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My mother always made this amazing fruitcake for as long as I can remember. I don’t know where she got it from (likely a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook) but it is really delicious. Most people think fruitcake is dry and flavourless, and frankly most fruitcake is. This recipe, however, avoids the problem by adding brandy to the cake and by baking it with water in the oven. With Dan’s prompting, we made the recipe for the first time this year and it turned out very good. There was half a fruitcake left in my mother’s refrigerator so we kept some to compare the two. The only difference was that my cake was too young (it should sit in the brandy longer) and the mace was a bit stronger because I could only find dried mace flower and I ground it myself.
Here is the recipe, as my mother wrote it to me in an email about a year ago.

1981 Medium Dark Fruitcake

Fruit mixture
2 pounds (4 cups) mixed candied fruit, half red cherries, half green cherries, citron peel (your choice) - cut cherries in half
4 cups raisins, seedless, half dark and half golden
1 cup brandy
1 cup blanched whole almonds
1 cup chopped pecans or pecan halves
1/2 cup flour
Batter
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups alll purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon EACH cinnamon, allspice and mace
1/2 cup strawberry jam

Mix candied fruit and raisins in very large bowl or container. Pour over brandy and let mixture stand at least two hours, or overnight, or two or three days. Stir once or twice.

Prepare cake pans (use two springform pans of the same size), grease with shortening and cut lining from wax paper, for bottom and sides of pan, 3 layers of wax paper for each pan. Add almonds and pecans to fruit and toss with 1/2 cup of flour. Cream butter with sugar. Add brown sugar and cream thoroughly. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then add flavorings. Combine remaining 1 1/2 cup flour, baking soda and spices. Add to mixture and mix well till evenly blended. Stir in jam. Mix in floured fruit until all is moistened. Spoon into prepared pans and pack smoothly.

Put a pan of water on bottom shelf of oven and bake the cakes at 275F for about 3 1/2 hours (about 4 hours in Calgary) or until cake is firm to touch and skewer in center comes out clean. Cover cake halfway through baking with inverted baking sheet, brown paper or tin foil for 3/4 to 1 hour, this prevents excess drying.

Cool cake 30 minutes before removing from pan. When completely cool, poke many holes with skewer or nut pick through to bottom of cake, on edges and all over cake, drizzle with a couple of tablespoons of brandy, or more - 1/2 cup brandy each cake is not too much.

Have four lots of cheesecloth cut, heat remaining brandy, soak cheesecloth in warm brandy, one piece at a time, wrap around cake, two brandy soaked clothes for each cake. Overwrap in foil, store one week before slicing. For easy thin slices, chill cake. Store in refrigerator, will keep a few years because of the brandy. Makes two cakes.

This has been one heck of a week. I spent most of last weekend tidying up in our place and we both had a rather nice relaxing time. When I went to work on Monday there was an innocent-looking fax sitting on the desk near the fax machine with some documents pertaining to the condo sale. “Sign here” some of them said. Well that’s all good. “Get a witness to sign here” said some others - well no problemo, I have an office full of coworkers who can do that. But some of them also said “get the witness to swear an affadavit before a notary” and others “get a notarized signature here” and then I started to panic. I was panicking because the last page said “please return these before Friday” (the closing date for the sale of the condo). After a mad scramble I was able to get an appointment with my notary (yes, I have a notary now) for Tuesday afternoon. I got the forms signed, witnessed, norarized, photocopied and mailed so they arrived in Alberta by Wednesday morning. From what I hear the sale is finished, so that’s all done. One issue resolved.

Tuesday evening we had a tour of the hospital. There were a lot of people there - I would easily guess 100 couples and I think it was more people than the staff were expecting. The tour consisted of a presentation and then visiting the birthing centre and unit. Although it was fairly time consuming (2 hours total) it was fairly informative and quite reassuring for me. I found all of their standard policies to be in line with what I think, which is great.

