Our Christmas
This year we had a nice Christmas holiday with my family down in Ocala, FL. After hosting our own festivities to celebrate the Winter Solstice, we were pretty cooked out, so it was nice to go down to mom’ s and be her sous chef for the holidays.
On Christmas Eve we enjoyed dinner al fresco. Keeping with the season we made pork chops with a pomegranate-balsamic vinegar glaze, baked sweet potatoes with pecan-cinnamon butter and brussel sprouts with bacon, mustard and vinegar.
For dessert was orange cookies and cuccidata (fig cookies) washed down with rummy egg nog.
A plate of cookies, clementines and eggnog were also left out for Santa ….:)
The next day Christmas day, we started the day with cranberry scones and mimosas. Later we had a Floridian Christmas at my cousin Melanie’s house. We had our feast outdoors, and it was so hot that her husband actually had to put up sheets to block the sun and rig up some fans. Unfortunately the dish I decided to contribute to our holiday pot-luck was Rømmegrøt, a Norwegian sour cream porridge that is a holiday favorite this time of year. it is traditionally served in one of these beautiful carved wooden bowls.
(I borrowed the photo from this website)
It is traditionally served sprinkled with cinnamon sugar, and butterfat as an evening meal with dried meat and flat bread. Rømmegrøt is certainly hearty fare and was a little too rich for the Florida heat. But since living in Norway I have come to look forward to this special treat every year. I have tried several different recipes in the past, but I used one from The Son’s of Norway this year and I think it was one of the best ones yet.
On the buffet there was ham, turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, roasted potatoes, Greek style green beans (my mom’s contribution), scalloped potatoes, pasta salad, soups as well as other things I am probably forgetting. Dessert was awesome as well – chocolate fondue, my cousin Mel’s homemade pumpkin cheesecake with a maple glaze and pecans. There was also cookies and cupcakes. I am sorry I didn’t take many pictures. I guess we were too busy eating and talking! It certainly was a feast and fun to spend a casual day with family.
I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday with your family! We are still visiting with my mom. See you all in the New Year! 🙂
joan nova - December 28, 2008 at 10:21 pm
It was hot…wasn’t it? Down my way in So FL, it was also raining and we had to abort our plan to use a turkey fryer. When you get a chance, come on over to FOODalogue and read Our Christmas Story about traditions and food. It also includes how we resolved the turkey dilemma. I’m interested in your expertise in Norwegian cuisine because I’m announcing a new event early January which will take us on a culinary trip around the world. First stop: Norway! I hope you’ll participate.
Navita - December 28, 2008 at 10:35 pm
thanks Jenn…i still can’t upload bigger pics on the forum. 🙂
kat - December 28, 2008 at 11:45 pm
Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas. Being here in below zero weather though I can’t imagine eating outside!
Lori Lynn - December 29, 2008 at 12:30 am
Sounds like a delightful time with family and a great menu. Never heard of rommegrot, sounds interesting – I have to research more, and the serving bowl is wonderful.
Happy New Year to you and your family!
Lori Lynn
Laurie - December 29, 2008 at 12:37 am
So glad you had such a wonderful Christmas. I can not imagine it being hot for this holiday. It was a balmy 40 (I’m not being sarcastic) here on Cape Cod.
Your Solstice party looked great too. I love that you celebrate teh seasons like that!
Enjoy your time with family. See you in the New Year!
Peter G - December 29, 2008 at 1:50 am
Glad I wasn’t the only one experiencing a warm xmas! That Norwegian porridge sounds divine! Happy 2009 Jenn!
Dharm - December 29, 2008 at 7:40 am
Sounds like a fantastic meal at Mom’s! All the food looks and sound delish. A Blessed Christmas to you and Roberto and the rest of the family!
Bellini Valli - December 29, 2008 at 10:55 am
So glad you had a fantastic holiday Jenn. It has been a pleasure to get to know you over the past year. I look forward to getting to know you better and sharing many tasty dishes along the way in 2009.
Arlene - December 29, 2008 at 12:42 pm
Mmmm, cuccidati are one of my favorite Italian cookies. Sounds like you had a great holiday.
Jen of a2eatwrite - December 29, 2008 at 1:09 pm
It sounds like a lovely Christmas! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Sabrina&Luca - December 29, 2008 at 8:30 pm
You had a fantastic Christmas time, don’t you?
Thanks for showing us this great menu, it’s simply the best one we have ever seen!
Happy New year to you and to your family
Sabrina&Luca
elly - December 29, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Merry Christmas, Jenn! As always, the food looks great. I am especially eyeing those fig cookies because I love fig so much!
Marie - December 30, 2008 at 12:35 am
Happy New Year Jenn, All your food looks great! I can see you had a wonderful X-Mas.
xox, Marie
Sue - December 30, 2008 at 2:07 am
Your holiday sounds like it was great. THAT is the cutest picture of the kitty! If it weren’t so late, I’d rush out and get a pomegranate to strew over something. That looks so good.
Taste Memory Girl - December 30, 2008 at 11:05 am
Sounds + looks like a wonderful family gathering Jenn! Your orange & fig cookies sound perfect for the occassion…..thanks for all u do btw.
Wishing you, Roberto + yours a fantastic New Year 😉
Food Hunter - December 30, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Sounds like a great dinner. Love the kitty.
Lys - December 30, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Sounds like a wonderful holiday!!!
Helen - December 30, 2008 at 1:59 pm
It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas Jenn – a very happy Christmas to you! I’m loving the sound of that Norwegian porridge too – I’ve never heard of it.
lo - December 30, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Glad to hear that you had such a good Christmas, Jenn — that carved wooden bown is GORGEOUS. Inspired me to do some research on the porridge myself!
Melissa - December 30, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Glad to hear you had a nice Christmas, and you taught me something new with the Rømmegrøtm, but ummm, you kind of lost me after the first photo.
HEEEEE. Kitty!! I just want to rub my face into his/her head.
Rico - December 30, 2008 at 7:08 pm
warming up for xmas marvellous, big pot of porridge sounds great to me, I have porridge all the time sometimes with honey other times with fig paste…Saw you on foodbuzz…
Snow White - January 1, 2009 at 7:43 pm
Awesome kitty cat!! This post made me horribly hungry particularly since we had no kitchen this year to cook in. Christmas dinner was microwaved frozen food…yuck. We’ll make up for it though as soon as the kitchen gets installed in a week or so.
Happy New Year 🙂