1. I can't place the dates precisely, but, in past years, our family used to follow up our Christmas Eve dinner -- the one with food from another country -- with a Christmas Day prime rib dinner. Again, my memory is foggy regarding if we did this right up until Mom passed away or if we stopped doing it while Mom was alive. I do know that at some point we moved the prime rib dinner to New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.
Well, this year, we decided to have our annual prime rib dinner on January 5th. It would double as a family dinner and as an early birthday dinner for Christy (her birthday is on Thursday). Carol and Paul hosted our dinner.
Our New Year/Birthday/Family Dinner began at 4:30 with Carol mixing us each a Winter Bourbon Smash and with modest selection of Murray's cheeses (left over from my birthday spread back on 12/27) and a variety of crackers. I thoroughly enjoyed the luxury of returning to this cheese board and lost myself a few times in reveries, thinking about the Murray's Cheese counter at Grand Central Market at Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan and imagining myself returning to Murray's Cheese at Fred Meyer and buying another variety of mild to strong cheeses.
Paul summoned us to the table for dinner. The meal was a shared effort. Carol tossed a green salad, made blue cheese (or was it Roquefort?) dressing (in the style of the Sunshine Inn), roasted the prime rib, made Yorkshire pudding, and provided wine; Christy made a batch of what we know as our cousin Derek's potatoes; Debbie made a side of green beans flavored lightly with teriyaki sauce and lightly coated with sesame seeds.
This was, indeed, a luxurious meal. The prime rib was pink and juicy with a flavorful crust; the potatoes were cheesy and rich, very tasty; it was the best Yorkshire pudding I've ever eaten, a perfect balance between crisp and spongy and was full of flavor from the meat's drippings and seasonings; the green beans were light, a perfect complement to the meat and potatoes and pudding. The salad was not only fresh and crisp, but the dressing's flavor held memories of the occasional evenings when our family would have a dinner out at the Sunshine Inn's Jackass Room -- all we needed to round out the nostalgia was a Shirley Temple!
We retired to the living room for birthday pie and vanilla ice cream. Carol made two apple pies, one with whiskey infused apples, the other with bourbon infused apples. Everett told us about his only childhood memory of his father (who died when Everett was a boy) and soon we were talking about our earliest memories and this led to a stroll down the memory lane of television shows in our childhoods: Queen for a Day, The Munsters, The Loretta Young Show, and others.
2. Earlier in the day, I watched much, but not all, of Michigan State's emphatic win over Michigan, 87-69 and marveled at the skill, intelligence, and creativity of Michigan State's point guard Cassius Winston.
In the afternoon, I kept a close eye on St. John's tilt against Xavier. I love how St. John's plays such active defense under their new coach, Mike Anderson. The pressure St. John's applied to Xavier resulted in numerous steals and turnovers. But, this afternoon, St. John's had trouble scoring. They shot miserably from beyond the three point arc and announcers Tim Brando and Donny Marshall started counting the unusual number of times that different Johnnies made strong drives to the iron and couldn't/didn't finish with score.
I hope, that as the season progresses, the Johnnies will become better scorers, that their offense will catch up to their persistent and hounding defense. But, not today. Final score: Xavier 75, St. John's 67.
3. I was surprised when we returned home from dinner that, when I tuned into the Golf Channel, the Sentry Tournament of Champions was still underway. A sudden death playoff was in progress between Patrick Reed, Justin Thomas, and Xander Schauffele. As I picked up Golf Channel's coverage, I learned that Justin Thomas had played the 18th hole poorly in regulation and Xander Schauffele had three-putted the 18th, dropping them both into a tie with Patrick Reed who shot a miraculous 66 in his final gusty round.
I loved watching the playoff and seeing Justin Thomas overcome problems he was having with the 18th hole at the Kapalua Plantation Course that appeared to haunt him. For the playoff, he had to replay this hole three times. The third time around he hit a gorgeous drive, but followed it with a fat five wood that almost landed in a penalty area thick with vegetation and left him with a shot of about 115 yards to the hole. He had a twenty-five hour wind to contend with, but hit a mind-bogglingly perfect wedge to within three feet of the pin. Demons defeated. Patrick Reed missed his mid-range putt for birdie and Thomas sank his three footer to win the title.
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