Wednesday night we had our prenatal class as usual. It was Valentine’s day but we had to postpone our meal until Friday. It was a class about breastfeeding so we got to see a video with lots of different breasts - big ones, small ones, squirty ones, engorged ones … all sorts. Not our usual Valentine’s day fare, that’s fur sure! The weather was starting to royally suck at this point - very cold, windy and snowy. Thursday I had my doctor’s appointment and the weather was awful. To give you an idea how bad it was, I usually wait for an hour at the doctor’s office if I turn up at the scheduled time. This Thursday I came about 40 minutes late and there was nobody in the waiting room. This is an office that has 5 doctors in it. By that time, my doctor was the only one still there! Anyway, everything is still on track. Kicky is head-down (a good thing to be at this point) and will hopefully stay that way. She is more “punchy” rather than “kicky” now since there isn’t so much room for her to extend her legs, but on the rare occasion that she does it is surprisingly painful, especially since they are right under my ribs. She has very strong leg muscles. She’s very responsive now and if Dan talks to her or we touch where her feet are, her hands move around a lot (I wonder if it tickles?).

I had another breastfeeding class Thursday evening so Dan and I went out for supper and then I trekked my way to the hospital for the class. Again, long but informative.

Friday was break time. Dan and I made steak, battered shrimp and asparagus. Dan invented this amazing steak marinade:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tabelspoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1 small clove of garlic, sliced
a few slices of ginger
6-10 parsley leaves
freshly ground salt and pepper to taste
It was really good.

Today we finally resolved the car seat issue. We went to le Carrousel du Parc which is a great store specializing in car seats and strollers. After speaking with the very friendly and knowledgeable lady, we ended up choosing a Britax Marathon, which is the best convertible car seat available in North America. So no more worrying about that - Kicky has a safe way to get home from the hospital now and we can travel without worrying about trying to borrow or rent a seat. I was really impressed with the store - although it is small they have a great selection and it wasn’t crowded and busy like the other stores I have visited. They also rent car seats for people who don’t need to buy - an infant car seat can be rented for only $80 for 6 months. If we didn’t know we would be travelling this year, this would have been a great solution too. We also put a McLaren Stroller on order. We won’t need it until she is 3-6 months old so there is no rush to get it.

We took the bus back to Place des arts metro and I stopped in to St. Viateur bagel - my first time going there. It was awesome. Also we happened to be at the corner of Parc and St. Viateur at around 11 AM on a Saturday and it was quite an interesting and new experience for me to see so many members of the Hasidic Jewish community going to temple.

When I go out for Indian food with friends & co-workers I’ve seen several people curiously examine the panir and say “Hmm, what is that … tofu?” To which I reply “It’s fresh milk cheese” but somehow nobody believes me! After looking through the two Indian cookbooks that Dan got from the library I grabbed a few panir recipes and they are really nice. I’ve also thrown in a lentil soup recipe here to go with them.

Panir
Panir is fresh milk cheese used as a protein and flavour supplement to many vegetable dishes. Recipes may call for different amounts of panir.
To make 4 ounces (115g) of panir: 4 cups milk + 1 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice
To make 6 ounces (170g) of panir: 6 cups of milk + 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
To make 10 ounces (285g) of panir: 8 cups of milk + 4 tablespoons of lemon juice
To make 12 ounces (340g) of panir: 10 cups of milk + 5 ½ tablespoons of lemon juice

Pour milk into a heavy pan that allows for plenty of room for boiling. Set over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring often to prevent burning. Reduce heat to low and before the foam disappears, add the lemon juice. Gently move the spoon through the milk in one direction and after 10-15 seconds, clumps will form. Remove the pan from the heat and continue to stir until larger clumps form. Set aside for 10 minutes. Cheese will settle under the whey. Drain cheese and either discard or keep the whey (the recipe may ask for whey). Line a strainer with 3 layers of damp cheesecloth. Gently transfer the cheese into the cloth. Collect the corners and twist 1-2 times. Hold under a gentle stream of water and twist gently to squeeze out the excess whey (take care not to burn your hands with the hot whey). Allow to drain by weight for 3 hours, then refrigerate for up to 4 days.

