Christmas Preparations 2023

[Shelby]

23 minutes ago, MaryIsobel said:

I am still experiencing some type of bug that is making me feel 30 years older than I am and going through a box of Kleenex a day. I'm operating on the "work an hour, rest an hour" principle. Most of the decorating is done and today I made rum balls. Got our new stove yesterday and have not had the energy to check it out thoroughly. I do know that it boils water, having gone through almost as much tea and Neo Citron as kleenex the last few days.

YUM

 

Take care of you.  

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I am having the most --or top ten of the most--stressful holiday times ever.  I want to just escape.  No one would suspect if I come to your house...I'm fine just sleeping on the floor. 

 

but I need wine...lots and lots of it.

 

Wine I have. And floors. But also beds. Head north-west at Hong Kong.

 

 

[Shelby]

1 minute ago, liuzhou said:

 

Wine I have. And floors. But also beds. Head north-west at Hong Kong.

 

 

How I wish....

 

 

[chromedome]

I've gotten a few kinds of cookies done... sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, zimmtsternen, vanillekipferln (sp?), Linzer cookies, and what my GF knows as "Russian teacakes" though they have a number of names (some of you will know them as "pecan meltaways"). No great amount of any of them; half or less compared to my usual, but it's enough to get boxes out in the mail to my grandkids, niece and son out west with a few left over.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my friends shared this photo with a suggestion that it's ideal for "retro entertaining":
 

 

Pretzel sticks, white chocolate, pink icing, Oreo crumbs.

[Shelby]

25 minutes ago, chromedome said:

I've gotten a few kinds of cookies done... sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, zimmtsternen, vanillekipferln (sp?), Linzer cookies, and what my GF knows as "Russian teacakes" though they have a number of names (some of you will know them as "pecan meltaways"). No great amount of any of them; half or less compared to my usual, but it's enough to get boxes out in the mail to my grandkids, niece and son out west with a few left over.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my friends shared this photo with a suggestion that it's ideal for "retro entertaining":
 

 

Pretzel sticks, white chocolate, pink icing, Oreo crumbs.

This is hilarious!

 

[Katie Meadow]

8 hours ago, chromedome said:

I've gotten a few kinds of cookies done... sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, zimmtsternen, vanillekipferln (sp?), Linzer cookies, and what my GF knows as "Russian teacakes" though they have a number of names (some of you will know them as "pecan meltaways"). No great amount of any of them; half or less compared to my usual, but it's enough to get boxes out in the mail to my grandkids, niece and son out west with a few left over.

On a completely unrelated note, one of my friends shared this photo with a suggestion that it's ideal for "retro entertaining":
 

 

Pretzel sticks, white chocolate, pink icing, Oreo crumbs.

Presumably this was served in an ashtray. I haven't had a cigarette in 40 years, but a pretzel dipped in white chocolate sounds almost as bad. Kudos, I think, to the artist.

[Darienne]

Some plans are finally in place for Christmas.  Ed has agreed to make Tortière and I am delighted.  We have Thanksgiving's turkey still in the freezer...no working oven at that time...long story...aren't they all?...and so that's a start. 

 

Daughter is coming from Toronto for the weekend and alas, she's a vegan.  Still she says if she makes the rules, she can break them when she feels like it and yes, she will have some turkey.  And yes, she will bring some food with her.  

 

I've made Shortbread cookies but that might be it, except for the easy peasy Wacky Cake.  Daughter will eat that because it is actually vegan.  

 

The Christmas bits and bobs are up in the Drive Shed and we have snow this morning up the wazoo and I hesitate to ask Ed to bring them down.   If the tree is going to go up and be decorated, daughter will have to take charge this year.  I'll manage my favorite Santa and reindeer set-up.  

 

 

 

 

[FauxPas]

My friend brought out some of her nutcracker collection. She has over 200 of them, not sure of exact number. She didn't put them all out, just a few of her favourites, hahahaha

 

And I didn't even photograph the ones on the mantle or on the tables by the Xmas tree. 

 

The big ones must be close to 90 cm / 3 feet tall. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 19, 2023 by FauxPas (log)

[ElsieD]

Wow, that's quite the collection.  Very nice.  Nice view, too!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

11 hours ago, Darienne said:

Daughter..., she's a vegan.  Still she says if she makes the rules, she can break them when she feels like it and yes, she will have some turkey.

 

God bless her!    She is giving vegans a good name.

[Jacksoup]

@FauxPas  I love nutcrackers.  I only have about 40 but have not got anything out this year because I thought it was just gonna be me.  I knew my son was moving back to re-adjust his career for the better, he just called and said he’ll be here Friday.  He loves ham so I’ll get one and make au gratin potatoes.  Maybe pecan pie which he also loves but Lordy it’s too much sugar for me. Thank goodness he’s not big on all the Xmas stuff but now we’ll probably see a lot of his dad’s side of the family. Which is good, I love them, they love me and my ex never shows up.  Christmas doesn’t look so solitary now.  But I wasn’t sad about it, was planning my binge watches for the day

[liuzhou]

Damn! I keep remembering things I NEED.

