Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

And of course it rained yesterday, so no white Christmas here. All the snow from last weekend was washed away.

Our plans for the day are:

• Visit our neighbors across the road and next door
• Church service at 3:00pm in Jesteburg to watch the neighbor girl in the children's choir
• A small raclette for the two of us
• Call my parents in Minnesota after 10:00pm (3:00pm their time)

(All plans subject to impending labor pains, of course, since Mama is due in 3 days.)

The Jesteburg web site is in German, but there's a nice picture of the Niedersachsen Square.

Raclette: I never knew that a raclette web site existed... here's their recipe (but we're being cheap and are using Gouda cheese instead of the real stuff)

Authentic Raclette: The traditional recipe (for 4 people)

800 g Swiss Raclette cheese in slices
1 kg Raclette potatoes (small, even-sized potatoes).

Usual trimmings: gherkins, silverskin onions, mixed pickles, freshly milled pepper, paprika

Preparing and serving Swiss Raclette
Boil the potatoes in ther jackets. Line a basket or bowl with a napkin. Place cooked potatoes in basket and cover with napkin to keep them warm. Cut the Swiss Raclette cheese into pan-sized slices and arrange them on a dish. Place gherkins, onions and other trimmings in bowls and place with a pepper mill and paprika on the table.

The alpine farmers would place a half wheel of raclette cheese in front of a glowing fire and scrape the melted cheese directly onto steaming boiled potatoes or a piece of bread. Today, with the modern raclette oven, the preparation of raclette is one of the easiest meals to prepare. The raclette oven with individual grill pans is ideal for general home use. Raclette can also be prepared in the microwave or under the grill in a traditional oven.