Comfort Christmas

For the past few years my husbands family has adopted a totally awesome unconventional Christmas tradition of no bought gifts (handmade things, stories, games, and other shared activities are all encouraged). Alex wanted to share his delicious brisket magic with everyone, and thus the food theme for Christmas dinner was born: comfort food!

Brisket BBQ sauce ingredients, fresh from World Spice.

Snacks by the light of the Christmas tree and Home Alone on TV

...crackers, cheeses, smoked salmon, hummus, grapes...

So there's a funny story I must include here that Alex's sister, Etalia told us about a phone conversation she had with her mom the day before Christmas. It went something like this:

Mom: Guess what I'm making?!
Etalia: What?
Mom: Crack!
Etalia: ....uuhhh, that's nice.....

Crack

Unbeknownst to us, crack is not just an illegal drug anymore, but rather a highly addictive chocolate confection!

Skagit River Valley Ranch Bacon is the best bacon in the world!

The grease was used for cooking, and we had bacon as both an appetizer and mixed into dinner.

Layered lemons, onions and shrimp...

A full kitchen!

 Etalia makes silly faces and gluten-free vegan pie dough

Jeremy's Alabama Shrimp Bake

Etalia & Sorin's Bacon Brussel Sprouts

Debbie's Salad

My Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Etalia's Gluten-Free Vegan Cornbread

Alex's Brisket

Sorin's Frosted Apple Pie (an old family recipe!)

Ceviche!

I made ceviche Thursday night. I bought some halibut from the enthusiastic fisherman with neon colored signs at the farmers market. It had never been frozen and was caught the day before - I love the farmers market! The farmers market also provided me with yellow and red tomatoes, ivory and green bell peppers, jalepenos, banana peppers, and red onions. Sadly, I had to go across the street to QFC for limes, an orange, and some cilantro. I set up a cutting board on our balcony (it's way too hot to be indoors) and sliced, diced, minced, or zested all the above ingredients, threw them in a bowl and tossed it all together with plenty of lime juice and salt. Then I put it in the fridge to "cook" for 24 hours. Both acid (lime juice) and salt are capable of denaturing proteins which does two things: it destroys most pathogens (why salt is used in preservation), and this is also what we know as cooking. Heat denatures proteins in essentially the same way acid or salt can. What a brilliant discovery for a hot day - cooking without heat!

The ceviche was delicious, however the 24 hours of marination made all the veggies lose their umph and the flavors melded together more so than I was hoping. Next time I think I'll marinate the fish overnight and then combine it with all the vegetables just before serving. This way it will taste even fresher and more refreshing!