Notes from the Weekend: Dec. 27

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Notes from the Weekend: Dec. 27

POSTED: Monday, December 27, 2010, 11:31 PM

Filed Under: Notes from the Weekend

Notes from the Weekend is a Monday feature that sees the members of Team Meal Ticket compiling all the food/drink highlights uncovered during prime eatin time, Friday to Sunday. Consider this a place for good deals, great dishes, wicked cocktails, recipe triumphs (and tragedies), bizarro conversations and more. Were eager to share our notes, but especially excited to read yours.We encourage you to leave notes from YOUR weekend in the comments. Have at it! (View past NFTW installments at citypaper.net/notes.)

Adam Erace: AE Drew Lazor: DL

Photo | Adam Erace

Every Christmas Eve, my big fat Italian family celebrates the Feast of the Seven Fishes, but this year marked the first my maternal grandmother relinquished her smelt-scented crown to my moms. I usually contribute one or two "weird" seafood dishes that no one over 50 will touch with 39-and-a-half-foot pole (coconut curry cockles, scallop ceviche), but this season ma dukes and I split the cooking: She'd handle traditional recipes, while I'd do contemporary/non-Italian options. (cont'd)

Photo | Adam Erace

Started prepping Thursday, then was back at it Friday morning following a monster haul from Samuel & Sons. Rocked out the following: Cape May salts roasted with Meyer lemon-fennel pollen butter and Wild Flour sourdough breadcrumbs; peanut-and-lime-crusted mahi tacos on fresh tortillas from Tortilleria y San Roman; foil-packed fluke over a garden of garlicky, herbs-de-provence-laced veg; and tuna crudo (sourced from Izumi) with shiso oil and blossoms, smoked salt, Szechuan pepper and kaffir lime. Fam loved the oysters and fluke, even the tacos. Crudo was a harder sell. All the more for me. AE

Photo | Drew Lazor

Girlie's family is super-Polish, and while they also eschew meat during their traditional Christmas Eve meal, there's no symbolic number of fish dishes like AE's clan. There is, however, one imperative: fresh pierogi (cheese, potato, mushroom and sauerkraut) made by Bobcia, and only Bobcia. We even managed to snag a few dozen for our freezer, no you can't have any, do you want to fight, I will kick your ass, you seriously can't have any. DL

Photo | Drew Lazor

Was greeted in my great home state of Maryland (GO RAVENS!!) Christmas morning with this glorious lactoarboreal construction: The Cheese Tree, which my sister Emily and a gaggle of parents and aunts put together from a recipe found in one of those checkout-aisle holiday entertaining magazines that cost $1.50. How quickly was The Cheese Tree demolished by Wheats Thins-wielding lumberjacks crackerjacks? You've seen the show Ax Men, yes? DL Christmas Day breakfast brought oyster frittatas, cinnamon buns and sundry cookies before I headed up to my fiance's parents' place in Bucks County, where I ate more cinnamon buns and a big square of their breakfast casserole, a 3-inch-thick dream (Ed: PAUSE) involving eggs, sausage, bacon, ham and cheese. Opened gifts I got a fly ceramic knife, waffle iron, Aerogarden and huge sack of Sour Patch Kids from zee fiance, then had a stupefyingly delicious prime rib dinner saddled with biscuits, green beans, baked potatoes and ravioli salad. Finished around 7:30, snacked on cookies and Kids till midnight. AE I also received a knife-related Christmas gift: Girlie said she purchased this book for me three days after I cut half my fingernail off chopping herbs. I'm healed now. Thx! DL

Photos | Drew Lazor

A family tradition from my father's (aka non-Filipino) side: A Christmas beef roast, along with Yorkshire puddings as swollen and puffy as one thousand pre-EpiPen bee sting victims. The Dandelion, which opens Friday, says they'll offer proper British Sunday roasts, which will undoubtedly feature Yorkshire pudding; very curious to see how theirs stacks up to my pop's. DL If you ever see an elegante bottle of the Italian IPA Birra del Borgo Re Ale Extra on a shelf, snag that! (That's what I did during a frantic Thursday visit to the Batali/Bastianich superstore Eataly in NYC.) With a polite hop bite and some very unexpected citrus notes, this is a very cool beer to drink under a blanket while a blizzard rages outside. DL Snow-bound Sunday, I reheated Christmas Eve remains for dinner, and used the shitload of extra shiso and citrus to make a sprightly sorbet base. Went to set up the ice cream maker to discover the bowl (which has to freeze at least 24 hours before use) had been removed from the freezer to make way for leftovers. Shook fist at sky, ate cookies instead. AE Sunday night: A relatively efficient trudge through the Snowprah Winfrey led us to two bar stools at a nearly-empty Barbuzzo, which was strange because we'd neverever seen it so quiet before. Got in some nice glasses of wine, a few beers, the bangin' veggie board, the infamous cheesy meatballs and plenty more before the surge hit and the Bootz became its typical hoppin' self once more. DL

