[2022-12-24] Saturday Synopsis #23: Christmas Eve Edition
We've developed a tradition in our house of collaborating on holiday dinners. Each of us will prepare one dish. For tonight's Christmas Eve dinner, for example, Chris made roasted potatoes. Melanie prepared roasted cauliflower. Shane cooked the steak. And I baked sticky toffee pudding with caramel sauce and crème anglaise.
In keeping with the collaboration theme, I invited my family to contribute one entry each to this week's Saturday Synopsis. I hope you enjoy our different perspectives.
Shane's Recipe of the week: Cold-seared steak
This evening, I was conscripted into preparing the steaks for our Christmas Eve family dinner. My dad sent me a video that showed a cooking method that went against conventional wisdom. Instead of waiting for the steaks to come to room temperature and then placing them into a preheated pan, the video recommended placing the steaks straight into a cold pan to cook on the stovetop. Having gotten into cooking later in life, I tend to defer to the experts, and this video for cold-seared steak by America’s Test Kitchen inspired confidence. Duplicating the technique as closely as possible, I produced two steaks that were cooked very evenly throughout and had a satisfying sear on either side, which added a delicious smoky flavor to the juicy interior. I will be cooking steaks like this in the future.
Chris' Story of the week: Memories of a cottage on Lac Kénogami
When I was six years old, my parents built a rustic family cottage at Pointe Raphaël on Lac Kénogami. Three of my mom's siblings also built cottages there. Every Sunday, the four couples and about 30 kids would congregate at the four cottages. We were often joined by many more visiting cousins, aunts and uncles from the surrounding regions of Saguenay and Lac St-Jean. We enjoyed the pristine, sandy beach and an immense adjacent field, where we played baseball, horse shoes, lawn darts, croquet and pétanque. Like the beachcombers, we salvaged logs from the beach that had been dumped in the lake by local foresters and made immense bonfires. Of course, the cottages were rough. We had no hydro, we brought water up from the lake, and we shared one outhouse among the four cottages. The insects were plentiful and voracious: black flies, horse flies, mosquitoes and no-see-ums. Once a year, we slept over at the cottage. After dinner, everyone would gather in my parent's cottage for some reels, dances and folk songs. My dad played the harmonica, and my brother played the accordion. On Sunday morning, we would go to church in Larouche. We had little, but made good use of what we had. We were happy.
Melanie's Song of the week: Take Me Back
The song of the week is the gorgeous and uplifting "Take Me Back" by Erasure. With a soaring melody and an exquisite vocal, it's one of my favourites from a band with an extraordinary back catalogue. But it's not just a great song; it's also meaningful to my mom and me because of a little Easter egg. At one point, Take Me Back borrows a line and the tune from another song, also an all-time fave of ours: "Nights on Broadway" by the Bee Gees. Nights on Broadway is not a song you hear played on the radio very often nowadays, but it is one of their finest tracks, showing off the quieter, more introspective side of the band. It also served as a great point of inspiration for Erasure's Take Me Back, whose themes are about looking back and reminiscing. I had my mom listen to it when I played it for her, and although she didn't get it right away, she got it when I played the Bee Gees hit. It's one of the best examples of quality music being referenced throughout the ages—the songs were released 20 years apart, yet both sound perfectly timeless.
Jen's Quote of the week: Family
Shane came home on Thursday evening to spend a few days with us to celebrate Christmas. We've been eating great food, playing games, and enjoying each other's company. This quote (author unknown) sums up how I feel tonight:
Having somewhere to go is home. Having someone to love is family. And having both is a blessing.
I love this quote because "home" and "family" are defined broadly. If you have somewhere to go, that's home. If you have someone who loves you, that's family. May you be blessed with both.
Merry Christmas everyone.
