John gave me a new sweaterdress, a pink Express sweater, and a Vera Bradley wallet. I gave him the stainless steel wallet he wanted and a new Kangol. The puppies are thrilled with their new bed and blanket, and ran around all day showing off their new rawhides.
But on to the relevant stuff to this blog...
15. Host a holiday
46. Learn to make a perfect pot roast.
Christmas went really well all things considered. We had 8 adults, 2 children and 2 dogs in our 817 square foot apartment (thank goodness it has an airy layout!). We successfully fit all the adults at our dining room table, that John set up beautifully, intermingling my new Spode dishes and my great-grandmother's china. We set up a kids' table in the living room. Trevor and Darcy behaved surprisingly well... after some initial barking when everyone came in, they calmed down and pretty much behaved for the rest of the night (except for the whole trying to steal food thing, but hey, you can only ask for so much).
John and I woke up at 7:15 to work on cooking the pot roast and the Swedish meatballs... this after not going to bed until after 2 since we went to midnight Mass. It was worth it though... the Swedish meatballs were a hit (as always, if anyone wants the recipe I'm willing to share!) and the pot roast really was perfect. I used:
5 3/4 lbs of top round roast
1 bunch of celery (the term is stalk, but I just picture one of the stalks not the whole bunch when I say that)
3/4 bag of baby carrots
1 bag of pearl onions
a whole lot of small red potatoes, can't remember how many
1/4 of a bottle of Cabernet Franc
After browning the roast, I coated it in 1/4 cup of flour, 2 teaspoons of salt and a pinch of white pepper. I then stuck it in the Crock Pot with all the veggies except the carrots (I only put a few of those in at first for flavor), poured in the wine, and cooked it on low starting at 8:00 AM. At 5:00 PM, I added the carrots, so they wouldn't get soggy. I took the roast out at around 7:15-7:30 PM, then thickened the remaining liquid for gravy with hot water and flour. It was amazing. The meat just fell apart, and was so flavorful. Yum. We also had sweet potato pie, mashed potatoes, peas and bread. For dessert, my MIL made an apple pie, and I stuck a frozen cherry pie in the oven (hey, it was yummy). My SIL helped me make whipped cream (thanks, Laura!).
All in all, I think it went really well! And if you're keeping track, I've now finished more goals in December than I did in September, October and November combined. Wow.
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