25 December 2014

Joyeux Noël !

I hope Santa Claus is really good to all of you. Thanks for reading this blog. I hope also that you enjoy your Christmas dinner. Here's a preview of ours.


We ordered a bûche (called a Yule log, I think — it's the classic French dessert for Christmas) from the village baker this year. It's a bûche au beurre, or butter cream cake, as opposed to a bûche pâtissière, which is made with pastry cream. We ordered it with a coffee-flavored butter cream.


And this year we are cooking a turkey for our Christmas dinner. We ordered a small dinde fermière (farm-raised turkey) from the best poultry vendor in the area (in our opinion). I decided to poach it and this morning we will baste it and brown it in the oven. I'm making cornbread stuffing on the side to serve with it.


What would Christmas be without sprouts? These were about the prettiest choux de Bruxelles I've ever seen. They've been cooked, and today we will cut each sprout in half and sautée the halves in butter in a pan.

I'll probably post more pictures, maybe tomorrow, maybe later... Oops, I forgot to mention the foie gras and the baked winter squash.

30 comments:

  1. "Joyeux Noël !" to you twotoo!
    Have a good one...
    our meal looks to be much the same as yours...
    but rib-of-beef, not turkey...
    and with the addition of kale, parsnips, celeriac and carrots...
    no foie gras or yule log...
    but Christmas Pudding...
    spiced pumpkin ice-cream...
    with mince pies and a home-made stollen...
    for follow up..
    have a great day...
    and don't explode!

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    1. Today is the mid-holiday seafood day, with lavagons and coques from the market with white wine, garlic, olive oil, and linguine. It will be a kind of a « trou charentaise » in the middle of our Christmastime pig-out on turkey and dressing. Hope you are enjoying these mid-holiday days.

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  2. Ooh you can keep the sprouts!! NOT my thing but Niall loves them.
    The furries wish Callie a Merry Christmas.
    Happy Holidays

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    1. More sprouts for me, then, Antoinette. Best of everything to you and Niall. See you in the new year.

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  3. Merry Christmas Ken. The butter cream cake looks and sounds very good. Hope you have a happy and healthy New Year as well

    -craig-

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    1. Nice to hear from you, as always, Craig. Best wishes for the season and the new year from me and Walt.

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  4. ooooooooooooooh, that buche! looks yummy!

    joyeux noel to all at your house!

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    1. Thanks for all your good comments, A M, and all the best for the end-of-year festivities to you and yours.

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  5. And Happy Christmas to you both!

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  6. The Christmas dinner looks delicious

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  7. the yule log looks fantastic....we had our sprouts last nite (roasted in oven) and choc. mousse after a lovely beef tenderloin & teeny taters.....have a great Xmas

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    1. I'm late getting back to these comments but I hope your Christmas season is a happy one, Melinda. I've roasted sprouts before and they are good too, but I do like the blanched then sauteed ones.

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    1. I hope you are having a peaceful and joyful Christmas season.

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    1. Judy, thanks for these greetings and thanks for the card too.

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  10. Merry Christmas to you and to Walt! Your dinner will be a delicious feast, I can tell.

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    1. Thanks Kristi. I hope your Christmas season is turning out to be a good one.

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  11. Joyeux Noël Ken
    Callie must be excited with all these activities in the kitchen :-)

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  12. Wishing both of you a very Merry Christmas! Wish I could join you for Christmas dinner. :)

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  13. I'm a day late wishing you and Walt a Merry Christmas. I'd chose a coffee favorited Buche if I had the opportunity.

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    1. It's very good. I remember I used to order coffee-flavored desserts all the time -- éclairs, glaces, etc. -- in Paris restaurants, but I almost never have them any more. This one was Walt's choice and it was the right one. Next year, we'll try praliné maybe. Hope you and Lew had a good Christmas.

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  14. Merry late Christmas to both of you! We always order a "bûche" to, but go in for the fancier versions. This year it was chestnut cream and delicious -- much lighter than it sounds, but not decorated like the traditional ones.

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    1. Ours was really good. See my comment to Chrissoup below for more details. Thanks for the Christmas wishes.

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  15. Merry Christmas, Ken and Walt! Thank you so much for sharing your life with us. Your blog is a constant joy.
    --I made a bûche for extra credit in my 7th grade Home Ec class (December 1956!). The recipe came from Seventeen magazine.
    --The family game here today is Pandemic, invented by Matt Leacock. Remember him? He's done well with his games. UI designer at Claris, friend of daughter Jan and the sons-in-law.

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    1. I hope you all had a happy Christmas and that your injury is healing quickly and completely. I don't remember Matt Leacock but I'm glad he's been successful. For past Christmases Walt has made our bûche, but when we got a flyer from the bread lady saying the local baker was making it, we said why not. And it's good. I think he really did make the bûche and not just sell through some factory-made ones. It was only 8.80 € for a cake that will end up giving us 8 portions!

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  16. Thanks, Ken! It was a good Christmas here- weather was good enough to hike with Rosie and see a waterfall.

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