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About this blog…
“This blog is like a fusion of the Baroque ‘salon’ with its well-tuned harpsichord around which polite society gathered for entertainment and edification and, on the other hand, a Wild West “saloon” with its out-of-tune piano and swinging doors, where everyone has a gun and something to say. Nevertheless, we try to point our discussions back to what it is to be Catholic in this increasingly difficult age, to love God, and how to get to heaven.” – Fr. Z
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YOUR RECENT COMMENTS
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- on Daily Rome Shot 1263 – so it begins: “Thank you, Father, for sharing. You are in my prayers as is your mother. What an interesting photo. Everything about…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1263 – so it begins: “I’m so sorry you’re having so many issues Fr. Z. Sometimes, you just know where it’s coming from. Please Jesus,…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1263 – so it begins: ““This morning I find that my refrigerator ice maker is not working and that it is not cooling below 40°F.”…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1263 – so it begins: “In our prayers Also at Crisis is a piece by Sheryl Collmer “Bishops Burning Bridges” https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/bishops-burning-bridges Pretty much sums it…”
- on LENTCAzT 2025 – 02: Thursday after Ash Wednesday – On The Demonic: “Fr. Z., I’m so sorry you have these trials. I pray for you every day and will continue. I will…”
- on POLL: Your Ash Wednesday 2025 Sermon notes and ASHES – Did you get your #ASHTAG?: “Nearly 60 people at 7:30 am NO, average Saturday+Sunday total 150, another Mass at 10:00. No sermon, people need to…”
- on POLL: Your Ash Wednesday 2025 Sermon notes and ASHES – Did you get your #ASHTAG?: “I did go to Mass and received ashes, although I’m indifferent about the ashes. Also, I never understood why (in…”
- on POLL: Your Ash Wednesday 2025 Sermon notes and ASHES – Did you get your #ASHTAG?: “I was unable to get to Mass and receive ashes yesterday due to reasons beyond my control. In the past,…”
- on Daily Rome Shot 1263 – so it begins: “[NB: I’ll hold comments with solutions ’till the next day so there won’t be “spoilers” for others.] Chess Tour link…”
- on LENTCAzT 2025 – 02: Thursday after Ash Wednesday – On The Demonic: “I taught college for over 35 years and all my lectures were from 50 to 65 minutes. It occurs to…”
- on POLL: Your Ash Wednesday 2025 Sermon notes and ASHES – Did you get your #ASHTAG?: “Attended the 12 noon TLM at our FSSP parish. Church was about half full but then there was also an…”
- on LENTCAzT 2025 – 02: Thursday after Ash Wednesday – On The Demonic: “I wondered why you said you’d need several podcasts. And then I listened to the podcast.”
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English battered cod – with chips (i.e. French Fries, but not thinly cut) – the best meal in creation!!
Wensleydale cheese? I’d rather have White Cheshire – bit more savoury & salty.
Tripple Chocolate Cake? This is perhaps a triple chocolate cake with a built-in tipple?
Father, that’s a menu even Jack Aubrey could endorse. I’m curious… what are the wine pairings?
“Too much is always enough.”
Very Nice.
We had grilled lamb, roasted vegetables, twice-baked potatoes with truffle oil, eggplant cassorole, served with a 2005 Silver Oak Cabernet, and for dessert, my daughter’s triple-layer chocolate cake.
God is good; the Lord is near.
May all that are without find shelter, food, companionship, faith, and love.
May the Child Jesus console all families touched by the Newtown tragedy.
I can no longer look at a slice of Wensleydale cheese without breaking out in laughter.
It’s rare I see a menu like this that almost everything is something I would love. Sounded like a lovely meal, thanks be to God.
Well, my son and I did a traditional English Christmas dinner and I was overruled by the guest, who wanted turkey rather than goose for sentimental reasons. I bowed to his tradition rather than mine, which was always goose or pheasant. However, all went well. Son and I started the night before, of course…..
