ludja

Do you mean Lebenkuchen? Love them. My favourites aren't the chocolate covered ones, though - the hazelnut stars with white icing do it for me. Oh yum. Our christmas eve dinner is the highlight for me - roast ham, mashed potatoes and red cabbage. With cumberland sauce. My mother is a god of the kitchen on Christmas eve. (We do german-style christmas, when christmas eve is the high point... tree with real candles, gift-giving late at night, midnight mass for some...) ← and edible candies and cookies on the tree? We celebrate the same way via our Austrian background and have lit candles on the tree as well. Our traditional Christmas Eve meal is platters of excellent coldcuts and cheeses from the German butcher--different salamis and ham including Westphalian, Tiroler Speck, smoked liverwurst, headcheese, Kasslerripchen, Emmentaler cheese. Also pickles, pickled mushrooms, stuffed eggs with anchovies (which are very Austrian), herring in cream sauce and not, potato salads (with and without mayo and with bacon), good rolls and rye bread, etc. Dessert is coffee, "mit Schlag" and cookies from a platter of 12-14 different cookies, mainly Austrian ones. (These make an appearance starting on Christmas Eve and continuing through Three Kings Day for desserts, breakfast (especially the Nuessenkipferl), guests dropping in to visit and see the tree, etc. Vanillekipferl ("vanilla crescents", ground walnut butter cookies drenched in vanilla powdered sugar), Florentiner, (Florentines--slivered almond tile cookies with candied orange peel and iced with dark chocolate) Nuessenkipferl (small crescent pastries filled with ground walnuts flavored with rum and lemon), Zimmsterne (iced cinamon-hazelnut stars), Marizpan cookies, Witwenkuesse ('Widow's kisses', meringues flavored with grated dark chocolate) Ischler Toertchen (ground almond cookies sandwiched wth currant jam and glazed in dark chocolate), Nuess Stangerl ("Nut sticks", ground walnut filling on shortbread iced with a lemon meringue icing) Aniskrapferl (Anise tiles), Husarenkrapferl (almond thumbprint cookies filled with apricot or currant jam). or Linzeraugen ("Linzer 'eyes"; ground hazelnut dough rounds sandwiched with black currant or raspberry preserves) Plain sugar cookies decorated with candied fruit, colored sugar or nuts. Non-Austrian cookies that have been added "into the rotation": hazelnut biscotti and candied ginger-pistachio biscotti. All the cookies are wonderful, but almost everyone's favorite is the Vanillekipferl. Christmas Eve is definately my favorite holiday meal. I try to get home several days before Christmas so I can help my Mom with some of the cookies.

Some nice cheeses, salamis, liverwurst, smoked oysters, good bread and pickles etc with some nice beer or wine could be a wonderful feast... I'm sure there are lots of other wonderful treats to pick up in advance at the Naschmarkt, konditorei's or other food places as well...

Whether or not someone is sincere in marking a relgious holiday (of any faith) is in their own hearts and there of course are those who choose to celebrate the holidays for secular reasons. Including cultural and secular traditions, for example special foods, in the celebration does not mean in and of itself that the person is not aware of the central significance of the holday if they are a believer of a particular faith. The literal date chosen to celebrate these holidays is obviously not important to the meaning and greater significance behind them for those that believe. But sure, there are people in any country around the world that celebrate, for example, Christmas, as a secular holiday devoid of the original meaning by their own choice. It is not *wrong* but it just does not follow that the holiday does not have real significance for others. edited to add: Apolgies if I am just restating your point!

I've been wanting to try Basel Leckerli after reading about these Swiss cookies--honey and spice but also kirsch and ground almonds!

That would nix my eclair idea--filled with tea cream and iced with lemon glaze (or vice versa). edited to add: I see your point though, of wanting to go in a less creamy direction ot emphasize the iced tea. Still using choux pastry one could do something profiterole-like with actual "iced tea"...

A friend of mine recently traveled to Rochester for business and described a dish that he kept seeing on the menu: "Chicken French" Some restaurants also had a "Fish Filet French" and a "Veal French". I was scratching my head to figure out what this Rochester delicacy was and after he described the dish order by someone else I guessed it might be "Chicken Francese" a northeastern Italian-American dish that is seen on many menus--and described above in previous posts. I've also heard of Shrimp Francese. The article is only available if you click on the "cache" version but here is a story on some of the history and tradition of Chicken French in Rochester... click (I think this link will take you to the cached article.) The variations mentioned in the article are as to what alcohol to use (vermouth, dry white wine, sherry...) and how to incorporate the lemon--just in the sauce or also as zest in the eggs or flour. Most of the recipes seems to have a flour-egg-flour dip and sometimes parmigiano is added to the batter. I haven't had this in years but now feel a yearning to make it at home. Has anyone else seen this dish in Italian restaurants outside of the Northeast? I don't think I've seen it out here in California. Any other comments on your favorite prep or recipe variants?

