Had the folks over for the former, and open house on the latter.

Menu for Christmas Day was:

brunch - Eggs Norwegian, a variant of Eggs Benedict substituting cured salmon
for the Canadian Bacon and Milanaise for the Hollandaise. (recipe previously
posted)

Dinner -

Seafood lasagne. Home made parsley-garlic-basil lasagne noodles, layered with
lightly seared shrimp and scallops, ricotta, shredded mozzarella, store-bought
marinara sauce lightly tarted up with caramelized shallots and wine braised
mushrooms. Individual layers lightly dusted with fresh medium grind pepper.
Glug of Chiantia after assembly, cooked covered for 45 minutes in a 350 oven,
15 minutes uncovered, and rested 20 minutes on the countertop.

Rib roast, boneless. Nothing special, just done to accomodate my Dad who's not
very adventureous. Quick 5 minutes/side soak in about 1/4 inch of red wine
(Chianti again), patted dry, rubbed with garlic and rolled in Lipton's Onion
Soup dry mix. Medium temp oven, overlapped with the seafood lasagne, to medium
rare. Finished Dad's portion in the microwave because he likes well done.
Tented it came out well done but still juice.

Roast Duck. This was for me and my Mom, with whom I share an inquisitive
palate. Rendered excess fat for basting. Washed, scrubbed and
salted/peppered. Whole head of garlic in the cavity. Finely chopped dried
apples and shallots mixed with butter rubbed under the skin of the breast.
Roasted @ 400, rested for 25 minutes, tented.

Sides were oven roasted, salted and peppered, potato wedges, and steamed
asparagus with the leftover Milanaise sauce.

New Year's Day

Vegetarian chili (beans, chilis, aromatics), approx 8 lbs total.

Regular beef chili (no beans, 10 lbs of freshly ground lean beef cuts)

Finger foods/crudites/chips/dip/cheap plonk.

I lost track of how many folks came to the open house but we were open from 1-8
p.m. I do know we had 8 kids through (all overlapping, oy vey) but I lost
count of the adults around 29-30.

All in all a good slide into 2005.

Best,

Marc