What's the most indulgent thing you ate/drank over the holidays?

[adroit_minx]

I just did a mental calculation, and I'm pretty sure I ate over 2 lbs. of cheese in the last 2 weeks, including a half wheel of Cowgirl's Red Hawk, at least 6 ounces of this amazingly pungent and oozy Taleggio, and throw in some Brie de Meaux and assorted blue cheeses in the mix as well. This is not to mention all the wine and bubbly I washed it down with.

So please, make me fell better... what did all you 'Hounds out there indulge in over the holidays?

[clean plate]

Still paying for on the treadmill,the 7-layer cookies I ate over the holidays.Gramcracker crust,sweeted condensed milk,choc chips,nuts,cocanut,ice cold _1%_ milk lol......

[misterbrucie]

Take a pound of dark chocolate truffles (say from Harry & David) and melt them.
Take a pint of good whipping cream and whip it.
Pour the truffle syrup into the whipped cream.
Pour that into an oreo crust and refrigerate.

Simple, but man oh man. You can practically feel your arteries congealing while you eat.

[nyclibkat]

Here's was what was supposed to be an appetizer:
Calmyrna figs soaked overnight in pinot noir - they turned a deep purple and soaked up so much that they were at least twice the size of the dried fig, if not more. Then, an X was cut in the top, and stuffed with a mixture of marscarpone and gorgonzola. The whole thing was then wrapped in a slice of prosciutto.

Decedent. After each of us ate one, we all had to take an hour break before eating anything else. It was almost too much. Almost : >

[foodie_girl]

One of the richest and most sinful desserts I have eaten over the holiday was a slice of ganache (chocolate and cream) with 5 raspberries.

[orangewasabi]

I'm still eating brown rice and salad and tea trying to detox from the holidays.

We were in Paris on holiday so decadent is a relative thing. The toppers were:
- the 9 course lunch at Taillevent with matching wines for every course (it took us more than 4 hours to eat)
- the chocolate tour of 7 high end chocolatiers (I was dizzy about half way thru)
- one day I ate a box full of Laduree Macaroons -- by the end, I couldn't see straight.
And I am so not totally up how many pounds of cheese I ate, though my dh estimates he ate 4.5 kilos of foie gras over a two week period

I'll probably be eating salad until the end of the month.

[ML in Naperville IL]

Oh my gosh. This is what was going on in my kitchen:
-- Lobster Eggs Benedict on New Year's Day. And memosas.
-- Two-pound lobsters and rib-eye hearts on New Year's Eve. Plus too much bubbly.
-- Prime Rib, Yorkshire Pudding, horseradish mashed potatoes, roasted baby carrots, arugula salad for Christmas evening. Merlot, merlot everywhere.
-- Pancake breakfast Christmas morning.
-- Crab-stuffed jumbo shrimp, broiled tomatoes (stuffed with diced zukes and squash), basil-pesto cheese tortilini for Christmas Eve. Drank pinot like crazy.
-- Wonderful fruit and wine and cheese spreads during X-mas eve and X-mas, including some to-die-for gouda and manchego from Zingerman's.
-- Cheesecake Factory cheesecake and an incredible Yule Log cake.
-- Christmas cookies and peppermint bark up to our eyeballs.
-- And we took everyone out to eat one night at Rosebud for Italian.

I'm not eating again until March. Thank you.

[fooddiva]

foie gras...which was incredible and an entire banana pudding which I managed to eat a tablespoon at a time!! LOL!

[ArtemisNYC]

I went to a Polish christening party around the holidays and inhaled variations on meat and cabbage - kielbasa with sauerkraut, rolled-up cabbage with pork, and more kielbasa. The host makes his own sausages, so I can't even fathom eating a Hillshire Farms kielbasa after that experience. It was all luxe, fatty goodness.

[jody]

Krispy Kreme bread pudding! (bread pudding made with krispy kreme donuts...and yes, this took place in the south).
Yikes!

[danna]

First weekend in Dec, at various restaurants around Charleston, SC: mascarpone gnocci, vanilla cupcake, pistachio gelato, lobster grilled cheese sandwich, foie gras with a glass of sauternes, a whole loaf of bread, beignets and crawfish etoufee.

Team Christmas party: melted Callabaut hot chocolate and mexican wedding cookies.

Rest of the month of December: all the rest of the double batch of mexican wedding cookies.

