Cooking for the Holidays

After voting on December 17th, 2020, during the early voting days of the Georgia Senate runoff election, I felt I needed a reward to have driven back again to Georgia from Nashville to vote. I stopped at the local nursery and bought a pretty Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera.)

Back in the lonely Georgia house I placed the plant near the kitchen window close to a holiday gnome. It made a lot of difference to the atmosphere in the kitchen. My cat Mitsouko was in Nashville but there was still something alive with me as well. You can see the picture in the heading. In Nashville I had left another flowering Christmas cactus in the enclosed back porch, next to another little gnome.

I sorted and gave away another 5 bags of books to the Goodwill, at least 200 or so, and then I returned to Nashville on Sunday December 20th. There was no hurry because I knew that as for Thanksgiving I would be alone at Christmas. For years these were such busy times and now having no planning to do was a bit strange. So as not to feel aimless at Thanksgiving I had decided to cook some turkey and trimmings. With the help of my blogging friend Mae of Mae's Food Blog who provided me with a recipe for fresh turkey parts I proceeded to cook a tasty Thanksgiving meal with plenty of leftovers. In the plate below from top left: herbed bread dressing, corn casserole, roast turkey with fresh cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes with Bourbon pecan sauce, fresh spinach with Boursin cheese next to garlicky mashed potatoes with homemade gravy. I had received a surprise package from my daughter Celine - imported mince pies from Wales. It rounded the meal quite nicely. (I had leftovers for a week.) (Click on collage to enlarge.)

When I returned to Nashville I decided that to keep busy for Christmas I would also cook a special meal. First I had to attempt decorating the front of the house as most houses on the block had bright decorations and lights. Last year my daughter Jessica had decorated the house with many strings of light on the shrubbery, but I was not very good at this. Instead I used lights just on the handrail and decorated the front door and windows. Below is the way the house was decorated last year.

Below is the way I tried to decorate it this year. I was afraid to place lights on the shrubbery since I was not sure how to connect all the wires.

Now I had to plan what my Christmas meal would be. Years ago my mother would make a delicious canard a l'orange - maybe I should try roasted duck with orange sauce as she did. In Atlanta I would have known to buy a duck at the DeKalb Farmers' Market, but in Nashville I did not know where to get one. I called the grocery stores Kroger, Publix - no ducks. Whole Foods did not sell fresh or frozen ducks. Then I thought of the huge market not far away, K and S World Market and International Groceries. I always find fresh dandelion greens there and a whole lot of vegetables, fruits and other items I have no idea how to cook.

I was there early on Tuesday morning with just a handful of customers. They had frozen ducks, four types even! I decided on the Buddhist style duck. Because why not. It had Chinese writing and I think Vietnamese as well. At $19.99 for a 6 pound duck it seemed a fair price.

Now I was in a quandary. Should I attempt roasting a Buddhist duck with a French gourmet recipe? Or should I try an Asian recipe? What a dilemma. I decided to compromise and roast it with Asian spices and then make an orange French sauce. I checked some of my favorite French cookbooks and some of my Chinese ones while listening to Christmas music. Finally after also researching on the Web I came up with an original Franco-Asian recipe for my duck.

First the duck had to be defrozen; it would take two days in the fridge. I baked a couple of cookie recipes with my free time.

On Thursday afternoon, Christmas Eve, the duck was defrozen. I boiled it for 1 minute in a large pot of boiling water. Then I pricked it all over (to let the fat get out.) When it was cool I sprinkled salt all over it. Then I set it back in the fridge, uncovered, until the next day - this is to harden the skin so it will be crispy. That evening my daughter, son-in-law, four grandchildren and my son-in-law's visiting cousins and their children came caroling to my front porch. Then I gave them cookies and they gave me a small rum cake. This is why I could not attend their Christmas, as the gathering was too large.

There was no need to wrap gifts to wee hours as I used to since we were not exchanging presents on Christmas Day. (We will exchange presents in January, closer to Armenian Christmas of January 6th.) I had not planned to get up early on Christmas Day but was wakened up at 6:30 am by some noise. I thought it was a car backfiring. While getting my coffee ready I could hear many birds chirping in the back yard. Quite unusual as there are never more than a couple of birds there and this sounded like an aviary. I opened the curtains and could not believe my eyes. The tree at the end of my yard was covered with birds - so many that the branches could not be seen. Then as I watched, mesmerized, they suddenly flew to a closer tree while chatting, whistling and making a joyful noise. I had seen bands of starlings before flying as a pulsating cloud but at a distance, in the sky. As from a signal they all flew even closer and landed on my back deck, covering it. The wood disappeared and the deck looked alive with hundreds or even thousands of birds. As some perched on the rail close to my window I could see that they were not black, but had a metallic iridescent dark greenish sheen flecked with little white dots - quite pretty.

The European starlings were introduced in the US in 1890 when 100 of them were released in New York's Central Park (now there are more than 200 million in N. America.) The common European starling from the species Sturnus vulgaris is called "Etourneau" in French. When they fly in unison it is called "une nuée d’étourneaux" but in English it is called "a murmuration." It sounds French but it is not. A murmuration is the phenomenon that results when hundreds, sometimes thousands, of starlings fly in swooping, coordinated patterns through the sky, as in an air show. It is impressive how rapidly the murmuration can change direction and fly intricate patterns, all synchronized. Then in an instant the flock left my deck, as in a well choreographed ballet, and flew to trees further away. Below are a couple of ancient engravings of the birds.

I had never seen them so close and felt it was an early Christmas gift - that it would be a good day. Then I turned on the News ... and saw that what I thought had been a car backfiring at 6:30 am was in fact a huge explosion downtown Nashville, about 3 1/2 miles from my house. The explosion destroyed part of Second Avenue, known for its night clubs, galleries, shops and residences; at least 41 buildings were extensively damaged. In the map below I placed a red cross where it happened and a green cross where I live. (Pictures courtesy The Tennessean.)

The Second Avenue of Nashville is a National Historic District. In the late 1800s the street was called Market Street. From 1870 to 1890 many buildings were constructed as warehouses and shops that sold the goods coming from riverboats on the Cumberland River. This is a tragic bombing on Christmas Day. The police have identified the bomber who perished in the blast, but found no motive yet.

I kept working on my duck, covering it with a dry rub made of Chinese spices, and then placing an orange, celery and garlic in the cavity. (Having no ties to close it I had to improvise with metal clips.) While it roasted I made a Sherry Orange reduction sauce (made with Sherry, garlic, orange juice, bitter orange marmelade, Grand Marnier and spices.) It did not take long to roast really as I placed it in the oven around 4:00 pm, turned it over a couple of times and I was ready to eat at about 7:00 pm. It was delicious. That will last me at least 4 days with leftovers. (I rarely eat meat - did not have a steak since summer 2019 and only 3 hamburgers this year.) I found out that the Culver Duck Company was founded in 1860 in the Amish Country of Northern Indiana. The ducks are all natural with no hormones, no nitrates, and are Free to Roam. The company has received certification under the American Humane Certified program.

To keep with the Franco-Asian theme, dessert was a French buche de Noel, and a Fortune cookie. My fortune said "Your golden opportunity is coming shortly." Splendid! Things are looking up ... hope it will be the same for everyone.

Have a Happy New Year! Wishing you a better 2021!