New Year's Eve Dinner

We had some friends over for New Year's Eve dinner. Overall, it turned out well, although pork roast (even if you've brined it) can be tricky to cook thoroughly but not excessively. If we'd left it in the oven another five minutes, it would have been too dry. Here is the menu we cooked.

Pork roast with a sage, mustard and maple glaze (with gravy)

Cranberry-ginger chutney*

Mashed potatoes

Creamed spinach

Eggnog-pumpkin pie

Champagne

* - I adjusted this recipe a little by adding orange zest (from one orange) and substituting brown sugar for the white sugar.

We drank a Macon-Villages (French chardonnay) with the meal.

Getting Some Ham Help

Turkey has always been the entree that adorns my family's Christmas dinner table. But for many families, the choice is a ham. If you're one of the latter, check out this web page at Delish.com for "12 Classic Christmas Hams."

Te Apple-Ginger Glazed Ham, one of those 12 options, looks darn good to me.

Be sure to look for the link to 9 "must-have recipes" for side dishes and appetizers.

Foodphoria will take a holiday nap for the rest of this week. Happy cooking and happy holidays!

Uninvited Dinner Guests

It has been all the buzz here in Washington, D.C., but many Americans "outside the beltway" may not be appear that President Obama's official state dinner at the White House on Tuesday was crashed by a Virginia couple.

White House security officials are still stammering to explain how the uninvited socialites, Tareq and Michaele Salahi, were able to enter the executive mansion and shake hands with the president.

The Washington Post writes that "it appears to be the first time in modern history that anyone has crashed a White House dinner." I can't seem to find what was on the menu.