Aww, Theresa, that's nice to say.

Dinner is over except pie, mmm, pie! It went splendidly. Roast pork w/ apricot glaze. Asparagus w/ lemon butter. Brussels sprouts w/ bacon. There were also supposed to be my grandmother's Portuguese sweet rolls, but my yeast is apparently dead. So it ended up being a pretty clean meal. Other than the two pieces of pie, of course. Did I mention, mmm, pie?

Waiting on the folks' call: my sister & fam are at my mom & dad's place. And then we're going to change clothes and take a holiday photo as if we haven't been slounging around in inside pants all day. But hey, when can you slounge around all day in inside pants if not Christmas Day?

And then pie!

It's been a pretty good day.

I hosted mom and dad today. cooked the full meal (as it was, not so much actually), make snacky stuff, and never changed out of my pjs.

For anyone that has Aldis, I highly recommend the pre marinated turkey breast thingies for an easy no-fuss meal. It was not sage turkey, which to me is the holiday flavor, but it was good and mac wanted seconds, so WIN.

The rest of lunch was: 2 kinds of mashed potatoes, package crescent rolls, mixed green salad, cranberry salad.

Homemade cinnamon rolls (2 batches), then eggs and sausage for breakfast.

snacks were sausage dip - store bought cheeses and hummus. spiced fruit drink, hot chocolate, coffee.

it wasn't so much a lot to cook, but there were dishes to wash after each new thing was finished.

I just want to eat caramels ALL DAY LONG. And pretty much did, today. Maybe will again tomorrow. Then it has to stop.

My parents' final Christmas gift to me was watching two episodes of Top Chef on demand just now. Tomorrow for my birthday, they may actually get me a cable box, and then all will be right with the world.

God bless us, every one!

Stock is made, as usual I ended up with more than I expected. Putting in 6 cups of water and getting back a half-gallon of stock just doesn't seem right.

Lori unexpectedly joined us for dinner. We had a standing prime rib roast that was delicious (and we bought for less than $20 so well worth it), mashed potatoes, green beans the way I like em (blanched mostly), and sauteed mushrooms. For dessert we ate ice cream with homemade butterscotch syrup. Nothing beats homemade butterscotch.

It's been an excellent food day -- dutch baby, mac and cheese with rotissserie chicken, and then dinner.

We had rib bones. Would it have been worth making stock?

I am out of TV until Friday. Not to worry, there is plenty on the DVR, but it's weird to go so long without recording anything new.

Omigod yes. Roasted rib bones make fantabulous stock, IME.

I am intrigued by the homemade butterscotch. Someday when I am eating sugar again I will have to try that. Fancy banana splits are one of those things I get hankerings to make and butterscotch syrup would be crucial, I suspect.

I am intrigued by the homemade butterscotch.

I made some when I made homemade Butter Beer a couple xmases past. Not that tricky really but very delicious.

-t, it's easy. Heat 1.5 cups of brown sugar, 1/4 c. honey/corn syrup/ maple syrup (corn will have the least taste impact making your butterscotch more butterscotchy), 1/4 water and 8 ounces of butter over medium low heat until butter melts. Put in thermometer and raise heat medium, bringing the syrup to 230-245 degrees (7ish minutes). Crystallization is fine so stir.

Then add 1/4 cup whisky (it will bubble and hiss, so don't be startled) and a 1/2 cup heavy cream, a splash of vanilla and some salt. Keep it on medium high for about 5 minutes.

Take it off the heat and stir occasionally. Let it cool for 10 minutes then eat it on all the things.

If you want, you can refrigerate it for up to 2 months, just reheat it via microwave or in a hot water bath.