Cookie season! It doesn’t feel like the holidays until I’ve made my first batch of gingerbread cookies, which was yesterday. I used A Cookie To Celebrate by Jana Douglass, and went crazy with edible glitter and a new recipe for royal icing. This book teaches about piping and flooding (verbs I had no idea had […]
Tag: christmas
Blueberry Gingerbread for a Very Special Christmas
One of my favorite Christmas memories was in a New Orleans church service in 2007. The pastor proclaimed himself to be a “reformed musician” –having left the wild partying life, he still brought his saxophone into the pulpit to accompany the choir. That night it was an advent service and to kick off the hymn […]
Pecan Maple Glazed Kringle for Christmas Morning
Well I just watched a monarch butterfly land on a lush red blossom that exploded overnight on the Mexican Flame Vine crawling up the lattice outside my kitchen window. December, folks, December in New Orleans. A chilly winter’s day, such that my petunias mistake it for spring. To get in the holiday spirit, I’ve been […]
Pearled Barley Porridge with Prosciutto and Eggs
This was my first time poaching an egg. Turns out I love it this style. Especially on this barley, totally unexpected, and such a wintry hearty dish. KP and I have been having the best Advent season, despite my working unprecedented hours in the new hospital ICU. Before the craziness started at the beginning of […]
Good Morning Brunch Cake
Here I go into the Season of Night—ICU Night Float, a dreaded post for me, but to ensure I have something to look forward to in the bleary-eyed mornings when finally I am able to float home for a daytime’s rest, Christmas lights, loved ones and coffee cake. Buttery Brunch Cake Adapted from Penzeys Cake: […]
Cardamom Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping
Why is there comfort in tradition? One holiday tradition in my family is to serve coffee cake or cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, with a steaming hot cup of coffee. On Christmas Eve, we exchange new pairs of pajamas and wear them for the next 25-72 hours. We watch Muppet Christmas Carol. When the pajamas […]
Christstollen and Butter-Haiku
A German fellow I have been working with was thrilled when I brought in my latest loaf—stollen, er, “sch-tollen.” He regaled me with the history of the bread, how in Dresden, large stollen loaves would be prepared sometimes weeks in advance of the Advent season and then stored outside under shelters where the elements kept […]
Wild Rice Wheat Bread
It is a jalapeño Christmas tree kind of year. I’m waiting for two little jalapeños to finish growing, and figured, if this thing is going to take up space in my living room, the little peppers might as well keep festive company with the holiday ornaments. Also, haven’t exactly had time to enjoy holiday décor […]
Christmas Eve Smorgasbord Limpa Bread
Christmas is the only day I don’t feel guilty taking a 5-hour nap after playing charades in my pajamas until noon. What a lovely holiday. Great to see our West Coast family, so many highlights, and thrilled to have a vacation for a few days. Charades by the tree–my brother trying to get us to […]