Our first hosting of Christmas in NC for the Berridge clan gathers steam. Yesterday Rob and I played doubles with Z and Patrick, then I made a vegetarian enchilada pie for everyone before dashing to RDU to pick up Kevin. Today we will try to balance late young adult wakeups with Mary's very sensible desire for a walk in the woods at Brumley and the long time it takes to cook this enormous pork roast.
It appears I have neglected to tell the tale of the pork roast so let me lay it out here for posterity. In accord with her ongoing effort to have us eat less meat and also Rob's near vegan "flexetarianism" (he tries not to eat meat or cheese but will stoop to anything -- including eating meat -- to make sure food is not thrown away) -- Mary and Natalie decided that they would be making vegan and vegetarian galettes, respectively, while I would be permitted to make a "small pork roast." Pork because it has a lower carbon footprint than beef or lamb.
Unfortunately, by the time they decided this it was too late to order something from the fancy hipster butcher out at Saxapahaw. They had all this beautiful things like bacon-wrapped porchetta that were expensive but just right. On Friday I ended up in Carrboro -- I'll spare you that story for today -- and stopped into Weaver Street to get Mary her favorite breakfast bread (walnut raisin). Master foodie Chad has long sworn by Cliff's meat market, so I went over there (not without moving my car to avoid the parking Nazis currently roaming the Carr Mill parking lot to generate big commissions).
Upon consultation, the guys in Cliff's told me that for a group of eight diners, a six- or seven-pound bone-in loin roast was just right. It was also the only one they had in the case and I didn't have the heart to tell them to cut it down into two pale shadows of itself. So I came home with the largest hunk of meat I have ever purchased, a far cry from the "small roast" that was authorized by our queen of the kitchen. I hid it deep in the meat drawer and then sprung it on Mary when she was in a good mood.
Turns out, Kevin has to fly back to NYC on Xmas day to see some of his people so he will miss Christmas dinner, and he was going to be one of my main carnivore allies at the table. So I am cooking it today.
Oh yeah, I neglected to mention that, Tuesday or Wednesday evening, we all received instruction from Sadie and Natalie that there would be family PowerPoint night on Xmas eve. There was light grumbling in some quarters, primarily amongst those for whom PowerPoint (or the Google analog) presents a technical challenge. That's not me, but I have neglected to get my shit organized thus far and am not 100% certain what I will be presenting on. I'll figure it out.
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