fried chicken and Champagne

It's funny how it can sometimes take a long time to try something out.  No, not fried chicken, or Champagne.  Please!  I've had them each plenty of times.  I don't think I've had them together, but the combination absolutely makes sense to me.

No, I mean, it's funny that a restaurant can open in your neighbourhood, and you can walk by it dozens of times, and yet, it takes a couple of years to go in.  So, my apologies to Holy Saints! for taking so long.

In fact, Conrad and Van had dined there once when I was out of town, and they did enjoy it.  And I have tried twice to go but found myself stymied by something or another.  So it took me a while.  We have our favourites, as you should know from this blog, and we try to keep up with them instead.  Just the same, it is nice to try some place new.  Van was on their mailing list and learned about them doing a special dinner tonight, so we went.

The good:  the fried chicken was excellent.  A half chicken between the two of us, and with the hot sauce on the side. 

Can I confess?  I don't get having something crispy fried and then dousing it or drizzling it with something wet.  Makes no sense to me.  The cacio e pepe mac and cheese was tasty, too. 

I liked the radicchio and fennel slaw as well - a nice little bite of mustard in the vinaigrette. 

And the biscuits

were nicely baked but perhaps not as fresh out of the oven as I would have wanted so as to make the barbecue butter melt into them.  Oh, and the Champagne was fine.

The bad:  nothing.  Nope.  Great service, no protracted wait for food, all of it was good.  OK, one small thing - we needed a bigger table!

Van and I had a lovely evening, and I will want to go back there to try their regular fare.  My summer of eating well continues! 

Christmas 2024

I was out of bed on Christmas morning before everyone.  My earliest morning in the past week (I'm writing this on the morning of Saturday, December 28, and I was out of bed a few minutes after 10 - can you believe that???!!!), and I took advantage by throwing on some walking gear and getting outside for a stroll. 

So nice and peaceful on Christmas morning.  Barely anyone around.  I admired the neighbourhood decorations,

messaged with friends, and enjoyed the tranquility.  

And then I came back to pick up Marie to take Olive out for a short walk.  Look at her! 

What a beautiful girl.

Van and Conrad got themselves going eventually, and the four of us had an easy breakfast.  Van opened a couple of presents that were under his tree,

Marie and I finished off the dishes from the night before, then we headed back to the condo to shower and change

and get ready for dinner. 

In practice, that also meant a nap for Conrad and a holiday romcom for me and Marie, but you get the idea.

Van and Olive came over about mid-afternoon, and once I had the macaroni and cheese in the oven and cocktails made for them, we opened stockings. 

Stockings are a big deal in our home, as you can tell, and that took a lot of time.  The others had wanted us to open presents as well before Natasha arrived, but by the time stockings were done, I needed everyone to get to work on making sure we were set up for dinner.  We did presents with Natasha after dinner, and that worked out quite fine.

Dinner was alright. 

We got a ham on the bone from Honey Baked Ham, but it didn't heat up as well as I wanted. 

Ah well.  The sides were fine - the macaroni and cheese turned out to be a decent recipe that used a custard instead of a roux. 

I was pleased with the biscuits, too. 

I also made a parsnip soup

at the last minute so that we had a reason to serve some caviar to Natasha (as a garnish).  It's likely our last big holiday meal with her because she is moving in February, and I wanted it special.  We had stopped at Bristol Farms earlier in the day to buy the caviar, and we found crackers as well.  Hanukkah crackers, which we thought would be fine. 

Never those particular ones again, though - no paper crowns inside, and when we pulled them open, they shot out large confetti pieces that littered the table and floor and got into the soup and drinks.

Conrad and I served up a nice Italian wine we'd picked up at Eataly through the dinner, but we poured Champagne for everyone first.  Out came the bûche de Noël,

and that was thoroughly enjoyed.  The evening would down with Conrad and Van taking on dishes duty,

and then, after Van and Olive left, I slipped into a holiday onesie

and the three of us watched another holiday romcom.

It was a flurry of work right before dinner, but all in all, the day was a fine one. 

I hope you all had a very happy Christmas!