Carrot soup ...

Carrots are popular, inexpensive and are available all year round and what's more they can be made into a cheerfully bright and creamy soup.

You can easily add your own gourmet touches with herbs, cheese and even orange to enhance its flavour.

2 cloves garlic
2 large onions
50g butter
500g carrots
2 tsp sugar
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4-1/2 cup milk or cream

Chop the onion and garlic finely

Cook in the butter without browning

Add the chopped carrot, sugar and stock and simmer until the carrots are tender then puree

Whisk in the milk/cream and adjust the seasonings with salt and/or pepper

Variations:

Add fresh thyme as the carrots are cooking

Add the grated rind and juice of an orange when you add the milk or cream

Even try replacing the milk/cream with 1/2-1 cup cheese sauce

This is a lovely soup on a wintery day

Enjoy!

Christmas stockings ...

While there are no written records of the origin of the Christmas Stocking, there are popular legends that attempt to tell the history of this Christmas tradition. One such legend has several variations, but the following is a good example:

Very long ago, there lived a poor man and his three very beautiful daughters. He had no money to get his daughters married, and he was worried what would happen to them after his death. He thought they would become prostitutes.  Saint Nicholas was passing through when he heard the villagers talking about the girls. St. Nicholas wanted to help, but knew that the old man wouldn't accept charity. He decided to help in secret. After dark he threw three bags of gold through an open window, one landed in a stocking. When the girls and their father woke up the next morning they found the bags of gold and were, of course, overjoyed. The girls were able to get married and live happily ever after. Other versions of the story say that Saint Nicholas threw the 3 bags of gold directly into the stockings which were hung by the fireplace to dry.

This led to the custom of children hanging stockings or putting out shoes, eagerly awaiting gifts from Saint Nicholas. Sometimes the story is told with gold balls instead of bags of gold. That is why three gold balls, sometimes represented as oranges, are one of the symbols for St. Nicholas. And so, St. Nicholas is a gift-giver. This is also the origin of 3 gold balls being used as a symbol for pawnbrokers.
A tradition that began in a European country originally, children simply used one of their everyday socks, but eventually special Christmas stockings were created for this purpose. The Christmas stocking custom is derived from the Germanic/Scandinavian figure Odin. According to Phyllis Siefker, children would place their boots, filled with carrots, straw and even sugar, near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands  after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas as a result of the process of Christianization. 

Recently read this ...

When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family. Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin. 

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.

Pumpkin Soup

Mmmmm... 

Found this recipe and decided to try it. Love the touch of honey

2 tbsp butter
2 chopped onions
2 tbsp chopped oregano
3 cups roasted pumpkin
1 tsp honey
6 cups vegetable stock

Saute the onions and oregano in the butter.
Add the honey and the stock and simmer for about 15 minutes.
Add the roasted pumpkin (to warm)
Cool alittle and mix well in a blender

Enjoy!

Christmas sea glass angels

While walking Friday morning on Long Island, I found some sea glass and today decided to make angels... so cute!

Egg Nog!

Nothing beats homemade egg nog!

1 dozen egg yolks

1 cup brandy (I used Gosling's black seal rum)

1 can evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar

3 cups milk

Pinch of nutmeg

Cream the egg yolks and sugar

Slowly add the brandy, nutmeg and milk

Mix well and store in the fridge until required


Enjoy!

Christmas cake

I fell in love with this recipe years ago and now I remember why!

125g shelled whole brazil nuts
125g shelled whole cashew nuts
125g shelled whole walnut halves
1/4 cup chopped dates
2 tbsp chopped mixed peel
60g glace cherries
125g dried pineapple, apricots or peaches
1/4 cup sultanas
1/4 cup seeded raisins
1/3 cup flour (or slightly more)
1/4 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp brandy (or sightly more)
2 beaten eggs

Combine the fruit and nuts
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt
Mix in the sugar and add the fried fruit and nuts
Add the vanilla and brandy to the eggs and then stir into the fruit
Mix well, yes, it's quite stiff

Line an 18cm ring pan or 22cm x 8cm loaf pan
Place the mixture into the pan, smooth and bake

140 C for 2.5 hours
Cover with foil after 1 hour if it's browning too quickly
Stand for 10 minutes before turning onto a cake rack

When cold wrap in foil and store in the fridge

Great served in fingers or slices with coffee.

Enjoy!