, and maple syrup creme brulee. Oh, and I had a Manhattan, too, and I drank the whole damn thing. I felt like I was raising the spirit of my British ancestors between the drink and the Wellington. My mother ate lobster--not an easy feat when you're wearing a ball gown. I took a funny photo of her holding a lobster claw in front of her sequined, napkin-draped chest. By 11 we made it back to our B&B, where we managed to cram more champagne, German dessert wine (OMG, best thing ever!), and wedding cake into our stomachs. After the officiant and her husband left, my mom, step-dad, and I watched the ball drop, after which T.I. performed live (um, in NYC, on the TV, not in our B&B). My mom stood up and began doing an interpretive dance to his rapping, and I took that as my cue to leave them to their wedding night!
























When my mother announced her engagement I immediately offered to make their wedding cake. I didn't expect that everything would be happening so fast! In the end I made a simple two-layer cake in red velvet, to honor my mother's bold personality as well as the holiday season. This was my second time making a red velvet cake, and I've discovered it's not my favorite. It just doesn't have the richness I expect in a cake. The recipe can be found here, if I haven't already scared you away! I covered it with a white vanilla buttercream, so that the cake looked traditional on the outside. I wanted the drama of cutting into something colorful and unexpected.  And buttercream is my mother's favorite frosting, which never hurts. I used a new recipe, always a dangerous thing, but it came out well.  I was nervous about having to make the cake two days prior to the wedding and then transporting it in the car and in and out of the B&B's refrigerator, so I used a special buttercream frosting that incorporates meringue powder, thus firming up the frosting. It worked well--the cake looked beautiful on New Year's Eve, and the frosting was still just as soft as a traditional buttercream.

We all had a wonderful time, and I'm so glad I got to be a part of the process. And hey, it'll be a piece of cake remembering my mother's anniversary. Pun intended.

Christmas, finally

Christmas: it happened.  It was busy.  It was mostly fun.  I cooked a lot and I drove around a lot.

For the past two years, my dad and I have cooked Christmas eve dinner together.  He takes on the main, meaty course, and I do an accompaniment.  The side dish is always meat-free because my step-mother is vegetarian.  Although I spent a portion of my 20s vegetarian (and one tragic week of veganism), I'm not used to veggie recipes.  Most of the recipes I'm attracted to contain meat, be it a hunk of beef or chicken stock.  So this year when my dad announced he'd be making a ribeye roast, I immediately thought of my favorite butternut squash risotto...which contains copious amounts of bacon fat and chicken broth.  Up for a challenge, I purchased the best veggie stock I could find (Pacifica brand), and substituted several pieces of bacon and bacon grease with more butter.  Let me tell you, butter really does make everything better!  The risotto came out great and I really didn't miss the meat at all.  The original recipe is from Ina Garten and can be found here.  My dad rounded out the meal with roasted baby potatoes, carrots, and turnips and my step-mother made a delicious salad with diced avocado, orange, nuts, and other tasty crunchy things.

After dinner we exchanged gifts, then sat down in front of the wood stove and had coffee, tea, peppermint chocolate truffles, and Eton Mess.  I made both of the desserts.  The truffles were a new recipe that caught my eye because of their simplicity and peppermint-chocolate flavor combo (which is one of my favorites!).  I think I let the truffles chill too long before the step where they are rolled in the crushed candy canes.  None of the peppermint pieces adhered to the truffles, so they didn't have the festive appearance I had hoped for.  They did taste very good, however, due to the peppermint extract in the chocolate mixture.  I'll be darned if I know where the recipe went, but if I find it I will post it here.  Eton Mess is a dessert I've made several times (and may have actually blogged about already, come to think of it).  In any case, it's a very simple trifle-like dessert consisting of layers of freshly whipped cream mixed with crushed meringues and fresh fruit.  My grandmother, who was with us for Christmas eve dinner, can't tolerate seeds, so instead of using berries I chopped up ripe pears and apples.  The combination of unsweetened whipped cream and super-sweet, crunchy meringues is heavenly!

On Christmas day I met up with the other side of the family for a big, boisterous mid-day meal.  I brought a key lime pie and a pecan pie.  Both were made using Cook's Illustrated The New Best Recipe Cookbook, which is my go-to cookbook when I'm looking for the absolute best, tastiest, and prettiest results (i.e. - when I'm cooking for others).  The key lime pie was effing fantastic; hats off to the editors at Cook's Illustrated.  Making the graham cracker crust was easy with the aid of my food processor.  Juicing the key limes was a tedious, time-consuming task, but it was really my own fault because I purchased them before reading the cookbook's suggestion that regular limes be used--they said the taste-testers couldn't even tell the difference.  The pecan pie also came out well, although a bit denser and drier than the only other pecan pie I've made.  I don't know if that's a result of the recipe or if I did something in the process of making it.  My hosting aunt made roast pork with applesauce, and other relatives supplied everything from stuffed shells to lemon tartlets to huge homemade truffles.

Other than the tasty food, there was a very memorable Yankee Swap, where my mother's friend, a vegetarian, ended up with a jar of Baconnaise and a generic Snuggie.  I got a framed photo my cousin took in Arizona, where he lives for the moment.  It's a beautiful shot of palm trees (and a tiny Uhaul sign in the distance, as my other cousin pointed out).  I felt a bit of guilt making out with such a nice gift after seeing my mom's friend holding the Baconnaise, trying hard not to look disgusted.  By the time I returned home late Christmas night, bearing overloaded bags of gifts and leftovers, I was so totally ready for a few quiet days alone!  And I mean that in the best of ways.