General Christmas baking: candied ginger cookies, chocolate cookies of doom, german chocolate cake, chocolate babka, fudge

Mom's Brunch: 6 biscuits w/ ham and assorted homemade jams.

pre-Christmas dinner w/ husband at L'Etoile, Madison: Carpaccio, Walleye, selection of artisan cheese, Champagne.

The next morning at L'Etoile's bakery: almond croissant, pain au chocolate (yes. both. by myself.)

New Year's Eve weekend (it gets bad here): Ciabatta fresh from the brick oven, chocolate chip scone, Cinamon Schnapps cupcake, seared tuna w/ avacado creme, raspberry filled chocolate cupcake w/ vanilla buttercream.

So....not very indulgent from a luxe ingredient standpoint, but OH MY GOD, the pastry!!

[thegolferbitch]

Lest I forget (though my hips will not) a dozen macaroons and a huge bar of 70% dark chocolate in one dizzying evening.

Oh, and a bottle of Oban, but that was between Christmas and New Years.

[rogersh]

The large jar of foie gras, and the various cheeses my brother and sister-in law brought us from France...

[IndyGirl]

Tons of wine and cheese. I would die if I knew the calorie count, I'm sure.

Also plenty of chocolate truffles and chocolate oblivion truffle torte from The Cake Bible.

[ericalloyd]

a pound of rainbow cookies, literally
lost count of how many potato latkes
hogged a delicious 2004 rosenblum paso robles zin all for myself

[Infomaniac]

I'm not sure how indulgent these are but I only get them once or twice a year. Cod tounges fried in salt pork, with mashed potatos and some peas.

[ali patts]

outside the veuve-cliquot, charles heidseck, ch. lascombe and rauzan-segla... a bottle of delamain vesper disappeared. And the 3kg bag of valrhona 64% chocolate chip things is now empty with the white bag well on it's way. I'm better off not thinking about where all that went! Plus the fillet steak, venison loin, scallops, turbot and langoustines, not to mention the Christmas pud!

[chef chicklet]

Well definitley I over did the champagne. but I made the oyster with spnach and champagne sabayon... rich
And an apple clafoutti -(sp)that was really rich.
Stuffed mushrooms - fontina, procuitto, garlic and mozzerella
I don't want anymore of those for awhile, I ate way too many.
Shrimp, shrimp, and more shrimp
i'm in pain thinking about it!

[limster]

1976 Von Simmern, Erbacher Marcobrunn Riesling Auslese
1995 Domaine G. Roumier, Bonnes-Mares (and the'89)

(and hopefully a 1983 Ch. Margaux in a few weeks time....)

[bryan]

will you marry me?

[SauceSupreme]

I made pan-seared chilean seabass as well as a nice Christmas paella (love all those reds and greens!)

[Lichtblau]

Braised veal cheek with a subtle black truffle sauce garnsihed with [drum roll please] veal marrow.

[AmandaEd]

Mmm! We had veal marrow with our NYE oysters and steak frites with mustard demi-glace and an awesome '96 Carneros Pinot. The marrow otally tipped the meal right over the edge, but it was so fantastic!

[jenniebnyc]

ughh where to begin. over a three week period:

mom's homemade cheese/onion/potato pierogi served with butter and fried onion and whole fat sour cream

mom's potato pancakes

homemade lasagne with bolognese and bechamel

stuffed cabbage

beef wellington

cannoli cake

molten chocolate cake with ciao bella pistachio ice cream

every truffle and xmas cookie you can imagine

I can't go on....

Today:

coffee, salad, yogurt and turkey meatloaf.

[spades]

I slammed back about 100 oysters in the span of less than 24 hours. All different kinds.

I also got a nice bottle of barolo as a gift which I drank all by my lonesome with a hunk of parmesan and Felino salami.

[OCAnn]

Lots of home-made eggnog with Christmas dinner.

[ipsedixit]

Homemade tartiflette, with generous helpings of reblochon cheese and crème fraiche.

My arteries have yet to recover ...

[AmandaEd]

ipsedixit, did you make the Les Halles recipe? It's a dangerously decadent dish!

[Snackish]

A lemon-raspberry trifle with cardamom cream that I made for a party.

The lemon cake was lemon pound cake from the Payard dessert cookbook, brushed with a lemon syrup on one side and raspberry jam on the other.

I had some I couldn't fit into the serving bowl and saved it for "later." Ate wayyyyy too much at one sitting.

