Ghosts Of Boyfriends Past

Our December of 2003 book was Ghosts of Boyfriends Past by Carly Alexander.
 The door prize was a free plane ticket anywhere in the US to go visit an old boyfriend (just kidding…). But that is how we roll…

From the Publisher

'Tis the season to be single...
Madison Greenwood's first post-college Christmas is more Sex and the City than It's a Wonderful Life. Sure, she does the home-for-the-holidays thing, but with her cynical gay pal Leo tagging along, her mom confessing to an extramarital affair, and every guy she ever dated (or lusted after) in high school beating a hot path to her front door, the movie version of her life is anything but G-rated. Still, a girl's got to sow her wild oats while she can, right?
Five years later, Madison's more interested in nesting than sowing, and the Christmas of her twenty-sixth year finds her looking forward to the gift of a proposal. Her Scottish boyfriend, Ian, is picture-perfect...in an impressionistic sort of way. The idea of him -- his looks, his career, his to-die-for accent -- fuels fantasies of home, hearth, and a whole new life across the Pond. Too bad the reality is a sham. A married sham.
By the ripe old age of thirty-one, Madison would like to believe she's learned something about relationships. About what she really wants, and what she sure as hell doesn't need. As the holidays roll around once more, she's grateful, as always, for the blessing of good friends, but lonely for that one special person. The one she might just find under the mistletoe the minute she stops looking...

Lisa and Alisa served us a delicious Christmas dinner of beef tenderloin, creamed spinach, potato casserole, salad, and ice cream sundaes for dessert.
Appetizers were stuffed mushrooms and seafood potstickers.

Lisa's Potato Casserole

 ( Not sure  if this is the one I made but it is one i make sometimes.)

4-5 large baking potatoes sliced thin

1 large onion sliced in thin rings

1 pint of sour cream

1 brick of sharp cheddar cheese grated

In a greased 9x13 pan put a layer of potatoes (I put salt & pepper on each layer of potatoes)  next a layer of onion.....next dollop sour cream on the onions then a layer of cheese.  You should have at least 2 layers worth of ingredients if you have extra do another layer ending in the cheddar cheese.

Cover with foil & bake for about 1 hour...remove foil & bake till top layer of cheese is browned.   Bake at 350.

 

Lisa's Creamed Spinach

 

1 large bag of fresh spinach(from Costco...don't know how much that is) cooked & drained.

 Make a cream sauce from butter,flour & 1/2 & 1/2.....don't know measurements??

Add drained spinach to sauce.  add a dash of nutmeg & season with salt & pepper.

I sometimes add a white cheese( mozzarella or Monterrey jack) probably about 2 cups.  

 

I've told you before that although Lisa's recipes can sometimes be non-specific (as all really good cooks recipes are) they are worth trying cause they are always fabulous...

 

Lisa had her house decorated for Christmas as only Lisa can, with votives in glass globes with marbles and a gold bow at each place setting for us to take home as favors. The door prize was Godiva chocolates, a Sting CD, and a few other surprises. We also did our annual gift exchange with snow globes this year. (from the book, of course)

 

 

Next blog will skip to February 2004- and The DaVinci Code...great discussion book...