Two enjoyable dinners

[spa...@gmail.com]

Two great dinners in a row this Christmas, one a relatively simple
dinner at home with my darling and our children, and one full-blown
Christmas feast with extended family.

Christmas Eve my wife converted a can of Phillips lump crabmeat into
her sublime "nothing but crab" crabcakes, served up with green beans
and basmati rice. (As a side note, we had purchased a can of Phillips
earlier and found that the inside of the can had a coating of what we
guessed was food-grade machine oil around the inside. We called
Phillips and while they told us that it was safe to eat, they also
quickly sent us coupons for the full value of the can. So this was our
second attempt - no problems with this one.)

To go with I found at the Devon state store an Australian sparkling
wine called Syn, from Leconfield wineries. This is the company that
also produces the quite nice Richard Hamilton wines. It worked well -
it had a Chardonnay base with a couple of sweeter wines in to add
tropical flower and fruit flavors. Neither too dry and astringent nor
too syrupy or sweet. It was good by itself as well as with the food,
and when I tried it the next night, when much of the carbonation had
leached out, it still stood up well by itself - it's a blend that I
would enjoy without the bubbles as well, which I think is important
for sparklers.

Sadly, I can't find it listed on the LCB site.

Christmas dinner was a traditional feast prepared by my mother, with
roast beast, potatoes, spinach, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce,
*more* crabcakes, and a buche noel afterward. (Forgive me if I left
something out, it's tiring even thinking about it.) We had another
bottle of the Chateau la Garde 2001, about which I posted here in
early November (http://groups.google.com/group/PAWineTalk/
browse_thread/thread/2a36409a29599e8a/b9c27d1f968688c4?
lnk=gst&q=garde#b9c27d1f968688c4) which went very well with the hearty
winter foods. Even better, last night when I stopped by the Berwyn
state store they still had at least a case still in stock, so I
replenished my supply.

I hope everybody who celebrated had a great Christmas, and feel free
to post your own food or wine experiences. And Happy New Year!