Fibermania

Christmas Cookie Cooking!!

Since it is so close to Christmas and I am so close to finishing the quilting on Big Green, I decided to turn my attention to getting with the holidays, and called Frieda. She said she would be making cookies on Thursday and if I wanted to join her I was welcome.

I could have stayed home and made cookies as I have plenty of brandy-new teflon cookie sheets, and plenty of ovens and plenty of counter space, but I chose plenty of Frieda.

Frieda, being plenty tolerant.

We have cooked together before and it is definitely more fun with two. They are Andersons and have Swedish cookies like Krumkake, made on this heirloom-to-be iron.

This cookie has whipped cream as part of the recipe, so what's not to like?

It is imperative that it is rolled around this cone shaper whilest still warm.

I got to eat the broken ones and the slightly too brown ones, my fave!

For my cooking I got to use this wonderful cast iron and porcelain RED POT. This is one of a set that Frieda and I got last Christmas for her present from her husband. The whole set weighs 400 lbs, but we managed to get it into my car and home for the holiday.

This doesn't look like cookies...

No, it is mushroom soup, because Lars Anderson, middle son, LOVES MY SOUP and since he is home from law school, I thought it would be a treat for him.

O yes, it is cream of mushroom soup, with plenty o'cream. Note: I am color coordinated.

I also made Magic Cookie Bars and my famous Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Pecan, Raisin, Coconut drop cookies too. I love that Reynold's Non-Sticking Aluminum foil, which makes cleanup a breeze.

Then Frieda showed me her newest quilt and all the stuff she is making, in progress, and I got green with envy. I am naming this Blue Forest until I am corrected. Isn't it wonderful? It is about 30x18" Just a guess. Frieda will leave a comment/correction I am sure.

Then I came home about ten minutes before Master Chef Dave arrived from his day out.

And he proceeded to cook my goose.


I mean...duck. We decided that this would be his next lesson in roasting meats, and since we haven't had a duck in YEARS that now is the time, since they are available fresh at our local grocery store. Before we met I was a waitress in a Polish restaurant and learned many valuable culinary lessons from Chef Stahsh, between the lunch and dinner rushes. Stop it!

Duck is a big menu item at that restaurant and he always cooked about six at at time, slowly, covered in a big roasting pan, stuffed with celery, onion and garlic. Duck is super fatty and needs to be held above the drippings, so we made a trestle of celery ribs and placed the stuffed duck in suspension, covered it and put it in a slow oven to roast. Then we had a cuppa and some cookies.

Two and a half hours passed, we switched to drinking wine, and lost interest in dinner.

Upon our return to the kitchen, we lifted the duck from the pan, drained the drippings, and cut the bird in half. The secret to the restaurant recipe is to refrigerate the bird and reheat it when ordered, in a very hot oven until the skin is crispy.

The traditional accompaniment is white and wild rice, also precooked and then reheated as a saute with lotsa butter, garlic and a good grind of black pepper. This we will make today.

It's a good thing we cooked like this yesterday, because we are finally out of the deep freeze we have been having and the snow is melting and I am actually considering starting my Christmas shopping.