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!

COOKING WITH FRIENDS

Last Saturday, it was our turn to host our cooking group. I may have mentioned before that 5 of the 6 of us all worked together at that big construction and engineering firm in San Francisco. The one "outsider" is J of WC.

As has been our tradition for about 30 years, the host makes the main course and the others bring a first course and dessert. We rarely have a theme and, so far, we haven't all shown up with spaghetti. The one time I do remember having a theme was at our get together right after Julia Child died...we decided that we'd each prepare a dish from one of Julia's cookbooks.




We cook together about every 3 or 4 months, moving from house to house.

And so, our evening at our house started with drinks, hummus, homemade onion dip, chips, and raw veggies. Oh, the host also provides some little munchies for before dinner. Since Louie is so fond of cocktail hours...the coffee table is just the right height for him to help himself to whatever is on it...he spent the time in his living room pen, safely observing.



A & J of Mendo made the first course: What I think is the BEST Celery Root Remoulade that I have ever tasted. It was garnished with a fresh tomato salad and sliced cucumbers. The Celery Root Remoulade is from a Barefoot Contessa (In Garten) recipe, with a few "secret" variations by A & J. I have found her recipe on the Food Network web site and plan to give it a try, with or without the variations.



The main course was Chili Lime Wild Sockeye Salmon, Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad, and Orzo Salad with Broccoli and Tomatoes. I "cheated" by buying the salmon already cooked at Whole Foods. They introduced the Chili Lime Salmon at the beginning of the Wild Salmon season this year and it is so tasty, I don't think I could ever do better on my own.



The Caribbean Sweet Potato Salad recipe is on the internet; I used all sweet potatoes and no russets (We are limiting simple carbs chez moi these days.).



The Orzo Salad recipe is on Whole Foods' web site; I used whole wheat orzo, to avoid those simple carbs. It is available in bulk at Whole Foods. Since I made the Orzo Salad beforehand, I served it at room temperature, rather than warm.



C & F, the Piedmontese of the group, made Ice Cream Sandwiches using Graham Crackers and Sorbet. They wrapped each sandwich individually...Martha Stewart would be proud of them...making for an impressive presentation.



We had our choice of Lemon Sorbet or Chocolate Sorbet fillings. I chose the chocolate one and there was also a coating of chocolate on the Graham Crackers.



What a yummy ending to what we all decided was a perfect summer dinner, as well as a special visit with longtime friends.

DOGGIE TREAT CALENDAR; THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT

High on my Holiday gift list are the pets in my life, both my own and those of friends and family.

Last year, I came up with Denning's Doggie Treat Calendar at Draeger's, a high-end grocery store with a Home/Gift department. Draeger's was founded in 1925 in San Francisco. Today, its four San Francisco Bay Area stores are located in San Mateo, Menlo Park, Blackhawk (Danville), and Los Altos.



This calendar was such a success as a doggie gift last year, that I just purchased several for Louie to hand out to his doggie friends for this Holiday Season.

The Doggie Treat Calendar is a doggie version of an Advent Calendar. It has 24 punch-out doors on a holiday scene with Santa delivering gifts to dogs of just about every variety. Behind each door is a healthful doggie holiday cookie. So, for each of the 24 days before Christmas, while you might be eating candy from your own Advent Calendar, your dog will be enjoying a daily treat.

This particular calendar is manufactured by Open Door Products in Corte Madera, Calfornia. The treats are from Simon and Huey's LLC-Dog Treats. At Dreager's the calendars sell for $12 each. They can also be ordered by the case of 12 directly from Open Door...price is less but you will have to pay for shipping.

I bought our calendars at the Draeger's at Blackhawk Plaza in Danville.

It has been a few months since I was last at Blackhawk Plaza and I was reminded of what a beautiful and bucolic place it is. Anchored by the Blackhawk Automotive Museum, Blackhawk Plaza has many shops and restaurants as well as a mulitplex cinema.




It's a great place for Holiday shopping or shopping any time of year. The Blackhawk Museum contains a unique exhibition of about 90 vintage cars that are displayed in two large galleries. The Museum also has an Automobile Reference Library and features other temporary exhibits, many of which are related to things automotive. Whenever my Dad visited me, a day at the Blackhawk Museum was a must-do on his list.

One of the new shops in Blackhawk Plaza is Anthropologie, a large store with clothing and accessories for women and a nice selection of gift and decorative items.



One more note about shopping at Draeger's: It's a great place for gifts as well as for all the foods and wines you might need for your holiday entertaining. If you don't have the time or inclination to cook, they feature a tempting selection of freshly-prepared dishes. As for gifts, their Home department features paper goods, China, Crystal, and other items that are as nice, if not nicer than those at fine gift shops. I may return to buy some of the Vietri Christmas plates and bowls that they are currently featuring. The added apoeal to shopping at Draeger's is that all their stores have plenty of free parking.

Happy Shopping!