Happy Epicurious!

Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Festivus (grin)... this time of year everyone has a holiday. I want to start a holiday for foodies. I'd call it... Epicurious!

Oh. Wait. That's a website. A great website. The web's most awesome resource for excellent recipes and more. DAMN I LOVE EPICURIOUS - I WISH IT COULD BE A HOLIDAY INSTEAD OF A WEBSITE!

Now I confess Epicurious as a holiday doesn't have the religious, historical or cultural significance of these other holidays. But Epicurious as a source of awesome recipes can't be beat. If you haven't tried it, you must.

Our holiday plans were a little different this year courtesy of the twin sisters, Frances and Jeanne. I used to cook Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinners, but a few years ago we started going out on Christmas Eve (to a place that was demolished by the hurricanes this year) and then cooking a big spread on Christmas Day at home for friends and family. But the usual lovely view from my little corner of the world is still disrupted by boxes all over the back porch (you do that when you have to rip all the insulation out of your attic and can't get a *!@?^%ing roofer) and other inconveniences, so we had Christmas Dinner at friends'. Can't say I ever remember having done that before...

Anyway, I still got to cook. But the pressure was on... my friend George owns a catering and special events business called Eventmakers, and we were able to score two cornerstones of a true Florida Christmas - stone crab claws and a whole beef tenderloin!

The stone crab was easy... crack and serve on ice. OK - it wasn't so easy for George, who spent three hours cracking! (Thanks, George).

My job was the tenderloin...



I'm not a timid chef, but YOU slide a whole tenderloin out of the cryopak and then stare at it trying to figure out how to trim it and see if YOU start to sweat. Thankfully, a combination of instructions courtesy of Julia Childs, coaching from Pat and a wonderfully simple recipe for Beef Tenderloin With Garlic Horseradish Cream Sauce from - you guessed it, Epicurious, and it was low risk, small effort and big reward!

Made a great Crab and Corn Chowder with Bacon the next day... so easy, but sooooo good.



(I won't say where I got the recipe, but you're a little slow if you can't guess by now).

All in all, a very nice Christmas, and an OUTSTANDING Epicurious shared with family and friends. What more does a man need?