This past Christmas, we had our holiday meal at my sister’s house.  Usually my dad cooks these things, but this year my sister wanted to do it.

My sister is a terrific cook.  We always thought she’d end up getting a culinary arts degree, but it just never happened — she went into sociology instead.

As it happens, my sister is one of those lucky people who doesn’t need culinary training in order to cook really exquisite meals.  I know she watches a lot of cooking shows, but other than that she hasn’t had much direction — nor has she needed it.  She has just seemed to always know instinctively what flavors go well together and what ingredients certain things require.  The first time she cooked without a recipe was when she was six years old: She baked a cake from scratch (NOT those mixes!).  She did forget one ingredient — the butter — but as it turned out it didn’t really need it.  The cake was fantastic!

Of course, very few people are lucky enough to have a natural cooking talent like my sister’s.  My mom, for example, can’t even microwave vegetables without overcooking them — thank goodness my sister didn’t take after her!  Most people, if they want to be better than just an average cook, need to attend a culinary institute, even if all they do is take a few fun cooking classes.

Anyway, Christmas brunch was just as good as we had imagined it would be.  It ended up being brunch because it snowed pretty heavily on Christmas, and none of us dared to try to make the drive to my sister’s house.  So a few days later, my sister made us all spinach, mushroom, and cheese omelets, bacon, and homemade hashbrowns.  Well worth the wait!

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