Treat of the Week: Yuletide Decadence

We had such a wonderful Christmas this year, and, as always, we had several days of fantastic feasts thanks to my mother.

On Christmas Eve, we began the celebration with a wonderful pasta with a sauce of cream, asiago cheese, Romano cheese, mozzarella, parmigiano, fontina, ricotta, Gorgonzola, tomato pureé, cream, basil, and scallions which is then baked to bubbly, gooey perfection.  We each had our own personalized antipasto to go with it.  And, we all ate far too much.

This was, of course, followed by tea and many, many of the glorious Christmas cookies and candy that my mother spent hours upon hours baking.

Typically, our Christmas tradition begins thusly--a large Italian feast starts of the festivities.  This is a nod to our Italian heritage.  In case you hadn't guessed, "Crisalli" is an Italian name.  Christmas Day,  however, we indulge in a traditional English feast--not because we're English, but because we are Anglophiles.  This will come as no surprise to regular readers of this site.

So, on Christmas Day, we stuffed ourselves with herbed prime rib and Yorkshire puddings (one of my favorite things in the world) garnished with a luxurious gravy and whipped cream infused with horseradish.  Gorgeous!  This is accompanied by roasted potatoes and petite, buttered Brussels Sprouts.

We ended the meal by popping open our Christmas crackers and donning our paper crowns.  We do this every year, and every year, Bertie runs from the dining room.  The sound of the crackers snapping frightens him.  And, so, once Bertie was soothed and convinced we weren't shooting one another, we sliced into this year's Christmas Cottage Cake.

This ginger spice pound cake,  in the form of a snow-covered cottage is painstakingly decorated by my mother who takes great care with it--down to ensuring that each of the four trees is topped by an icing star.

A wonderful time was had by all, and, frankly, I'm still full.