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Text of the page (random words):
o my family they look at me as if i am possibly losing my mind and i must say that every year something magical happens to shake me out of my lethargy this year it was the simple act of writing my christmas cards last week i sat at the kitchen table and wrote messages to friends i don t see very often some of them are childhood or college friends that live far away others are newer friends some through the world of blogging that i also don t see very often but the simple act of writing a meaningful message to each of them on a festive holiday card contained a powerful emotional charge when i took my cards to the post office i walked away with a spring in my step a lightness of heart and a renewed enthusiasm for the holidays christmas classics people get into the holiday spirit in different ways many people take out their favorite christmas classics to get them in the mood books such as truman capote s a christmas memory charles dickens a christmas carol and louisa may alcott s little women there are so many great christmas stories but what i find myself doing is pulling down my favorite cookbooks the ones that contain the festive foods of the season in fact there is no more comforting sight than a stack of these cheerful books on the kitchen table with a notepad and cup of coffee by their side it s a sight that says it s time to fill the kitchen with christmas foods these are the treasured ones i use every year first of all the recipes are tried and true and second the well thumbed and food splattered pages remind me of christmases in the past and always make me smile they are books i can easily sit down and read from cover to cover they contain beautiful images of holiday decor as well as wonderful recipes looking at them each year makes me nostalgic and happy to be celebrating another christmas with christmas only a week away i have already made many of these recipes here are a few of my favorite holiday cookbooks this book will inspire you to give a cookie exchange party i did one for years and i have to tell you it was so much fun in fact i just may bring it back guests would arrive in festive spirits with two dozen home baked cookies the cookie recipe and an empty platter conversations about recipes were a great ice breaker we ate a dinner of comfort foods such as chicken pot pie or boeuf bourguignon both recipes from barefoot contessa mulled cider with winter spices simmered on the stove when it was time to leave guests would fill up their platter with cookies and take home an impressive dessert to serve for the holidays as you can see this bon appetit cookbook has many post its indicating favorite recipes i have used over the years one of my favorites is mixed green salad with oranges dried cranberries and pecans which makes a wonderful first course for christmas dinner go here for the recipe this book also includes my favorite recipe for hot mulled cider with winter spices go here another bon appetit cookbook reflects a bygone era of many good recipes as well as party ideas for example there is a cozy supper for welcoming carolers to your home i remember carolers going from door to door in my neighborhood when i was a child does this even happen anymore i m not sure but it s comforting to remember a time when it did the menu for this party is smoky split pea and root vegetable soup served with cheddar dill scones go here for the soup recipe and here for the scones i ve made them both many times and they are delicious this book is filled with great fruit desserts and all the flavors of the season the title says it all these cobblers and crisps are perfect for cold days in december one of my favorites is apple and blackberry crumble of course nigella is the queen of cozy and her christmas book is filled so many good ideas my favorite is her sticky gingerbread which i made last week for my family s tree trimming party it fills the house with the most delicious aroma and is probably the most evocative food of the season this cookbook contains many great party ideas including an italian christmas eve fireside cocktail party a new england christmas and a snow country breakfast this one has me dreaming of old fashioned holidays on the east coast and plotting new party ideas for next year and then there are the magazine and newspaper articles torn out over the years this one is from town and country uk and includes several great recipes for hot toddies and such this year the brit in me decided to serve hot toddies for my family s tree trimming party i bought kentucky bourbon and added hot water lemon juice and honey served in a mug with a cinnamon stick it took me back to a dickensian world where i imagined escaping from the cold into a cozy london tavern it s simple to do and the results are delicious put the following into each glass or mug 2 tablespoons kentucky bourbon 1 tablespoon honey 2 tsp lemon juice 1 4 cup of hot water stir and garnish with a cinnamon stick and lemon zest and speaking of iconic british dishes i have always wanted to make boxing day sausage rolls and this year i finally did it they are easy to make if you use frozen puff pastry go here these were a hit at my tree trimming party which seemed to be turning into a british pub menu if you want to journey back to a dickensian world here are two new cookbooks that look enticing from what i ve read they contain many recipes that would work well for the holidays what could be more perfect than recipes inspired by the life and work of charles dickens did you know that a christmas carol was published on this day in 1843 dickens wrote it in six weeks and the first edition sold out by new year s day people lined up at hatchard s bookshop to purchase it i learned this wonderful detail from the new film the man who invented christmas fortnum mason the venerable food department store on piccadilly in london has been selling delectable provisions for the holidays since the 1700 s now we can learn how to make some of their iconic dishes and one more this cookbook has gotten very good reviews and sounds perfect for all your baking needs i haven t bought it yet though i did make the flourless cocoa cookies sprinkled with sea salt that was printed in the new york times they were delicious go to the new york times for the recipe wishing you a week of delicious and festive cooking posted by sunday taylor at 2 28 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest monday november 13 2017 embracing winter it seemed appropriate to sit down with british food writer nigel slater s wonderful new book the christmas chronicles on a cold november day the temperatures had finally dropped and we just turned back the clocks the days are gradually drawing in as they make their steady march towards the winter s solstice and the holidays are right around the corner nigel slater was exactly what i needed to complete the picture he has mastered the fine art of cultivating coziness just listen to the opening lines and you will know what i mean i loved the crackle of winter the snap of dry twigs underfoot boots crunching on frozen grass a fire spitting in the hearth ice thawing on the pond the sound of unwrapping a christmas present from its paper the innate crispness of the season appeals to me like newly fallen snow frosted hedges the first fresh page of a diary yes there is softness in the cold months too the voluminous jumpers and woolly hats