A few years ago, maybe 2006?, my sister and I decided that this whole buying Christmas gifts for our parents was totally crap, and we weren’t having any more of it. Instead we made the Christmas Dinner the gift. Until then we had always had turkey et al for Christmas dinner; now we put together a 7 course meal complete with wine pairings. I act as the chef, and my sister is the sommelier. Each year we pick a theme and base the menu around it; we’ve had a cheese theme, a seafood theme, and this year we decided on:

A Time for Luxury: 7 courses, 6 drinks, much merriment

The drink: Champagne

The Amuse Bouche – Mini escargot quiche

The Appetizer – Caviar on toast points

The drink: probably a Sherry, but really, whatever is good to soak chestnuts in

The Salad – Roasted chestnut, apple, and squash with Boston lettuce, warm goat’s cheese, and a vinaigrette

The drink: something with alcohol, who gives a shit by this point?

The Soup – Creamy mushroom soup with truffle oil (because as much as I love my parents, I’m not buying actual truffles)

The Sorbet – Champagne sorbet (though this time it’ll just be something cheap and bubbly)

The drink: some sort of white wine

The Entrée – Lobster Newberg with some sort of vegetable and either saffron rice or saffron mashed potatoes

The drink: Sweet warm milk with brandy

The Dessert – Chocolate 3 layer cake, vanilla bean cream, strawberry filling, dusted with edible gold

Should be yummy!