^This looks so nice! What type of filling were in the kuih? Also, can you detail the accompaniements on for the nasi lemak? (I see hardboiled egg for sure...)

A tea-infused sugar syrup might work. Could look to some Mediterranean desserts for inspiration on sugar-syrup soaked cakes and phyllo pastries. Sweetened tea could also be used in a gelatin or jelly-type component. Brewed tea is used in desserts sometime to macerate dried fruits for later use.

One of my favorite soups is Caldo Verde--potatoes, kale and chorizo. It's a chunky soup/stew and has a flavor that is more than the separate parts. Little potato pancakes topped with sour cream,applesauce or both would be a nice fingerfood type of dish. I'm not sure how well they would reheat though. Potato Strudel which also has some cracklings and sour cream in the filling is excellent. One might be able to make these as small individual servings and reheat. I've seen some strudel recipes which say that the unbaked strudel can be frozen and cooked from there but haven't tried it yet. Another idea would be empanads filled with meat and potatoes. click It would be great if someone has a racettle set up as each person could make their own. It's not traditional but another alternative could be a cheese fondue with small boiled creamer potatoes (cooked just until done so they don't fall apart) when skewered. Serve wtth some good German/Swiss pickles and some cured meats.

What a good idea on many fronts. Thank you, Miriam. I do enjoy soups and make them quite often but keeping your points in mind may encourage me to make them even more often.

As several people mentioned, parents or siblings are an exception! I know my father prefers grepefruit to orange juice for example so I always stock it when they visit. My mom stocks my favorites when I come home and/or will honor special requests. When there are comfort or medical/semi-medical issues at question, especially for older guests and longer visits I think the list idea is great though... Other than allergies or other health needs, I also usually inquire after people's breakfast preferences if they are gong to be here more than a night or two. For some reason, I think some people are more set about their breakfast habits--they "always or never eat cereal", etc Luckily it is easy to accomodate different morning fare. Having no allergies or children yet, I don't typically make requests or extra purchases when I'm a houseguest and I don't think I've ever refused something that was being prepared or served. If it's a good friend and they ask, I might ask for a favorite dish or local specialty they've made before.

Both of you are getting close but Rooftop 1000 needs something from nakji's answer and nakji is missing one last thing which Rooftop 1000 mentioned so the chocolate letter is still waiting to be sent! Anyone else? ← Such a great Dutch treat... sounds like the patatas speciaal is french fries wth (curry) ketchup, mayo and onions.... I latched onto fries with sambal mayo while I was in Amsterdam. I even bought one last order at the airport and ended up cutting it a little too close and was one of the last people to board the plane. They had to remove the remaining frites from my little paws before letting me board the plane and the attendents were all laughing at me.

I've been wanting to make Jansson's Temptation after learning about it in this thread.

It would be interesting to see what the percentage is of money spent monthly on dining out (the four nice dinners, coffees, hubby's lunches, etc). It surely wouldl be an interestng exercise for most of us to calculate regarding our food budgets. With what you described, I bet it might be 50-60% of the total cost. This is an area where I personally would probably cut down on the frequency as I could eat much better on less money by cooking good things myself. I eat work lunches out a few times a week for social/networking reasons but brown bag the rest of the time. This has saved me money, time and and extra unneeded calories. Saving in this arena is also easier than adjusting ingredients in home cooking. I mean you can do both, but cutting restaurant dinners from 4 to 2 times a month will instantly save 100-200 dollars. Time is surely a competing factor with two working people but I guess one would have to balance that against quality of food and money savings that can be used for other good things. Health benenfits might be a welcome side effect as well. Regarding the size of meat servings, I do usually limit the size for normal meals to 3-4 oz and I eat vegetarian or nearly vegetarian meals several times a week. Include more bean and other legumes, the meals neat not be completey meatless; they can be 'flavored' with meat. edited to add: I am kind of puzzled about your description of leftovers--i.e. you generate them but don't eat them! I would either cut down on the size of the original dish or consider eating the leftovers some time... Mine don't typically last more than one extra meal but they are cook's treat--an already cooked meal during a busy week. There are usually good things to be made in this situation; even easier if you tend to cook protein-centered dishes. If you don't feel as comfortable with transforming leftovers into another dish you can also think of making things that reheat wonderfully and have it two days later.

I'm sure the demographics are shifting all the time, but in "The Florida Cookbook", by Jeanne Voltz and Caroline Stuart they make the geographical distinctions in Florida as: Panhandle, Northeast, Central interior, Southern Interior/Great Lake, West coast and east coast (starting about a third down. When you look at the recipes grouped in each section, the most traditional "southern" foods (or rather, those that are seen in other states also) are in the Panhandle, the Northeast and all of the Central corridor, i.e. excluding most of the eastern and western coasts. That is, it not simply a north/south thing but also an interior/coastal distinction. This seems reasonable as food and cultural changes from new residents from outside the South would seem to have occurred at an accelerated rate on the coasts. Does this seem to ring true to Floridians?

