#dec 17

HAPPY DECEMBER 17TH to you too, icey! Only 8 days to go until Christmas Day...

Did my weekly usuals of laundry and cleaning the bathroom. I meant to bake cookies but did not. But I did at least do one of my planned activities and baked a tortiere (French Canadian pork pie) for the holidays; I'd originally been thinking of making it for Christmas Eve but then decided I'd rather stick to my usual meal plans of not doing two prep-heavy meals back-to-back and made it on the 23rd instead. I had it all assembled early enough that I had some time to spare before it needed to go into the oven, so I rolled out the pastry scraps, grabbed my little tin of leaf-shaped cookie cutters, made some egg wash, and festively decorated that thing:

I'm very proud of how it turned out. Two thirds of it are now in the freezer for future meals, as is an entire magarine tub of the precooked filling, sufficient to make a second pie.

I have finally cracked the mystery of my dad's proportions; my previous tortieres have been lacking on filling compared to dad's, despite using his preferred recipe. But I had an entire 3lb club pack of pork to use up this year, which is sufficient for a triple batch of the filling by the recipe dad preferred, and half of that is exactly enough to fill a pie as deeply as my dad did. Split between two pies cut in six pieces that works out to 1/4lb of meat per slice, which is a decent sized serving.

And my little 'what have I cooked recently and should avoid cooking again too soon' list:

Dec 17 - I have no memory of this date

Dec 18 - Fish sticks, french fries, and steamed corn & squash (very new world veggies menu, much to my amusement)

Dec 19 - Hamburgers and a big salad

Dec 20 - Beans cooked in broth, with mild Italian sausages and steamed mixed veg

Dec 21 - Steak marinated in beer and topped with garlic butter, with seasoned potato wedges, corn, and a salad

Dec 22 - Chili with rice and a cucumber salad

Dec 23 - Tortiere with boiled potatoes, baked squash, and green peas

Dec 24 - Beef and macaroni stew (yay for having some lactose free cheese on hand, I used to make this frequently before youngest bro developed lactose intolerance)