clay + cook: a christmas tablescape and christmas day feasting

The day before Christmas, my car was laden with lasagna, leftover chocolate pie, chocolate cupcakes, wrapped presents AND my unfinished ceramic Christmas trees--finally fired, white glazed stoneware, but I wanted the stars on top of them to be shiny gold. I had pondered luster glaze--too long a wait time for a kiln to be full enough to fire up; gold paint pens--the shine just looked sub par; and gold leaf--yes! brighter, shinier and perhaps more enduring than even gold paint. While the husband was out with his niece's family at Target, buying her sons their Christmas gifts, which I love because in the frenzy of unwrapping, too often kids don't know from which relative their toy or game came. While they were shopping, I was adhering the gold leaf to the ceramic trees. I then set the finished make on the table runners, oh hey which I had also quilted and gave Maggie a few years ago. Boy I can't wait for my bigger ceramic trees to be fired and finished to give to my sister-in-law next year.           

I took a picture of each tree too.

  

And the gold leafing is such a tiny detail, but I think so cute.  I had put electric tea lights in two of them, and a string of fairy lights in one. I think actual lit wax tealights will also work, especially inside larger trees. I can't wait until my larger trees are fired. The niece and the wife of nephew, who are millennials said they would buy these trees. Definitely, they emit a minimalist aesthetic.

And they're even more magical when it gets dark. I like to think that these abstractly represent the Magi. Where can I get myself some bottle brush trees too?

Maggie also has this ceramic church which she had bought at one of the California missions that she had put Nativity figures in front of. I totally now know what my next make will be with that bag of speckled buff clay I'm gonna buy over my winter break. 

Gotta remember today when Patrick and I are at her house on Christmas to take photographs of the back and sides of this church. 

On Christmas Day, my sister-in-law and her daughter were undertaking the labor of cooking the celebratory feast of prime rib and potatoes and brussels sprouts. I had promised (I was thinking of what the New York Times cooking claims is the best) deviled eggs and a raw fennel and red onion citrus pomegranate seed situation of some kind, maybe a riff on an Otttolenghi winter salad. I started with the winter slaw. I removed the core of the bulbs and separated the fronds and then sliced the fennel thinly on the mandolin. 

Peeling and cutting oranges from pith took so long. Next time I'm using a can of mandarin oranges. I had Patrick sharpen all my knives to speed up my orange prep. He told me Merry Christmas afterward, and I told him the gifts I like--acts of service. With the orange segments ready for the salad, I made the dressing with just citrus juice and seasoned rice vinegar.

 

I also sliced red onion on the mandolin, too thinly, but next time, I'll slice more thickly for them to keep some crunch, and let them soak in the acid to lose some of their bite.

 

At the same time I was boiling eggs, which I then peeled and cooled in the fridge. I riffed a bit on the NYTimes recipe on the filling for the deviled eggs.

I decided to add scallions and a bit of sweet pickle relish along with the salt and hot sauce to my deviled eggs. I then removed the yolks and smash the yolks with a fork into the seasoned and flavored mayonnaise mixture.

The filling of the egg whites with the yolk mixture took a long while. I debated piping with Patrick's birthday cookie press and didn't. I just scooped mashed yolks with spoonula and then sprinkled some reserved chopped scallion and hot smoked paprika to enhance their fanciness.

Deviled eggs done, I resumed finishing the fennel salad. Tossed the pickled red onions into the sliced fennel with some of the orange segments and some pomegranate seeds and added a bit of bottled white balsamic dressing too, which made the salad too soggy IMO. Next year, marinate the onions and the fennel and then pour off the dressing before dressing to preserve the crunch. Lastly I layered more oranges and pomegranate seeds on top.

We loaded up the car with the appetizer and winter slaw for an afternoon and evening of eating and drove an hour to again hang out with family.

I grazed all day on white cheddar cheese puffs, charcuterie of baguette, crackers, brie, gouda, prosciutto and capicola until dinner. And our 6 o'clock meal was lavish: prime rib roast, mashed potatoes, beef gravy, roasted brussels sprouts, and the fennel salad followed by the same chocolate pie for dessert for me while others had pumpkin pie or chocolate cupcake or cookies. T'was very fun but am glad to return to normal. I just want to eat toasties of ham and Swiss and tomato soup and raw green salads for the rest of my winter break though this Sunday I'll be again ambitiously cooking a Feast of Seven Fishes.