christmas and the end of holiday food (i hope)

the sisters and i were wishing that the holidays were split up more so the gluttony of food would be spread out throughout the year. but at least we're almost to the end of the holiday season. soon it'll be people packed into the gym in january and nothing to look forward to but summer. hope everyone had a wonderful christmas. ny got a nice blizzard so s2 got stuck here, hope everyone traveled safe and sound.

 xmas meal: scalloped potatoes (from the everything cookbook: not the most attractive thing when it's made, but very easy and yummy), french bread (from king arthur flour, also very easy to make and no knead!), mushrooms stuffed with brie, delish!), pepper crusted salmon with lemon and garlic, olive and rosemary bread (not sure where this is from, s4 made it), rum cake (self-explanatory deliciousness), buche de noel

the pioneer women cooks' rum cake is so so good. the pecans chopped on top and baked into the cake were delicious once the rum/butter/sugar glaze soaked into them. it was a bit difficult to stab the cake where the pecans were so next time pouring more of the syrup before the cake is flipped out of the bundt pan. it was also hilarious watching s2 pour an additional shot of rum onto her cake slice!

the mocha buche de noel is a bit more time consuming than the rum cake, but light and airy with a nice chocolate glaze that hardens when it dries. the added instant coffee really adds to the flavor.