Holiday TV Goodness Part 1

No time for a real recap but the Food Network has holiday specials coming out of its ears. The first one I saw was the Barefoot Contessa Holiday. It's essentially four episodes in one with a section on holiday cocktail parties, a section on cookies, a section on breakfast and a section on a big holiday meal. In the cocktail party, she makes spike apple cider, proscuitto with melon, and potato pancakes with caviar and creme fraiche. It's her usual assortment of Hamptons dowagers and the gay men they love. She's even deigned to invite Michael the florist. Usually Michael just comes to arrange flowers and leaves before the REAL guests come. Ina could use his help because as a cetnerpiece she decided to use dead branches from her yard and decorate it with rings of dessicated fruit. If anyone watch King of the Hill, think of Peggy's yard waste Thanksgiving centerpiece. Unlike 99% of the things Ina makes, this looks like hot buttered ass. The next section is her making jam thumbprints which she then delivers to her friends all over Easthampton. We get a lot of arty shots of the Easthampton country roads where the houses are worth the GDP of a small developing nation. She gets invited in by her trusty sidekick Barbara. All of this goodwill makes her think of her husband Jeffrey who will be missing out on her big dinner party so she will be making a special breakfast with large obnoxious table arrangements of fruit and holiday greenery. The only thing special about this breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast is the caviar on the eggs and the mimosas. Then again, you can forgive a lot with a mimosa in your hand. Finally she makes a big holiday dinner with a roast turkey, a spinach gratin, green beans, caramelized butternut squash, and raspberry cheesecake. The four children at the dinner look incredibly bored and don't join in on the traditional cooing over the meal.

BTW, J is insistent I post the recipe for the Meyer lemon vinaigrette. It's simply equal parts Reisling vinegar, Cilantro citrus oil, olive oil and Meyer lemon juice with salt and white pepper.