Here's an article featuring a description of the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA) and some discussion of what and where is "Southern" food. click They have a "grits line" map in the article. I didn't realize grits were popular over so much of Texas.... The grits line includes the southern tip of some states like Missouri and Illinois; it exclues the southern two thirds of Florida.

VA had plantations and grits and some have argued that "below the James [river] lies Dixie." ← And then, Maryland had slave plantations and has grits as well... The Chesapeake Bay Cookbook by John Shields has a good overview of traditional dishes there.

The Southern Food Alliance (SFA) had a whole symposium on Southern Appalachian cuisine including West Virgina: Click Ronny Lundy's books on Southern and Southern Appalachian cooking are good sources of information.

I think that West Virginia is definately Southern in terms of its foods. I don't see the reason not to include states that are partially Southern in character like Texas and Maryland especially if they have distinctive Southern food traditions. Kentucky home of Bourbon, Derby Pie and Burgoo... sounds southern to me--as do the people's accents of Kentucky and WVa. And regarding Arkansas, I thought Bill Clinton is considered a Southern president... Map of southern stetes from Wikipedia: click This includes Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky,West Virginia and Maryland. Not all the south is the deep south...

^Excellent!

pinon nuts? (I'm not sure if pinion trees grow in that area) I think it is a pretty laborious job to process them though... I found a link on rules of pine nut gathering at the Great Basin National Park... click I've always read about the distinctive flavor of black walnuts but haven't tasted them on their own to realize the difference. In CT we had a hickory or butternut tree in the neighborhood that we picked wild nuts from.

Looks delicious, gfron1! ← Here's the thread on Hungarian Chestnut Cream Tortes: click

New Mexico is definately Southwest and not South. And the traditional food there is "New Mexican" and different enough to be distinct from Arizona and Texas. New Mexico also has "southwest cuisine" as popularized by Mark Miller of Coyote Cafe and other high end restaurants in Santa Fe. Texas is certainly a huge state with many different cultural influences but the food of a friend who grew up in east Texas certanly sounds very Southern. It would be itnteresting to hear more about "southern food" in Texas from people more familiar with the reagionality of food there though. From what I know, traditional West Virgina food is very southern in style as well although there are a few northern areas (close to Pittsburgh, etc) that have different influences, Italian, for example. There are pockets like these in many of the more southern states as well. Despite a few outliers, I think enough of the state is influenced by Southern and Appalachian cuisine for that to be considered the major flavor. I'm pretty sure that Southern Appalachian food is considered a branch of Southern cookery like Carolina coastal or Cajun cusine. Some food examples from a friend's extended family gatherings in central West Virginia: corn bread, stack cakes, biscuits, fried chicken, sorghum syrup, country hams, cobblers, coconut cakes, cooked greens with pot liquor dumplings, black-eyed peas, paw paws, all manner of southern vegetable side dishes often served as a whole meal, pickles and chowchows, fried pies made with dried apples, etc.

I like to make risotto cakes for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. The variety is endless as you can start with any vegetable-based risotto. You can add an egg or not to the chilled risotto before forming the cakes, then coat them with dried bread crumbs and pan brown. They are nice to serve surrounded by a vegetable ragout or sauce. The parmigiano or other dried cheese in the risotto adds a nice savory note.. Some of my favorite combos: tomato risotto cakes served with a sauteed mixture of zucchini, onins, carrots, etc. (for a not completely veg version you can add some pancetta to the sautee mix) Fennel is a nice vegetable to feature in the cake or accompanying vegetables also as it is a great complement to tomato. lemon risotto cakes served with a mushroom or artichoke ragout or asparagus saute. I've made a risotto-like dish with pearl barley as well. These might be interesting to serve in cake form also and serve with a mushroom sauce. My mom just told me about some great potato dumplings she had in Austria that after boiling were dried, coated with finely ground almonds and pan browned. I'm thinking these could be interesting as a main course "veggie burger" if they were made a little bigger and served with an appropriate sauce/veg saute. This is moving into "croguette" territory but perhaps suggests another approach toward a veggie burger type entree.

^And to those states I would probably add at least parts of Maryland and West Virginia as having a strong southern influence in food. West Virginia was part of the Union but its Appalachian cookery has more in common with some of its Confederate neighbors. States already cited in annecros' post: South Carolina Mississippi Florida Alabama Georgia Louisiana Texas Virginia Arkansas Tennessee North Carolina Missouri Kentucky The only state that doesn't ring bells of Southern food in my mind is Missouri but I don't know much about the state for the type of traditional food there.