T minus 19 hours

In 19 hours my guests will arrive.

My house is still a total sty - there has been no cleanup since last week, despite what I promised when Mr. December left. The living room and dining room are as full of renovation crap as ever.

On the upside, by the time I go to bed the following will have been done:
- vegetarian kishke mixed and put to cook in crock pot
- brisket prepared and ensconced in oven to cook overnight
- banana chocolate chip cake baked
- sweet potatoes chopped
- carrot ginger soup finished
- challah dough set to rise slowly in fridge overnight

Hopefully all of those things will allow me to do some cleanup and even get some rest tomorrow before dinner. Wish me luck!

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For those who asked, here's a recipe to tide you over:

Brisket in Red Wine
1 brisket, any size you want
onion soup mix
beef soup mix
enough onions to cover the bottom of your roasting pan when chopped
1 bottle red wine

Slice onions and spread in bottom of roasting pan. Rinse brisket, remove fat if desired. Rub with mixture of onion and beef soup mixes (equal parts of each) until the meat is coated in the mix. Place on top of onions in the roasting pan. Pour the entire bottle of red wine over the brisket. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 450F for 1/2 hour. Turn temperature down to 350F and cook one hour for each pound of beef.

Note: You cannot possibly overcook brisket. The cooking time above is the minimum. The longer you cook it, the more tender it will be.

Note: If you want to cook the brisket overnight, bake at 450 for half an hour, then turn temperature to 250 or 200 and leave overnight (~ 8-10 hours)

Yummy... tell me how it turns out for you!