 

Each box contains 15 raw oysters on ice. I have ordered one. ¥28 a box. That's $4 USD. Should be here in 30 minutes.

 

 

 

[Ann_T]

I finally got around to making the Chile Sauce for Moe's Christmas Eve Tourtiere.

Made half a batch and canned 8 - 500ml jars.  Giving a couple away and the

remaining should keep Moe happy for most of the year.   They are all his.  Not a condiment fan. 

 

 

 

[chromedome]

I got the boxes of cookies in the mail yesterday for Alberta (late even by my standards); now today I have to bake some more for local giving. I'm going to stick with the "grown-up" kinds for this round, as opposed to sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies which need subsequent decoration.

 

I also dug out the tote containing my late mother-in-law's Christmas decorations. Most of them are just inexpensive commercial things from Zellers (for those who don't know, think "Canadian K-Mart") but... they were hers. Serious sentimental value within the family.

[MaryIsobel]

On 12/17/2023 at 1:25 PM, chromedome said:

 

 

Now on day 10 of whatever malady it is that is plaguing me. Still no appetite and no energy but I do feel a little better each day. I am so far behind. Made Salted Chocolate Chunk shortbread, some gingerbread men and trees that are still naked at this point, some rum balls and then turned most of the rest of my baking ingredients into "bark" cuz that was easiest. Yesterday I made the tortiere filling, I will bake it into tarts today or tomorrow as we never eat a whole pie and the tarts freeze nicely. My daughters are helping immensely with our Christmas Eve finger food spread so that has been helpful.

[Captain]

The ham is done.

In the kamado with apple wood.

 

[Kim Shook]

@MaryIsobel – I hope you are feeling better by now.  Your rum balls are gorgeous – they look quite professional! 

 

My pitiful gingerbread men:

The dough was just a roll of refrigerated dough.  They taste fine, but my icing was not pretty!  It was a tube of stuff that gets firm after sitting a while.  But it was hard to use – very stringy and drippy. 

 

Iced almonds:

 

@Darienne’s Enstrom’s-style toffee:

I wasn’t completely satisfied with this batch.  A lot of the chocolate fell off and the toffee itself was more crumbly and less shattery than usual:

 

Tried out a new recipe with mincemeat – mincemeat and puff pastry pinwheels:

 

These were delicious – though the bottoms got a little dark because I was trying to get the pastry nice and browned.  But they tasted great – Jessica found some jars of Tiptree mincemeat which I’d never tried before and it was lovely.  Much better than the other brands I’ve tried.

 

Made two batches of Sponge Candy.  Neither was perfect.  Both of them were extremely sticky (it’s not a humid day) – a nice crunch when you start chewing a piece but turns sticky very quickly.  It would be a menace to someone with dentures.  The first batch:

This texture was not as tight as I like it to be.  The second batch was better texture-wise:

but still sticky upon chewing. 

 

Happy Accident candy:

This is the scraps from Sponge Candy mixed into melted chocolate.  I’m pretty pleased with my tempering.  I did a similar thing with the scraps from the toffee:

The tempering is not nearly as good.  When I put the scraps in the melted chocolate they were still very cold from having been frozen and I ended up with a big ball of firm chocolate that I had to put in the microwave.  It definitely got over 90F.  But it tastes wonderful.  I’ll be doing this every year!

 

Sugar cookies:

 

Jessica wanted to learn how to make hard candy.  I used to make it every year, but haven’t in ages.  So we made batches of peppermint and cinnamon today.  I’ll post pictures when we break it up. 

[TdeV]

54 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

@MaryIsobel – I

 

 

Iced almonds:

 

<snip>

 

 

Tried out a new recipe with mincemeat – mincemeat and puff pastry pinwheels:

 

These were delicious – though the bottoms got a little dark because I was trying to get the pastry nice and browned.  But they tasted great – Jessica found some jars of Tiptree mincemeat which I’d never tried before and it was lovely.  Much better than the other brands I’ve tried.

 

 

Kim, everything looks so lovely! Bet it all tastes great too.

Could you provide recipes for Iced Almonds and Mincemeat Pinwheels?

[MaryIsobel]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

@MaryIsobel – I hope you are feeling better by now.  Your rum balls are gorgeous – they look quite professional! 

 

My pitiful gingerbread men:

The dough was just a roll of refrigerated dough.  They taste fine, but my icing was not pretty!  It was a tube of stuff that gets firm after sitting a while.  But it was hard to use – very stringy and drippy. 

 

 

Iced almonds:

 

 

@Darienne’s Enstrom’s-style toffee:

I wasn’t completely satisfied with this batch.  A lot of the chocolate fell off and the toffee itself was more crumbly and less shattery than usual:

 

Tried out a new recipe with mincemeat – mincemeat and puff pastry pinwheels:

 

These were delicious – though the bottoms got a little dark because I was trying to get the pastry nice and browned.  But they tasted great – Jessica found some jars of Tiptree mincemeat which I’d never tried before and it was lovely.  Much better than the other brands I’ve tried.

