Christmas Dinner at the Lais

We spent Christmas Eve at the Lais and what a wonderful feast we arrived to. Kristen had spent a few months doing a program with Cordon Bleu in Paris and had been cooking for days prior to the dinner so we were so excited for the meal. We didn't even eat lunch or breakfast that day so that we could stuff ourselves with gourmet bliss.

The house was beautifully shoveled in front. Seeing as Karla and I had shoveled with great difficulty a really narrow path in front of our house, we were amazed at how well the driveway was shoveled wide enough for any car to drive right through. Inside a buffet of appetizers awaited us, from meatballs on individual serving spoons, to crusty breads with varied toppings, cheeses and jams, to prosciutto wrapped asparagus drizzled with balsamic. We had to force ourselves to stay away from the buffet table to save room for the rest of the food!

The Christmas dinner exceeded our expectations. From the turkey and the stuffing to the veal and buffalo (yes, buffalo, tastes just like beef..maybe a bit tougher), we were having our very own cordon bleu meal in the comfort of a warm, toasty home. My personal favorite was the mash potato because it was really creamy, buttery and garlicky - all of my favorite adjectives when it comes to food. I asked Kristen how she made the mash potato, and this is how she made it:

1. Boil red potatoes with their skins on
2. Once they're cooked, remove, drain then peel
3. Leave potatoes to cool and to dry the liquid out
4. On a stove heat some milk and add some butter and garlic to it, if you have garlic butter (softened butter mixed with minced garlic and then rolled and frozen) add some as well.
5. Use a ricer (or a plain fork will do) to mash potatoes and add to the milk on the stove.
6. Over the heat, just keep adding the mash potatoes to the liquid mixture and keep stirring and adding more milk if needed.

Step 3 is important, Kristen said that in Cordon Bleu, they were taught to pop the boiled and peeled potatoes into the oven to dry them out. It is important that all liquid in the potatoes are dryed out as much as possible.