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| Trumpeter Swans |
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| 7:45 |
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| 8:21 |
It's an overcast morning, a few icefloes left on the lake, as the wind has picked up and bare spots are beginning to show in the snow. It's 36º but snow is forecast later in the day as the weather gods cannot seem to make up their minds. I just noticed a stream of at least a hundred trumpeter swans floating by our home, about 100 yards offshore, an amazing sight.
Yesterday was busy but fun as we finally celebrated Christmas with a dinner with our only friends (thanks to Covid19), Linda and Ron. Evie had started prepping on Saturday but there is always lots to do for a special dinner. We never have been happy with tablecloths so we went up into the attic and pulled out a kalim, a flat weave hanging, from Turkey and it fit our table perfectly and looks festive and Turkish. We got out the good china and Evie polished the sterling silver. We have not used either in years so it was fun to get them out and use them. After breakfast, we worked on getting the table set, the living room dusted and vacuumed. One wonders if we did not have company would this ever get done. While Evie then put together our dessert, a brandy alexander pie, our favorite go-to dessert when we lived in Istanbul. I went out and cross country skied for forty-five minutes through our neighborhood and the campground. It was surprisingly warm and I worked up quite a sweat.
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| Spectacular Morning For Cross Country Skiing |
I was home by noon and Evie had our big breakfast ready, bacon and eggs and toast and we watched CBS Sunday Morning. While Evie continued to pots around the kitchen, I got back to my book and took a brief nap. We were having prime rib for dinner and decided to try a new method called reverse searing. So, around 1:40, after seasoning the prime rib, Evie put it in a low oven, 225º and let it roast until it reached an internal temperature of 120º. She then tented it with tin foil and let it sit until a half hour before dinner. when I would take over. While the prime rib was roasting, I watched some football and Evie made our salad, one of my Mom's favorite, a jello salad with strawberries on a pretzel crust. Once that was done, Evie felt ready to relax with everything under control.
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| Christmas Dinner |
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| Turkish Kalim |
We relaxed until 4:30 when our friends arrived. I made whiskey sours and we were able to enjoy the last remnants of light before darkness hid the lake and sky. For appetizers, we had an Asian shrimp cocktail, basically shrimp with mayonnaise, red onions, and lemon juice, a recipe from my sister, Linda. Once we finished our whiskey sours, we had a glass or two of Prosecco then I went outside and finished off the prime rib by searing it in a 600º Weber Grill. I forgot to mention that Evie had also made popovers and my mother's sweet-sour green beans with bacon. Once the meat was browned, I brought it in and carved it and then we plated our dinners, opened a bottle of wine, and had a gourmet meal, one we have been waiting to enjoy for three days. Everything was great. Even the jello and pretzel salad and sweet-sour green beans were hits.
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| Buffleheads |
We ended the night with our dessert, a brandy alexander pie topped with whipped cream, sinful but delicious. By 9:00. we were happy and stuffed and tired, so we said our goodbyes after taking a selfie, and we will see them again on New Year's Eve at their house. We then worked on cleaning up the kitchen and putting away all the leftovers before watching some TV before going up to bed.
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