HFM

Merry Christmas from Mars! 2013 was a warm & bright holiday here. We had a festive display of homemade decorations, and gifts sent from far away family members, guarded by a fierce hound: We had a lovely arrangement of holiday cards, also guarded by said hound (when she wasn't distracted by these new toys from Mama & Papa O'Brien): Or this new toy from my coworkers in London: Even Sergeant Pickles got into the act, decorating the Mars Animal Control office: On Christmas Day, our festivities began at 9am, with Brian bringing over his famous Christmas cherry rugelach: And his famous Christmas strata (basically a casserole of eggs, cheese, bread, & spinach) & bacon: It was horrible, as usual: Over breakfast, we started the day's movie marathon. This year, we chose a Christmas classic: After the first movie was over, we got to work in the kitchen making dinner. I made my infamous Atomic Ginger Beer, & put it in these heavy duty (& gorgeous) growlers Mama...

Guest post by Chef Adrienne: Sharing the joy of our feast - for which we were very thankful - somehow got away from us in the last few weeks. So much holiday joy to be had, so little time.  Very satisfying grid of cornbread I made for the pecan cornbread stuffing. Cranberry pear dressing. Pears are a nice cut against the super sour of the cranberries. Bread and butter: my breakfast and lunch. I was reminded of my Mammy (Pop's mom) taking a similar meal (without the tea) on days when she was over the stove cooking for a bunch of folks for a long time. "You've got a little something on your face. Right there....No right...a little lower." Susie whips up sweet potato pecan drop biscuits. These were delicious.  OKAY people! Turchetta. You do all the work of butchering up front (and the sticking the carcass in the freezer for stock making) and you end up with an awesome roll of turkey stuffing deliciousness. This is the turkey marinating in herbs and spices for 24 hours. T...