[Seth Chadwick]

There was a moment of bliss when I had the following combination:

Food: Arizona dates stuffed with Arizona pistachios and wrapped in bacon, baked until the bacon was crisp.

Drink: A bottle of chilled Jackson-Triggs Vidal Ice Wine from Canada.

That was just a wonderful moment of sheer indulgence.

[cheryl_h]

Why is the question phrased in the past tense? We're still indulging in holiday food and will continue until the 3 pounds of chocolate truffles are gone. And the cheese drawer (currently occupied by artisinal cheeses from California plus some European) which is still overflowing is empty. We decided to pass on the rest of the lemon mascarpone cheesecake and move onto the Gramercy Tavern gingerbread. With hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows.

Tonight we'll eat the second lobster meal of the week, and probably the third will be on Friday. As far as I'm concerned the holidays extend to Martin Luther King day.

[emilief]

Had a most delicious torta from Italy- about 8 layers of gorgonzola and marscapone, accompanied by foie gras pate and my homemade cranberry vodka.

[kloomis]

Ug- all the leftovers have been th worst for me... Thank god for my extra freezer. But I do have to admit, I had half a cheescake left from New Years party, and rather than throw it out, I have most of it yesterday for lunch. But, my DH ate about 14 leftover eggrolls (his mother made from scratch) for dinner last night. I'm one of those people that hates to throw food out, so I'll eat it... and my dog has been a very happy pup.

[Will Owen]

The indulgence isn't over yet at Castle Owen, since the massive choucroute garni I made for NY Day, the one we were gonna bring over to the parents' house that evening, never went there because both Mrs. O and her ma came down with miserable colds. So I put everything into the oval faux-Creuset pot and stuck it in the fridge until this weekend. Gratification delayed is all to the good in this case, since (a) my arteries can probably use a break, and (b) this is one of those dishes that benefits greatly from rest and reheating, and I've never had the patience to do that before. The other indulgence attached to that dish, by the way, was simply the trip to the German deli (Schreiner's in Montrose, for those of you in the LA area), where I allowed myself to choose from the butcher case based entirely on what would be wonderful rather than what would be not too expensive. We might starve towards the end of the month, but we're gonna get fat first!

Christmas offered my first roast goose in eons, thanks to pa-in-law, and he also dragged from his cellar two bottles of a '64 Nuits-St.-George for which we had but slim hopes, and one turned out to be very nice and the other splendid. I'm still feeling strangely blissful about that.

[JoCreek]

Special Christmas for us this year. My Step-Mother-Inlaw joined us for the first time for Christmas in 10 years since the passing of my Father-in-Law at Christmas time when we were last together for the holiday.

So indulgence was the word of the day!

First meal on her arrivel with some very close friends, who knew both, consisted of me cooking & serving a somewhat French Meal:

Apps: Rosemary Toasted Mixed Nuts & Triple Creme French Cheese, with pepper crackers and Champagne

Amuse: Foie Gras stuffed Figs, baked and glazed with Saba

Entree: A 3 day cooked Daube, served with Roasted Glazed Root Vegtables and a Mixed Salad with a Myer lemon vinigertte.

Dessert: An Eli's Cheescake which was a gift.

All served with a Magnum Bottle of a 1978 Robert Mondavi Cabernet that my Father-in-law bequethed to us, and had been given to him as a special gift through his work.

Great Stories and Memories were had!

Other Indulgent meals I cooked while she was here consisted of:

Radiccio & Gorgonzola Pasta with Salad and Garlic Bread

Prime Rib, with Mushroom and Creme Stuffed Baked Potatoes-Xmas Eve

Eggs Benidict with Roast Beef and Bearnaise, X-mas Brunch

Veal Piccatta, just because I ALWAYS must make this when she visits!

Assorted Baked goods.

It was a very memorable Christmas for us. And yes we did go out!

Happy New Year Chowhound!

[danna]

thanks for sharing that. I enjoyed the read.

[jdub1371]

For my NYE party, I stuffed endive leaves with a half & half combination of taramasalata and marscarpone and garnished them with capers and long, thin shreds of lemon zest (right out of a holiday appetizers magazine). The creamy, salty flavors mitigated the bitterness of the endive (much in the way the combination of bleu cheese and walnuts does) and it was delicious. I also made pecans sandwiched with pimiento cheese, rosemary toasted walnuts, dill dip (cream cheese, sour cream, fresh dill, scallions, salt-- excellent!) with Ruffles (and crudites), ham biscuits, curry chicken filo turnovers, hella spicy chipotle hummus, meatballs with mint, currants and sesame seeds (big hit), bite-sized chunks of salmon marinated in soy sauce and maple syrup, heavily peppered and baked briefly in a hot, hot oven (even bigger hit!) and a veal and pork terrine. Half my guests called to tell me they were down with bad colds and couldn't make it, but the rest of us had fun.