Palak Panir Sak (chopped spinach panir)
1-2 hot green chillies, cut into pieces
fresh panir from 6 cups of milk
½ inch of ginger, sliced
4 tablespoons of panir whey or water
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons oil/butter mixture
2 pounds of spinach, washed and finely chopped (or 600 g of frozen spinach, defrosted)
½ teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons of cream
Place chilies, ginger and whey/water in food processor and purée until ginger is pulverized. Add the corriander, cumin, turmeric and paprika and set aside. Heat oil/buttter in a non-stick frying pan until hot but not smoking. Gently fry panir for about 5 minutes, turning constantly until browned on all sides. Remove and set aside. Add the wet purée to the oil and the fresh spinach, if using. Reduce heat slightly, cover and cook for 8 minutes. Turn spinach to allow even cooking and cook for another 8 minutes. If using frozen spinach, only cook for 8 minutes in total. Add garam masala, salt, fried panir and cream.

Matar panir (panir with peas, mint and tomatoes in sauce)
1-2 hot green chilies (optional)
1 inch ginger, sliced
4 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon paprika
4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and 4 tablespoons of butter
fresh panir from 8 cups of milk
1 ¼ teaspoons cumin seeds
½ teaspoon black mustard seeds
¼ teaspoon fennel seeds
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 ½ cups panir whey
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen peas (defrosted)
1 teaspoon salt
½ tablespoon garam masala
2 tablespoons each chopped fresh coriander and mint
Turn on a food processor and add chilies and ginger to mince. Add water, ground coriander, paprika and turmeric. Process until smooth and transfer to a cup. Heat 4 tablespoons of the oil/butter mix and fry cheese cubes, turning constantly until evenly browned. Set aside. Add seeds and fry until the mustards seeds pop and turn gray. Add remaining oil/butter and the wet mix. Fry with frequent stirring until most of the water evaporates. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook with stirring until the mixture is dry and the oil separates from the tomatoes (about 10 minutes). Pour in the whey, add the fresh peas (if using) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook about 15 minutes until the fresh peas are nearly tender. Add panir and frozen peas (if using) and simmr on low for 5 minutes. Add salt, garam masala and fresh herbs.

Mung Dal soup
2/3 cup skinless mung dal, washed and drained
6 ½ cups of water
1 teaspoon turmeric
2 teaspoons ground cornaider
1 ½ teaspoons finely shredded ginger
1/2 teaspoon minced green chili (optional)
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
fresh coriander or parsley
Combine first 6 ingredients in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 1 hour until dal are soft. Turn off the heat, add the salt, and beat with a mixer until the soup is smooth. Heat the oil and fry the cumin seeds until brown. Pour into the soup and cover for 1-2 minutes to let the flavour soak in. Add fresh herb and serve.

Choose a flavour quiche
2 Pastry crusts
3 beaten eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup sliced green onion
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
dash ground nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped cooked chicken, crab or ham (omit for vegetarian, obviously!)
1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss, cheddar, etc. cheese
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
Cover pie shell with foil and bake in oven 450F for 5 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5- minutes more. Remove from oven and reduce temperature to 325F. In a bowl stir together eggs, milk, onion, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in meat and toss the flour and cheese together. Add to egg mixture and mix well. Pour into hot pastry shell and bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.
Variation: Spinach Quiche: Use 4 eggs and leave out onion and meat. Cook 1 package spinach and drain. Add 2 cups feta/ricotta cheese and spinach to egg mixture, sprinkle with paprika and bake as above.

Vegetable Soufflé
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons margarine or butter
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon fresh herbs or 1/4 teaspoon dry (herbs de provence work nicely)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 cup milk
1 cup shredded cheese
1 cup finely chopped cooked broccoli or asparagus
3 eggs, separated
Cook garlic and onion in margarine or butter until tender. Stir in flour, herb, salt and pepper. Add all the milk and cook until thick and bubbly (about 1-2 minutes). Remove from heat and add cheese and vegetable.

This one goes out to Tyler, who is lenting out meat this year…

Alfredo sauce
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons flour
1 package chicken bouillon (skip or use vegetable broth mix)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoon parsley
Whisk milk, flour, and bouillon together. Heat in a sauce pan, stirring constantly until slightly thick or microwave on high for 2 minutes. Add seasonings. Slowly stir in parmesan cheese with a whisk. Reduce heat and let thicken or microwave on high for 1 minute. Serve with pasta.