the steam rising from soup served in a deep bowl the light from a single candle and the much loved scarf that would feel like a burden at any other time of the year nigel slater loves winter i love it as well in los angeles we have very different winters from the ones he grew up with in england and very different winters from the ones i grew up with in new england there s something nostalgic about his evocation of winter in this book that appeals to everyone i think even if you didn t lived through those winters they are the winters of our imagination so many classic films like a wonderful life and books like a christmas carol draw us into their winter scenes i will now have to add nigel s new book to my winter holiday collection because it is so much more than a cookbook like some of my favorite authors he paints the most delicious scenes of escaping into a cozy interior on a frigid day you hang up your coat tug off your boots and light the fire you will probably put the kettle on or pour yourself a drink not so much as a way to get warm more to welcome yourself home home means more to us in cold weather making ourselves comfortable is a duty making friends and family comfortable is an art come in two short words heavy with meaning step out of the big bad wet world and into my home you ll be safe here toasty and well fed come in they are two of the loveliest words to say and hear he writes of the foods of winter which he calls the food of fairy tales gingerbread biscuits with icing like melting snow steaming glasses of wine savoury puddings of bread and cheese and a goose with golden skin and a puddle of apple sauce there are stews of game birds with twigs of thyme and rosemary fish soups the colour of rust and baked apples frothing at the brim winter is the time for marzipan filled stollen thick with powdered sugar pork chops as thick as a plank and rings of cumberland sausage sweet with dates and bacon he captures some of our most beloved holiday traditions such as looking at christmas windows at our favorite department store to see fortnum mason s christmas windows is to step into the pages of a book of fairy tales each year they glisten and sparkle like the frost on a topiary garden a scene of wonder and delight the designs are cluttered in the loveliest sense like looking into a kaleidoscope his chapters have the most delicious titles here are just a few panettone a love story a christmas list and a fig tart frost fairs and braised brisket a tale of two polentas decorating the tree and a lamb roast the prospect of soup and we can t forget the recipes don t these sound delicious pork chops spinach polenta apricot and tomato chutney bread pudding with ham comte and tallegio orange and poppy seed stollen banana cardamom cake dark chocolate spice cake mulled wine if you are looking for a book to help you get in the holiday spirit look no further than nigel slater s the christmas chronicles filled with recipes fables and quick fireside suppers it will be your trusty companion from november to february it is filled with so many good ideas for how to make our homes a cozy and welcoming place for the holidays happy reading posted by sunday taylor at 3 59 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels christmas holidays home nigel slater the christmas chronicles wednesday november 1 2017 reading and other fall pleasures i am very happy to say hello to november fall has officially arrived in los angeles and what a relief it is last week we were in deep deep summertime heat the temperatures hovered in the eighties throughout most of october and for several days even in the hundreds finally the heat wave has broken and we are enjoying some cool weather autumn has arrived for me fall is the cozy season it s all about cooking nesting having friends over making the first fire of the season and getting ready for the holidays it is my favorite time of the year i would also add reading as one of my favorite activities when the weather gets cooler i tend to read more ambitious books at this time of year often selecting a classic which i can sink into on a chilly afternoon right i am rereading the house of mirth by edith wharton this book still takes my breath away edith wharton was a superb writer story teller and observer of society this book is definitely one of her masterpieces and an excellent example of literary fiction an interesting category that has been on my mind lately i recently went to a writing retreat in italy an amazing experience and we discussed the difference between literary and commercial fiction here is what i learned in literary fiction character comes before plot the prose is rich and finely crafted with line by line brilliance and reading is a deeper experience one in which the novel s events say something about what it means to be human and what it takes to get by in this world the house of mirth covers all those bases commercial fiction is much more about plot it is fast paced page turning and offers instant gratification i wondered which recent books fall into the literary fiction category i think the books of ian mckewan such as the children act and atonement would count as literary fiction i also thought the essex serpent by sarah perry would qualify as such and maybe the book i just finished eleanor oliphant is completely fine by gail honeyman i read it on the flight home from rome to los angeles i was riveted and couldn t put it down i m not sure how to categorize this book except to say it is one of the freshest and most original voices i have read in a long time that voice belongs to eleanor oliphant the main character who may be the loneliest woman in all of literature she has no friends or family and goes for entire weekends without speaking to a soul when we first meet her she is leading a very solitary life she goes to work each day and talks to no one except out of necessity there is no water cooler chitchat for eleanor she goes home each night eats her dinner and drinks enough vodka to knock herself out she wakes up and does the same thing all over again the next day she is very bright and inadvertently funny because she is isolated from most people and out of touch with what they get up to she makes comments about cultural norms and customs that are very humorous she lives alone and is occasionally visited by a social worker who wants to know how she is doing eleanor tells her she is completely fine but even the social worker knows this isn t true for one thing one half of eleanor s body is covered in scars the reader knows it from the very first sentence of the book and the mystery we want to solve is why eleanor is the way she is fortunately hope comes in the form of an unkempt but kind tech guy at work who takes an interest in eleanor the story of how this successful debut novel came to be written is fascinating and very inspiring gail honeyman who is in her forties wrote the novel while she worked at glasgow university she wrote it in bits and pieces whenever she wasn t at work she entered it in a writing competition where it was discovered much to her surprise it ignited a bidding war on the eve of the 2015 frankfurt book fair it sold to harper collins for a high six figure sum and has subsequently been sold to 28 publishers around the world reese witherspoon s production company bought the film rights gail honeyman is still reeling from this fairy tale ending it s the kind of story that gives aspiring writers hope i would love t...