Friday, December 7, 2007

What the heck is Yule?

Hey yule over there! Happy Festivus already.

Does anyone else have the feeling that the holiday season will soon be the holiday trimester?

I'm pretty sure Costco had pallets of Christmas swag before the trick or treaters came a knockin'.

Anyone ever eat a Yule log? Sing songs that include Yuletide greetings? Do you know what you're eating? do you know what you're saying? I didn't think so.

Turns out the the term "Yule" dates back many years to aboriginal Scandinavians and meant "celebration of the winter solstice." I'm sure you already knew that, but it was news to me.

Well, I digress...

For the three of you that read this blog I want to share with you some of my favorite holiday treats in no particular order:

1) The twice-baked potato. I was raised on these delectable treats. Not sure why I like them so much, but its kinda like a potato eating a cheesy pastry then falling asleep in a tanning booth. All crispy and baked on the outside, fat and gooey on the inside. mmmmm mmmm good.

2) Spritz cookies. Not sure what I like more about these, the taste or the process. I'm pretty sure its the process since anything that requires a specialized "gun tool" is a-ok in my book. They taste good too and they give me a reason to use food coloring. Fun stuff.
3) Large format wine. This is another mystery to me, I'm just not sure why I like massive bottles of wine so much. I buy them, I horde them, but I rarely open them. The holidays represent a time when I can go the northwest corner of the wine cellar, find a big fat magnum, dust it off, and show my friends and family exactly how much I care...1.5Liters worth!
If you haven't been to Stevens Winery, you may want to schedule a visit soon. Their latest release, Stevens Merlot is arriving and Tim has a few magnums available for purchase.
Lastly, here is a shameless plug for my little venture, Northwest Exclusive where we seek out the best food and wine we can find from the Pacific Northwest, wrap it elegantly, and ship it all over the place on our customers' behalf. In fact I'll be hosting a dinner party tonight consisting of our Northwest Prime filet mignon and some fabulous NW wines . If you need some last minute holiday gifts let us know, we'll help you out.
Cheers
Scott