Photo | Drew Lazor

Sometimes, when you're at a family party with a bunch of funny kids under the age of 10, one of them will produce a single Googly Eye from his pocket. And sometimes, he will ask you take photos of said Googly Eye affixed to dozens of household items within his under-10-year-old reach, including Christmas babka from Port Richmond. You will oblige, because nonchalantly placing a single Googly Eye on some babka is funny as shit for some reason. DL

juliana

Posted 2010-12-31 00:15:46

Drew, I was expecting another photo of a huge Filipino feast! But I got none either. For Christmas, Dad made Cornish hens according to some Nigella recipe, along with roasted sweet potatoes. The hens were simple, just some rosemary and salt and pepper inside (I was too skittish to stick my hands in the birds so I resorted to sprinkling the stuff in). 

And Adam -- how do you do it? I've been demolishing Sour Patch Kids and Haribo gummi bears for the past week, and today the dentist told me I eat too much candy. Two cavities! Waah. Weekly Sugar-Free Candy??

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-12-29 02:01:56

Got people good and drunk. I guess thats the Jews job on christmas eve?

I fully embrace this! Jewish friends, I hope you're reading...

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-12-29 01:59:08

What is a Biden family nut dish?!

Felicia D'Ambrosio

Posted 2010-12-28 10:10:16

Nosh Guy, don't be a spammer.  We are well aware that Tavern 17 sucks and Stella makes pizza.

Emmkay

Posted 2010-12-28 10:34:29

My mother can do many wonderful things, but cooking is not on that list. So I cook Christmas Eve and then, instead of gathering at Mom's house for brunch on Christmas Day, we head to the Valley Green Inn. It's a beautiful setting, there's a fire, and the crab cake eggs benedict with caviar is the perfect was to celebrate the holiday. Well, that and many, many mimosas.

Julie

Posted 2010-12-28 12:41:11

I've been a newly inducted Ravens fan for the past two years-born an Eagles fan but my boyfriend is from Baltimore and he's shown me how magical it is watching Ray Lewis stomp on opposing players. :)

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-12-28 02:25:00

Bro and I wished it was Han Dynasty the entire time.

I wish everywhere I go is Han Dynasty the entire time.

rory

Posted 2010-12-28 12:58:30

Christmas eve feast of seven fishes was at my girl's uncle's house, per tradition. Lobster mac n cheese, lobster sliders (Maine themed this year as we all had gone to Popham beach for separate vacations this summer), sushi, cavatelli n clams, a bobby flay recipe that was kinda like a deconstructed crab cake (weak, imo, but others loved it) with romesco, cod cakes (made up for the flay mistake), three types of smoked fish and something else. A family friend always makes chocolate martinis, but, honestly...chocolate martinis and fish? No thanks. So I made champagne cocktails + French 75s. Left the ginger infused simple at home, so remade it without the ginger. still yummy. Got people good and drunk. I guess that's the Jew's job on christmas eve?

Dessert included mini red velvet whoopie pies and other things. Who cares about other things: MINI RED VELVET WHOOPIE PIES FTW.

Christmas included more french 75s, filet in a port reduction, and lots of gifts. yum. I don't like the over-decorating and craziness around christmas, but I do love the food.

Julie

Posted 2010-12-28 12:04:00

Christmas Eve was spent partially at my dad and step mom's. She does the fish feast thing as well-most of it was gross seeing as she can't cook, but she always has the best spread of cheeses from Wegman's (including a fig balsamic jam that I'm going to seek out) and her mussels marinara weren't half bad. My dad's wine cellar makes the food better. Later that night at my mom's we had homemade corned beef dip, spinach/artichoke dip, and her baked penne with roasted red peppers and sage/fennel sausage. Excellent.

Christmas morning my mom made a crazy awesome French toast using that Italian fruitcake panettone, with a cinnamon syrup and fresh berries. Plus bacon, sausage, fried eggs, etc etc. Later at my grandmom's I ate my weight in fried shrimp and mac and cheese.

Sunday was spent at some college bar (Cavanaugh's?) drinking cheap pitchers so we could watch the Ravens game with friends. 

I am getting my ass to Han Dynasty, I can't stand reading about it anymore without experiencing the glory firsthand.

Drew Lazor

Posted 2010-12-28 12:06:03

Julie, you're a Ravens fan?! yesssss

Posted 2010-12-28 12:21:54

Christmas Breakfast....Super soft scrambled eggs with chives, runny local brie, sauteed oyster mushrooms enhanced with a wee bit of porcini powder, bacon, Honey muffins with Buddah's hand poached quince & a struesel top, warm wildflour baguette, Frisee & Gold Rush Apples Salad with Meyer Lemon/Grainy Mustard Vin, Pomelo dressed with buddah hand zest, "poinsetta" cocktails w/ pomegranate juice, quince poaching syrup & grapefruit bitters...so very nice...for complete change of pace Christmas Day dinner...turkey, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing & cranberry with family...late night Jewish Christmas..a midnight run over to David Mai Lai Wah for dumplings & Beef & Chinese Broccoli Chow Fun...cause it just ain't Christmas without Chines Food!

