Monthly Roundup: December – 2024 – Concord Culinary Lyceum

<–Nov 2024 HOME Jan 2025 –>

Last month of the year. Of course the month of December always comes with some significant meals, but I’m trying to watch my waistline so that I don’t enter the new year with a bigger than necessary resolution. I do have a visit from my dad and my son’s birthday to celebrate so there is no chance of going light at the start or the end, so that’s when you will see the good food.

December 1
Breakfast in Rowley, MA at Three Sweet Peas. It was the largest sausage, egg, and cheese sandwich I ever saw, but it was pretty good. I didn’t eat the whole thing.

December 3
My Dad and Elias arrived today for a visit. They had a big lunch. So we had a simple dinner of cheese and accompaniments from The Cheese Shop in Concord, now under new ownership. Selections included Priest XO from Sweden and one of my favorites, Le Secret de Compostelle, also a Bread Obsession baguette.

December 4
Whenever I have out of town guests, I take them to Karma. Tonight we had the calamari, salt and pepper wings, and sushi.

December 7
We went to the Holiday Pops this morning and then to brunch at Abe & Louie’s. I didn’t intend to have chowder, but couldn’t resist. It was excellent. Then I had the Abe’s Monsieur which is a croque monsieur but with filet instead of ham. The filet was amazing, but over all it had too much bread and the cheese wasn’t melty enough. I got an egg on top but it was comically small.

December 8
My dad requested I make German food for his last dinner in town. I braised a pork shoulder and served it over braised red cabbage with mustard sauce and a pan gravy. I also made German potato salad, but didn’t like how it turned out.

December 10
We finally tried Nouve Bakery in Lexington. I got the pain suisse which was excellent. For dinner I made chicken thigh with the leftover mustard sauce. I served it over mashed potatoes and topped it with sauteed spinach and caramelized onions. It was amazing.

December 12
I had leftover broth from the German pork shoulder and I used that as the base for Ramen. I added pork chop, scallion, chinese sausage, and noodles. So it wasn’t traditional, but it was very good.

December 13
We had one of our favorite dinners, Mario’s meatball sub and Mediterranean salad. After dinner we went across the street to Rancatore’s and tried Christmas Coal ice cream which might be my new favorite flavor. It is peppermint ice cream with Oreos in it. Oh so good.

December 14
We went Christmas shopping tonight. Before we did, we stopped at 80 Thoreau for dinner. After shopping we went to Tony C’s for wings.

December 19
Michael and I went to dinner at Mooo tonight. We shared an uninspiring burger at the bar. It just didn’t have a lot of flavor. I wouldn’t get it again.

December 25
Merry Christmas. As is my tradition, I made a beef tenderloin. I cooked it at a low roast then seared it. We enjoyed it with a 2012 Stags Leap Cask 23 which was amazing.