Tofu Alfredo Pasta Sauce
1 (12 oz.) package soft tofu, drained (note, under no circumstances freeze the tofu before doing this as it turns out awful - use fresh!)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/4 cup Romano cheese, grated
1 tablespoon soybean oil
1 1/2 teaspoons dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder (optonal)
Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender. Blend until creamy on high, about 1 1/2 minutes. Heat sauce in microwave or stove-top and serve over hot pasta.

Rosé sauce - this is a Ricardo recipe
- Tomato sauce
1 diced onion
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 28 ounce (800 mL) can of diced tomatoes
Cook onion and garlic n in a frying pan for about 3 minutes in olive oil. Add tomato paste and tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer 15 minutes over medium heat. Add salt and pepper to taste. Puree in a food processor if necessary (Karen’s note: I prefer not to puree).
- Bechamel sauce
3 tablespoons margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
parmesan cheese to taste
In a small saucepan, melt the margarine over medium heat. Add the flour and heat 1 minute, stirring. Add the milk while stirring and bring to a boil. Add cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Add to tomato sauce. Serve with hot cooked pasta.

Marinara sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano leaves
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 pound frozen shelled and deveined shrimp
In a frying pan over medium high heat in hot olive oil, brown garlic lightly. Add tomato sauce and next 6 ingredients. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low, cover ad simmer sauce mixture over low heat 10 minutes.

Pesto sauce for pasta
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 small clove of garlic, quartered
2 tablespoons dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/3 cup walnuts or pine nuts
In blender place all ingredients, cover and blend at medium speed until well mixed.

I haven’t quite worked out a vegetarian version of this yet, but I expect it would have zucchini and eggplant in it to thicken the sauce. Just leaving the meat out makes it a bit bland.

Spaghetti sauce
2 pounds hamburger
2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves crushed garlic
2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons dried oregano, crushed
1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil, crushed
1 teaspoon dried marjoram, crushed
optional: 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
2 bay leaves
16 oz tomato sauce
12 oz tomato paste
Cook and stir hamburger, onion, and garlic in skillet until hamburger is light brown; drain and transfer to a large pot at this point. Stir in remaining ingredients and heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer covered with occasional stirring for 1 hour. Serve with hot cooked pasta.

Its time for another un-muffin recipe. Sorry there is no image, I lost it!

Banana Apricot oat bran muffins
1 cup oat bran
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
3 small ripe bananas (~1 cup when mashed)
1/3 cup dried apricots, diced
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C)
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. Stir well to blend. Beat egg whites, vanilla extract, brown sugar, vegetable oil, yoghurt and bananas together in a separate bowl. Add to dry ingredients, then add diced apricots, stirring until just blended. Spoon into greased muffin tins. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until toothpick in centre comes out clean.

This past week I made a very nice meal from my cookbook Japanese cooking: traditions, techniques, ingredients and recipes by Emi Kazuko and Yasuko Fukuoka. The only problems I had were 1) finding a daikon (instead I used a different type of radish that I found in Chinatown that was fairly close) and 2) I fried the tofu with a cornstarch coating - very bad idea! But other than that, it was very nice. I wouldn’t recommend this for someone new to Japanese food unless you have tried something with dashi in it before (e.g. in agedashi tofu) since it is a bit fishy for the uninitiated. Once you try it, however, you will come to love the taste. It goes very well with tofu and this smelled so good while it was cooking. As for the mushrooms, the book describes them as the “vegetarian equivalent of steak” and that’s not too far off! I found they were nice warm and cold. Anyway, on with the recipes:

