It’s the day after Christmas, so that means The Week Between has commenced. December 26th for us is usually just hanging around the house, eating leftovers, and watching TV.

We hosted dinner last night and I was annoyed with myself for forgetting to take a pic of the rib roast after it came off the grill. But I just check my E-PL5 and that was not, in fact, the case: I did take a pic! Thanks afternoon drinks!

My dad has been ordering from Pat LaFrieda for a long time, and even when we switched over to Rhonda and I hosting the holiday dinners, he continued to buy the star of the show in the form of an aged roast. This was a 30-day aged roast, and I can see from previous entries in Day One that this has been our go-to roast for years. I will confess to wanting to try it low and slow in the spare oven upstairs next time; I’ve been sous viding and grilling the roast, which I like, but I would really like those chewy, well-done bits that you get with a dry roast. They are also hard to wrestle into a bag. I split the roast and the bones into two bags and everything worked out fine! I will say that this is surely the best meat I’ve eaten. We’re lucky to be able to host with such a superstar centerpiece!

I always make breakfast on the griddle for the family on Christmas Day; our tradition has been pancakes forever, and it’s nice to be able to use all the space on the Blackstone to make a big pile of pancakes at once. Bacon too, of course.

Aaron said something about making egg nog earlier in the week, so I looked up a recipe on Serious Eats and gave it a shot. The first batch I made featured some cheap cognac we’d gotten for making sidecars; Aaron really liked it. I made a bigger batch yesterday, and made a virgin portion for Joe and Sorayah, and then used Goslings Black Seal Rum for the big-kid version. Aaron preferred the rum version, and it was also very good.

Aaron and I were talking about photography a bit yesterday since we got him a cheap point-and-shoot. He asked about aperture and I snuck this pick while grilling because of the sun and its angle against the cars, and what the whack TT Artisans might do with all that sidewise light. Serious lens flare but interesting in its way.

Bellview Winery had, for a long while, a melty brie platter on their menu. It featured DiBruno Bros brie, and we loved it and ordered it many times. They don’t offer that one anymore, which is heartbreaking, but we manage. Our recent trip to Cedar Rose winery, however, revealed their take on the dish.

Rhonda’s been making a version ever since we went there, and made it at home both Tuesday and Wednesday nights.