[julietg]

My parents are coffee illiterate, and when I went to make some for our 20 guests on Christmas, I discovered that the whole coffee maker was encrusted in mold. Blech.

So we put out the Caramel Bailey's, the Starbucks liqueur, and amaretto for dessert instead.

Ahhhh that Starbucks liqueur. I love the feeling of being drunk AND awake!

[adroit_minx]

Now that's what I call "turning a frown upside down!"

[rosielucchesini]

Where do I begin??? Foie gras, wine, dungeness crab w/melted butter, sourdough and no-knead bread (the latter of which I took down the entire loaf by my lonesome), wine, cheeses, italian sausage and other italian cold-cuts, risotto w/gorgonzola, truffled mashed potatoes, wine, too many deserts to count, fondue, sauerbraten (sp?), latkes, pumpkin pancakes, and before I forget, lots of wine.
And the sad things is, I'm sure I forgot quite a few things. The diet officially started yesterday: I am laying off the vino for a while and minimizing my carbs, yes, even the healthy, whole grain ones.
But, I have no regrets. I'm sure I gained the 'seasonal seven'in the last week alone. It was fantastic.

[adroit_minx]

What's "no-knead bread?" Once again I probably sound lame, but I had to ask.

[rose water]

No, you don't sound lame. You just sound like you don't spend every living moment on the Home Cooking board. Your answer and much much more can be found here: http://www.chowhound.com/search/std?q...

The short answer is that there was a recipe for a crusty, fantastic bread in the NY Times recently. It is simple, with excellent results, and it's gotten everybody and their mother out baking bread. My variation, with rosemary, thyme, and kalamata olives, topped with ricotta from Arthur Ave (little Italy in the Bronx) is decadent and delicious, and has swiftly become breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[bengoshi]

The "No Knead" bread is also a must make, and I think I made 4 or five loaves over the holiday.

BTW, I found the recipe worked great for Baguette. I bought one of those baguette pans and used taht instead of a dutch oven for a Boule. Works great!

Also, experiment with the recipe using flours from the King Arthur's website. They have some great bread flours, including French style, perfect for baguette, high glutton for "Artisinal" breads, etc. Man, do I love that recipe.

[rosielucchesini]

rosewater...please share the specifics of how you added the rosemary, thyme and kalamata olives. my only foray into variations has been w/adding walnuts. your version sounds heavenly!

[rose water]

Okay, you motivated me to finally post about this. I'm moving this conversation over to the home cooking board: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/357058

[revsharkie]

My mom and I made spaghetti and meatballs a couple nights after Christmas and pretty much made two bottles of good Pacific Northwest wine go away by ourselves (did share a glass of one of them with my dad just so he wouldn't feel totally left out).

I made a bunch of Irish Cream to give as gifts and ended up with about a liter left, which I took care of quite handily over the course of several days.

Other than that it was just the general, normal holiday overindulgence: my grandma's cookies and candy, my chef cousin's Christmas dinner, too much of just about everything; and then we were sent home with a cooler full of leftovers.

My mom makes these really good Greek cookies with sesame seeds and after my sister took what she wanted (they're her favorite) I got the rest.

The diet started today.

[bengoshi]

With some time to cook, Braised EVERYTHING, from All About Braising (Molly Stevens).
Braised Pork Chops in Creamy Cabbage (2+ inch thick chops, from Florence Meat Market in NY)
Veal Polpettone Braised in Tomato Sauce. Etc.

Lobster Fra Diavolo

Three Rib Prime Rib Roast - Prime Cut, aged from Florence Meats. Slow roasted with garlic and herbs. Prime rib sandwiches, with horshradish sauce and sauteed onions/mushrooms, day two.

10 lbs of Duroc Pork Ribs, from Heritage Foods, BBQd low and slow.

Diet started this evening.

[Val]

Isn't that creamy cabbage just the sh**? I love it more than the pork chops in that recipe!

[adroit_minx]

I so need to try the creamy cabbage....

