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Happy New Year!

We ate leftovers from our tenderloin for most of the week, with one day of chicken wild rice soup from the freezer. My brother sent us a reuben kit from Zingerman's (in the past he's sent us just bread - sending coals to New Castle). We had gone out for lunch to Mom's favorite cafe before her service on December 15th (two years later) where Will and my brother had Reubens - really good ones. Will subtly made sure that my brother knew not to send us bread again. Sadly, Zingerman's is one of those companies that is living off it's reputation. Both this year and last, the bread was stale and we had put it in the freezer as soon as it arrived. The dill pickles are soft, not crisp and the dressing was so-so. The corned beef was OK, but then was tough in the sandwich. I had marked a Reuben casserole at some point, so Will used what was left to make it yesterday. It was pretty good, considering the ingredients, and we would probably make it again with better ones. So, we will have more of that tonight.

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I got an incredible deal on a tenderloin at Harris Teeter. I ordered Angus which is their middle tier of quality and they prepared and tied it for me. I paid $32 plus change for 4 pounds (7.99 per pound, usually 17.99). I slow roasted it a la Ina Garden and it was perfect! I made bérnaise sauce, mashed potatoes and green beans. We did not have dessert, but we really enjoyed our dinner and will continue to enjoy it. Tonight I will make a green salad to go with leftovers.

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I just used up the last of my sparkling sugar coating my third batch of Bourbon Balls - the cookie crumbs are also used up. The best by date on the sugar (from KAF) was 2015 - but it's sugar and no one has gotten sick from either of the last two batches - a little tipsy maybe.

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Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope everyone is staying warm and safe this Christmas!

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It's supposed to get down to the 20's here starting tonight. Since it's just Will and me, we're going to do charcuterie Christmas Eve and a small tenderloin with bernaise, mashed potatoes and green beans. We're picking up some stuff after work and I'm also going to get salad stuff for whenever. We're closed both Sunday and Monday.

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I made a batch of Cilantro Lime Chicken Taco filling in the slow cooker, so guess what we're having for the next few nights.

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I'm sorry for your loss, chocomouse. It's hard, especially around the holidays.
I wish your whole family peace.

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Mike, I think you need Mr. Peabody and Sherman for the Way Back Machine 😁

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Navlys, sounds familiar 🤣

Last night I made tortellini soup which I haven't made in several years. I'd forgotten how good it is and we have it for at least tonight and we may put one quart in the freezer.

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My apologies that I never wrote back about my remake of the Irish Chocolate Cake last Wednesday. It was a success. I used the melted butter/cocoa powder paste to grease the larger of my two bundt pans. I made sure my butter was soft and mixed everything through the eggs with the stand mixer. I then added the flour and liquid by hand and it was the right texture to go in the pan. I baked it for 50 minutes and it wasn't quite done so I baked for another 5. I didn't want to over bake again so I took it out. It un-molded beautifully. So after it cooled, I wrapped it and put it in the freezer. On Friday, I took both cakes (the rum cake and whiskey cake) out of the freezer and wrapped them for the bake sale - I borrowed large saran from work so you could see the cakes. One neighbor saw me taking them to the car for delivery to the sale with pretty ribbons and all and got excited about the sale. When I got to the gardens, everyone wanted to buy them then - we don't allow members to buy early. Turns out my neighbor asked a friend to get there at 9:00am on Saturday and she got my rum cake - I guess the members kept looking for it after that!

On Thursday, I made bourbon balls with crushed cookies (Chocolate Bourbon from a Bakery we buy from for the store - they had passed their best by date, so we had to damage them out - you can still eat them, you just can't sell them.), pecans, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, maple syrup and of course Bourbon for a neighborhood Christmas party. I rolled half in sparkling sugar and half in chocolate sprinkles. Everyone wanted the recipe and one neighbor asked if he could pay me to make them. I said I was sorry, no, but I'd happily give him the recipe!

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I made a sheet pan dinner with chicken sausage, sweet potato, broccoli and red onion with olive oil and Penzey's Now Curry for the seasoning. I had some cranberry sauce with it instead of chutney. As Will is out of town I have dinner for a couple of more nights.

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On Saturday, I baked a Caribbean Rum Cake which I unmolded on Sunday and wrapped and put in the freezer for the Bake Sale this Saturday. Also, on Sunday I made my Irish Whiskey cake which was probably the worst one I've ever made. I've never baked a dry one before. Anyway I cut it in to sections to share with friends who are good enough friends that they understood. I said it needed ice cream or whipped cream and one of them said Chocolate Sauce!

I will make it again on Tuesday. I will use my larger bundt pan and I will incorporate the flour and liquids by hand. I will go back to my usual way of prepping the pan with the paste made from melted butter and cocoa powder from America's Test Kitchen. I tried oiling it and sifting in cocoa powder, but I think the cocoa powder stayed on too thick and absorbed a lot of the moisture from the cake. The cake also stuck in one part. I'm determined to redeem myself.

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For dinner tonight, we had some of the Caesar Chicken and I roasted asparagus and cut up potatoes to go with.

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Will baked 3 loaves of sourdough this morning. He heads to LA on Thursday for 10 days. I will be baking over the weekend for the garden club bake sale the following weekend - I will freeze my cakes

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I'm making slow cooker Caesar Chicken which we'll have either in wraps or as salad. I brought home a salad on Wednesday that was left from our Take n' Bake Thanksgiving dinners - for Thanksgiving we take orders for Dinners or parts thereof that people can pick up on Wednesday for duh, Thanksgiving. The turkeys and prime rib are prepped and ready to go in the oven to be cooked. All the sides are fully cooked, desserts, rolls and corn muffins come from the Bake Shop and our Kitchen also makes charcuterie trays. We had 81 orders this year - some complete dinners, some a quart of gravy. The salad came with a pint of Caesar dressing, so we figured we would use it for something else.

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