Give yourself a good meal

One of my favorite Christmas mornings was spent 4000 miles from family. We were in Coventry, I was in my second year cooking professionally, so the pace--16 hours, 7 days a week, ALWAYS thisclose to behind, unless you were irredeemably in the weeds--didn’t shock me. 

By Christmas morning, all I wanted was a good night’s sleep that didn’t end with the urgent need to be elsewhere, working. 

I spent the whole day in pajamas. We got a pheasant from the butcher that offered any flesh from bovine to zebra (Terry, whose business card read “Pleased to meet you with meat to please you”). I think I made butternut squash soup. Every few hours, I’d go stir something, or mess around in the oven. We watched movies and luxuriated in unstructured time spent together. It was magical, like a reward for my hard work.

That’s not where we are now. Most people are fed up with loose, unstructured time. A cave in a dark country is shelter when the surrounding days are bustling and you need a rest. But we still need comfort and certainty, and that’s what I aimed for with the holiday menu. I’ve got a few nice meals, some snacks, and a couple of gifts. 

Order by 8 pm Friday the 18th for delivery or pickup on 12/23. We've got chicken liver pâté available for this Thursday or the 23rd.