Holiday Cooking

The Prime Rib roast I served for Christmas Eve dinner that got the hubby bragging and deciding that he is not going to the House of Prime Rib (our favorite steak house) anymore.

The one thing I look forward to during the holiday season is the food.  The holidays give me an excuse to have lots of food.  It gives me a good reason to cook--to cook for my family and to cook for others.  We also love to entertain.  We love having people around.

The hub recently told me that I've become more and more efficient when it comes to hosting dinners or parties.  In the past, I used to over-prepare!  I'd cook so much food that I'd find myself cooking an entire day and still end up serving dinner late (because I won't finish on time).  The food would be fine but not great!  I would not enjoy dinner because I'd keep worrying about what I forgot or messed up.  In the end, I'd be begging my guests to bring food home and yet we'd still have a refrigerator full of leftovers enough to feed us for an entire week!  I'd retire for the day feeling totally exhausted!  Throwing parties and hosting dinners would stress me out.

These past experiences have taught me one thing--our guests don't really care how much variety of food I make.  What they care most about [apart from the company and the conversations] is that they're filled and that the food is good.

So I've since changed how I prepare dinners.  I'd have a couple of appetizers--ones that are either so easy and quick to prepare or something ready-made that just needs to be warmed in the oven.  Depending on who my guests are I'd either have soup or salad or I'd skip both.  I'd cook two main dishes and two quick-and-easy side dishes--one carbs (rice, pasta, potatoes) and one veggies.  I'd either buy or make dessert.

I decided to serve beef and seafood for Christmas because we had pork and bird for Thanksgiving.  This Cioppino was slightly overcooked but it didn't fail to impress.  One of my guests said this was better than any Cioppino he's had from Monterey or the Fisherman's Wharf.  He's obviously never been to the Sardines Factory in Monterey because they have, by far, the best Cioppino in town (my opinion)!  

This really worked so well!  This past holiday, I didn't start cooking until 4 or 5 in the afternoon (except for Thanksgiving when I had to put the turkey in the oven at noon).  But since most of my main dishes were either broiled or roasted in the oven, I spent most of my cooking time making the side dishes and setting the dinner table.  I even had plenty of time Facebooking and playing with Lucas in between cookings.  Entertaining has suddenly become so much fun and totally stress-free!  The best thing about it is that I got to spend quality time with the guests and enjoy the conversations as well as the food!  And because I wasn't rushing and stressing out, the food also turned out better!

Oh, this just makes me love cooking more!  And I look forward to making more dinners and sharing more meals with the people I love!

A plateful of goodness!  I've always wanted to enjoy my own cooking.  I think I've just learned how to do that.