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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Joys of Christmas

Even with Christmas being spent in a city that I'm learning to call home, I really enjoyed my day. It had been planned that we would have to a family get together at mine & Jerry's place. A total of five people which would have been cramped quarters in our tiny apartment, but still possible. My sister and I had planned to make a traditional family dinner of spaghetti & meatballs that is generally associated with Christmas Eve, but that we moved to Christmas Day due to an exam of that my sister had.

For me, the day began with a trip to our morning market to buy tomatoes and green onions for dinner preparations. When I went back home, I began chopping 1/2 a yellow onion, 1 large green onion (Chinese scallion) and garlic into fine pieces. Once chopped, I tossed all the ingredients into my pot with 3 tablespoons of olive oil and began sautéing until the onions had become a little translucent. I added a cup of dry red wine from my collection of wine that I don't drink and only use for cooking. I then added a total of 6 large tomatoes that I had cut into large cubes as well as a 1-1/2 tablespoons of Italian Seasoning spice blend by Tone's. I allowed the mixture to simmer for the day, letting the tomatoes break down as they cooked. Oh my, the apartment smelled wonderful!

Later, I turned off the stove and headed to my local grocery market to acquire meat for making meatballs. I met my sister there and she helped me get 1 kilo of ground beef and 1/2 kilo of ground pork from the butcher. Back at my place, we mixed the meat with two eggs and 3/4 cup of crushed Pepperidge Farms stuffing. Then we formed it into meatballs and baked at 350˚ F for 20 minutes.

We had also made garlic bread rolls using the Buttery Sourdough Buns recipe from King Arthur, using olive oil, Italian Seasoning, and garlic powder instead of the butter and paprika topping recommended in their recipe.

What a wonderful feast!

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