We had twelve people (including ourselves) at the house for Christmas dinner.  Usually in our family, holiday meals are potluck affairs, with two or three dishes being prepared by the host and the rest brought by guests.  But I cooked more food yesterday than ever before in a single day -- with the possible exception of my brief stint as a short-order cook at the base NCO club.  We also used more dishes, pots, pans and other cooking implements than ever before.  I can't even begin to describe the exhaustion I felt at the end of the day.

Such was the Wife's statement to me at dinner tonight.  Yet she didn't finish more than a few of the meatballs in her bowl.  I'm pretty sure I know why.

I usually make meatballs with a mix of ground meat (sometimes beef, sometimes turkey), egg (or egg substitute), bread crumbs and some combination of herbs and spices.  For some reason, tonight I opted to substitute leftover cream of potato and broccoli soup for the egg.  We were also out of pre-made bread crumbs, so I used matzoh meal instead.  I then popped them into the pan with a bit of oil on medium-high heat and fried them up.

The resulting meatballs were indeed delicious, but unfortunately ended up mushy.  Although they didn't fall apart during cooking or immediately upon poking one's fork into them, they lacked that firm cohesion the egg would normally lend.  When given a choice between flavor and texture, however, I think texture tends to win out (part of why I can't eat oatmeal).

I suppose any number of my more culinarily inclined Friends could have warned me of this ahead of time, had I but given them the opportunity.  C'est la vie.

My MySpazz friend Ayita (who could teach us all a thing or two about dressing for one's spouse's fetishes) tagged me, and I have to write ten things about me and food. 

1. If you're going to have a bar called "Chicago Freddie's" and you opt to flank the front door with life-sized statues of the Blues Brothers, make sure they're wearing shades, jackass.

2. One-hundred degree temperatures and palm trees cause a weird visual disconnect when they are backed by snow-capped mountains.

3. Rich people suck balls.  Driving to the law office with one of my compadres, we passed a public elementary school. "Look around, you, Jimmy," I said.  "There's all these beautiful golf courses, manicured lawns, fountains everywhere; the money and engineering to make this wasteland green is astounding.  Then why the fuck are they forcing their kids to play on sand and dirt!?"

4. Last night's meal was delicious all around.  A Caesar salad (can we spot a trend here?) followed by a large, well seasoned NY strip steak, mashed potatoes (including skins, thank you!) and grilled asparagus, washed down with two Fat Tire beers.  Unfortunately, we got there late enough that the kitchen was closed before we got a chance to order dessert.