Simmered tofu with vegetables
4 medium or 6 small dried shitake mushrooms
450 g daikon (its a big radish!)
2 atsu-age (deep fried tofu), about 200 g each (note: you can easily fry your own tofu at home rather than buying them, just cook in a thick layer of oil and turn until the tofu is cooked through)
100-150 g green beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 teaspoon uncooked sushi rice
100-150 g carrot, sliced
300g baby potatoes, washed but not peeled
3 cups second dashi (see this website for a good tutorial, alas I used the instant)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sake (rice wine - unfortunately I can’t afford sake so I omitted this and it turned out fine)
1 tablespoon mirin (cooking rice wine)
Soak the shitake mushrooms overnight in the fridge (as I do, being paranoid of food poisoning) or at room temperature for 2 hours. Discard the liquid and remove and discard the stalks. Peel the daikon and slice into 1/2 inch discs. Shave the edge to make rounded edges - this helps them cook evenly and looks ever so cute). Put them into cold water to keep from discolouration. Cook the atsu-age (or open the package you bought) and wash away the excess oil with hot water and drain. Cut into pieces of 1 x 2 inches. Boil the green beans for 2-5 minutes, drain, and cool. Set aside until later.

Put the daikon in the pan with the water and the rice (it takes away the bitter taste during cooking). Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes, then drain. Discard the rice. Put the atsu-age, mushrooms, carrot and potato in the pan with the daikon. Add the dashi stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add the sugar, soy sauce and sake, gently staking (not stirring) to mix. Cut wax paper to be about 1/2 an inch smaller than the pan and place over the stew. Put the lid on the pan and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the paper, add the green beans and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the mirin and then taste the sauce - add more soy sauce if desired. Arrange the ingredients on a plate and pour some of the sauce over. Serve warm.

Fukumé-ni (slow cooked shitake)
20 dried shitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I tried using 1 tablespoon to reduce the oiliness the second time I made it and it didn’t taste as good, maybe 2 is better?)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
Soak the mushrooms overnight. Save half a cup of the liquid and discard the rest. Cut off the stalks and discard. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok and sir-fry for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to lowest setting, add the liquid saved earlier, the soy sauce and sugar. Cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add sesame oil and remove from the heat.

Well so far Christmas has gone quite well all things considered!

Yesterday my cousin was involved in an accident with a semi-trailer truck (!!!) and believe it or not, walked away with only some bruises. The Christmas presents she had with her were also almost untouched as well. Her car is a complete write off, though. So we’re very glad to hear that she is alright.

Dan and I slept in way too late yesterday becase we were planning to make anise cookies and bread, go to a Christmas Eve service at 5, then come home and make soup, videoconference with Dan’s family and open presents. After I started making the cookies I realised I didn’t have enough brown sugar and had to go to the grocery store AGAIN (we’ve been grocery shopping about 10 times since the 22nd) and got some other things I had forgotten (tin foil, yogurt).

When I got back Dan and I made the delicious anise cookies that his Oma always makes, which at one point I described as a “monstrosity that should never have been unleashed on mankind”. They’re wonderful cookies of course, but the problem is that a) the recipe we use makes over 100 cookies, b) there is a very special icing that must be prepared with a hand mixer over a double boiler (we don’t have a double boiler), c) to harden the icing after the cookies are made, each one must be laid out separately (otherwise the icing will stick) and baked again at a lower temperature to harden the icing and d) our kitchen really isn’t big enough. Well it was chaos, but much better than out attempt last year. Below is the halved recipe that makes 50 cookies with the credit going to Dan’s Oma!

Anise cookies
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup margarine
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground star anise (you can buy it whole and hand-grind it or smash in a coffee grinder for extra fun)
1/3 cup buttermilk
About 2 cups flour (I wasn’t able to quantitate this one)
Mix everything together and add enough flour so the dough is not too sticky (like regular cookie dough). Grap a piece the size of a walnut and roll in your hands. Place on a greased baking tray and press flat with the bottom of a glass. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Bake 350F for about 12 minutes until cookies are firm but not burned. Cool on a rack or counter and start baking the next batch.
Icing:
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg white
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 1/2 tablespoons of water
Beat with an electric mixer over boiling water (if you don’t have a double boiler, boil some water in a larger pot and then beat in a smaller pot … works best if you hav a friend to hold the smaller pot for you) for 7 minutes. Test icing by taking some on your finger - it should turn hard and crumbly when it cools. Optional: add 1/4 teaspoon almond flavouring after icing is made.
Put icing in a large bowl and add baked and cooled cookies. Shake to coat and place cookies individually back on the baking trays (do NOT stack) and bake at 200F for about 5 minutes until the icing hardens. Use a pancake flipper to scoop them off the tray (removing them with your hands will leave the icing from the bottom on the tray). Place indivially on the counter or plates until icing is completely hard.

