Christmas Dinner

I'm better at food than I am at computers. This is saved on my desktop right-side-up, but blogspot likes it this way. Sideways or no, this was a great Christmas dinner! I marinated the pork rib roast overnight in citrus juice and zest, garlic cloves speared with clove cloves, fennel seeds, a lot of bay leaves, and some gin (the recipe called for juniper berries but we couldn't find those at the store), and Mom seared it and roasted it. The salad is Mom's favorite, greens with avocado, grapefruit, and balsamic vinaigrette. Valerie made a delicious brussels sprouts gratin, and Bob and Nancy brought wonderful cheesy scalloped potatoes and a caprese salad. It was all so delicious.
Aside from marinating the meat, my contribution was to bake a whiskey chocolate bundt cake (not pictured), from the NYTimes. I did my best to screw it up but it was still moist and flavorful.
Also not pictured is the pre-dinner cheese course. Craig and I paid to check a bag for the express purpose of bringing 4 cheeses (well, OK, we also brought Dad a six-pack of Southern Tier's Old Man Winter), a goat gouda, Great Hill blue, morbier, and a wonderfully stinky aged fontina from the Valle d'Aosta. We washed those down with a Wisconsin beer, Central Waters' Bourbon Barrel Stout, not a bargain but well worth the price if you can get it!