I had my grocery list in hand while stuffing a bag full of string beans for our Christmas dinner last week at Safeway market. Happy that those beans were fresh, I moved on to the dried onions, which were a necessary addition to the beans along with Oscar Meyer bacon. Next was four pounds of russet potatoes for a casserole I had decided to “try” for this year’s dinner…whipping cream, sour cream, cream cheese and oodles of butter and chives and baked in the oven.
I moved on to the carrots…as a change, would my family eat them with butter, brown sugar, a tad of Karo and ginger and an addition of grand Marnier liqueur? I gambled and added carrots to my cart. I passed by the Brussels sprouts, the only vegetable “banned” by my sweet hubby Norm, from our home due to the smells, which would fill the house while cooking, a smell Norm could not handle. I loaded my cart with whole almonds, dried cherries and chocolate chips to add to my biscotti recipe that I was going to bake on Christmas eve day as gifts for my friends.
After a half hour, tired, I finished shopping and eager to get home and turn on the fireplace along with a glass of wine in hand and cat on lap.
Wrong! PG&E had other plans for me…me and thousands of others…no power!
I awoke on the morning of Christmas Eve with Neighbor Mike banging on my door (doorbell had no power) wanting to turn on my generator for me. Instantly I knew this was going to be an unusual Christmas. Rosie, my dear friend, had already called Mike and her generator was up and running with his help. So far, so good.
A little about generators. I only know the more “somethings” a generator has, the more household appliances can operate while the generator is running. Mine can allow my lights, dishwasher, cooktop, washing machine, freezer and refrigerator to operate. However, if my oven needs to be turned on, everything else on my electric panel needs to be turned off, including my furnace and gas fireplace resulting in no heat.
My friend Rosie was in trouble…12 dinner guests coming and a full prime rib of roast to cook. Her generator’s power would not support her oven. My family was coming and I had a much smaller prime rib to cook. Neighbor Mike also had a full prime rib to cook and drove their roast down the road to his daughter’s house who had power to cook. At this point in the morning, I decided to have a “Bloody Mary” for breakfast.
I called Rosie and said she could have the use of my oven and I would fire-up my Weber and cook my prime rib in the Weber in the garage, out of the rainstorm.
Unable to use my stovetop, I would cook my string beans and carrots on a small propane camping stove and bake my potato casserole and blackberry pie in the Weber once the prime rib was out and resting. I shelved the idea of baking biscotti in the Weber. At 10 o’clock, Rosie brought her prime rib and stuck it in my oven with a timer set for five hours.
I looked at the time, it was 11:30 in the morning…I opened a bottle of Storrs chardonnay…I decided it was five o’clock somewhere!
My family began arriving at two o’clock in the afternoon. The table was set with paper plates and paper napkins. When dinner was ready, we set the cooking pots on the table to keep the food warm. The prime rib was perfectly cooked to medium rare, and the carrots were a “hit.” The party was on.
By evening my legs were burning from the back and forth of garage-to-house but my heart was full; full of the joy of being able to help a friend and the joy of watching my family eating the “campfire dinner.”
Thank you, PG&E for your part in our Christmas Dinner…one of the best ever!
And to you, dear Readers, a Very Blessed and Happy New Year!
Biscotti for Coffee-Dunking
Makes 16 one-inch slices
• 3 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
Mix well and set aside.
• 8 Tbsp. very soft butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsps. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract
Mix together until well-blended.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture until just blended.
Do not over mix.
Add 1 cup lightly chopped almonds or dried cherries or chocolate chips to mixture.
Turn out mixture onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet and divide dough in half.
Shape each half into a log 4”x8”x1” thick.
Bake at 350deg. for 25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
Remove from oven when done and with a serrated knife cut each log into 1” thick slices. Lay each slice cut side down and return to oven. Bake an additional 15 minutes.
Let cool completely before storing. Enjoy!
Colly Gruczelak, a Ben Lomond resident, loves people and loves to cook. Contact her at cz****@*****st.net.
