Christmas on Santa Rosa Island

Merry freakin Christmas....here is a picture of me and my parents, I look so goofy, just like my Dad.


When I am in the kitchen, I am oh so happy, so today was a good day. Food is so comforting, especially when someone else makes it for you! (Nod to Klara and Razi) Here is how the day unfolded in the culinary sense.

BREAKFAST

So I flew in to Pensacola in a painless flight that had me on the panhandle by 9:45 am. We drove to my parent's new beach place-this is the first time I saw it-and of course my dad was preparing one of my favorite breakfasts. He was testing out a new Belgian waffle recipe that he had picked up recently on a trip to Bruges and was whipping up fresh cream for them when I walked in the door. He served them with some gargantuan, tart, blackberries, warmed Vermont maple syrup, and cava mimosas. Yummy.

Here is Mamma stuffing her face (:


More cava, please...



LUNCH/DINNER

For Christmas dinner, I put in my request for pernil con arroz y gandules y platanos maduros. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find Hispanic ingredients in the super white part of Pensacola where my parent's house is and they forgot to do the shopping in Mobile before they came. Since there were no gandules to be found, Mamma whipped up some cajun style rice and beans using conecuh sausage, a local specialty made in Evergreen, Alabama. This was served with a simple salad of fresh tomato, avocado and red onion. I chose a spicy shiraz, Cimicky, from the Barossa valley, to accompany the meal and it was brilliant. Simple, straightforward, delicious.

I managed to snap a pic of my plate before I dove into it, my photography leaves much to be desired, but, anyway...


DRINKS and DESSERT

So my Dad makes the BEST DAMN MARGARITAS you ever had, this is simply a fact. He makes them strong, too, but the fresh lemon, lime, and orange juice make it seem like, well, juice. I sucked the first one down and it made me pretty giggly. The second one had me falling asleep at the kitchen counter watching over the biscotti in the oven while Mom and Dad got sucked into Walk the Line. I refuse to indulge their tv addiction, so ever the diligent student, I stayed in the kitchen trying to read Foreign Policy.

For the biscotti, we only had turbinado sugar, which definitely affected the color, and I accidentally added it to the flour instead of dissolving it in the eggs, so we had to adjust by adding water to the recipe and then some flour and then upon the second baking of the biscotti. Dad didn't set the timer assuming that I was paying attention-of course due to the interference with the margaritas, I was actually passed out, so the rack of biscotti on top came out a little overdone, but on the whole, they are all just fine. The most surprising thing about biscotti di Prato is that the secret ingredient is ground saffron-who knew?

Here's Dad dong damage control on my goof with the biscotti...