….but what ELV and his staff are really looking forward to later in the day is all the eating and drinking we’ll be doing.
Actually, we’ve already polished off three sugar cookies, some dynamite banana bread, a couple of Rice Krispie Treats, and brownies (courtesy of Clark and Tracy Paris — neighbors and Official Friends Of ELV), and a glass of Veuve Clicquot….
At the risk of sounding like someone who actually cooks, instead of taking all their meals in restaurants, ELV must comment on the Col. Bill Newsom’s Kentucky Country Ham he has in the oven — because if you’ve never baked one, you’re missing one of the great aromas in all of food. Its salty, fatty, cured, porcine essence can be smelled down the street, and is right up there with fresh bread, bacon and chocolate chip cookies as one of the most olfactory-pleasing kitchen scents in the world.
But the real reason for this post is to give you a few holiday “toasts” should you be called upon, later in the day, to be poignant, witty, reflective or glib — whilst sober or otherwise.
So here are some of Santa’s favorites:
A Christmas wish, May you never forget what is worth remembering or remember what is best forgotten.
Holly and ivy all hung up, and something wet in every cup.
Here’s to the day of good will. Cold weather and warm hearts. (Much too sentimental for ELV, but we’d thought we’d toss one in…)
I wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year, a pocket full of money, and a cellar full of beer.
May you live as long as you wish, and have all you wish as long as you live.
Eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart. – Ecclesiastes 9:7 (Much too religious(?) for ELV, but hey, it’s Christmas!)
Drink and be merry, for our time on earth is short, and death lasts forever.
Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we diet.
To our wives and lovers….may the two never meet.
I drink to your charm, your beauty and your brains, which gives you a rough idea how hard up I am for a drink. – Groucho Marx
If you have an appetite for life, stay hungry.
And some of our favorite short toasts (all are some form of either “drink up,”eat well,” or “Dup dor a’az Mubster”*):
Kali orixi (callie-OR-ix-ee) – Greek
Kanpai (can-pie) – Japanese
Skoal – Danish
Oogy wawa – Zulu
Prost – German
Gam bei (gam bay) – Chinese
A votre sante (ah-voe-tra-sahntay) – “to your health” – French
Gay-ola – Asturian
L’Chiam – “to life” – Hebrew
HO HO HO and Happy Holidays! from Santa and his staff of…
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* “Live long and prosper.” – in Vulcan (Duh!)
Merry Christmas from brutally cold Chicago, where so far this morning, I had to bundle up, dig a car out of the snow and throw salt down on my parents’ front walk, three things I don’t miss doing at all.
Back to the toasty Bascos homestead, where we’re prepping items for the traditional family feast, including pancit molo, a Filipino version of wonton soup, lumpia (eggrolls), cassava cake… and I think there’s a ham and a turkey crammed in the ovens as well.
Filipinos don’t have a toast for drinking, we just tell people to eat more. So to add to your list:
Mangan tayon! – Tagalog
Hope all is well.
g
A day late and dollar short…but us Langdons and Nielsens tend to eat our weight in peanut butter balls and sugar cookies, respectively. No word for that either – except Treadmill – but they are calories worth working off.
Merry Christmas to all – and a happy New Year too!
Don’t forget to give us a full report, with photos, of the country ham and all the side dishes. I would expect ELV made red eye gravy, pillowy biscuits with soft butter and honey and many other Southern delights to go with the ham. Thanks ELV for a wonderful year reporting on the food and dining of Las Vegas.
Krista “The hot hostess”, looks like the girl-next-door! I’ll bet she is as sweet as she looks. She looks like she would be a perfect Kindergarten teacher that kids would remember fondly forever!!!