Holiday home cooking: roast pork rack

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It's Christmas Eve, and we've decided to have a quiet evening at home instead of paying for an expensive set dinner.  Thankfully Hello Kitty can cook, so we don't have to rely on this 3-trick pony for our feast...

We started with a spiced butternut squash soup, which was spiked with cayenne and nutmeg, giving it an unexpected kick.  It's nice to warm up the stomach for what's about to come.  There was also a simple salad made with greens and strawberries.

The main event, though, was this roast Dingley Dell pork rack.  This was one gorgeous hunk of pork!

Just look at the crackling!  Soooo crunchy.  Soooo satisfying.

And that layer of fat underneath.  No, I don't cut away the fat.

To be honest, the eye was a little overcooked.  It was no longer glistening with moisture.  But the cap on top - with the fat and the amazing crackling - more than made up for it.  I was in heaven.

We paused for a good 40 minutes and tried to digest some of our dinner, and returned to the table for my last-minute purchase of a Christmas log from the Mandarin Cake Shop.  I can't believe I didn't place an order earlier, and had to take my chances at the last minute on Christmas Eve...

Cinnamon apple toffee bûche de Noël - this was made to look like a series of baubles one hangs on Christmas trees.  Very pretty.

I was happy with this, because I know that Hello Kitty loves apple desserts. The apple with cinnamon was, of course, just classic.  And the toffee provided the sweetness to the apple's acidity, without being deathly rich.  Loved it.

Surprisingly, we stayed dry during the night... thanks to the excesses of last night...