I hope you and yours had a lovely, delicious, and festive Christmas Day. I am recuperating from a marathon of cooking (meaning it’s 1pm and I’m still in my pajamas). Above is the menu taped to my my kitchen cupboard as a reminder of what I was supposed to be making but also to let our guests know what they would be eating. I stayed mostly on track and we managed to sit down for dinner by 8pm! A major achievement for me (there have been holiday dinners past where Tim claims we were dining at 10pm like a family of Spaniards).
For the appetizers we ended up having the gravlax, which was DIVINE. 
I followed a recipe from Canal House, slicing some raw wild coho salmon the night before and sprinkling it with fleur de sel and sprigs of dill. I then wrapped the platter with the salmon tightly in plastic wrap and left in the fridge overnight to cure. Before serving I drizzled with lemon juice and good fruity olive oil from California and served with these crisp and thin whole wheat crackers. 
The leftovers went on toast this morning for breakfast.
As for the other appetizer I ended up having many cheese from Humboldt Fog to Taleggio, just sliced saucisson and no prosciutto, and instead of french puffs, little pig in a blanket for the kids, using small little chicken sausages for the pig instead of hotdogs. And oh yes, lots of prosecco (not for the kids).
Dinner stayed pretty true to my plan–tenderloin with an herb and garlic crust (I made it very rare, which seemed to please the men at the table but next time I will not take 120 on the thermometer to mean medium-rare); mushroom stuffing, pan-roasted asparagus with preserved lemon and parmesan, and sweet potato and yukon gold gratin with gruyere. It was A LOT of cooking (including breakfast, I made crepes and bacon); so in the end, I skipped making the slightly intimidating Paris-Brest and went with Thomas Keller’s brownies, served like a cake and sprinkled with confectioners sugar. And on the side, with glasses of Baileys, some candied orange peels. This was the first time I made them and I think they were a big hit. 
I love candied citrus peels, dipped in dark chocolate, but they are so expensive, that I decided to make them myself based on a Canal House recipe. Despite the time they took to make they were worth it, and reminded me of the ones my grandemere in Belgium used to buy me as a treat…
So how was your dinner? Did you cook or were
