The season just wouldn’t feel right without a tacky Christmas party – who doesn’t enjoy going out in public in their mom’s homely knitted masterpiece? I can’t complain, I’m warm and comfortable and not to mention the shoulder pads really accentuate my figure.
Either way, there was a purpose for dressing like it was 1984 – the Kris Kringle Krawl. Again, I’m going to back track to my Eurotrip. When we were in Rome we went on an incredible pub crawl (Spanish Steps Pub Crawl, do it if you’re ever there). It was so much fun we thought we’d recreate it Dallas style. First thing's first, every good partier knows you need a belly full of something solid before ingesting excessive amounts of liquor, beer or wine.
I haven’t really cooked for a big group on my own so this was a challenge in itself. What to make?! Will it be enough? I decided on brisket- a five and a half pound one to be exact. I found a great dry rub recipe and edited it a bit to my taste.. here tis’ :

2 Tbsp chili powder
1 ½ Tbsp salt (called for 2, but it was pretty salty)
1 Tbsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp dried minced onion
1 Tbsp ground black pepper
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
1 5-lb. brisket- leave the fat on!

Mix it up and rub on your brisket. I did mine two days in advance and it was awesome. On the day of my party I started early leaving myself about 4 hours to cook and one hour to cool. Cook the brisket fat-side up at 350 degrees for 1 hour uncovered with no extra liquid in the pan. After an hour, lower the temperature to 300 degrees and pour in a whole Shiner Bock, about ¾ cup beef stock and cover it tightly with foil and cook for another 2 ½ - 3 hours. Mine ended up being ready about 2 hours and 45 minutes. I let it rest for an hour then removed that hunk of fat from the top and sliced it. Once it was party time I just heated it up over the stove and made BBQ sliders, but it would have been great on its own too.
The food was great, but unfortunately the only thing I got a picture of was the party, needless to say, they were both fantastic!