Another Christmas Dinner

I'd like to start, today, by wishing all of my Christian friends a Happy Christmas. For most, this Christmas will be topped-off by a really wonderful dinner with family. A veritable feast with traditional foods and everyone goes home stuffed to the gills and ready to make a New Year's Resolution to lose a few pounds, most likely those pounds gained tonight.

A great dinner has to start with great ingredients. In the past year I've become a convert to organic foods. It just seems logical to me that organically grown food is healthier and so I've been shopping at local farmer's markets.

As I'm not making a Christmas dinner tonight, I thought I'd reminisce about Thanksgiving Dinner, the last special holiday meal I've enjoyed with my family. We all went over to my brother Stu's house to tie-on the old feed bag with the whole family, and everyone cooked something and brought it along. My contribution was a sweet potato casserole (with pineapple chunks and topped with apple butter) and roasted carrots and fresh garlic... and it was made with all organic ingredients.

Most of the farmer's markets around here are parking lot affairs where the local farmers come around and set up tables with their goods, and by Thanksgiving these makeshift markets are already gone as most operate from May to October. I suppose I could have gone to the local Whole Foods (supermarket chain) but Thanksgiving Dinner, like Christmas Dinner, has to be somewhat special so I felt compelled to seek out a more enticing venue.

As luck would have it, a good friend of mine mentioned that she knew of an organic farm in Orange County (New York) that she likes and so we hit the road and drove 65 miles to shop at Blooming Hill Farm in Blooming Grove, New York.

Wow! That's a great farm!!

We not only managed to buy everything we needed for our respective dinners, I bought all kinds of stuff to use later in the week and we had lunch at their cafe, too... made a whole day of it. I haven't had so much fun grocery shopping in a long time.

You know, all the men in my family are real good cooks (even my ten and fourteen year-old boys know their way around a stove). My little brother, Dave, can bake as well and his job was cakes and pies for dessert. I'm here to tell you that there's not much that compares to a large family dinner and I've made my New Year's Resolution already... last month!

Anyway, another great feed with the family and, naturally, there are pictures to go with it. I hope you all enjoy your dinner tonight, wherever and with whomever, your holiday or not, and please don't forget to give thanks for all the things we're fortunate enough to enjoy.

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All above: Canon EOS-5D, 28~105/3.5~4.5 Canon EF Ultrasonic lens, ISO 100