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Sorry, it did sound a bit Scrooge-y and I probably didn't notice I was on the Food & Drink forum. But it didn't say "what are you cooking" or "what do you cook" for Christmas, just "are you cooking", which as I mentioned before, in my social circle is usually asked by those who ARE cooking, never by anyone who says "nah, we're doing Chinese this year". LOL!
OK, but to jump on board here, the big Christmas Eve dinner in my area up North was the Italian Feast of the Seven Fishes....a tradition very much still alive today. Christmas Dinner is usually ham or turkey. Luckily, I was invited to a friend's home where someone made a ham that I actually LIKED, it was tender and delicious. Merry Christmas to all!
In my previous post, I said I wasn't cooking my traditional Christmas Eve dinner at my daughter's house (because she complained about: too much food, too fattening, too many leftovers, too big a mess in her kitchen, etc.), and they were going to have Christmas dinner at her in-laws' on Christmas Day. Well...she did a complete about face. Turns out, her mother-in-law was serving an early Christmas "lunch" (to accommodate the other kids who had to be at THEIR in-laws for dinner)...and my daughter was pining for a REAL Christmas dinner (and so was son-in-law). So, I made sliced ham with pineapple, Pennsylvania Dutch potato filling, Copes stewed dried corn, green bean casserole with french fried onions, and homemade Pennsylvania Dutch pumpkin custard with whipped cream.
Then we went home Christmas Day afternoon, and I put my turkey in the oven. We had it with homemade gravy, the leftover potato filling, stuffing, leftover corn, and the rest of the pumpkin custard (needless to say, I relieved my daughter of the unwanted leftovers and fattening stuff). DH also requested his favorite rice pudding with raisins, and I made that, too.
Well, I'm not sure what we are eating tonight because DH tried to make reservations today for a Christmas Eve dinner. He seems quite surprised that everywhere is booked up.
The kitchen is pretty much off limits because it is set-up for tomorrows brunch. I'm guessing he will BBQ a steak. He gets the butcher to cut them super thick, probably a t-bone or something.
Tomorrow's brunch will be baked french toast, baked eggs benedict, bacon, fried potatoes and sausage, fresh fruit with yogurt dip, mulled wine and mimosas. One of us plans.
Our golf club has a Feast of the Seven Fishes Christmas Eve. And both seatings sell out weeks in advance (you're probably talking about close to 400 people in total). I think I made our reservations about Thanksgiving or so.
We had waffles and bacon for brunch yesterday. Christmas is a big food splurge - brunch and dinner . Today it's back to the usual lunch - something like fruit salad . Robyn
Thank you all for your responses....this is a great example of why this forum is so active, shared responses from all over the world, and learning from others, and its interesting hearing traditions and meals of others
not sure how long these threads stay around(in the used thread abyss) but it would be a good reference for new members/ new cooks next year
What about New Year? Anyone cooking something special for that? I'm going to roast a whole duck
New Year's Eve is my daughter's birthday, so it varies based on what she wants to do. This year, she's having her friends over for pizza and a movie marathon. My oldest and youngest have plans elsewhere. Not sure what my husband and I will eat, but I'll figure something out.
do you roast a duck any differently than a chicken??
I love duck!!
I made a sign before Christmas at a store that said " Get Ducked for Christmas"!!
I do a slower roast for duck usually, and turn the whole thing over several times so the skin is crispy all round the duck rather than just on the top and also pour boiling water over the duck before roasting it to render a bit of the fat and tighten the skin, that helps it become crispier. Might go for a Peking style flavour this time.
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...And, I actually have those neighbors! 
- Or very similar. 
. Robyn