 

Made two batches of Sponge Candy.  Neither was perfect.  Both of them were extremely sticky (it’s not a humid day) – a nice crunch when you start chewing a piece but turns sticky very quickly.  It would be a menace to someone with dentures.  The first batch:

This texture was not as tight as I like it to be.  The second batch was better texture-wise:

but still sticky upon chewing. 

 

Happy Accident candy:

This is the scraps from Sponge Candy mixed into melted chocolate.  I’m pretty pleased with my tempering.  I did a similar thing with the scraps from the toffee:

The tempering is not nearly as good.  When I put the scraps in the melted chocolate they were still very cold from having been frozen and I ended up with a big ball of firm chocolate that I had to put in the microwave.  It definitely got over 90F.  But it tastes wonderful.  I’ll be doing this every year!

 

Sugar cookies:

 

Jessica wanted to learn how to make hard candy.  I used to make it every year, but haven’t in ages.  So we made batches of peppermint and cinnamon today.  I’ll post pictures when we break it up. 

 

Those mincemeat pinwheels are a great idea! I always made mincemeat tarts for my Dad and my boss but Dad passed and my boss is not my boss any more so I didn't make any this year. I like them, my husband can take them or leave them. My Mom used to heat up mincemeat with a generous splash of brandy and serve it over vanilla ice cream - I might just do that!

 

[MaryIsobel]

Baked the Tourtière tarts - they turned out well. In the interest of transparency, I am including a picture of the Tourtière turnover that I made for dinner tonight. I cut neat little crosses on the top but apparently overstuffed.

[Senior Sea Kayaker]

@Kim Shook

I don't have much of a sweet tooth however I like mincemeat and those pinwheels are calling out my name 😋.

 

[Maison Rustique]

I came down with a bug a couple of days ago and then husband also didn't feel well yesterday, so we cancelled our lunch with family. I did get some Maple Bourbon Pecans and Spicy Herb Mixed Nuts made for gifting and nibbling throughout the holidays.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

14 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

 

Kim, everything looks so lovely! Bet it all tastes great too.

Could you provide recipes for Iced Almonds and Mincemeat Pinwheels?

Happy to!  Iced Almonds & Mincemeat Pinwheels.  

1 hour ago, Maison Rustique said:

I came down with a bug a couple of days ago and then husband also didn't feel well yesterday, so we cancelled our lunch with family. I did get some Maple Bourbon Pecans and Spicy Herb Mixed Nuts made for gifting and nibbling throughout the holidays.

 

 

 

Hope you're feeling better soon!!

[blue_dolphin]

On 12/9/2023 at 9:04 AM, blue_dolphin said:

I'll be joining cousins for a big Christmas Eve dinner.  I was asked to make the same caraway and blackberry slaw that I made for Thanksgiving.  It's bright and colorful and holds well. 

 

And they asked for the banana pudding that I ordered from ZEF BBQ so that's easy peasy. I added some smoked turkey to my order to make the minimum!

 

 

Quoting myself here to report that I just realized that I need to go to the store for blackberries, red cabbage, and spinach.  I'd expected to get all of them at Thursday's farmers market but the rain kept a bunch of vendors away.  Others kept all their produce in their trucks so you had to recognize them and ask for stuff.  In any case, I'm now debating whether I should try Sprouts late tonight or first thing tomorrow AM.  Arrrrgh!  

 

Also, I have done zero decorating aside from setting up an Advent wreath.  I thought I'd eventually get in the spirit, but it hasn't happened.  The last candle gets lit tomorrow morning, then BOOM, it's already Christmas Eve!  Yesterday, my cousin invited herself and husband over on the day after Christmas to exchange gifts.  Do you think I can convince them that I was super-efficient and took down all the decorations so quickly?  Me, who usually leaves everything up until Epiphany?  🤣

[gulfporter]

Today I will make the mushroom duxelle, grill the asparagus (I serve it cold), the cranberry-chipotle condiment.  Took out the chicken breasts and puff pastry to thaw in fridge overnight.   I will assemble the Chicken Wellingtons tomorrow early.  

 

I have a bag of shrimp thawing for lunch; plan to stuff in an avocado with Persian cukes, diced red pepper, shallt, cilantro, with a lime-olive oil-chipotle dressing. 

 

The other day at lunch at a nearby eatery, we saw and liked their menu offerings for Xmas Eve so we ordered meals to-go for this evening.  However the place was slammed with customers and our waiter wrote our order on a paper napkin.  We figure at best, there's a 50-50 chance it will be there when I walk over to fetch tonight 😎

 

Here's the menu (we chose Chamorro and the Chile en Nogada as we've had theirs many times in past and always great.