Wilfrid

Fool, defrost the bacon and the pain because there will be breakfast on the 26th too.

Christmas Day breakfast, I am torn between duck egg and bacon and low-carb pain au chocolat. Need to decide because other than duck eggs stuff is frozen.

The crown of duck is very large, very expensive and delicious. Perfectly tender with crisp skin. My daughter and I ate every last piece. That's a marathon which means the later slices had cooled down; not a big deal. It came with an outstanding parsnip mash, chard with pine nuts and some kind of jam. Preceded by bombolini and a crepe with blue crab and tarragon. Followed by the famous duck dessert and cheeses. Given the price of the duck, it was easy to get to $200 a head. Daughter now old enough to pick up the cost of the car home.

I finally have an accomplice for tonight so we'll get our hands on the duck. I am ashamed I haven't visited since May.

The last of the pounti with super-crisp scrapple. After failures in years gone by I am now confident about crisping my scrapple. On a roll with home cooking this week; pick-up cheeseburger tomorrow.

I made another batch of the almond flour batter I used for pounti (see Supper), this time with only prunes chopped into it; served as pancakes with low carb Agave syrup.

Opened 1971. Jimmy passed away during the first round of COVID. Almost 50 years there; his son re-opened it. One of his sons.

Fette Sau closing 12/21. Years since I've been.

This might easily be missed: Left-Handed Girl on Netflix. Set around a Taipei night market noodle stall (so there's plenty of food), an unbearably charming five-year old girl runs riot. Strongly recommended. Also on Netflix, The Beast In Me is not usually my kind of thing, but I was sucked in by the cast. All good performances, however improbable the plot and settings. Claire Danes really gets to chew the scenery. And then there's the ridiculously under-utilized Aleyse Shannon.

I just saw this: Jimmy's Corner under threat. I don't know where I would begin to share memories of that place.

I use almond flour to avoid some carbs. Any flour you can make a batter from would work.

I am not a big pancake fan but that almond flour batter came out so well I am making plans for weekend breakfast.

Leftover pernil from Thanksgiving (via freezer) means pounti, the great Auverngat sweet/sour cake. The pork with prunes, chard, grated cheese, chopped bacon and onions and chives, in a simple batter (I use almond flour). Followed by Ilha Graciosa, my cheese of the year.

Buck Rogers was 82.

I have no idea what is wrong with being cold, wet and miserable. You won't win this one Mitch.

And Cal Reiner made it to 98. 💔

Not expecting to go out tomorrow. Although I do need some ingredients for pounti. That's like a block away.

Feels like 5. It's 54 in Barcelona.

The Sarah Sherman comedy special on HBO rewards attention. "Sarah Sherman: In the Flesh." I was not a particular fan of her super weird-out stuff she is occasionally allowed to do on SNL. But I didn't hate it. This special is built around a live stand-up set with a prelude (Hi, John Walters). It's absurdly vulgar and gross, of course. The only time I winced and looked away was a bit about a hang nail. But I was so impressed by what she was able to do. An hour of high velocity stand-up is nothing new. Accompanying every line with precise, fluid and extreme physical comedy? Wow. And producing her sound effects on stage with a bunch of pedals at the same time? I don't remember seeing a performance like this. Oh and it's often funny. I'm impressed.

With lovely MTM.

Only 88 here. https://youtu.be/w4NodroBtXQ?si=85GVnpEXN5d1w1p7

I stayed up too late watching his dance routines on YouTube.

Minutes away and everyone is calling it already. Dick Van Dyke, happy 100th birthday 🎂 From being a child, watching reruns of the Dick Van Dyke show on British TV (and having premature thoughts about Mary Tyler Moore) through Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to realizing what a really good guy he has been. Will post the obvious clip but hopefully more in days to come.

Takes me back to my long ago student days. I was present when my doctoral supervisor assigned some reading to an undergraduate. She responded, "Is it long?" He said, "I can't promise that you can learn philosophy without reading a long book."