If this were not chaotic enough, Dan was making a white free-form bread for tomorrow. Free-form breads tend to be a bit stiffer than regular bread and so he got quite a work-out. At one point when he was kneading it, he was actually jumping and punching it. I honestly had my doubts about it, but it turned out very nice in the end.

We went to the Christmas service at Christchurch Cathedral. I really enjoy visiting the inside of that church because the detail on the roof is so nice and I love the big octagonal columns. The sevice was excellent as usual and the choir is incredible. I think I experienced the best rendition of Huron Carol I have hever heard.

Off back home to make our Christmas eve soup, which seems to have become a tradition for us. This year it was chestnut soup, another Delia recipe:

Chestnut soup
1 cup (200 g) cooked and peeled whole chestnuts (you can use dried chestnuts soaked in water or fresh chestnuts, but roast them at 400F for 30 minutes before making the soup. If you use whole chestnuts, cut a cross in the shell so they peel after cooking)
1 stick of celery, trimmed and chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 small carrot, peeled and chopped
1.2 liters ham or vegetable stock
salt and freshly milled black pepper
For the croutons
4 strips of bacon, derinded and very finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
4 oz (110 g) stale white bread, cut into small cubes
4 tablespoons olive oil
To make the soup, you simply place all the ingredients in a large saucepan, season lightly with salt and pepper, bring up to simmering point, then put a lid on and simmer very gently for 45 minutes. While that’s happening, you can prepare the croutons. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the bacon gently for 5 minutes, then turn the heat up to its highest setting, add the cubes of bread, together with the thyme, and toss them around (keeping them constantly on the move) until they, and the bacon, have turned a deep golden brown colour and become very crisp and crunchy. Turn them out on to some absorbent kitchen paper. Then, as soon as the soup is ready, allow it to cool slightly, then transfer it to a blender and purée until smooth. You may need to do this in more than one batch, in which case, it is a good idea to have a bowl to put the soup in as it is ready. Re-heat the soup in the pan, season to taste and serve in warmed soup bowls, with the croutons, bacon and thyme sprinkled over.
I used fresh chestnuts that I bought at Akhvan in early December. I have never seen them for sale in a grocery store before, so I just started grabbing handfuls of them and thinking “there must be a way to roast them in the oven!”. Good thing there is! We tried it with dried chestnuts and vacuum packaged chestnuts but I think the fresh ones were the best.

Last weekend Dan and I made gingerbread cookies. Its a recipe that my mom and I used to make when I was little so I wanted to try it. We started a bit too late (8 PM) which meant we didn’t finish baking the last ones until after midnight, but they were very good. We were so tired that we got a bit silly near the end and made some rather odd cookies like a triceretops, Mrs. Pacman, two Blair Witch Men (featured above!), and a Batman. Tyler liked them too!

Gingerbread men
1 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 tablespoons vinegar
5 cups all purpose sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
Thoroughly cream shortening with sugar with a hand mixer. Stir in egg, molasses and vinegar; beat well. Sift together dry ingredients; stir into molasses mixture, chill at least 3 hours. The dough will be very dry. Take a handfull and press. Roll and knead in your hands until it warms up and sticks together. On lightly floured surface roll dough to 1/8″ thickness, cut with cookie cutter (only try to do a few cookies at a time). Place 1″ apart on greased cookie sheet. If you wish to decorate them, you can use red cinnamon candies or other baking decorations for faces and buttons. Bake 375F for 5 - 6 minutes. Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet and cool on rack.
Optional: When thoroughly cool, trim with confectioners’ icing: to two cups sifted icing sugar, add only enough light cream or milk to make mixture that will go through pastry tube easily but still holds its shape.
See the images in the (still being updated) Christmas 2005 photoblog.