Happy New Year: Remembering December 2011

My December was a busy one, filled mostly with meals and celebrations with friends and the added time-consumer of completing my final project for my Landscape Architecture Class.

As we start a new year, I share the highlights of December 2011.

We started the month off with what has become our annual "Remembering Ted" dinner.





It is now three years since our special longtime friend Ted was senselessly murdered. The evening of our dinner, we learned that his murderer's appeal was denied and that the man will remain in jail...thankfully.

Ray and Liz came to our house for dinner. What's most amazing about our little group of friends is that, while Liz was Ted's neighbor, she never met him. What brought her to us was that she found and rescued the one of Ted's two cats that survived the fire in Ted's house. Now the cat lives with Ray. Several times of year we get together to celebrate and remember Ted's vibrant life.

Then Jim and I celebrated his birthday for two days. On the day of his birthday, we had lunch at Sasa in Walnut Creek...a terrific Japanese California fusion Isakaya restaurant.



The next day we headed into San Francisco to look at Christmas decorations and to walk around Union Square. We first stopped at the Sheraton Palace where there was a display of Gingerbread Houses designed by local celebrities and charitable organizations. We got to vote on our favorite.



At Neiman Marcus their huge tree just about hit the historic domed ceiling by the main entrance.



The pastry chef at the St. Francis Hotel had created an enormous multistory Gingerbread Castle that was on display in the lobby.



The tree in Union Square was brightly illuminated and Macy's shone in the background.



We then had dinner at Le Central, a classic French bistro which has remained one of our favorites since in opened in 1974.

It's been a few years since our last visit. The food is as good as ever and the menu remains much the same.

Jim started with the Onion Soup Gratinée and followed with one of the day's specials, a stuffed Filet of Sole.




I ordered my favorites: the Celery Root Remoulade to start and the Cassoulet for my main course. Le Central keeps count of the number of days that the Cassoulet has been cooking. Right now it is more than 13,000 days!



Very few restaurants serve Buche de Noel despite it being a traditional French Christmas dessert. Discovering it on Le Central's menu, we could not resist sharing a slice. It was pure heaven!



My next home entertaining was my annual Ladies' Crab Dinner.







This party dates back to the early '80s when I left my San Francisco corporate job to start the Where-To-Guide. I missed regularly seeing some of my San Francisco friends and colleagues and came up with the idea of having a dinner for these friends. Because December is a busy month for me, I chose an "easy" menu: Cracked Crab, Salad, and Sourdough bread. The party continues on each year...some of the original guests still come and many new friends have been added. It's a lively evening and, for many who attend, a chance to connect and reconnect with women whom they've met at this dinner. And, in all these years, there has only been one year when crab was not available and I resorted to making lasagne, much to the dismay for all those who attended...it was good but they wanted their crab!!!

Christmas Day brought another dinner at home, this year with Barbara, Sue, and Starr as our guests.




Our main course was a Flank Steak & Swiss Chard Roulade on a bed of mixed grains.



To start, we had a Cauliflower Soup.



And for dessert, Buche de Noel.



This was one of my favorite Christmas meals and I've provided links to the Roulade and Soup recipes, should you wish to try them yourselves. The Buche came from Whole Foods who make a delicious version.

Of course we enjoyed an abundance of wonderful gifts as well.

Jim's gift from Barbara was a wine aerator which allows you to open a bottle of wine without needing to let the wine breathe. It aerates a glass at a time!



Louie received many fine toys.



One of his favorites was an entire stuffed toy lobster dinner. One it's serving plate is the lobster, an ear of corn, lemon and a baked potato. As you can see, the potato was his favorite, or, at least, what he grabbed first.




Eventually, he got around to literally trying to eat the lobster!



As so ends 2011!

Wishing you all good health and happiness in 2011. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Merry Day After Christmas

It's been a busy December, leaving me with little time to blog...but now I'm in catch up mode, So keep checking in and I'll update you soon on my travels, dining, and entertaining these past several weeks.

Today, the day after Christmas, I was out shopping before 7 a.m.

Early in the day, there were crowds, but all was manageable.

At my local downtown, there were a few lines outside popular places like Crate & Barrel, Macy's, and H&M before they opened.

But only at the Apple Store was there a line outside long after the store had opened. And, Apple was marking nothing down!!!. There were no line outside the Gap on one side of Apple, where they were practically giving the merchandise away, nor was there a line at Tiffany's on the other side (no sales here either, for that matter).

