The Fly-By Happy Holidays Thread

[hobie16]

Hobie,I neglected to post on how Talented Mrs.Hobie is,LOVE your doggie's drawings! :) They are wonderful.

The drawings are both great but Mrs. Hobie can't take the credit. She found an artist in Ohio that would work from pictures and was willing to make changes. His web site is here.

[Zazu]

Not much celebration at Chez Zazu.

Okay, I spoke too soon. Christmas day turned out a lot better than expected.

I managed to find an artificial tree in the garage, and surprised SWMBO by setting it up last night while she slept. Got me a big grin, and she's nearly over her cold.

The dinner menu came together as I cooked, and ended up including:

Stuffed mushroom caps with Stilton and bacon
Broccoslaw with green onions and a bacon ranch dressing
Barbecue duck, marinated in cumin and honey, with apricot preserves
Stuffing with cous cous, water chestnuts, pigeon peas, chives, dried apricot bits, and a garam masala spice blend
French fried chipotle sweet potatoes
Fire roasted red, yellow, and white cherry onions

The wine was De Toren "Z" 2006 (South African merlot blend)

If only I had the time to cook every week....

[hobie16]

I put on a few pounds just reading your menu. :D:

[PatchOBlack]

Gee, Zazu...

And I used to think my "Poor Man's stroganoff" was something to be proud of. I am well humbled by your culinary skills.

[DisneyMom]

The drawings are both great but Mrs. Hobie can't take the credit. She found an artist in Ohio that would work from pictures and was willing to make changes. His web site is here.

whoooops....
I really like the Seussical poof on Scooter's cariacture's tail :)

[hobie16]

whoooops....
I really like the Seussical poof on Scooter's cariacture's tail :)

It's pretty close to the real thing. Most breeders dock the tail so we're lucky she's got hers. It is distinctive and it gives her something to chase. :D:

[darph nader]

Stuffed mushrooms wiyh bacon? I'm goin to Zazu's next year. :D:
(what the heck is cous cous?)

[Zazu]

Stuffed mushrooms with bacon? I'm goin to Zazu's next year. :D:
(what the heck is cous cous?)

Y'all seem to be easily impressed. The bacon-stuffed mushrooms and the chipotle sweet potato fries both came frozen from the grocery. While I'll take the compliment of "creative", I don't claim to work all that hard at it (skinning the duck took 60% of the prep time).

Cous cous is... hmm, how to describe it. Think of whole wheat Grape Nuts, but miniaturized to 1/4 size, then steamed until it has the consistency of pasta. Gave the basic Stove Top Stuffing mix a distinctive texture, much more creamy than crunchy, and the flavor better complimented the additaments.

When I really want to get fancy, I design a rough draft of the menu, then find some restaurant chef that thinks it sounds like fun.

Last Easter I booked the Funky Monkey for a group meal. We started with deviled eggs three ways, then had bunny and chicks (roast rabbit and Cornish game hens), with chocolate-chocolate dessert.

Right now I'm plotting a mid-summer Greek Festival at Kouzzina, and a backwards Thanksgiving meal and looking for a restaurant. I'll probably go with Chef's Table at the Edgewater if I can get enough friends to sign up for it.

Yeah, food can be fun! Anybody wants notices of upcoming Zazu dinners, PM me.

[DragonFox98]

Hello! Happy Holidays to everyone! Well....it could've been a better year BUT I've got a house and my family, so it's all good. The holidays were a blast because Quinn is the perfect age to understand about opening presents. As tough as times were this year, I think we did very well for the kids (I was able to sell stuff on eBay and hit some really good sales in order to pay for things).

Good news came on Tuesday: the Social Security hearing will be on February 7th (which is MUCH earlier than most people get....they normally have to wait about a year instead of 6 months).

So, the new year is looking up and I am happy to have you all as friends.

Happy New Year!!!!

zazu, I am totally jealous of your talents. We combined Christmas dinner with friends of ours and ended up with my roast beast, mashed potatoes and gravy and her ham, macarroni & cheese, and other sides. It was great to have everyone together and such good food. Now, I can't wait until this weekend so I can do absolutely NOTHING (it's been very busy here with wrestling tourneys and Christmas stuff the past month).

[BRWombat]

Huge hugs to everybody- and a couple musical holiday greetings from yours truly...(quick clips of me at the piano and then singing)

The general "no specific holiday greeting..."

The specific Christmas one...

Bru!!! Wow! Your playing and singing are both so beautiful! Thank you for sharing these with us!