you know, its just christmas

Phew, we survived Christmas. I must apologize for forgetting to snap a few pictures of our Christmas day feast, as I know it would have incited jealousy amongst you. Prepare yourselves for the mouthwatering description at least:

birthday cake. from walmart. (good thing my mother shares a birthday with baby Jesus)

fritos. with cheese. (well some sort of orange liquid product, which was actually less than 2% cheese according to the label)

Let me explain. We spent this christmas holiday out at my Aunt Susie's new lake house in Livingston. The heavily wooded area offered great retreat from our daily life in the big city and the sloping lawn down to the lake provided plenty of wide open space for football, sprinting dogs (7 in total), and nice scenery when eyes looked up from a good book. Along comes Christmas day, with its wind and showers, to knock the power right out. The turkey in the oven did not stand a chance. In lieu of getting real creative with the raw bird (turkey sushi? turkey ceviche?), we opted to dig straight into mom's birthday cake, purchased locally (from the  booming Walmart), with a side of Fritos and "cheese" dip. Needless to say, we all chose not to overindulge this Christmas. My little brother texted me a picture of the hot pocket and Gardettos he picked up at a gas station on his way home with the caption "Christmas lunch."

I felt a bit unfazed by this minor blooper to be honest. I am fairly certain that while fun and oh-so-tasty, we just made up this whole stuff-your-face type tradition in the first place. I doubt Mary and Joseph even had a convenient store nearby to go pick up some Slim Jims that first Christmas.  Truth is, our family was together, content, and in celebration of many a blessing regardless of the circumstances. That is about all the Christmas I need. 

With that said, I certainly plan to overindulge this New Years. A dinner fit to feed 10, that only husBen and I + one other couple will be eating, promises a fine way to move into 2013. I hardly ever make New Year's Resolutions (and certainly never ones involving food restrictions), but for those looking to start the year off healthy, I thought I should offer up a recipe for my favorite salad...with pictures/recipes of much richer food to come shortly thereafter!

if you are going to eat a salad...

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 green onions, chopped

2 large avocados, diced

2/3 cu grapeseed oil

1/3 cu Riesling Vinegar (if I'm out I just use white wine vinegar)

1 T Dijon Mustard

2 t salt

1 t pepper

1/4 cu grated Parmesan cheese

2 T grated Romano cheese (if I'm out I just use extra Parmesan)

2 heads Romaine lettuce, torn and dried

Combine garlic, green onions and avocados in a large bowl and mix well.  Combine grape seed oil, vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, Parmesan and Romano in a small separate bowl and whisk well.  Add dressing to the green onion mixture and toss.  Place the Romaine on top (do not mix!).  Chill covered for 6-8 hours.  Toss just before serving. I usually garnish with homemade ciabatta croutons...because if you are going to eat a salad, you deserve those.