Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas break, even those that do not necessarily celebrate Christmas!  I celebrated with my mom and brother in the North shore, which made my travels basically non-existent - 25 minutes. 

Doing Christmas with my mom, she basically indulges our every whim, especially when it comes to food.  On Christmas Eve she made individual beef wellingtons, scalloped potatoes and green beans with some mushrooms.  The beef wellington actually was ordered from Williams Sonoma.

Picture from the website...

While my mom is fully capable of making this from scratch, she basically does not want to do the mushroom duxelles that surrounds the beef within the pastry as this can take some time to make.  These, however, are really easy.  They come frozen and all you have to do is put them on a cookie sheet, coat with an egg/water mixture and bake until they are about 135 degrees.  Really, they do turn out just like the picture - as does everything from Williams Sonoma. 

Christmas for us is a pretty relaxed day.  We wake up late and have some coffee.  First we open our stockings and a few Santa presents, then we have a little breakfast and finally we move onto the presents under the tree - my favorite part.  While I love to receive gifts, I love watching people open the gifts I thought of.  My brother is particularly tricky as he can be critical of the gifts he receives.  Luckily, I batted 1.000 this year.  One of his favorites was Dive Bar T-shirt of the month club, which I thought could have gone either way.  Basically, once a month for the next 6 months, he will get a T-shirt from a different dive bar from anywhere across the US. 

The big gift I got my mom was a new bracelet that matches the necklace I got her last year, both from Ippolita.  Actually, the sales associate turned me onto the brand last year and it was a great recommendation.  This maker is similar in style to David Yurman, but a bit cheaper.  However, since last Christmas, this brand has exploded - definitely more popular and more expensive, but still beautiful.

Santa was very good to my this year.  I got a bunch of great gifts, including a couple that will make my blog even better!  First I got a new camera, the new S95 Canon PowerShot and I also got a Flip Video, both of which can be loads of fun!

After opening all the presents, we relaxed and watched a lot of basketball and other non-Christmas things.  My mom then cooked another great meal: rack of lamb with potatoes and asparagus with hollandaise sauce.  The lamb was coated in a Dijon mustard and cranberries.  The lamb was my request - something I love, but have not had the guts to make myself.

Picture complements of my brother

Overall, great Christmas!!