But the Apple mystique continues with people patiently waiting to be allowed to enter the store to buy, exchange, return, or just look around.

Enjoy the last week of 2011!

Holiday Season 2010

Well, Christmas is over! I'm just back from my day-after shopping and am actually considering putting away my gift wrap and writing some thank you notes.

It's been a lovely December of celebrating and I still have a few more celebrations this week, but, I thought I'd take the time to send my good wishes for happy celebrations with family and friends and good cheer as we approach the end of 2010.

This year's Holiday Season started in early December with the first night of Chanukah on December 1. Here's my menorah, brightly lit on the last (8th) night of the Festival of Lights, as Chanukah is called. Since the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, Chanukah occurs at a different time on our Julian (or Gregorian) calendar each year. In 2011, it starts on December 20 (mark your calendars!).



Union Square in San Francisco is always beautiful in December.



Here's the skating rink and the Christmas tree and Chanukah menorah.



Neiman Marcus's enormous Christmas tree rises up under its historic dome. The glass dome, depicting a sailing ship, was saved and restored from the City of Paris store that occupied this site until 1981.



The day I was shopping at Neiman Marcus, I treated myself to their famous Pecan Tuna Salad, in a sandwich, at their informal café, the Fresh Market Café.



And, the Garden Court restaurant at the Palace Hotel was particularly festive, with two enormous Nutcrackers guarding the entrance.



Macy's on Union Square always dedicates several of its windows to SPCA pet adoptions during the Holiday season. There will be pets for adoption from Macy's windows through January 2; it's not too late to give a pet a home.



Because we celebrate all holidays that involve food and gifts, we were up early Christmas morning (it was still dark outside) opening gifts while we ate breakfast in the living room.



Louie was on high alert for food both dropped or snatched. He managed to steal part of my cinnamon roll and dunk an ear in my oatmeal!



My most fun gift from Jim was this switch plate which was quickly installed in our kitchen by the door that leads out to my garden. I've been studying Horticulture at our local community college and Jim googled "horticulture gifts" and came up with this very amusing (and practical) gift.


In the afternoon, friends Barbara, Mary Ann, and Michael joined us for Christmas dinner.




Louie's friend Elle, the daschund was here too.



This year, my menu was a Rack of Pork,



Green Beans with Shallots and a Mustard Cream Sauce and a mixture of Roasted Turnips, Cauliflower, and Potatoes (white veggies for a white Christmas).



Barbara and Michael kept us in wine: Prosecco with hors d'ouevres and both red and white with dinner.



Mary Ann brought a beautiful and delicious Bûche de Noël.





Of course, the wonderful meal would not have been such a success without the assistance of my "sous-chefs."



We had table gifts for everyone too. Louie gave everyone a tiny snow globe with a black poodle in it. Jim's table gift, presented with dessert, was socks for left and right feet (one each) because, as the package says, "We don't have two left feet." Notice that Mary Ann decided to "steal" the gift that Louie gave to Elle, a dog toy sock puppet, and wear it in her scarf. She did give it up before Elle went home.



Thank you all for visiting my blog through the many years that I've been writing it. I enjoy hearing from you and wish you all the best in 2011!

CHRISTMAS PIZZA PARTIES AT SKIPOLINI'S

We walked into Skipolini's in Walnut Creek last night, expecting it to be a quiet night.

After all, who goes out for pizza a week before Christmas Eve?

Turns out, most of Contra Costa County had to be there.



There were no empty tables in the main dining room at 6:15 p.m. It would be at least a 45-minute wait. And, given that a local Police Department had 60 people there celebrating the Holidays with their annual party (who was guarding the town? We thought) and showed no sign of rushing, we considered walking a few blocks to The Counter for a burger.

But, we really wanted Pizza and were offered seating on the outdoor patio. With temperatures heading down to the 30s, this seemed absurd but the hostess assured us that it was nice and cozy out there. So, we walked out...and cozy it was...lots of heaters and a good portion of the seating area was enclosed with soft walls.





We were fine and by the time we finished our Sausage, Artichoke Heart, and Mushroom Pizza, a Spinach and Bacon Salad, and a few glasses of wine, even the patio was filled.

Sorry about this pathetic pizza picture...this is what was left to take home...I was hungry and ate before even thinking of photos.



Looks like Pizza is a good Christsmas dinner!