Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Blizzard of 2009 Edition!

The kids generously allowed us to sleep in until 8:02 AM. Thanks kids!

The 3-way simultaneous paper-shredding orgasm lasted about 30 minutes including the time spend getting a contractor-sized trash bag and a relatively sharp knife (well, sharper than most of my relatives).

I ducked out most of the way thru the frenzy and started a pound of ground sausage browning in my big cast iron skillet. I love biscuits & gravy and thought I'd share my passion with my family.

I hold great respect for tradition, however the brood would have to settle for refrigerator biscuits. At least I sprang for genuine name brand, not generic store brand, so I'm not a TOTAL heretic! (I'm also not a Southerner, so y'all can just say whatever bad things you want about me, as long as you finish with 'Bless his heart'. I know the code!)

Anyway...sausage browned, a measure of drippings reserved, remainder drained, biscuits into the oven. Drippings back into the skillet with the sausage, an equal measure of flour and a little heat to cook the roux. Rotate the biscuit pans in the oven. Stir the roux and cook a bit longer. Add milk and start stirring. A few grinds of black pepper. Stir. Pull the biscuits out of the oven, depan, back to the gravy and stir. Suddenly the gravy began to thicken. A little more stirring, a yell to the kids to get the table ready and it's breakfast time.

The kids have had creamed beef on toast (SOS) so this isn't a totally new experience for them but they're used to sausage in links and patties - ground sausage is new. We ended up with biscuits left over. Just about the time I was thinking about grabbing a biscuit and mopping up the gravy left in the skillet the wife reached over and did it. Sometimes we think so much alike it's SCARY!

She thinks this would make a fine new Christmas tradition. I don't know...it's a lot of work to accomplish after being kept awake by the fat guy in the red suit rustling around out in the living room in the wee hours...

The kids are happily entertaining themselves with the new loot. The wife is cocooned in front of the TV waiting for football, and I'm trying to get up the motivation to dig out vehicles and sidewalks.

Merry Christmas to you and yours!