Boxing Day Pie

 

Spot the Etonian flag :)

After the festive fun and family conviv. of Christmas, Boxing Day comes as pleasant "breather," time to relax and take it easy. 

Walk the dog to the nearest Pick 'n Steal, reflect on Stephen the Martyr, it's his Feast today, as you stroll down the boulevards of Olde Dallas, and return to HQ for an easy lunch. Warm bread, cheese, dates and grapes, raise a glass to the Incarnate Word, slumber over books on antedeluvia and then...

Return to the fray to make pie. Yes, beef and mushroom pie from the leftovers of yesterday's feast, it's not hard. Cut the beef off the bone(s), chop up an onion, some garlic and celery and saute in 3 Tbs butter till tender and fragrant. Add three Tbs of flour and stir it up, then add beef stock. Well done, you've got this far, but you're not there yet.

A typical Dallas Light Cavalry Mess scene. Keen-eyed readers will spot LL, WSF, Old NFO, drjim, Jim, Wild, 

Ed, Doktor Swankenstein, DOS, Ed. C, Mike C, Manhattan Infidel, Seamus, GenX, Paul M, 

RHT, Adrienne (out of frame) and so many more.

Let everything simmer and stir, like a faculty revolt at Harvard, and add the beef. This is key, obviously. While the meat's simmering in the mix, saute some mushrooms in butter till golden and add those too, along with some red wine, and let it all cook to desired consistency. 

That done, turn off the heat, add yesterdays cooked carrots to the mix and allow the delicious pie filling to rest and cool. Have a glass of the right stuff, listen to Handel, shoot some 5.56, sharpen a kukri, whatever, your call, no rule, and in God's good time roll out some pastry. Good work, fill a pie dish with its filling, cover with jolly old pastry and fire it all into the oven at 400.

Let that beast cook for 20 minutes or so until golden brown, you can even glaze the pastry with an egg yolk if you like, then fall upon your scoff.

Like a Warrior,

LSP

Boxing Day Report

 

Well that was a lot of fun. A delicious rib roast, cooked to medium rare perfection, Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes, carrots, and tasty as you like gravy conjured from the roasting pan. Good work, team, and well appreciated by a young soldier. And all served on these awesome plates, have a look:

What an awesome plate!

But food and Confederate crockery weren't the stars of this Christmas show, no, that honor belonged to a drone. What a nifty little beast! Off it zoomed, hovered and ran on recce missions over the Compound's back yard and perimeter.

So that was useful, chalk it up to "training." But now it's Boxing Day and the Feast of St. Stephen, Deacon and Martyr. Reflect on that. We no sooner celebrate the Nativity than we find ourselves honoring martyrs, Stephen and the Holy Innocents.

Training

The message is clear, witness, μαρτυρία, martyrdom, flows from the Incarnation. Christ lives in us, as he lived in Bethlehem, and we must incarnate this. Where does that end? For St. Stephen it ended in execution. For us? Who knows, but rest assured of this.

I call this "Festive Cheer"

If we stand up for the Faith, and we must, the satanic, godless, secular power will round on us with all the rage of the insane beast it is. Be sure, too, that the reward will be great in paradise. Here endeth the Lesson and bless you all.

Your Best Pal,

LSP