Winter Street

Synopsis: Kelley Quinn is the owner of Nantucket’s Winter Street Inn and the proud father of four, all grown and living in various states of disarray. Patrick, a hedge fund manager about to be indicted for insider trading. Kevin, a bartender, is sleeping with the inn’s French housekeeper. Ava, a school teacher, is finally dating the perfect guy but can’t get him to commit. And Bart, the youngest and only child of Kelley’s second marriage to Mitzi, has recently shocked everyone by joining the Marines. The family Christmas is thrown into chaos when Mitzi leaves Kelley for the guy who plays Santa Claus at the annual Christmas party. Kelley’s ex-wife, nightly news anchor Margaret Quinn, arrives to try and help salvage the day.

Review: Elin Hilderbrand has written a series of Christmas themed novels, set on Nantucket, naturally. It’s full of beautiful people living beautiful, albeit messy lives. Family drama at the holidays, who can’t relate to that? As it turns out, while you would expect a Christmas book to come with happy endings, not everything was resolved by the end. As mentioned, this is a series, so there is more Quinn family drama to come. While I don’t know this for a fact, I suspect Book #2, Winter Stroll, takes place the next Christmas. This book reminded me of a Hallmark Christmas movie, and if it hasn’t been adapted for that purpose I’d be surprised. A bit cheesy, a bit predictable, and yet….. I enjoyed it! Much like listening to Christmas carols, it definitely got me in the spirit of the season. I think I will put Winter Stroll on my reading list for December 2022.

Rating: 3/5

Recipe: In Winter Street, there is extensive discussion of the family Christmas meal which highlights prime rib. In my husband’s family, this was the traditional holiday meal as well. A standing rib roast is a splurge, so the pressure is on to get it right and not mess it up. I’ve tried cooking this in a variety of ways: hot oven, low oven, as well as a closed oven method where it sits in the oven for several hours after 20 minutes of roasting. I have struggled to get it right, but have decided that my preference is the low temperature method, finished with a reverse sear. For me, it just provides a more consistent result. Alison Roman has a recipe where you mince rosemary, 10 anchovies, 8 cloves of garlic and mix with about 1/4 cup olive oil to make a paste to smear on the outside before cooking, and it was delicious. Make sure to liberally salt it, ideally a day or two in advance using about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound. Let it sit in the refrigerator—uncovered per my brother Blee, and he didn’t steer me wrong! Roast at 250 degrees until the inner temperature is about 120 degrees. It will continue to cook after it comes out of the oven, and my preference is 135 degrees, medium rare but not too red. If it isn’t quite done enough you can always pop it back in the oven! Remove and let rest for an hour, or even longer if you need to, it won’t get cold. Right before serving, sear the fatty side in a cast iron skillet for about 8 minutes, or a 500 degree oven for 10-15 minutes.