Christmas dinner

Have you ever tried to have an elegant dinner that just turned out wrong. Then another time, a simple dinner turns out great, with little or no planning. (Ya sure, I'll bet my wife might not agree with that. I did notice her buzzing around a bit). Well, for my part, and a very important part it was, it was easy as pie. Or in this case rib roast. My momma always told me to buy the small end of a rib roast and I never forget some things. So, I did exactly that. The other week, I bought two reprinted Bettter Homes and Gardens Cookbooks at the grocery store. The manager, Chris saw me looking and asked if I wanted one. I asked "how cheap?" He said , "For you, $1.00" Man, does it pay sometimes to be a good guy. About four years ago, I tackled a shoplifter and held his scawny, dishonest butt for about 10 minutes until the cops cuffed him. I'm still a hero in my own mind and Albertson's still gives me preferential treatment. Not a bad deal. Anyway, I bought both available copies of the cookbook for $2.00. So, getting to my belated point, I sold one on Ebay for $15.68 with shipping and opened the other today. A complete reprint of the 1953 cookbook. I looked up rib roasts, seasoned that baby with Tony Cachere's "More Seasoning", put in in the oven for about three hours at 375 and settled in to the difficult task of smelling it roast in the oven. Damn, it was medium/medium rare and it was awesome. Couldn't have done it any better if I had actually put effort into it. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, my little bee was buzzing around. She had already baked a pumpkin pie and one pecan, then whipped up home made mashed potatoes (my kids have never tasted instant mashed potatoes), corn, and some fresh rolls out of the oven with an ice cold glass of milk. Shoot, I might have to go back and eat again. The roast was perfect and juicy, and you know the rest. It will definitely go down in the West Texas Cope's history book as the Christmas dinner of '05.