Long Overdue

Welcome to The Grande Table!

I have wished numerous times in the past months that this blog were already in existence.

When I ate tater tots in Chicago. I hadn't had them since Minnesota in 2005. They were nice and salty...and I can wait another 12 years, no problem.
When Charlie and Annie emailed me recipes like the one found here.
Last weekend, when we made pumpkin spice pancakes with too many topping choices. Applesauce, apple butter, plain yogurt, honey yogurt, raspberry jam, butter and syrup....

It was worth waiting for.
During our Christmas pie baking contest, which has been happening most years since 2011. Pies baked have included black-bottom lemon, Key lime cheesecake with ginger cookie crust, and sour cherry marzipan with dark chocolate. This year's two pies didn't even need official judging; Salty Honey Pie and Cranberry Sage Pie (which became Cranberry Thyme, based on cupboard items) tied for the win with no questions. Whipped cream all around.
Both recipes came from this cookbook, fun to read and more fun to bake out of!

Photos from the Vincent Christmas in Goshen recently - where there was an abundance of good food.

The kids' Christmas present to Mark and me was a growler (which we filled with a red at a local brewery last week), inscribed with our names. The brewery man was impressed!

I had 4 days off for Christmas, with a short week, long, worthwhile drive to and from Wisconsin, and another 4 day weekend. The rest of this week could feel like a bit of a shock.

Tonight we said hello to 2017 and goodbye to my Mom (who flies home to Oregon Tuesday morning) with grilled Burgandy spoon steak and other festive foods, leaving plenty of leftovers to help with that shock.