Glazed carrots in honey
Leeks fried in butter
Brussels sprouts
Roast potatoes
Cranberry and orange mold
Sausage, veggie and fruit stuffing (all gone-no leftovers on that one)
Turkey
Desert Chocolate Christmas Log
Champaign and Stollen brought my guest!
I am supposed to be making soup and bubble and squeak this morning, but I am really tired.
We had:
Radicchio, goat cheese, and toasted-pecan salad with vinaigrette
Prime rib au jus
Yorkshire pudding
Braised endives
Persimmon pudding with vanilla ice cream
Chartreuse
Apparently all armies, spiritual included, travel on their stomachs.
What is that first item on the list? With the fancy writing it is hard to read.
As I was tasked with kitchen duty, our menu was lighter:
Baked sugar-cured ham butt (with cloves)
Roasted sweet potatoes (with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and Fluff)
Fresh green beans with butter and salt
Cranberry jelly
Dessert was:
new York style cheesecake with cherry preserves
Pecan Pie with fresh whipped heavy cream
Assorted cheese tray (Stilton, Extra Sharp White Cheddar, Sap Sago [on toast bits], mild cheddar, Colby, Brie) along with Carr’s Water Biscuits and other savory biscuits.
Wensleydale cheese? Nice Cistercian connection there! – Cracking good cheese, Gromit!
Have a very Happy Christmas!
Wonderful menu for a most beautiful feast. ^^ We made tamales…four different types of chiles were used to make the chile sauce from scratch. I hail from the West Coast of the U.S. with strong family ties to the north of Mexico. Also, we had a big pot of fresh made chicken soup, roasted green chiles, fresh red salsa, beans, salad, fresh.
@Charlotte Allen…every year I make persimmon cookies and persimmon bread. One year I made persimmon bread pudding with a Brandy creme sauce…a Nancy Reagan recipe.
To everyone who graces this wonderful blog…the merriest of Christmases as the little Lord Jesus blesses each and every one of you. I pray for all to have a wonderful and blessed New Year beginning with Father Z and his wonderful wit, humor and solid faithfulness to all things Catholic!
@Stumbler: Persimmons are wonderful, aren’t they? The Cuisinart is the persimmon’s best friend. You used to have to push the pulp through a strainer–but no more!
My husband and I are from Southern California, so we love tamales. I used to make them fairly often, but I’ve gotten out of practice. Must start again, although locating the corn husks is tricky here in DC.
My favorite meal on this earth, and the easiest to cook, are King Crab Legs, boiled, with real butter on the side. But they are getting hard to find!
I think those darned Russians have over-harvested them!
You’ll never regret this recipe:
Taverna Opa’s Steamed King Crab Legs
Recipe and photo from the Taverna Opa Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL.
Recipe Type: Crab, Seafood, Seafood Appetizers
Yields: 4 servings
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons minced garlic
3 cups (24 ounces) fish stock*
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
2 1/2 pounds cooked and chilled King Crab legs and claws, cracked and legs cut in half crosswise
1/2 cup 80-proof vodka, room temperature
* The restaurant chef make his own fish stock for heating the claws, but for the home cook, using the shelf-stable boxed variety from the supermarket is much easier and works fine.
Directions:
Melt butter in a large skillet with cover over medium heat. Add garlic and cook 1 1/2 minutes, until aromatic; do not let it burn. Add stock, salt, pepper and crab legs. Cover and simmer 6 minutes.
This may have to be done in batches if they don’t all fit into the pan at one time. If done in batches, remove the heated legs from the pan and keep them warm until all are heated through. If done in batches, repeat until all are heated.
When the last batch of crab legs are heated in the pan, remove cover, and reduce heat to medium high. Add the vodka around the side of the pan and let the vodka warm. Ignite it. Once the flame subsides, serve crab legs with pan juices over them.
We struck out on a new menu this Christmas. We had the families favorite meal. Spaghetti with meat sauce (I make the sauce with fresh herbs from my potted herb plants and a dash of Zin). Paired with the usual home made garlic Parmesan baguettes and the rest of the Zin. Caesar salad available for those who choose. Desert: triple chocolate brownies.