[bengoshi]

Well, the 'Creme' in the Creamy cabbage is Creme Fraiche, so, yeah, its the Sh** alright!

[QueenB]

A pound of my great-grandfather's recipe of peanut butter-chocolate fudge.
Creme caramel (3 of them - but not all in the same night)
Brisket
Homemade Chicken Fried Steak with Cream Gravy for Mr. B's birthday.
Mr. B's chocolate birthday cake with vanilla gelato.
Lots of wine and champagne.

[LaLa]

I ate a whole thing of camembert cheese...in one sitting.

http://www.shoplateda.com/

[sivyaleah]

Not overwhelmingly indulgent but something I hadn't come across before - a goat cheese which had honey running through it. Yum!

[rabaja]

Foie gras, black truffles, vin santo, goose rillete, duck mousse, dungeness crab, caviar, good vodka and sugar, sugar, sugar. Not in that order.

[icey]

where do you find vin santo? i had had it in italy with cantucci, but havent found it in canada.

[AmandaEd]

They sell it fairly frequently through Vintages at the LCBO.

[HillJ]

Tried caviar for the first time and loved it.
Ate at least 3 dozen of the 40 dozen Rugelach I made during the holiday
Drank alot of wine :)

[Veggo]

I yawned through an Epoisses and spooned a crock of St. Marcellin, then my luck changed. I stumbled upon a Limburger (Knirps) that was so rotten, so fetid, so malodorous, so ammoniated, coated in a yellowish-brown slime, that I felt compelled to return to the store where I purchased it... and buy the last 3 in stock. Ambrosia.

Veggo

[Elizzie]

Well, I can't compete with huruta, but I think the crowning glory of indulgence was risotto with fresh truffle, and plenty of it. Then there were the infamous Spoon Cookies, homemade chocolate caramels with fleur de sel, homemade ice cream with my great-gramma's fudge sauce, far too much of many really good wines, scalloped potatoes with three cheeses, a memorable evening featuring caipirnhas (or however you spell 'em)...and yesterday's Hoppin' John. I'm done for a while.

[huruta]

Foie gras, guinea fowl, stinky raw cow's milk cheese and some special type of ham (like serrano) from pigs who only ate acorns all in Paris....

[adroit_minx]

Did the pigs eat the acorns in Paris or were you in Paris eating all this stuff? This is a serious question as on Chowhound, it might very well be Parisian pigs eating Parisian acorns...

[missclaudy]

A real lot of the now famous Bacon Brittle. EEECCCHHHHH, I threw out the remaining pieces today. My teeth will never be the same!

[adroit_minx]

This is probably a lame question, but I have to ask... what exactly is Bacon Brittle??

[Caitlin McGrath]

A simple answer just won't do it justice - you must read the the the thread: http://www.chowhound.com/topics/348661

[adroit_minx]

You're absolutely right, no simple answer for that one... and I can totally imagine plowing through about a half pound of the stuff before I realize I'll hurl if I look at another piece. Thanks for the link! :)

[JasmineG]

ME TOO. That stuff is addictive.

[houndgirl]

Leper...where did you get the truffle honey? Sounds great, but on oysters wouldn't be my first choice!

[Leper]

Houngirl, You can get truffle honey at most high end grocery stores. (Whole Foods, etc.) Pickled oysters have a more firm texture than fresh oysters. I know it sounds weird, but the truffle honey worked very well with cucumber/oyster mixture. (The French Laundry serves their fresh oysters on the shell with tapioca which I have yet to try.)

[houndgirl]

I ate super-garlicky aioli by the spoonful with a seafood soup. And I had some as breakfast the next morning slopped on bread. I don't even want to think about how much wine I drank!

[adroit_minx]

Is there any other way to eat garlicky aioli? I might even have a customized spoon, somewhere between a tablespoon and a quarter cup...

[Leper]

For an appetizer I shucked and pickled fresh oysters. Then minced cucumber and tossed with Mirin & salt. I then placed the cucumber mixture in the oyster shells, added the pickled oysters and then topped each with a dollop of truffle honey. Obviously I was drunk when I came up with this combination, but it actually turned out fabulous.

[thejulia]

That is incredible. Did you shuck the oysters while drunk too? Even more incredible.

[efdee]

Homemade chocolate cake with chocolate fudge sauce and "Sam's Serious Egg Nog," that has been discussed at length on the Outer Boroughs board. Worth every calorie but now ...