Planning Dinner

My lovely sister-in-law and her family are coming for Christmas dinner. Because S-I-L has some specific food issues (no gluten, for starters) and strong feelings about what her family eats, I can't just throw a jar of Skippy on the table and call it quits. Not that I would, but... Last year it was their turn, and they spent a fortune making roast filet of beef (I made the Yorkshire pudding...and we essayed YP made with rice flour for S-I-L, who seemed to feel it was a success). We could do turkey, but after Thanksgiving and our holiday openhouse, I'm a little turkeyed-out. So I'm investigating the possibility of a crown pork roast. Festive, decorative, and you can stuff it with any number of interesting things--fruit, I'm thinking.

I lost 35 pounds last summer, and have gained nine of them back. I have mixed feelings about being as involved with food as I am at this time of year, but, dammit...I like to cook. I like to feed people. I especially like to feed people who don't live with me and have a more liberal idea of what constitutes dinner than my own beloved family. Off to call butchers.

Update: I have ordered a crown roast from the local Whole Foods (a gorgeous emporium of virtuous food) which I am assured was raised in a velvet-lined sty, tended by vestal virgins and fed exclusively upon ass's milk, truffles and quinoa. What to serve with? The issue of stuffing has already been much discussed. For the rest, Spouse makes a truly excellent mashed potato, and I rather like to involve him in the process--keeps him from vanishing into discussions of recording with my brother-in-law while the party rages on. I am partial to Brussels sprouts, which are a wintery vegetable suited to pork roast, but I think I'm pretty much alone in my adoration of petits choux. This will require several calls back and forth, as we determine who is providing what...