I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. This has been a wonderful year for me, and I would like to share a few well-deserved thanks.
Jegs: Thank you for the wonderful career opportunities that you have given me and for all of the friendships.
NHRA: Thank you for allowing me to be part of such a great organization. I love sharing my stories and recipes with the best fans in motorsports.
POWERade: Thank you for supplying all of us with the best work(?) (playground) in the world!
Fans: Thank you for all of your support. Get ready for a great 2008! I hope that Santa is good to all of you!

Christmas brings different memories and traditions for everyone. There is always Santa Claus. He is great, but the food we ate at Christmastime was great too. I mean, there were just maybe one- or two-thousandths between Santa and my grandmother’s cooking. Santa had better concentrate, or he may go red!

We still cook some of the traditional meals at the house during Christmastime, but times change. People do not live in the kitchen anymore. I remember my mom, grandma, and aunts cooking for days just to get everything ready. Christmas Eve dinner was really special. Bakala had to be soaked in water for three days, squid had to be cleaned, smelts had to be prepared, chicken broth had to be made for the wedding soup, pasta had to be rolled out, bushels of cookies had to be baked, and believe me, the list goes on. We would have a huge feast Christmas Eve that would last for hours. We would all go to midnight mass, and then go back to Grandma’s to see our cousins and open a few gifts. We would get all the food out again, and Grandma would start preparing the turkey and stuffing for the next day. My cousin Remo was always on standby to give the stuffing his seal of approval.

Most of the time when I prepare food, I do not use inedible garnish, but for this recipe I decided to because the garnish adds a special touch and can be easily removed when serving.

Ingredients
5 pounds medium, washed red potatoes
2 teaspoons freshly ground Tellicherry pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons granulated garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Procedure
Peel the potatoes (I leave some of the skin on some of the potatoes for decoration).
Using a sharp paring knife, score the potatoes several times around them 1/4-inch deep.
Sprinkle the seasonings evenly over the potatoes.
Add the oil and stir until the potatoes are coated evenly.
Bake in a preheated oven at 450 degrees until golden brown and tender. (Turn the potatoes every 10 minutes so they brown evenly.) They should take about one hour.

For the garnish
Put one bunch of washed kale in boiling water and stir constantly until the kale turns bright green (about 10 seconds). Strain kale and drain excess water. Display on a warm platter. (Pat the kale dry with paper towels.)

For the decoration
Use Christmas ornament tops to place on the potatoes. Add a few of your favorite ornaments.

Enjoy!