We kicked off our Christmas break with a family tradition that's easily become our favorite - a night in the kitchen known as Jorgensen Top Chef. It was Beau's idea three years ago - we each pick a dish we'd like to make and vote for our favorites in taste and presentation/creativity. Whoever wins gets to open the first gift of Christmas - a new board game to play together. Every year we seem to get better at coordinating and it's fun to see the kids become more skillful in the kitchen. It is my hope our love of cooking and serving and the togetherness felt as we congregate around the island and smell and taste and laugh carries through for years to come. I can always picture it - both of them coming home from college someday ready to impress us with something they've learned to cook or a new dish they've tried and want to recreate. Or maybe Cruz will just want to make ham balls again. ;)
This year's menu included a Christmas wreath fruit pizza (me), a "fryder", aka, slider burger served on fried potato slices (Beau), ham balls (Cruz), and chocolate dessert tacos (Mila). Cruz took his recipe selection very seriously and spent the night before rewriting it word-for-word so he could have it in front of him. Mila, she just wanted to make something that would win, hence the dessert AND taco selection. And Beau, he always goes for the most inventive, the most creative. All week he had been bragging that he was going to win, and all week I secretly wondered if he had forgotten who he was cooking for!
We presented our dishes progressively, which makes the night slow, fun, and stress-free. I prepared my fruit pizza ahead of time so I could help the kids with their dishes. Everything was really very good this year, but the fruit pizza and ham balls were my favorite. Mila won for best presentation with her chocolate tacos, and Cruz and I tied for best taste. And although Beau's fryders came up short, he won the affection from the kids who felt sorry for his lack of votes. We all decided next year he could have the dessert category!
Pictures from a top night...
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