Bill and I decided that our big Christmas gift to each other this year would be a super-nice dinner at our favorite restaurant, Alexander's Steakhouse in Cupertino. We finally got around to going there last night - it was sort of a belated Valentine's Day thing at that point, too. We were doing their chef's tasting menu, and we happened to mention the Christmas thing to the waitress. When it was time for the dessert course, their pastry chef brought out this plate of hand-made chocolates on which she'd written "Happy Holidays" in chocolate. Just another reason why we have such a massive crush on Alexander's, even though we need very good excuses to justify the cost. Also, it's kind of cool that the owners (the GM and the head chef) are around our age, and they're really busting ass to run an excellent restaurant with a sense of fun and enthusiasm and minimal pretense. Our fancy menu, as far as I can recall: Wine: La Spinetta Pin Monferrato Rosso 2004; also a half-bottle of Calera Viognier (we honestly don't know much about wine, but we liked what we chose) - Fried shishito peppers as a table snack (not spicy at all - a little bland, but fresh-tasting - apparently every once in a while there will be one that's crazy-hot, so it's kind of like Japanese snack roulette; sadly, we didn't find one) - Mushroom consomme with morels and lemon foam, rosemary stir stick (delicious) - Japanese egg custard with jasmine tea floater (never had a savory egg custard before - interesting! Not bad, but I don't that it's something I'd ever order on my own); - Chopped ahi tartare topped with trout roe (love raw tuna, but the roe was a little disconcerting because we don't eat it much - "like bubble-wrap for your mouth", Bill said - my contribution was "fish tapioca", which then put me off it a little); - Tempura 'Popcorn' crab with spicy aioli sauce (well, what's not going to be awesome about deep-fried king crab?); - Duck Duck Goose - trio of little appetizers made from the title birds - duck pate in bite-sized triangle puff pastry; duck breast cooked sous vide (in a vacuum-sealed bag on low temp - it infuses a lot of flavor and moisture into the meat); goose sausage patty (the two ducks were v. tasty, but the goose patty (crepinette?) was probably my least-favorite thing, relatively speaking - they'd used fat netting as a binder, but the fat didn't melt much, so the meat was a little dry and the netty bits just got tangled in my fork like really bad mozzarella ); -Salmon cooked sous vide, on a bed of sauteed diced fennel and bacon with vanilla sauce (this was mind-blowingly good - salmon and sauteed fennel didn't surprise me, but the vanilla and smoky bacon together with salmon and fennel - that's a lot of distinctive flavors going on at once, but the overall combination was exotic and fantastic. It was really my favorite course of all. I would order this entree-sized every single time if I could.); -Intermezzo - green tea sorbet (at this point we were glad it didn't take up much space in our bellies); - Aged Angus filet and ribeye - the ribeye was in tiny rare slabs, but I can't remember how the filet was done - I think a sauce was involved...*shrug* (the beef was very good - not a highlight relatively-speaking, but tasty still); - A little piece of awesome Kobe beef and a chunk of lobster (again, can't remember how it was prepared, just that it was delicious; maybe the wine was kicking in at this point?) - Pannacotta with a fruit glaze and a dollop of maybe mango sherbet on it? (The GM had come around to chat with us while we were eating so I didn't catch the details on that one too closely - i just OM-NOM-NOM'd it down); - Chocolates, assorted fillings - in addition to the standard cotton candy they give everyone for dessert. (swoon into food coma - and really, comatose is the best state of mind to be in when the bill's presented). Oh, and after dinner we got a tour of the kitchen (which we'd had once before, but I was totally up for checking it out again) - they even take you to the way back to see the massive, bathtub sized slow cooker, topped by a floating layer of stewing carrots, celery and onion, where they simmer and eventually reduce demi-glace into a 5-quart pot. Fascinating. So yeah - Happy Holidays!

Ingredients: 1 large onion, chopped (1 cup) 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped (1 cup) 2 medium celery stalks, chopped (1 cup) 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped 1 can (28 oz) Progresso® diced tomatoes, undrained 2 cups chopped fully cooked smoked sausage 1 tablespoon parsley flakes 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1/4 teaspoon red pepper sauce 3/4 pound uncooked peeled deveined medium shrimp, thawed if frozen 4 cups hot cooked rice Directions: Total Time: 3 hours 40 min 1. Mix all ingredients except shrimp and rice in 3 1/2- to 6-quart slow cooker. 2. Cover and cook on low heat setting 7 to 8 hours (or high heat setting 3 to 4 hours) or until vegetables are tender. 3. Stir in shrimp. Cover and cook on low heat setting about 1 hour or until shrimp are pink and firm. Serve jambalaya with rice. Note: This recipe was tested in slow cookers with heating elements in the side and bottom of the cooker, not in cookers that stand only on a heated base. For slow cookers with just a heated base, follow the manufacturer’s directions for layering ingredients and choosing a temperature. (Total time will vary with appliance and setting.)