Posted 2010-12-27 21:22:23

Bro braved the Italian Market on Christmas Eve to make some out of this world sausage and peppers. Broccoli rabe-stuffed, delicious! Rounded out by Barefoot Contessa coffee cake (the woman knows how to make cake from a box), Moms made brunch on Xmas, with excellent results (no scrapple this year, which was both a blessing and curse to my tummy). Then had the traditional Jewmas Christmas dinner of Chinese food courtesy of Shangri-La. Good enough, but Bro and I wished it was Han Dynasty the entire time.

danya

Posted 2010-12-27 22:58:22

I am now super curious about Alex & Aki's (microwaved!) One-Minute Yorkshire Pudding. I don't think I could be the judge, because I've never had any rendition (New York Jews don't cook such things, even for our Christmas Eve parties), but I've never known them to produce something not delicious. 

(No worries about my holiday well-eating, though, I have a fantastic goy mother-in-law who cooked up the primest turkey I've ever laid eyes on for a superb Christmas dinner.)

Meal Ticket’s 2010 in Pictures: December :: Meal Ticket :: Food Blog :: Philadelphia City Paper

Posted 2011-01-02 20:05:04

[...] - Notes from the Weekend: Dec. 27 [27dec10] [...]

Marie DiFeliciantonio

Posted 2010-12-29 15:48:21

Unluckily for me, I did not feast on seven fishes Christmas Eve. To make up for it I devoured a good portion of the only seafood dish around: olive oil-brushed shrimp. With my gf's family, it's not so much about what we're eating but what we're drinking. So we slammed through roughly 10 bottles of homemade wine and Limoncello. Ate a crapload of pizzelles, too.

Saturday, we zigzagged through Philly and Jersey hugging family, trading gifts, drinking wine, eating Grandmom's pecan balls (yup). I made the apps (pancetta/sausage/spinach/gruyere stuffed mushrooms, beef crostini with brie and a cherry/balsamic glaze, and arancini with a tomato/basil sauce) for our last stop but we arrived late and missed out. Thank goodness I ate my weight while cooking and "taste testing" all day Friday.

Laid on my butt all day Sunday, drinking more, because that was necessary. Ordered from Elena Wu in Voorhees and tried the sashimi roll which is basically fish rolled with fish rolled with more fish topped with spicy sauce and tempura crunch. Dug it.

the nosh guy

Posted 2010-12-27 18:41:38

Yo Check this out.  I ate at Tavern 17 on December 25th.  It was the worst Christmas Dinner ever.  Check it out.  http://wp.me/pSkvM-xJ

Carolyn

Posted 2010-12-27 18:55:37

We had family and friends over for an easy meal on Christmas Eve, which consisted of a simple Medi salad, pasta with incredible homemade lamb bolognese, and crusty bread. For dessert, Pioneer Woman's pumpkin cream pie, gingerbread cookies and all manner of stocking chocolate. We also partook in our homemade holidays beers: Figgy Pudding and Chocolate Thunder, named after Darryl Dawkins. 

Christmas day we rolled down to Maryland for a completely nontraditional dinner: Mexican Navidad Fiesta! There was sangria, a taco bar, corn pudding, quinoa/black bean salad, flan and margarita cake. Weird/yum!

Sunday morning we ventured out to the Passyunk Acme for the bare essentials: cheese, butter, yeast (to make bread), and Oreos. Forgot to buy any vegetables.

Sunday evening, our friends, whose family canceled on them last-minute, invited us over to eat the fancy meal they'd prepared, and it was really stellar. Started off with wine, olives, cheese, oranges and a Biden-family nut dish; dinner was roast chicken, green beans, potatoes, homemade cranberry sauce and salad, with New American aka Obama dressing. A holiday meal of presidential proportions!

the nosh guy

Posted 2010-12-27 19:00:56

I also ate pizza at Stella, this shit was bangin'  You gotta check out this post.  http://wp.me/pSkvM-xR

Tweets that mention It's a very festive NOTES FROM THE WEEKEND! Share notes on your holiday grubbing with and -- Topsy.com

Posted 2010-12-27 19:43:55

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Philly City Paper, Lisa Chan-Simms and others. Lisa Chan-Simms said: RP's Cooking Update Notes from the Weekend: Dec. 27 http://bit.ly/fAiHLq #cooking #recipes [...]

Posted by Drew Lazor @ 11:31 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews here — those are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to caroline@citypaper.net.

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