That was a feast!

L and D B invited us, and few other friends, to their home for a holiday dinner. It was legendary! We started off with champagne (of course) and home-made terrine on little crackers. Then we moved on to the oyster tasting, with three different varieties of fresh oysters served on the half-shell for us to sample. Quilicene, kumimoto and something else. All divinely firm and savory. DH abhors sealife even when cooked. I got to eat his share of raw oysters as well as mine. I do love a few raw little oysters. Better yet, I love LOTS of them!

Then we proceeded to the main course - a German holiday dinner. We had roast goose, stuffed with apples and dried apricots. My mouth thought it had died and gone to heaven. The bird was flavorful, tender, moist, and the crispy bits of skin were - oh, just thinking about them makes my mouth water so hard it hurts. This was accompanied by a red-cabbage pickle, fresh asparagus (in December! We live in a miraculous age!) sauteed turnips, home-made rolls with double-fat butter (omg, omg it tastes sooooo good!) and the evening was finished off your choice of pecan pie or lemon tart. DB makes his pecan pie without corn syrup and with lots of dark rum. I have never eaten such a pie. This is the pie against which all others shall be measured.

We ate on LB's grandmother's heirloom china, and I gave it a loving pat. The table was as pretty as a magazine spread, with candles, and for a centerpiece, a bowl of fresh fruit. They have a Meyer lemon tree in a big pot which they move out in the summer and inside in the winter. It has a sheltered nook outside, and a sunny window inside, and they are able to enjoy their own home-grown lemons all year long. The bowl of fruit was trimmed with a few sprigs of lemon blossoms.

It was a feast for all the senses, and the best of all was the collection of company who have know one another for some fourty years. "Do you remember?" and "Oh, tell it again. I love that story!" kept cropping up amidst the "What are you doing now?" and "What ever happened to . . "

Unfortunately, DH and I have to rise and shine at 5AM, so we had to leave long before I was ready. I hope the party rocked on for hours1 It was one of those memories I'll be callling up fourty years from now if I live so long. Oh, friends are good!!

And of course, any holiday meeting is time for exchange of gifts. TW created absolutely World Class biscotti, and I broke my fast with half a dozen of them this morning.