Ex-Goddess and I really did it up for the Holidays. Every year that I can remember we hosted a Christmastime dinner for friends and/or family, usually no more than twelve guests and sometimes we limited it to eight. I always made an invitation, full-color and special. We had a bungalow of about 1,000 square feet, so we had to move furniture in the dining-living room area in order to accommodate our feast.

I would sometimes work the night before and all day prior to the dinner in the cramped, busy kitchen. She did not and could not cook, and when I was doing my thing out there I forbade her presence. I had a large antique oven that could cook several large casseroles or pans at the same time. The rangetop was gas and had six burners. My back always hurt from the work.

I saved some of the menus. Here is the one from 1993:



Some years a repeated a particularly favorite dish. You can see that in the following menu that I saved from 1999.



Two-thousand was our next-to-last Christmas together. I can't find the one from 2001, and I believe we may have skipped it because I recall my sister, Kathleen, held a giant family dinner that year. Here is the menu I made for the 2000 dinner.



I had a few specialty dishes that people asked for. One is my Cold Pea Salad, which I would like a bowl of right now. It is easy to make and keeps in the refrigerator for days. You serve it cold. It is too literally die for, and if I ate some when my gallbladder is hurting, I would die from it. It is the BEST.



I hope you can read this old file. If not, email me and I will send you a better copy.

Another thing I always made was Yorkshire Pudding - when I roasted a rib. Prime Rib has always been my Christmas dinner main course, although I have wandered away with items such as poultry dishes (Squab, Turkey, etc.) and Beef Wellington. You make Yorkshire Pudding with the dripping in the bottom of the roasting pan. Here is the recipe...



I live by myself now and no longer do the big meals. I miss it, but I don't miss the effort they take. I have only made a few big deal dinners since 2002 and they were for maybe two or three guests at most.

I thought you might enjoy seeing these.