So, okay, now it's time to stop pretending that I'm a writer and to reveal that what I am is actually a cook. Unusually, we are home for Christmas this year, which means that I, rather than my mother or my mother-in-law, get to run the show. And since I love a big bash, this is very fun for me, although our house is small, which complicates logistics considerably.

I know that there are numerous people who read this blog who don't care squat about poetry and 19th-century British novels but are very interested in cooking and eating. So this week's posts are for you. Here's the schedule: on Tuesday, I'll be serving a several-course meal to 8 people; on Wednesday, I'll be serving dessert and drinks to 8 people; on Thursday I'll be making Christmas dinner just for the 4 of us.

I'll start with a preview of Tuesday's menu (of course, subject to change).

appetizers: mixed Greek olives; pickled green beans (home-canned); sliced white, purple, orange, and red carrots (these gorgeous vegetables were grown by a local woman with a root cellar, who will be supplying me all winter)

1st course: garlic and chicken broth (from one of our late chickens), sourdough bread

2d course: risotto, using the same broth as a base

3d course: roti de porc poele (with Harmony-grown pig, using a recipe from the 1st Julia Child cookbook; and it's not my fault that the accents don't show up on the French words; stupid blog program), caramelized vegetables that my guests are making, diced apples and radish sprouts for garnish

dessert: fresh orange gelatin layered with whipped cream, shortbread cookies drizzled with chocolate

drinks: Cotes du Rhone, some kind of fruit and ginger ale punch concocted by my children, and whatever booze the guests bring

Today's project is the first batch of sourdough bread, which is currently rising, and the shortbread cookies. I may also make some other kinds of cookies, if I can convince my sons to vacuum and clean the bathroom and wash the dog-nose prints off the windows. Probably I can, if cookies are involved.