Yucky Day, But Good Evening

All day today was taken up with sales training. YUCK!!!!! So, I'll skip over the details of that and get right to the good stuff.
Tonight, we began cooking for the little boys Name Day celebration. The way I understand Name Days is that they are kind of the opposite of Birthdays. That is, the person who's Name Day it is gives presents. The little boy is too young to give presents, so we, his parents are giving a good meal to people in his name.
I trimmed the excess fat off the aged beef tenderloin, which is a huge piece of animal flesh. Never before in my life have I cut through raw meat with the ease of cutting through warm butter. I was amazed. I made several 1-inch deep cuts in the meat and stuffed slices of garlic into the cuts. I laid 1.75 lbs of thick-cut apple wood smoked bacon out in a rectangle of overlapping strips, a bit like roofing shingles, put three rosemary branches (from my herb garden) on top of the bacon, set the tenderloin on top of the rosemary, and wrapped the tenderloin up in the bacon. It looks like a bacon mummy. It will rest like this until I put it in the oven tomorrow.
Of cousrse, before the main course there will be cocktails and appetizers. The cocktails will be champagn cocktails, brandy fizzes, and sidecars. The appetizer will be crackers topped with smoked trout dip. (it was a hit last Pascha). I just finished making the dip a few minutes ago. All it is is crumbled smoked trout (remove all bones, skin, and scrape the fat off), creme freche, and chopped chives.
Cyndi is making Mexican wedding cakes right now. Those and a peach cobbler (it will finish baking while we eat the main course) will be dessert.
She will also par-boil asparagus, sautee chard, and make homemade macaroni and cheese (the little boys favorite) tomorrow.
The wine with the meal will be a Bogle syrah. I know some people think a syrah is to light and fruity for a robust beef meal, but I think one should drink what one likes and damn the wine snobs. Wine should be fun, not pretentious.
We will move the Ikon of the Holy Prophet Samuel into the main room, decorate it with flowers and burning candles. Father David is in charge of the liturgical part of the celebration. I have no idea what he will do. Knowing his style, it will be short and to the point.