As a part of the Christmas Season's festivities, we're with two other couples hosting a small holiday lunch, outdoors, weather permitting which it often does hereabouts....

On the menu will be a couple of Spanish kids purchased "on the hoof" near Valley Mills, then butchered, gutted and skinned on site, now in my freezer, along with a pair of "almost suckling" wild "feral hog" piglets recently shot. Butchering feral hog (which are highly and unpleasantly aromatic - even little'uns - is not pleasant and profits from access to plentiful running water, but the result, depending on the forage available, is a revelation compared to most available pork.

The goat will be very slowly baked with some added liquid, the classic Mexican all horno/forno, while the piglets are fat enough for spit roasting. The menu otherwise will be simple, good quality corn tortillas, frijoles al charro, several salsas, and a jicama and cabbage slaw with a lime vinaigrette, lots of Bohemia and Negra Modelo, a hard-edge Pinot, and a traditional dessert punch made from strong coffee, Kahlua, brandy, brown sugar, bitter chocolate and cinnamon, served hot with a dollop of whipped cream in the mug.