Friday, December 25, 2009

Snowmageddon 2009

I wasn't supposed to be here. Here being at my house in the Midwest. No, I had a date with some fine Virginia home cooking. Turkey with oyster stuffing, the best mashed potatoes in the world, rich turkey giblet gravy, greens and cranberry sauce. A big date. Not to mention two days of full out grazing on cheese, bread, oyster stew and whatever else my mother and brother would come up with. Instead I got hit full in the face with Snowmageddon 2009. My family got 19 inches of snow in Virginia during the big East Coast storm that fouled up both air and ground traffic earlier in the week. I'm currently sitting at 5 inches of snow with more predicted for tonight and tomorrow. I wasn't going anywhere except the grocery store to stock up on meat and the dvd rental place for some vintage Ab Fab. Still...I was feeling a little......Home Alone-ish. Dang, I knew I forgot something at the store! Old Spice.
I decided to seek solace in cooking up a simple but special meal. Prime Rib Roast, Yorkshire Pudding and Kale with Cranberries.

While I couldn't be with family this Christmas, I am certainly there with them in spirit. I hope where ever you are this holiday season, you are safe, warm and happy. Thanks to all our readers and especially our regular commenters, you guys are the best.

17 comments:

Making Space said...

Hey, you blogged your kale! And the other stuff, which doesn't interest me as much. Is it wrong to be obsessed with kale?

Gorgeous meal. Merry Christmas! Stay warm.

Dani said...

Looks wonderful Shamy! I'm so glad we stumbled on to each others blogs this year. It's been great getting to know you! Much love and kisses to you and the puppas. xoxo

moi said...

I'm so sorry you didn't get back to see your family. The weather bitch slapped so many people this year. But your meal looks divine and everything always tastes better on Fiestaware :o).

Big Shamu said...

MS, kale is an awesome vegetable, your obsession with it is well deserved. Get crazy with it.

Dani,I'm glad too. Your beach chickens make me smile. Yours are the Real House Chickens of Florida while Ande's are the Real House Chickens of Georgia. Not to forget the rest of the Family or it's newest member, Ollie. Hope you guys had a great holiday.

Yes it looks like Mother Nature ran out of her Midol this month. Speaking of the Fiesta Ware, it's my day to day plates. I rarely use it in my food photography. Although I did chuckle when I saw that's what they used in the Christmas Story. It's a great American Pottery and I love it.

Dani said...

Hehehe. The Girlz need their own show.

I would love to have day to day plates like yours! They're so cheerful and bright.
I only have two vintage bowls and a little plate and I can't bring myself to use them. :(

LaDivaCucina said...

Damn, Sham, dat roast looks extra fine! (the cavewoman in me loves the little puddle of blood, er, juice in the middle of the meat! YUm!)

Never thought to put cranberries with kale but I'm certain it will be in one of my CSA boxes shortly! (Is that bacon in with the kale?!)

I'm so sorry you got stuck at home, I know how much you were looking forward to getting back there. I'm sure your family missed you. : ( I'm glad you were able to make the best of the situation.

Hey, those extra large photos look really good. Were you able to do that in the blogspot settings? I tried before.....

Happy leftovers!

Jenny said...

Wow, that's some serious meat. I'm sorry you're not home reveling in all of the seafood you had been dreaming about, but I'm also glad you're not stuck in a ditch with only a lighter and some chips from the 7-11.

Big Shamu said...

Dani, Fiesta is cheap (not vintage) and just about everybody sells it. I love the bright and cheerful colors.

Diva, that was my first time cooking a rib roast. I generally like my meat med. rare so perhaps I need a better meat thermometer. I didn't put up the kale and cranberry recipe because it was a hack of another recipe and I want to perfect it first. Once I've made it a couple of times and get it the way I want, then I'll do a whole post. And yes, of course, that's bacon. Where would I be without it. As for the larger photos, I switched to a different blogger layout, called Stretch I think. Then I upload my photos to a third party site like flickr and post the larger size photo link. Susan over at 29 Black Street also has a process so you might check out her nephew's biz to see if he can help. Let me just say I hate messing with blogger's formats. Hopefully they will take the hint and make it easier to post much larger pictures.

Yes, Boxer, I had planned to bring back some crabmeat in my journey east. Still very sad about that. Guess I'll have to make up for it some other way.

Dani said...

I love the new photo layout! It's like reading a Shamy food magazine.

Buzz Kill said...

I had a Sam Adams Cranberry Ale yesterday - does that count? It was bitter and I didn't like it much.

That meal looks mighty fine using those big, sense-around photos. We had 23" of snow on the ground here in Jersey. I'll have to post some pics for you. Yesterday and today we've been pounded with rain and temperatures in the upper 40s, so almost all of it is gone now. So it was sort of a white Christmas. Cooking in the face of disaster agrees with you.

Buzz Kill said...

All righty then, I put some pictures up at hthe Buzzkill so you can see what you missed.

Big Shamu said...

STILL snowing here in Hooterville. Trying to catch up to you 23 inches. Coming over.

Anna said...

ooooh...that roast has me salivating, even though I can't eat meat.

And kale with cranberries...yum!

Big Shamu said...

That's what I'm here for Camlin, vicariously eatin' vittles for others.

Making Space said...

OK, way late to the visual party here, but I noticed the changes to your sidebar (on my own!!) and am loving the larger pics too.

I will get kale and bacon tomorrow. Yes!

LaDivaCucina said...

Thanks for that Shamu.

Aunty Belle said...

Oh Drat!

Hate that ya missed yore family time, Shamu!

But boy Howdy, honey, that feast ya made is scrumptious!

Send us a pic of the snowman ya made!!

Merry Christmas Shamy!