St. Lawrence Market

Yesterday afternoon, Graham called me a half hour before he was *supposed* to be done work, to tell me that he could leave early!  We had plans to go to the Market to get groceries on Saturday, but since he was done early, we could head into the city, get groceries for Christmas dinner today and spend the day relaxing tomorrow instead.  Sounds good to me!

The plan is for me to take care of breakfast and Graham will take care of lunch/dinner.  Sounds good to me again!  He had some ideas floating around, with one REQUIREMENT from me...English style roast potatoes.  If you've never had these, please come round for dinner...they are TO DIE FOR.  You basically boil the potatoes for 8 mins, drain them, let them steam and then shake them like crazy in the pot.  They get all rough and fluffy on the outside.  Then put them in a roasting pan, with oil/garlic/rosemary in the oven (don't know what temp off hand) and let them get DELCIOUSLY crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.  Really, I love these SO much, I could just eat these for dinner, with gravy of course!

We drove in, him making a menu plan.  He decided on Jamie Oliver's Jerk Ham, his Get-Ahead-Gravy, Gordon Ramsay's Chili and Tumeric Roast Potatoes, Jamie's Red Cabbage Braised with Apple, Honey Roast Parsnips (Graham's own creation) and whatever we could come up with for dessert, as we can't find jelly roll for a Christmas Bombe anywhere here!

We got some amazing meat and produce at the Market, including a 10lb leg of pork for the Jerk Ham!  We know that it will be WAY too much food for the two of us, but we hope for leftovers for sandwiches for next week.  The butcher was even so nice to give us chicken bones for our gravy FOR FREE!  YAY!

We also got some RIDICULOUSLY good items for when Mom and Dad are here for New Year's.  We always plan on snacks, healthy skewers and either breads, salads, cheeses etc.  We got two DELICIOUS cheeses, some yummy aged salami, rosemary crackers, hummus, olives, pickles and veggies!  Can't WAIT!

Needless to say, my mouth is already watering for Christmas dinner and New Year's.  We are trying to plan what to have New Year's Eve as well, for when Kathryn, Gary and Brayden come over, but for now, at least those two are done!  Let's hope it tastes as good as the pictures look!