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Yes Ottolenghi books. i have the first five and definitely agree with your comments. When we had our big pig roasts in the summer i always made Ottolenghi salads. Always so interesting and stunning to look at.

@Smithy, just looking at that thing makes me certain that everything fried in it will add 15 grams of fat for each. 😜

Today, I made the Cauliflower "Alfredo" with shrimp, parsley, and lemon from Six Seasons of Pasta. Surprisingly creamy and Alfredo-like for a vegetable-based sauce. Garlic and onions are gently softened in a glug of olive oil before the cauliflower florets are added to simmer with a splash of water until completely tender. That gets blitzed in the blender to form the base of the sauce which looks very rich and creamy but tastes quite light. I added some red bell pepper for color and texture and might add others like snap peas or asparagus next time. I will certainly make this again.

@FauxPas and @Tropicalsenior, I’m so sorry that y’all have been sick and had to rearrange plans. Wishing speedy recoveries to all, and hope y’all managed to enjoy at least some bit of the holiday.

@Duvel, wow that meal is a labour of love! Such a feast! @chromedome, all those cookies! Wow, great job. I'm guessing most people know what a Cookie Walk is? Basically, people cook and donate various cookies which are then sold to raise money for charitable causes. For the one we had here for L'Arche Comox Valley you pay $15 for an empty box and then you get to walk around and fill your box with whatever varieties of cookie you wish. A friend of mine loves to bake and she made dozens and dozens of cookies for the Christmas Cookie Walk this year. She kept some extras in her freezer and dropped them off with us yesterday, knowing we are still under the weather. Next Christmas, I plan to help her with the baking and decorating! I especially liked the little reindeer faces - simple but effective! And Nanaimo Bars because they are just one of the best things ever. Here are a few of them:

Here it is, in its diminutive glory. It's 7" high and 6" at the mouth. I don't know whether it originally had a basket. I used a slotted spoon last night. Edited to add: my thermometers say it's heating the oil to just under 400F. I'm seeing 390F and a few degrees higher.

Of the Ottolenghi books? I like the first 5 books best. Not so much a fan of Simple, Flavour and Comfort. Ottolenghi, the original Jerusalem for its sense of place Plenty and Plenty More for their tons of relatively simple vegetable recipes. I like Plenty More better but both are good. Nopi, which I find both interesting and annoying for its chef-y restaurantant vibe. Some recipes are definitely worth the effort. I think I made all the cocktails and some were pretty involved! I also like the little OTK (Ottolenghi Test Kitchen) paperback Extra Good Things which I consider a good “idea” book. I have a Kindle version of OTK Shelf Love which I always forget to look at. I didn’t even have it on my EYB bookshelf until just now. I should give that one a look.

@blue_dolphin may i ask your favourites?

@blue_dolphin thank you so much for the great reply! I was hoping you would.

That sounds so relaxing and fun!

We enjoyed some of Gouter's Soma panettone this morning. Excellent, as usual.

I’d suggest flipping through both to see what calls to you. Both have recipes that seem a bit repetitive if you have the earlier books. Neither are among my favorite Ottolenghi books but they’re both OK. Flavour is co-authored by Ixta Belfrage, who does interesting things with flavors, hence the title. It’s vegetarian and over 50% vegan. Dairy pops up here and there. It opens with a list of 20 ingredients and ends with a 2-page spread of “flavor bombs” or condiments used throughout the book. They should give you a sense of the spices used and what you’d need to buy. I am no longer a good judge of what’s a new spice or unusual vegetable anymore 🤣 No baking section though recipes like a squash galette and olive oil flatbreads are tucked in here and there. Just a few fruit-based desserts at the end. Comfort is co-authored by Helen Goh, Verens Lochmuller and Tara Wigley. With multiple authors, you get multiple points of view. There are recipes that include fish, seafood, meat and poultry. It has typical Ottolenghi sections on both savory and sweet baking. The recipes are organized more conventionally by dish type. The number of spices may be somewhat lower here but there’s still black garlic, za’atar, hispi cabbage (always an Ottolenghi favorite) and ‘nduja. I’ve cooked more from Comfort and have more recipes marked to try than Flavour but that’s just me.

Rather than do a bunch of work/cooking, the tradition here on Christmas eve (and Christmas day, as well) is to go out for Chinese food. Uncle Lou is a Cantonese restaurant on Mulberry Street, in Chinatown. One of the newer ones, and they allow you to bring wine, in addition to having a small wine list. Six of us had a nice dinner... Not shown is the owner struggling to open a 2001 Chateau Musar (we forgot to bring a Durand). He managed to get it open, however! Whole duck to start. Whole fried red snapper to finish. In between, stir-fried pea shoots, chicken chow fun, a beef dish with garlic chives, pan-fried dumplings, a fried rice dish, etc.

I'm witcha. And @TdeV, gouter.ca it is. The photos of those make me want to come through the screen!

Oh.My.GAWD. Everything is so beautifully delightfully festive. Those pix really cheered me, I'm so glad you posted them. And @Duvel? No words. Because, my jaw is on the floor.

For next year, https://www.gouter.ca/ There's still hope. Last year something went slightly wrong with one of my panettones and Goûter sent me one gratis for Valentine's. IIRC it had strawberries. Délicieuse!

Baked a Ken Forkish overnight white bread yesterday... Which led to: Griddled grilled cheese sandwiches for breakfast today.

The meatballs I recently made: Served over penne, with a good hit of parmigiano.

Now THAT’S frustrating! I’m sorry you went through that trouble and wound up disappointed! I’m only frustrated for all the small businesses, here in the US and world-wide who are just trying to get the best materials and ingredients to make their best products and share them with customers who want to support them. Saying any more would be against guidelines but my minor inconvenience has been nothing compared to theirs! Oh, and my hair is currently a shade of neon green called Electric Lizard! 🙀

I received both of these Ottolenghi books but don’t want to keep both as i am trying to downsize. I don’t want have to buy a bunch of new spices nor search for different vegetables. Which one should i keep?

Oooh, I'm going to revisit this page a few times! Bravo @chromedome ! Many years ago my MIL used to make a cookie extravaganza. It provided DAYS of delicious nibbling. Sorry to not be a member of your family. 😂 Brilliant @Duvel ! What on earth did your inlaws do before you arrived? Come to think of it, FOUR Other Families are going to do this again in the next FOUR days? I would love to have been able to participate in the making of that soup . . . 🙄 Thank you friends for your lovely pictures.

I will use some for the next bread loaf and see. Thanks.

I got an email yesterday puporting to come from FedEx. Not a lot of telltale spam details, so maybe it was legit. I thought perhaps they were going to ask for duty. Turned out to be a piece of spam, but not until DH and I had emailed back and forth trying to determine same!

My mouth just watered looking at that pulled ham. And that wonderful broccoli salad. And chocolate chip cookies? Look out. Here I come!!!!

Ditto on both counts. My mouth just hung open...